Thanks, Chickie...

Hi friends. Before I share my project for today I want to share some sad news from our community. Last night, tornadoes ripped through our area in Kansas. As we took shelter in our basement, we watched the weather reports as they announced that a fierce tornado was headed for a neighboring town about 15 miles from our house. The small town of Reading, Kansas was hit hard, leaving a demolished town and one fatality. You can see photos at this link. The grade school took major roof damage, homes were completely torn apart and the few businesses in town took major blows. Relief efforts from the Red Cross are taking place now. My husband is ready to move in Bobcats from his store to help in clean up efforts + the entire community is just waiting for the word to help out in any way we can. We are left feeling so thankful that our family and home and safe and sound.....but yet so distraught about our neighboring town and families. Please keep the town and residents of Reading, Kansas in your thoughts and prayers.

On a more cheerful note, I needed something to keep my mind busy this morning. Josey received a darling little graduation gift from a friend at school and a thank you card was in order. I created this fun card and treat sack ensemble.
This cheerful card uses a stamp set called Spunky Nature from My Cute Stamps, now available at 2Peas. I love to cut out their fun images + they were perfect for embossing too.
Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink along with fence die cut and ribbon.
I love to personalize cards and gifty items for the girls' friends. I used a small metal rimmed tag and spelled out Riley's name using Hero Arts tiny letter stamps.
Using a medium glassine sack, I tucked in a few Kit Kats and stitched the sack closed with my sewing machine. A few extra embossed images embellish the sack.
Hope you enjoy!

With Sympathy Bird Cage Card

This month ends my guest designer spot at My Cute Stamps. Thanks to Holly for having me, it's been a pleasure! Be sure to check out the site, it's been totally revamped and looks great! Fun blog too!!

I've been working in my stamp room, trying to fill a few empty spots in my card stash basket. I just love these serene images from the set called Ashley's Blossoms.
The branch with blossoms is so nicely illustrated. It makes the perfect backdrop for the bird cage. For the focal image, I stamped the bird cage onto some K & Company patterned paper. I then stamped the butterfly and glittered it. I adhere this to my card front using pop dots. The sympathy image was stamped in black ink. A little more patterned paper and machine stitching finish off the card.

Well, it's a busy day for me so I need to head out the door. Have a great day everyone, hope you get to relax this weekend. I've been working on lots and lots of projects just for me. Feels good!

Snail Mail Gift Boxes

One of my favorite gifts to give to my mom, mother-in-law and Eric's grandma is a stash of homemade cards. They look forward to it each year too! Usually I package them up in a clear cello bag with a bow but this year I decided to make something different. Let me show you what I've created.

I started out by stamping some cute snails from My Cute Stamps set called Little Forest Friends. I colored the snail body and added a shadow using the Copic Sketch colors shown below. I then stamped the snail shell onto some new October Afternoon paper I scored at my local scrapbook store.

I cut out those images and adhered them to the colored snail images. I then punched out circles to make the snail images into tags.

I then took some office tags I had in my stash and stamped them with Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics II in Spring Moss and Background Basics: Text Style II in True Black.

I layered my tags onto scalloped punched circles in PTI's Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado cardstock. Images were adhered to tags with pop dots and then I added some clear sequins to the tags for a little bling.

Next up, I created the packaging. I used Papertrey's clear boxes and inserted a 4-1/4" x 5-3/4" piece of Everyday Blessings patterned paper. The box is tied with olive ribbon and the tag ties to the box with Papertrey Rustic Cream Twine.

I think it's always the packaging that makes the first impression of a great gift, don't you?

Here's a few ideas for you for the snail mail boxes:

Package up some cards from your stash....I know you have a stash.......and add in some postage stamps. Place them all in the box for a much appreciated gift. Tip: Create cards that are fairly flat (no puffy ribbons) and you'll fit more into the clear boxes.

Or add a few hand stamped tags of your own along with some small envelopes and twine for a small card crafting kit. This would be great for the kids!!

I'm definitely planning on keeping a few of these on hand at all times. Hope you are inspired! I made my list today of all the teacher gifts, etc that I want to stamp. It sure helps to have it all in list form when you start creating those goodies. I'm hoping to accomplish a lot over the Thanksgiving holiday!

Etsy update: I'm adding a few of these kits to my Etsy shop in just a bit.

Hello there...

Today I have some fun and fresh cards that I made using My Cute Stamps set called Hello Doodle. This is my last month as their guest designer and I'm having fun using their cute stamps. I stamped a flower image onto Basic Grey Nook and Pantry patterned paper and cut them out with fine tip scissors. I then added a tied button to each flower center. These became the main images for my cards. I made a whole stack of cutie pie cards, I just love having a few like this on hand for those *just because* moments when you want to send someone a card.

I love the little details on cards. That's what keeps me excited about paper crafting. The fun little accents that make a card so cute. I added green and yellow ribbon from Papertrey and used my messy stitches to adhere it. My messy stitches are three back and forth zig zags done with the sewing machine.

I also did something fun with the hello sentiment. I colored the letters with green and yellow Copic Sketch markers,blending the colors together by going back over both colors with the yellow marker. I then added Ranger Glossy Accents to the letters for a 3-D shine. Love that look!

For a final touch, I added a Papertrey sentiment from Dawn's Signature Greetings stamp set. It fits in perfectly with my hello sentiment.

Hope you enjoy! I'll be adding a few of these to the Etsy shop in a bit. :)

Halloween Treats 2009

Happy Halloween!! It's one of my favorite days of the year. All the ghosts and goblins come out on this spooky night. The moon shines through the swaying trees, casting shadows on all the trick or treaters. The crisp cool air nips at your nose and the fallen leaves rustle under your feet.

I made lots of goodie bags for my girls, my nieces and nephews and some friends.
Very simple treat sacks, wrapped with a strip of patterned paper and tied up with a black and white checkered ribbon and circle tag. Letter stamps are from Hero Arts.

Super simple glassine sacks filled with a few candies and tied up with more checkered ribbon and a tag from Papertrey's 2009 Halloween Tag Collection.

The girls' treat sacks with the Papertrey tags I made a while back. Tags are attached to gift sacks with covered clothespins...one of my favorite things!

And a special little treat sack that I mailed to my nephew Nick. I used the one eyed monster from the Eek a Monster set from My Cute Stamps on the tag. That little monster is so cute for Halloween. I stamped the monster onto kraft cardstock, then stamped it another time onto patterned paper....cut it out with fine tipped scissors and adhered it to the tag. I made easy work of all the circle tags by using my Spellbinder's Circle Nestabilities die templates.

And this stole the show.......a 4 pack of Jones Soda in Blood Orange flavor. Of course, nothing ever happens at our house without drama. Josey stuck her first bottle in the freezer. I told her not to leave it in there very long or the bottle would break. She did just fine. Then Jordy comes along and wants to put a bottle in the freezer so hers will get nice and cold. Again, I warn her to not leave it in there very long. Well, the next morning I hear Jordan open the freezer and she says *uh ohhhhhhhhhh*. Sure enough, she forgot and left her bottle of pop in the freezer all night. Both ends blew out and now there is broken glass everywhere in my ice maker. Nice.

Well, I hope you have a spooktacular Halloween day! We're heading to town to get a few last minute supplies and groceries. Tonight my dad is taking the girls and a few of their friends on a hay rack ride through the country.....it will be chilly so we'll have blankets and hot cider ready. Then we'll have nachos and caramel apples before we head out to trick or treat. Oh and now I have to make donuts. Our lady that always makes the donuts isn't doing it this year...I have to carry on the tradition!

Tip for easy donuts: Take canned biscuits and cut a hole out of each biscuit with an apple corer. Fry biscuits in a little oil. Dip in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Serve hot. Yummo!

hey little pumpkin...

Hi all. Today is a beautiful day with much warmer temperatures. I'm sitting outside typing up my blog post, enjoying the fresh air. I am sporting a little blanket, wishing it was my first finished quilt...I'm waiting for my final quilt class to resume so I can finish the top. I'll keep you posted.

Today I have some sweet little cards to show you using My Cute Stamp's set called Sweet Kawaii. This little pie image was perfect to create a little piece of pumpkin pie complete with a dollop of whipped cream. I wanted to make a little Halloween card for my little niece so I added a computer generated sentiment that reads "hey little pumpkin". The sentiment "you're sweet" is from the Sweet Kawaii stamp set. I used my Copic markers to add a little orange detailing to the piece of pie along with a white gel pen to color the whipped cream. Glittery Stickles finishes off the whipped cream for a little glitz. I cut out my pie image and popped it up on layered circle punches. Two Orange Zest buttons from Papertrey compliment the main image. Plaid patterned paper from my stash and Papertrey Orange Zest ribbon finish off the card.

Cute little cards for sweet little punkins!

Bird inspired....

Last Spring while at my favorite home decor store, Nell Hill, I purchased this hanging wire bird cage. Dawn has one too and Nichole liked them so much we shipped one to her for her birthday! I immediately fell in love with it because birds are *my thing*. It lays almost flat against the wall and has clothespins for hanging stuff on it.

I rounded up some of my vintage bird prints and other botanical type prints and created a big collage of sorts on my dining room wall. I'm searching for the perfect, weathered, crooked branch to hang horizontally across the top of it all.

Here's how it all comes together with my dining room table. I'm also searching for a new paint color for the dining room..something that will make my collage just *pop*.

I hung this fern wreath on my bird cage and put a vintage looking bird print behind the bird cage.

Then I hung on little nests with eggs and other bird related stuff.

On my little shelves, I placed a painted, metal bird feeder.

And in my 3 tiered basket, I grouped all my egg nests together. I have found that by grouping like items together, it makes more of a decorating statement than just place a nest here and there around the house. Less stuff to pick up when you're dusting too. :)

So with that, I was totally inspired to create some cards with My Cute Stamps set called Ashley's Blossoms. The bird cage in this image is just like mine!
I stamped all the images onto subtle K & Company patterned paper so that the cards would stay soft looking but still have some nice detail.
Just a touch of pretty twill ribbon and some scalloped punched edges finishes off this card.

For my next cards, I used the branch image along with my bird cage.

I used pink chalks to add some soft color to the flowers on the branch....maybe to look like cherry blossoms?

Sentiments are from Papertrey Ink. I used more of the scalloped patterned paper snippets, some lace ribbon and vintage buttons to finish off the bottoms of my cards.

Soft and pretty, I love them!

Paper Peaced Card

I love this little set from My Cute Stamps called Go Green. It's got the hippest stamps featuring peace signs. Notice how the little flower center is a peace sign...the cool PEACE sentiment and the big peace sign. It's just seemed natural to paper peace the peace sign. Get it? For my paper piecing and background papers, I used fun new papers from Cosmo Cricket.

I colored the peace flower, the leaves, the tiny little heart and traced the letters in PEACE with Copic markers.

This is just a fun little set to play with......get creative.....let your hair down......burn your bra! All that good stuff! Have a fun day everyone! If you'd like to send someone a PEACE card, I've got some over in the Etsy shop. Thanks for stopping by!!

Mini Mishie Kit....PEACE dude

There's a new kit up in the shop. It's called Peace Dude and uses Cosmo Cricket's patterned paper and ribbon and My Cute Stamps Go Green stamp set. Lots of peace and nature going on...Here's some little square cards I made using all the kit elements plus some additional patterned paper, ribbon and cardstock.

Lots of fun elements to work with as you can see below. The girls thought the kits were really fun and liked my cards I made. Doesn't it seem like all the kids say *dude* a lot? Drives me bonkers sometimes actually but probably no more than we said *awesome* fifty million times when we were kids!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! It's a beautiful evening here in our neck of the woods...we picked a few more pumpkins, Eric shot his new bow.....went for a drive to look for deer......now just winding down the weekend. Catch ya later!

You're Tweet

Edit: Kits are now up in my Etsy shop. And the polka dot and birdie patterned paper are by American Crafts....I found mine at Archivers.

Wow, what a week of Christmas inspiration we've had! Makes me wanna put on Christmas music and get all of my cards and gifts done. But before Fall comes and the seasonal colors change...and then Christmas......I thought I'd switch gears and do something bright and cheery with birds.

Today I used My Cute Stamps images from the You're Tweet set. I love the little birds in this set and the cute *you're tweet* sentiment. There's lots of details on my cards today....fluffy white ribbon, 3-D hearts, buttons, punched circles, machine stitching, sequins, polka dot velvet patterned paper........all that fun stuff that makes cards so cute!

Here's the pinky version:

And here's the bluebird version:

And today I have some Mini Mishie Kits going up in my Etsy shop (see the left side bar of my blog). The kits are called *You're so tweet....no you are*. You'll get all the supplies shown below...enough to make the cute cards I've shown today....all you need is some cardstock, patterned paper, some ribbon, and your own birdie stamps.

These would be adorable little kits to get for a sweet little girl, a birthday party activity, a friend coming over for coffee, etc. The kits will be going up in the shop around 8:00am. Thanks for stopping by.