Halloween Treats

October has arrived! Have you decorated your home, purchased your candy and decided on a costume? My house is all decorated with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons and more pumpkins. Tim and I won't be dressing up this year, but LB is going to be a bee! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures for you. I hope you're also planning to send Halloween cards to the children in your lives. You know they love getting mail! I have some Halloween items left in my shop, so be sure to check them out below, and follow the links to my shop to purchase them. I'm offering free shipping on them all.

Kids' Cat



Happy Halloween



Trick or Treat



Creepy Tree



Scaredy Cat



Premade Scrapbook Pages



Die-Cut Leaves

EtsyGreetings Street Team

Street teams are a type of community on etsy that enable sellers to network, share ideas and market themselves. I hadn't joined any until recently when I decided it would be nice to get to know some of the other sellers on etsy. I joined two street teams, etsymoms and etsygreetings. Etsygreetings seems to be an active, supportive community of sellers who focus on greeting cards, tags, invitations, etc. You can see the wares of team members by searching "etsygreetings" on the etsy front page. I did just that a couple of days ago and found some delicious paper goods. As a way of introducing myself to the team, I decided to do a feature on some of my faves. What's that, you say? I'm advertising for my competitors on my blog? Of course I am, you know how selfless I am. I am a giver, a kind and sharing soul. Actually, I'm a realist. Any traffic to etsy or etsygreetings team members is good for the entire community. We also all have our own niche, our own style, and this can't really be duplicated.

Here are five of my current favorite items found using the search term "etsygreetings." Be sure to check out their shops, as they have many more lovely things to offer. Try to take the time to do your own search as well. There are loads and loads of creative paper goods to be found.




This set of Rustic Chic Thank You Cards by waisze designs would make a great gift for yourself or a friend. They're simple, elegant and eco-friendly, as well as being handmade. The cards are left blank on the inside for your personal message. There are three cards with white envelopes in the set.




Some people, my sister-in-law included, are terrified of clowns. I don't get it. My grandfather was a clown and my sister and I were clowns for Halloween on several occasions. I'm quite sure none of us are evil or from outer space. Anyway, these gift tags are awesome and should be used on gifts for people who have no fear of clowns, or elephants, ladders or tricycles, for that matter. This set of "Vintage Clipart Circus Tags" from firefly notes includes six tags (You can view all six tags by clicking on the fist link.). They come with some cute polka dot ribbon attached.




"A Little Bird on a Branch" from Steph Jacobson uses a variety of materials and techniques to convey a "Happy Birthday" to your loved one. The bird, tree and wording are all stamped, while the bird is chalked and the leaves are bits of folded, textured paper. The border of the card is machine stitched. I always enjoy work that uses different textures.




This "Give a HOOT" gift tag set from Get Happy features one of my favorite animals: owls. The tags are made from heavy card stock and hand stamped with the phrase "GIVE A HOOT" and an owl. There are eight tags in the set and each one comes with waxed thread attached for tying or hanging. These could be used for scrapbooking, gifts or cardmaking.




This "mommy and baby boy" blank notecard is a gift in and of itself. Kelly at Happy Days Studio hand draws and paints each card individually. She is willing to customize the painting and the message. I think these are absolutely beautiful and would make a lovely keepsake for a mother-to-be.

New Little b Bunny Cards on etsy

Here are the additions to the shop from the last couple of days. Remember: I am always happy to do custom orders.

A Beautiful Day

We had a lovely day today and I expect another tomorrow. LB and I read books and played and cleaned and played and talked and laughed out loud. I worked on some cards, the Molly dog played on the deck and Brennan continued to pretend that any object in front of her (including her old burp cloths she is forever dragging out) is a dog. Tim has gotten to ride his bike to work for the last two days and rode around on his lunch breaks as well. We are definitely digging the nice weather. In case you hadn't heard, today was the official start of the Derby Season in L'ville. There was a gigantic celebration downtown tonight, a yearly event called "Thunder Over Louisville" (referred to simply as "Thunder" by the locals). There have been flybys and practice formations over our house for the last two days in preparation for the air show. I think there were something like 60 aircraft involved in the show. The big capper of the night is a huge fireworks display. It goes on for 30 minutes and is allegedly the largest in North America. One of the bridges is closed, as well as parts of the interstate. Apparently, there is a shower of fireworks off of the bridge. So, anyway, we had a late dinner on the deck and watched the show. Although we aren't downtown, we have a perfect view of the fireworks from our house. I made a blackberry cobbler (I'll post pics and a link to the recipe tomorrow) before dinner and, after LB was in bed, Tim and I enjoyed a little cobbler with soy milk outside. A lovely end to a lovely day....

I wanted to share a few pics with you from our day:

Works in Progress-

This is some of the laser cut paper that I was using today. I typically don't cut sections out, as it is a big pain, but I wanted some individual butterflies and didn't have any others.


This is part of a small set of "thank you" notes that I am making. I think I need to do more sets. They seem to fly off of the virtual shelves.





These are some recently quilled items. I used one on a birthday card today. I hope to get it photographed and in the shop tomorrow. I have yet to decide what to do with those remaining. I was going to add a new heading for the pics of Tim, LB and I, but then I got all deep and philosophical and realized that we are works in progress as well. Mmmhmm...go ahead, bask in the glory of my evolved state.LB was loving the braids today, for some reason. She usually tries to take them out, preferring instead to have her usual comb-over style that she is constantly brushing out of her face. I can't believe how grown up she looks in these pictures!The second pic is of her Pippy impersonation. Perhaps this would be a good idea for a Halloween costume. We could paint some freckles on her and gel out her braids. She already dresses like Pippy half the time. The child would like nothing better than to wear mismatched pajamas every day.I need to photograph all of the silly faces she makes on cue. She added a new one yesterday, "pouty." She has been doing "cheesy smile," "angry look," "thinking face," and "surprised" for some time now. It's adorable, even if you're not related to her.

The first outdoor photo is dinner on the deck in the aforementioned mismatched pajamas. As you can see, she likes to wear a little dinner as an accessory to her ensemble.She's watching the fireworks quite seriously. It took her a while to decide that she was enjoying them. I thought Molly might freak out, but she handled it like a champ.

















I tried to get some pics of the fireworks, but you see how well that turned out. You can see our bat box in the first one.The second one is as good as it gets. I guess it does a nice job of representing our view, but the fireworks were amazing and I was hoping to capture some of it for you.

Mother's Day Gift Guide-Part Three (We're almost there.)

We're over the halfway mark now. One more installment to go and this Mother's Day Gift Guide will be finished. Check out these sellers if you are looking for some great gift ideas. Handmade is the way to go! Also, make sure you check out the shameless self-promotion I indulged in at the bottom of the post!

Mother's Day Gift Guide-Part Three



I know, I know. I'm evil. You're all drooling, I'm sure. This "Triple Chocolate Heaven" cupcake is VEGAN. That's right! VEGAN. And it and many other vegan delights are available at the cupcake mint. I have a feeling that they might remove any skepticism you might have about veganism.



There is tons of fun stuff in the Sweet Rice vintage shop, but this "Orange Ceramic Planter" really pops! It's clearly from the 1970s (you can help mom take a walk down memory lane) and has a cool splatter glaze. Just think, you can support etsy and recycle!



Mmmm...This guide is beginning to make me hungry. Clearly this can't be eaten, but it reminds me of fresh blueberries on top of a delicious pancake with maple syrup.... Anyway, this is actually a body scrub, but the folks (yes, I said "folks") over at Madeline Bea Soap Co. say it smells just like fresh blueberries and provides many of the same benefits. Besides that, the labels look all country store and vintagey, which is always fun.



My sister-in-law Michelle has a thing for large bags. I think it's one part aesthetics and another part necessity. I mean the girl carries apples around with her. Anyway, if she were a mother (and she will be someday soon), this would be the perfect Mother's Day gift for her. This XL Hobo Bag from retrofied is made from a neato Amy Butler pattern and is lined with corduroy. Now that I think about it, perhaps Ben should buy this for Michelle in anticipation of her becoming a mother some day!



Here we go with the trees again. I can't help myself. I'm a tree person. This is an original pen and ink drawing, but is an affordable gift because it is an ACEO (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) and is about the size of a trading card. I think this is an awesome way to collect a variety of limited edition or original artwork without breaking the bank. Besides, you get to support the art community, in this case tamara garvey illustration.

Shameless Self-Promotion:

Don't say I didn't warn you. Here are some recently listed items in the shop, one of which has already sold. Yay!