Dearest Dad

My dad tells me the same thing every year around Father's Day...."Don't get me anything for Father's Day". Well that just won't do. We always get our fathers something nice and we usually add a food item of some sort.

One of my fondest memories of my grandfather was when he reached up to the top cupboard and pulled out his stash of snackies for us grandkids. He always had candied orange slices and Spanish peanuts and sometimes chocolate covered peanuts or raisins. And now my dad keeps those same snacks for when my girls go to visit him....right up in the top cupboard. I love to give my dad little treats.

For this Father's Day, I picked up a box of Crunch 'n Munch at the store recently but I thought the gift wrap could use a little fancying up. Any packaged food item can be turned into a wonderful present if you just spruce up the packaging.
I used Father Knows Best to make a masculine tag with a nice tree image. A strip of rick rack cut brown felt, patterned paper and some Ripe Avocado ribbon make for some textural and dimensional embellishments. My bag is a Large Frosted Tin Tie Bag. I love that you can see the goodies inside through the opaque sack.
Using more of the same patterned papers and embellishments, I created a square card to match my gift sack. The sentiment is from Father Knows Best.
A perfect little gift that will my dad will love. Simple. Easy. It doesn't get better than that. I hope you'll try re-packaging some of those store bought goodies for gifts. It's all about the packaging.
Be sure to check the other designer blogs for even more Father's Day inspiration:

Nichole Heady

Heather Nichols

Lisa Johnson

Betsy Veldman

Dawn McVey

Ashley Newell

Etsy Shop Update

New Mini Mishie Kits up in the shop. Get 'em while they last.

Stop and smell the flowers...

Hi friends. Another post for today. :) I was strolling around outside and just couldn't resist snapping some photos of my flowers. I was then inspired to make a card...so I'm posting card photos plus my flower photos.For my pretty flower card, I used Dawn's Delightful Dahlia stamp set along with the coordinating dies. I colored the die cut images with Copic markers in R81, R83, R85 and the Colorless Blender (0). All of the flower pieces are layered onto a Medium Pink Parcel Tag. Background papers are all Papertrey.

I added some Carnival Tickets with snippets of patterned paper in the centers. Wrinkle Ribbon and Papertrey Sweet Blush Satin ribbon finish off the tag. The sentiment is from Vintage Picnic Sentiments.

Here's a little stroll through my flower beds. Jordan just had to have a basket of Fuschias. So bright and pretty.
Coleus always has such nice variegated colors.
A new color blend of Petunias. These have light pinks and greens....they look very vintage-y.
Love the lacey foliage of ferns.
These are new additions, the bright pink ones.....
.....and these soft yellow ones.
Purple Petunias in the bicycle.
And Dahlia's for Dawn. I love the compact flowers.
And Jordan's fishy. Every year we plant something new in them.
Two colors of Spirea, just full of blooms.
Tiger Lilies always add a punch of orange.
Yellow Yarrow is awesome in picked flower bouquets.
And some new goodies for some wire flower baskets.
Hope you enjoy! The nice cool morning has now turned into a hot and humid afternoon....so I think we'll hang out inside for a while. Maybe grab a cranberry cooler and sit out on the deck.

Memorial Weekend..

Hey everyone, hope you having a nice Memorial weekend. The weather is beautiful here in Kansas. No rain, not much wind, clear skies....just beautiful. Last night we kicked off the long weekend with a BBQ at some friends. Good food, good friends, the girls swam in the pond and jumped off the dock....lots of fun.

Eric sure surprised me when he dug out my old cooler chest. I love this old thing but usually I get the raised eyebrow when I bring out my old junk. He washed off the dust......
...and filled it with ice cold beer and my margaritas in quart jars. I had lots of people at the party ask about my old ice cooler. And when we broke out the jars of margis, we had plenty of sippers.
We've also been sittin' on the porch a lot, enjoying all the pretty flowers and good ol' country scenery. I'm loving this adirondack chair that my dad made when he was in high school. He dug it out of an old shed for me.
Well, Eric and Jordan are mowing. Josey and her friend Megan are still in bed. I'm headed to the kitchen to mix up some little BBQ goodness of our own. That is, right after I grab a cup of coffee and sit outside on the porch..in my night gown. Love these kinds of mornings.

Introducing Parcel Tags

What used to be used for shipping tags are now a hot item in my paper crafting world. I just love creating tags so I decided to carry some in my Etsy shop so that I'd always have some on hand to create with. I'll be carrying 3 sizes of Manilla Parcel Tags...Small, Medium and Large. I'll also be carry Medium Pink Parcel Tags. You can purchase the tags in tied bundles of 10. The Manilla Parcel Tags will also be sold in a Tag Trio bundle(10 of each manilla tag size) in case you want all three sizes with the click of one button. Visit the shop to find out all the sizes, details, prices, etc.

To kick off the Parcel Tags, I thought I would offer up a little Mishie Mini Kit and a sample of what you can do with the fun new tags. In the kit, you'll receive the supplies in the photo below times two....enough to create two tags. In my true Thrift Store Decor style, I used some darling vintage flowery fabric swatches that I stitched to a Large Manilla Parcel Tag. A snippet of Wrinkle Ribbon is tied to the tag. A carnival ticket and a Simply Chartreuse felt flower(made with Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms II#3 Die Collection) with a Vintage Button center and striped orange and white twine finish off the kit. Instead of finishing a completed tag, I'm leaving a little creativity for you. :) It's always fun to have something to start with and then just build upon that idea, right?
But a sample is always good too, right? Got it! Here's a sample of what you can do to complete an eclectic, colorful tag.
Using all the pieces from one tag set from the Mishie Mini Kit, I added October Afternoon cardstock as backgrounds and sentiment blocks. I also added a little stamping of that cute little image from Lisa's new Just for You stamp set.
I just love the mixy match look that you can create with tags. It's a smaller *canvas* to work with so it's easy to just add a collage of items til you have it just right. Notice what I did with the tag ribbon. It started out as long strands that might be a little floppy on a card. A few simple twists of the Wrinkle Ribbon and a few staples from Tiny Tim (Tim Holtz's stapler) and my ribbon is now secured to my tag. I adhered the tag to my card front and added a few more tied Vintage Buttons....notice the rule of odd numbers for the buttons and the visual triangled created by using three of the same color buttons. Remember our little lesson a while back on card design?
Oh, how I love these tags. You can use them for cards like I've done or embellish to use as gift tags for bags and boxes.....embellish treat sacks....hang off baskets or jar....use on scrapbook pages four journaling.....tie to a Pretty Little Apron (more coming soon).....or start a tag swap with some of your friends and collect the tags like trading cards. Ohhhhh, just you wait and see. The possibilities are endless!

Note: The new Parcel Tags and a handful of the Mini Mishie Tag Kits will be up in my Etsy shop on Saturday morning...after I can get some good photos of them with better light. Enjoy!

Mini Sports Album

During softball season I take a ton of photos of the girls and the team. I rarely get to all those photos though to do any major scrapbooking. But a mini album is definitely doable. By gathering up a few supplies, I created a mini scrapbook kit that I can reach for when I want to showcase a few photos of the girls' softball games. By printing photos at home, I can easily add a few into my mini sports album here and there as time allows.First up , I gathered some supplies into a nugget tin. My goodies include ribbon, twine, stamped and punched embellishments, journaling pieces from Green Boutique, buttons, rub ons, softball themed paper snippets and more.
I decorated the front of my mini sports album using Green Boutique paper, All Star Team & Additions stamp sets and A Little Argyle. I love all the mixy matchy stamping.
Here's what the inside of my mini album looks like. For the base pages I used some old sheets of ledger paper that I had in my stash. You could easily use patterned paper, etc.
My first few pages feature the girls at bat.
So easy to just reach for embellishments from my little tin. I'll add a little journaling at a later time.
Extra embellishment pieces and/or photos could be tucked into the pockets. Notice I used the new envelope liner die and more Green Boutique paper. I love the fancy factor it gives my mini album.
Here's how I assembled my mini album, so very simple to do. I used two A2 Kraft envelopes adhered together as shown below (bottom of photo). Use whatever adhesive you use for card making, etc. The top of the photo shows about 5 ledger sheets that have been sewing into the *spine* of the album. Makes for a pretty sturdy little album.
Here's the album spread out for another view. Edges were inked with Fresh Snow.
And there ya have it folks. These would be perfect for grandparents or to take to the office or tuck in your purse. Or totally switch up the theme to create little mini vacation albums....or highlight a birthday party or graduation celebration. The sky's the limit and you're sure to hit a home run with these! Have fun!

JustRite 2010 Catalog & Idea Book

Hey everyone! The brand new JustRite 2010 Catalog & Idea Books are available for pre-order and will ship at the beginning of June. It will quickly become your JustRite Reference & Inspiration Book. You can check off the stamps sets you have and the catalog becomes an easy reference guide to what you own in your personal JustRite collection. And you can also make your JustRite wish list from this handy reference guide! Inside, you will find over 127 project ideas from the design team, including complete supply lists for over 75 projects! The 2010 Catalog & Idea Book retails for $6.95. Be sure to check the JustRite blog for all the juicy details.

Here's a little sample below of one of my projects in the new catalog. My card uses images from Plant A Little Love. I colored my pretty flowers with Copic Markers in YG23, YG25, 0, E00, R20, R22, BG10, Y19 and YR04.

Also, you can visit all the links below for a little catalog preview blog hop. The Design Team members have all posted a sample they made from the new catalogs on their blog today. Enjoy!

JustRite Inspiration Blog

Angela Barkhouse

Barb Schram

Becca Feeken

Debbie Olson

Heidi Blankenship

Kathy Jones

Kazan Clark

Kellie Fortin

Michele Kovack

Sankari Wegman

Sharon Harnist

Sharon Johnson

Stephanie Kraft

Etsy Shop Update

Hi everyone. Be sure to stop by my Etsy shop today. A new batch of aprons will be listed by noon today. :) I just need to get them photographed. I think you'll love them!

Shabby Blue Fabric Tags

Good evening everyone. I'm hoping to plant my peppers and tomatoes tonight if the garden dried out enough today. But first I have a few things to show you. I dug into some of my thrifty finds and had a little fun today. Here's Stanly the Stapler. I found him at an antique store. He works better than any stapler I've ever had. I love him. He was one of my helpers today.This is my new thing of string that called my name at the thrift store. Love this green color!
And these are my new creations today, using fabric from the thrift store. Jordan was my other little helper. I'm paying the girls $5 an hour this summer to help with my crafty creations. She was a seamstress today and loved every minute of her work. Together we made these adorable Shabby Blue Fabric Tags. I cut, she sewed. And she is good. I show her one time and then she takes over. Very good workmanship. Believe me, I inspect for quality. Josey slept til 11:00 so I guess she had the day off. :) Good grief, sleepy red head girl.
Anyway, we cut and sewed and assembled all morning. Such a lovely little pile of Thrift Store Decor, don't you think?
You can use these tags for almost anything. They have little safety pins at the top for easy attachability. I saved two to fancy up my blue jars that I got at an auction.
Or you could attach a tag to a little pile of crafty goodness. See how I used a Tiny Tag wrapped around the doodad? Instant personalization for gift giving. Who wouldn't love to re-use this tag for a special project? Or how about stringing together a whole set of these for an instant summer banner. Ohhh, that would be cute! Wait til I tell Jordy that idea.
They're so cute though, they might be hard to part with. That's why I included two to a package in my Etsy shop. All packaged up in a glassine envelope and Japanese masking tape. Have fun!! We've got more fabric picked out and Jordan's a sewing goddess so stay tuned for more tags. She likes this job because Josey can't sew....more work for Jordan. Which =more $ for Jordan. Hee.

Hello friend...

Hi all, it's a windy, balmy, sticky, humid, moist day here in Kansas. Sounds peachy doesn't it? My hair is all a frizzled. Don't come over.

Instead, how about I share a fun card with you made in my Thrift Store Decor style? The hubster and the reds and three other girls that trickled into our household today are all at ball practice. I decided to take a break from admiring my hair and head down to the artsy studio. I just love to see my little supplies all scattered about. Makes me happy even though I have a high humidity headache like you wouldn't believe.
I used some more goodies from yesterday's kit I put up in my Etsy shop. Today I used two of the patterned paper doodads tied up with buttons and black twine. All of my papers and stamps are from October Afternoon's The Thrift Shop line....I think I was meant to have it all simply for the name of this line, right?
The adorable flower stamp from October Afternoon's Cherry Hill line is the perfect base for the doodads when you want to create a flower scene. I just plopped the doodads right where the stamped flowers should be. The little journaling blocks that punch out from the Thrift Shop Journal Cards are so fun to create with. They give you a good starting base for your project. The bottom of card features two of the carnival tickets that come with the Mixy Matchy DooDads kit. I love to cut scraps of paper and fill in the little rectangles of the tickets, such a scrappy, cute look. Wrinkle Ribbon in two colors finish off the card with an additional button tied with black twine. (More Wrinkle Ribbon coming soon. Soon=Gimme a little while.)
Sigh. So colorful. So mixy matchy. I could stamp all day....but I think a load of girls are coming back to the house and they might like a fresh batch of cookies, methinks. In the summer, we become the pick up and drop off place for lost and wayward softball girls. I think they just come for the cookies and milk.

Okay. One more thing before I go. This week I am gonna have some sewing goodies to share with you in my Etsy shop. Some of my mixy matchy aprons and something brand new....brand new to the shop but of course in Thrift Store Decor style. New product and new concept to go with it. You will love. Stay tuned. Me and my frizz gotta split. Get it?

The List....use it

Oh my heavens. I got a load of October Afternoon goodness this week from my awesome friend Cindy at Star Lit Studio. And let me just say I've spent the good part of this May Afternoon creating. I went to an auction earlier and a bunch of poopy head, fancy pants bidders bought up all my good stuff. Pfft. I'll show them. I'll just make something way cooler than they could ever imagine buying at an auction. So I gathered up my October Afternoon goodies. And let me just say that October Afternoon is kinda hard to come by in my neck of the woods. So if you're looking for a very good selection, head on over to Star Lit Studio. The newest lines of Fly a Kite and The Thrift Shop (love the name)are now in! Cindy will hook you up. Tell her I sent you shopping her way. :)

Back to my goodies. I dearly love to create little doodads and items for little kits for myself and you guys. I start cutting circles and punching circles and I just can't stop. Today I stained some of my Vanilla Ice Cream Cone Carnival Tickets to give them a distressed look.
Next I snatched up a few kit items and went to work on a little project of my own. I used a Tiny Ticket from my Etsy shop and stamped *for mom* on it with black ink. There's something about these little tiny alphabets that I just love. You can create any message you want and I love the uneven stampy look.
And here's what I whipped up. It's a notebook, one of my all time favorite items to create. And here's the deal: It drives me bonkers when my family tells me what they need at the worst times. For example, I'm in the shower and a little red head child peeks in and says *Hi Mom, I need some bobby pins*. Or how about when I'm knee deep in socks that no one bothers to fold and I hear *Oh man, we don't have any milk*. Or it's 5:30am and Eric hollers out from the bathroom *I need some new razors, hon*. Hello people, I may be Wonder Mom but I'm not a freaking mind reader. Nor do I carry a notepad and pen... or an awesome new IPad that no one got me for my birthday..... around to take notes for you all. And I definitely don't do anything at 5:30am. News flash: There's something called The List. Use it people.

I created this little gem just for our summer lists. Groceries, snacks, ice cream, sunflower seeds for the ballgames, Gatorades, sunscreen....whatever you need, write it down sweet little family. Isn't it so cute and thrift store looking?
I love all the mixy matchy papers and embellishments on my notepad front. Here, I used a sticker from The Thrift Shop Label Stickers. I then used a little scalloped circle doodad with button and Tiny Tag from my kit.
For the rest of my notepad I used one of my all time new favorite papers called Fly a Kite from the 8 x 8 Paper Pad. This version is smaller than the big 12 x 12 size...but I love both. Seriously love. Save some for me. The ruler is made from a stamp from the Cherry Hill Clear Stamps line. Oh, it's such a cute set. I love the strawberry...and the bird...and the ruller...and the flowers....get the point? I used a little carnival ticket under a punched strawberry image too. So fun!
And here's the back of my notepads. Just a reminder that this is The List. Use it.
Just to make sure The List stays full, I used not one but two notepads from Papertrey Ink. I'm going to place my list front and center on the kitchen cabinet. Surely, the little family will get the hint.
And just to share a little of my goodness with you, I have a few kits going up in my Etsy shop shortly. I'm using a mixy matchy style here that I'm dubbing Thrift Store Decor. All kinds of goodies that I've picked up at the thrift stores to recycle and reuse for some major new cuteness. Here I've used fabric, an old cutter quilt, an old dictionary and black twine that I picked up here and there.
Kits will come with everything shown above. For my project today I used the carnival tickets, the scalloped patterned paper doo dad and the Tiny Tag. Enjoy!

Note: I'm headed up to fix supper for the family and then I'll be back to post the kits in the shop. Ta ta for now.