Louisa is 2!

Louisa loves Kitty!  "Where's Kitty?" is the first thing she asks when I go get her out of her crib in the morning.  He's so patient with her and will even follow her around.  She likes to give him pretend tea.  I don't know what he thinks!

So we had a black cat themed birthday party for Louisa.  Which is also perfect since her birthday is so close to Halloween.  We just used pink and teal as the accent colors instead of orange.

Here's a look at the buffet top.  

Strawberry cake and black cat sugar cookies!  Yummy.  We ate cake at the party and sent cookies home with everyone in the little cat bags.  I found the cute black cat bags at Target. The cat face made an easy decoration for the top of the cake.

Here's Louisa enjoying her cake at her little table (which used to be her mommy's).

I added bows and party hats to black cats and made a tiny card with cat buttons.

I wanted to use the cat buttons, because Louisa loves playing with all my buttons.  She sorts them, carries them around and calls out the colors.  I think her favorite activity is deliberately dropping them on the floor, saying "Oh, no!" and wanting us to help pick them up!

We had so much fun at Louisa's birthday party!  
She was adorable when my mom and dad left: they said "Bye!" and she said, "Happy Birthday to you!"

Black Cats for Halloween

Louisa loves Kitty.  Who just happens to be a black cat, of course.  While she was here this weekend,  Louisa carried around my black cat cards and she kept picking them up  and saying "Black Kitty."

You can download this cute Little Fortune Teller with her black kitty below.

This adorable black cat is a svg file.  Fun for a last minute Halloween card or making multiples.  It doesn't take too long to put together and if you like cats, it's purr-fect!  Couldn't resist!

I love this cool cat.  He's a little scraggly, which I think is really cute.  This is also a svg file.  I think it's really pretty.  I covered the cat in black glitter and gave him green eyes. I ended up making this card 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 - it's really large.  One reason is because of the intricacy of the cuts.  

Louisa has been so cute identifying all the pumpkins (on the porch, in her Halloween books, at restaurants, etc...)  Her first ever gluing project was to glue a jack o' lantern face to a colored pumpkin.  She caught on to squeezing the glue pretty quickly and we had to wipe up just a little bit extra.  She must have put on and took off the eyes and mouth about 6 times!  Doesn't she look serious?

Download Little Fortune Teller HERE.

I just have to tell you about my daughter's Autumn Festival Cookbook on Kindle:

Lauren just published a wonderful history-filled cookbook called Revel.  

Okay, yes, I'm the mom.  But still...this is a wonderful read.  If you love to learn things, if you love history or if you love holidays:  this book is for you!  Even if you have no interest in the actual recipes, you will enjoy the fun information!

Lauren has done a LOT of research on traditional British food and late autumn holidays.  She tells you all about the history of the holiday (great conversational tone) and each recipe features a picture and the recipes are tried and true.

You can download Lauren's book, Revel, HERE on Amazon.  (It's only $4.99.)


Thank yo for stopping by and for letting me tell you about Lauren's cookbook.  Have a wonderful day!

Double Square Overlap Window Cards + Video

Hi,there!  Oh, my gosh.  I've been so busy!  I had one of my show and sales that I had to get ready for, HAD to have fun with Louisa and had to finish an order of 5 haunted houses and 5 halloween lanterns by today.  Phew!  

Here are a couple of cards I finished earlier.  Love these!

Double Square Overlap Window cards are fun and easy to do.  I've got a video for you below.  

It's really cool how the squares overlap and how just a little bit of the image shows in the squares and then...

opening the two flaps reveals the entire scene.  Isn't she sweet?  A Little Miss Muffett character you can download below.   I embellished a bit with some stamps colored with copics.

The Christmas one is just delightful with the gold embossed left side and the fun pattern of the right side.   And then...

a Meowy Christmas!  (This stamp set is from last year - I couldn't find it available anywhere.)

Here's the video:

Download Little Miss Muffett HERE. 



So glad things have slowed down a little.  Still have lots of goodies to make for orders from my show and have to make Louisa's birthday invitations over the next couple of days.  Shouldn't be too hard! 

The Double Square Overlap Window card would work for just about every occasion.  I'd like to find time to make a few more.  Are you going to make one?

New Window Card + Printable

Okay, you know I'm a sucker for a black cat!  I just can't have enough.  Well, I have one real one and he's probably enough.  But, seriously, cute black cat images?  Nope.  Not. Enough.

What is it that you keep finding yourself attracted to?

And add in a cutie pie girl and an oh, so very sweet puppy?  Okay...that's hitting all the buttons.  

You can download the violin playing girl and her singing sweeties below.

The window card with two different patterns isn't hard to make.  But here are a couple (4) of tips:

1.  Either print two papers side by side or go ahead and glue two prints to a lightweight

piece of paper.  (I didn't go ahead and glue it down because...well, see #3.)

2.  Cut the card base and the patterned paper at the same time.  My 120lb card base is so thick that I ran it through three times and then turned it over and ran it through again!

3.  To make the inside look nice:  Turn the frame face to the INSIDE of the card and tape it on the front.  Patterned paper will cover it.

4.  Cut another frame from the same paper you cut your card base and glue it to the top of

the other frame.

Download Vintage Girl with Violin, Cat and Puppy  HERE.

Hope you have a day worth singing about!  Thanks for stopping by...

Wishing You a Happy Day (2 Cards - Same Design) + Free Image

Hi!  Let me be the first to wish you a happy, happy day!  

Love that sentiment - it covers a lot of things:  just a general "Hi and have a happy day" or something specific like a birthday.

I've had this postcard floating around in my vintage ephemera boxes for awhile now.  And I finally got around to pulling her out.  So glad I did - she makes a darling birthday card.  Of course, you  know I love black cats so it couldn't get much better!

Didn't need to dress her up a lot - she's so cute on her own.  I did add a little watercolor butterfly.

If you would like to make a little sweet  something with her too, you can download her and the sentiment below.

Here's another take on the same design as the card above - just a little smaller.  Plaid is always a favorite of mine and this is a simple design that works for all kinds of things.

Both of these stamps are old.  The little girl is one of my long time ago favorites from StampingBella.  She is just the sweetest.

Download Happy Happy Day HERE.

So go have a happy, happy day!  So glad you came by!

Paper Sweeties 6th Birthday!

Hi!  Paper Sweeties is 6!  Thank you, Debbie, for asking me to join your celebration.  I had so much fun creating my projects!  (Check out the video below for the mini cupcake cards.)

To celebrate being six, Paper Sweeties has a Challenge contest running through 11:59 pm EST on August 31st. The lucky winner will receive a $100 shopping spree at Paper Sweeties! Gallery viewers will vote by 'liking' their favorite projects and choosing the winner.  To link up your new celebration/birthday inspired projects, click here: Paper Sweeties.  The winner will be announced September 1st.

Paper Sweeties even has an inspiration photo for you:

Pretty color combination!

My first project is this sweetie pie dog - isn't he cute?  I love the little heart shape at his tail!

He's simply colored - just one copic (except for his cheeks).  I randomly added colored areas to get that spotted look.  I also really love the slightly wonky scallop frame - one of my new favorites!

You can see I made use of the rectangle (slightly wonky) scallop frame for these mini cupcake cards - aren't they sweet?  The watercolor is so simple and I'm really liking the monochromatic theme.  At first, I wasn't sure that there was enough contrast between the cupcakes and the background, but then I felt like they were so soft and pretty.
Here's the video on the mini watercolor cupcake cards:


Don't forget to link up for a chance on that $100 shopping spree at Paper Sweeties!  So glad you stopped by to celebrate Paper Sweeties turning six!