Thank you for all of the Autumn flavor ideas!  I was really getting in the mood and then heard that we’re supposed to be getting some more hot weather this weekend.  I am looking forward to taking the entire weekend off and am going to do my best not to think of a single, productive thing at all.

To tell you the truth, I think I may have kicked that off a bit early today.  I am getting ready to head out to Holly Becker’s book signing for her book, Decorate.  I’m really looking forward to it, but first I have to cut out my business cards.  Oh yeah, I’m one of those people who tend to wait until the 11th hour on these things.

This happened to me a couple of years ago, and I discovered in a total stroke of luck that Paper Source’s Luxe Paper (210 G) makes the nicest business cards.  Yes, it does take forever to cut them out, and probably ends up costing more in the long run, but they feel good in your hand.

I just went with a simple one color design and although I do want to update these with my blog logo, I think they’ll do just fine for today.  I know I’m not the only one improvising (Kalani, I’m looking at you), so I feel that I will be in good company.

I’m going to take the camera so I’ll be back next week with a full report.  Wish me luck.  I always feel like the paparazzi when I bring out the big camera bag.   Have a wonderful weekend!

The month of May kicks off a flood of gift gifting occasions in our house.  Technically, it begins April 30th (happy b-day Kristen!) and stretches right into July.  I try to plan ahead to avoid that last-minute card choosing panic.  You know that feeling where you’ve read every card in the store 3 times and can’t find a thing.

This morning I was looking for some gift giving inspiration and found this project in my archives.  I made this shadow box thank you note for some colleagues out of an empty jewelry gift box.  (These pictures are several years old now, and what can I say – I think my photography has improved.  This top photo makes me laugh since the lens cap for the camera is in the background.  Oops.)

I think these little gift boxes might be more fun than a store-bought card.  Hallmark has been letting me down these days.  I don’t want to pay $6 and have the card light up and sing songs.  I think there is a conspiracy to make the regular cards less and less funny to drive you over into the premium section.  No?

Maybe I will start a boycott and make some shadow box cards instead.  What about you?  Do you make your own cards?

This morning, I drove over to the LA Convention Center to take a peek at the Craft & Hobby Association winter show (CHA 2011 for short).  The true story is that I tried to go to the show yesterday, but I drove to the WRONG convention center.  Yeah.  No one in Anaheim knew what I was talking about.

I’ve never been so happy to see a long line of cars trying to park at the LA Convention Center as I was this morning.  At least I was in the right place this time!  My husband has started referring to this incident as my “grievous error.”  Thanks, dear.  I’m fairly certain that I won’t be able to live this one down for a long time.

I only had a few hours to walk the floor so I didn’t get to take many photos, but I did whip out the camera at the DCWV booth.  Check out these incredible dresses made from paper!

I love the mix of white and patterned butterflies (below).

It was interesting to see a lot of companies focusing on the cross over between paper, sewing, and fashion.  Cosmo Cricket announced a new “fashion crafting” product line with EK Success, as well as a new adhesive product that can be used to create easy fabric flowers from strips of fabric.  I’m always blown away by all of the embellishments that the scrapbooking companies provide.  I’m excited to see them bringing some of their ideas to fabric.  What do you think of this trend?

Hope your week is off to a good start.  Knowing where to show up is always a plus.

[All photos courtesy of my sister.]

We interrupt our regularly scheduled winter/holiday programming to re-visit something very special that happened over Halloween.  Hang on, I think you’ll like this one.  I didn’t get a chance to post about my sister’s Halloween carnival because I was in the middle of fall market.  However, this one is too good to wait for a whole year.  While I was touching up my fabric collection, my sister was in her garage making this over-the-top witch’s house out of cardboard boxes.  (There is my sister up top in a funny wig, and no, I have no idea what she is starting at. )

My sister lives in one of those cute neighborhoods that people wish for where all of the moms get together and plan cute activities and meet-up at the park.  This year, they had a big community carnival for the kids, and my sister wanted to dress up her cupcake station with something a little extra.  Except I don’t think she knows how to do make anything “little.”

I am in awe of how she took cardboard boxes, markers, and a little paint to make this house.  I think this project would be really fun to adapt for a winter carnival.  (Giant gingerbread house, anyone?)  I love the shutters and window box on the side.

There are some more pictures on my sister’s blog including a photo of the costume she made for her Great Dane.

[All images courtesy of my sister, Rebecca.]

I hope you don’t mind if I brag about my sister for a minute.  This past week, my niece turned 3 years old and celebrated with a Dora the Explorer party.  This party turned out SO cute that I don’t think you’ll mind a little bit of gushing on my part.  My husband and I missed it (stupid flu!), so maybe we can all look over these pictures together and pretend that we were there.

I think parties with licensed characters can be tricky to pull off even though the kids get really excited about them.  (Dora was my niece’s special request.)  I thought my sister did a lovely job of incorporating Dora without it looking like the party store exploded in her house.  Now, in full disclosure, I should let you know up front that my sister is a baker — so of course, we should expect some pretty cakes.  (In other words, there is no way I would attempt that cake up top at home.  At least not on short notice!)

Look at these little star cookies:

I’m not sure how she found the time to do this, but it turns out — there were cupcakes too (vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream for the adults).  My sister was shopping with her children, and the birthday girl asked for a funfetti box cake.  I think my sister nearly died since she’s a baker and makes all of her cakes from scratch with her special recipes.  However, she’s a Mom first – so of course, she made the funfetti box cake for her daughter even though it probably broke her little baker heart.  Anyway, I think this explains why she made special cupcakes for the adults.  ;-)

My sister is also a whiz with scissors.  She’s always making cute cards and crafts with a stack of colored paper.  She hand cut the little faces for these Dora’s backpack invitations.  The backpack actually opens and the invitation slips inside.  (Check out this link to see her template to make your own.)

She also made all of the goody bags by hand!  They even close with velcro.

I hear that the birthday girl had a wonderful day.  I’m pretty sure her mom could use a good nap now!  Hope you are all having a great week.