Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale....

All of the Big Box Stores are starting to advertise their Black Friday specials so guess I better hop on the bandwagon and let all of you know about my specials too!

In both of my shops, HandmadeBits4u and AndMorePaper, you will receive a 10% discount when you checkout with a special coupon anytime during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.  And what is the coupon you ask.  It is FriMon10.

Here are few things that are currently available in my HandmadeBits4u shop.  Check back frequently though as I will be adding more!

All of my Pee Pee Tee Pees for Baby Boys are included in the sale...

As are my Microwave Bowl Potholders 

As well as, my Toddler Bibs

In my AndMorePaper shop you'll find mini note cards and these Christmas Gift Card Holders.

Have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.  And happy shopping this weekend too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance

-Turkey, Stuffing, and everything else that makes up a Thanksgiving dinner

-Handmade

-Shopping from home

-Another mild November day

-Coffe and orange cranberry muffins

ps - As a bonus for those of you who have read the entire post, the FriMon10 coupon is already activated so feel free to start shopping early!

Ahead of Schedule

I'm ahead of schedule for a change!

The handmade holiday cards were finished a few weeks ago!

Tonight I designed and placed the order for the photo cards that I will include with them this year.  The photo card features 5 generations of mothers/daughters beginning with my granddaughter and going back to her great great grandmother.  Now all I need to do is to buy the stamps and get them mailed. Here's a sneak peak of what they will look like!!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance 
-A lazy Sunday afternoon
-Very successful craft shows
-The anticipation of not having to listen to any more election ads in a couple of days
-Pumpkin Spice Coffee
-4 Legged Friends

Halloween Treat Bags with Hershey Miniatures

September is coming to a close which means pumpkins, goblins, and witches are just around the corner. It's time to start thinking in orange, purple, green, and black!

Here's a terrific treat bag for those extra special kids (both young and old).   Each has 4 Hershey Miniatures wrapped with a Halloween themed designer paper. They are placed in a cardstock tray and  slipped into a pretzel size cello bag.

The Halloween Tag is stamped with "Beware - Try Only ... if You Dare" on a scalloped circle, matted on a second, larger one, and then tied with a ribbon. A purple witch on a broom sticker finishes off this delightful treat bag.  The stamp is from the Bone Appetit Rubber Stamp Set available from Red Rubber Designs.  There is also a companion set called More Bone Appetit.  I made the Purple Witch stickers with a digital download from Gufobardo, an online shop specializing in paper art, paper dolls, and art Aceo deocrations.      

I can't take credit for coming up with this idea.  I saw a similar approach using Hershey Nuggets for Christmas Treat Bags.  I simply adapted it to Halloween!!

Happy Halloween

Thanks for stopping by....

Rita

Today's Abundance
-Halloween
-Orange, Green, Purple, and Black
-Hershey Minatures - actually, anything Hershey!
-Outdoor weddings
-Dessert bars

Photo Frame

I absolutely love this photo of my daughter and granddaughter!  It captures the essence of both of their personalities - happy, adventurous (it was a camping weekend), and beautiful (both inside and out)!  I knew I had to do something with it.

Since my son-in-law is the one who took this delightful photo, I thought it would be fitting to create a photo frame for his birthday.  I set out one afternoon with the photo, a wooden frame, scrapbook paper, paint, adhesives, and a few other things.  

I painted the frame. Cut and adhered the paper to the frame.  Made the "My Girls!" rectangles.  Found the sun rays in the paper collection, cut and matted them.  Added the coordinating polka dot paper on the left hand side of the frame.  And lastly punched some paper circles to mat the word washers - adventure, inspire, and journey.  All of these accents have been mounted with foam tape so there is a 3D effect to the frame.  

And here's a close up of both sides of the frame.

            

The frame has been delivered.  And it was indeed a hit!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance

-Papercrafted Photo Frames

-Birthdays

-Fall weather

-Daughters and granddaughters (and son-in-laws too)

-Crafting time

Merry Wishes

We've had a summer filled with heat and humidity.  Now it is September.  While we have had a few nice days of more normal temperatures in the 70's and 80's the last few days, today our weather people are predicting it will get back up into the 90's.  If it does, it will be the 31st day of 90 degree or more temperatures.   This stretch of heat started way back in May making it a very, very, very long summer indeed!  By the way, the normal number of days we get above 90 is a mere 13.

So, I think it is only fitting to post something that will bring thoughts of cooler weather.  Yes, it is time to turn our attention from the summer heat wave to that of the winter holidays that will be upon us in no time at all.  I had the good fortune of finding some time to play with paper this past weekend.  As I was looking for paper and projects, I came across my drawer full of Merry Wishes designer paper - a fun and festive collection of pinks, reds, and greens with a holiday flavor.  I dug out a few tools and a stamp and some embellishments and ended up creating these delightful Christmas Gift Card Holders.

Here's the front of one of them.  The belly band with the Merry Christmas greeting keeps the gift holder closed so the gift card (or folded money) is safe and secure.  I used both scrappers floss and bakers twine to embellish the tag.

And here's the inside of the gift card holder.  The gift card (or folded money) is inserted into the tabs on the right and the left side can be used for a handwritten note.

This photo shows a stack of gift card holders that showcase the many different designs and colors in the Merry Wishes paper collection.

Stay cool today!

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance
-A good lunch with friends
-Papercrafting time
-Photos, photos, photos
-Sewing time
-Fall (and the hope of cooler weather and colorful fall leaves)

Puppy Dog Quilt

I do a lot of quilting.  Quilting is the process of selecting fabrics that look good together, followed by cut the fabric into bits and pieces, and then sewing them back together in a (hopefully) pleasing design!  Well, every once in awhile it does the quilter's soul good to do a quick and easy quilt rather than  selecting, designing, cutting, piecing, and quilting.  One of the ways to do this is to use pre-quilted fabric.

I serendipitously found this delightfully fun puppy dog pre-quilted fabric and couldn't resist it.  It has now been transformed into a quilt that any little boy would love to have!

This side features puppy dogs on blue and red.  It is bound with red fabric.  You'll find long dogs, short dogs, big dogs, small dogs, white dogs, brown dogs, dogs with spots, along with dog collars, bones, and dog houses!

 On this side you'll find much of the same on a blue background.

And here you can see more of the quilt.

These puppy dogs are so very cute.

The quilters soul is fulfilled today!

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance

-A finished quilt

-A tired puppy dog of my own

-Blue skies, breezes, and temps in the 70s - my kind of weather

-A productive day

-A new blog post... finally

The Day Lilies

The day lilies are in full bloom!  Here are two new ones that I planted this spring.

I especially love this deep purple lily accented with yellow - although this photo just does not do the flower justice.  Can you see the yellow pollen on the petals?

And then there is light peach colored lily with the yellow and green center.

Remember to take time each day to smell the flowers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Rita

Today's Abundance

- Day Lilies of all colors

- Flowers of all kinds

- More wallpaper removed

- New product photographed and listed on Etsy

- I keep thinking it is Saturday but it is only Friday - that's goodness as I have more time to do more things!