Mini Bitty Bird Cards & Giveaway winner!!

I have some super simple mini note cards for you today! I just can't stop making them, I love them so much. The other ones I've made are here, here and here. I'm also announcing the winner of the ribbon giveaway. It's at the end of the post! :)

The Tag-It's stamp sets that Heather has been making are perfect for these mini note cards! I used the Tag-It's #2 with the lunchbox note die. The sentiment is from Tag-It's #1. I love all the mini images you get in the sets!

I also made a flower version too.

And here is the back, which is how I've been "signing" the back of my cards lately. :)

I made several of them to have on hand!

Thanks for all of the really nice comments about my San Francisco trip. We really had a great time and I'm glad I got to share a bit of it with you!! And without further ado, the winner of the ribbon giveaway is:

Lucky 13! Which would be, SUE ANN! Congrats, Sue Ann! :) Email me with your details and I'll get your ribbon out to you! :)

Thanks for taking a look! Have a sunny day!

Bon Voyage!

My hubby is away right now. He's in Croatia visiting his mom. I usually go with him, but this year I stayed behind because I'm 7 months pregnant. Missing him like crazy, but I made him this card before he left and then handed it to him at the airport.

The inside is stamped: "You mean the world to me" from PTI's Masculine Motifs set. I stamped the background sentiments and then covered it with a piece of vellum to resemble a soft sky with clouds. Then I attached it with brads to hold it in place instead of adhesive. The two planes represent him leaving and then coming back home!

The ink is Brilliance Rocket Red, Brilliance Coffee Bean and Versamagic Ocean Depth. The paper and twine is Papertrey Ink.

Here's the stamp set I used to make the card.

It's by Michael's Recollections. I really like those little Recollection stamp sets and you can't beat the price, it was on sale for $3.50! Just make sure to use pigment inks, because the dye inks don't work with acrylic very well.

By the way, look how close the color scheme is to this week's Card Camp color challenge. I almost entered this card, but it had a speck of blue in it so I think it might not qualify. I will definitely be making a few cards this week using this color scheme though. I LOVE it!! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. And don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE. Hope you're having a nice sunny summer day!

God Bless America...

I sent something off to my brother at school a few days ago, and I made him a little mini patriotic note to go with it! :) I used the PTI Americana stamp set: est. 1776. I also got to try out my new Jenni Bowlin inks. I really love them! I used Fountain Pen and Chili Powder. They are a wonderful dye ink. The ink gives such good coverage, it almost looks like a pigment ink.

I added another phrase to the inside flap. I kinda liked that the phrase is the next lyric in the song, so you almost sing it to yourself as you're opening the card, "God Bless America, Land that I Love..." Makes me kind of teary-eyed whenever I hear that song. The 4th is definitely one of my favorite holidays!

I continued the stripe pattern on the back of the card.

The light tone on tone ink color is Antique Linen by Tim Holtz. And the die is my favorite Papertrey Ink die, the Lunchbox Note die. I use it all the time, because I love making mini notes!

And a peek at the inside...

Hope you had fun celebrating last weekend. I spent some time with my relatives in south Florida at the beach. We had a great time! And by the way, HERE are some tips about taking pictures of fireworks! So sorry, I meant to share this with you on the 4th, but I was still in south Florida and wasn't able to get a post up in time. Hopefully you can bookmark it for future use.

Don't forget there's still a few days left to enter my giveaway HERE! Have a sunny day!

My San Francisco trip plus a ribbon GIVEAWAY! :)

Source: fleetstreetscandal.com via Monica on Pinterest

My husband and I took a wonderful trip to San Francisco a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to share with you some pictures I took there. It's really a lovely place and I highly recommend going if you're ever able to. We also did quite a bit of driving around including a Pacific coastal drive along the Big Sur. I also picked up some goodies there to share with you so be sure to check out the end of the post for the giveaway!

I took along my regular camera as well but these two pictures were taken with my iPhone. I really love my iPhone camera! Along the Big Sur, are a couple of famous bridges, including the Bixby Bridge, built in the early 1930s during the Great Depression (part of the New Deal I believe?).

The vistas were breathtaking...

Here's my hubby and me posing...

On our drive, we also stopped by the Santa Cruz pier and amusement park. It's very old, one of the first beachside amusement parks. I didn't get to ride on any rides this trip (not until the baby is born), but it was fun just to walk around and take it all in! It was surreal to see a roller coaster so close to the beach!

Beautiful California poppies. These were popping up everywhere. Being used to Florida which is quite monochromatic, California's landscape is very colorful and vibrant with beautiful flowers.

We also stopped by Alamo Square which had gorgeous views of San Francisco. And someone was flying a kite that day too! ;)

And this is what it feels like to be crossing underneath the Golden Gate bridge...I took this with my iPhone in the car looking up as we passed through. Really amazing feeling!

Here's a foggy vista of the Golden Gate bridge. The ship going underneath the bridge there is the same one that we took when we took a Bay Bridge cruise underneath the Golden Gate. It was sooo windy, but so worth it!

And here's a pregnant belly shot of me with San Francisco and the bay in the background. ;)

We also stopped by Boudin's bakery and restaurant in Fisherman's Wharf. They are famous for their yummy bread bowl soups, which I tried. They also have the neatest breads baked into all kinds of shapes and animals including a lobster, a turtle, a crab, a bear, a gator and more!

I'm a total bookworm so a stop by the City Lights bookstore was a must! Such a cool store filled with unique books. This is where the Beat poets got their start and published their works, and it was named a historic site in 2001. They still publish books today.

And this was the view from the top of Macy's in Union Square in downtown San Francisco. You must go to the top floor if you're ever there. Very pretty views!

One of the crafting stores I found in downtown Union Square was the amazing store Britex Fabrics.

It has four floors filled with fabrics, ribbons, buttons and any other kind of trim you could think of from all around the US and the world. It is truly heaven! It is a one of a kind store, only one location and it's been there since 1952. Some of the famous guests include fashion designer Diane von Forstenberg and other designers and celebrities.

Here are some pictures inside this amazing store.

They had a huge section with tons of new and vintage laces in many colors.

Here are the cream laces...so many in a row and very elegant!

Here is their third floor filled with ribbons as far as the eye can see! Every width and style of ribbon.

That wall behind the counter is covered in BUTTONS. A whole wall of buttons all arranged by color (love!). Sorry there are no close-up photos. They do not allow that in the store!

Here I am standing in front of their wonderful wall of trims. ;)

More of the color coordinated fabric...I so appreciate that because that's how I have everything arranged in my home!

One of the ribbons that caught my eye were the 100% silk hand dyed, hand cut ribbons. They are so beautiful and silky and would be wonderful tied on a card or on project or sewn into something special.

As a thank you to my blog readers, I bought a yard of several different colors of this pretty 100% silk ribbon to give away.

You must be a follower to enter (just click the follow link to the side if you're not yet a follower) and then just leave a comment below. That's all you have to do! I'll ship it anywhere in the world and I'll pick one winner by random.org generator next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Sorry about the delay in posting, I have many more crafting posts ready to go and can't wait to share them with you!

Do you Pinterest?

Lately, I've been having a lot of fun with Pinterest. It is such an amazing source of endless inspiration.

Just a little info: Pinterest is a site where you can bookmark your favorite photos. You bookmark the photo from anywhere on the internet, save it to your pin board, then later click on the photo and it will take you directly to the link where you found the photo. You can also bookmark other people's "pins" too. I've found quite a few wonderful tutorials this way and the inspiration is truly endless.

If you'd like to follow my pinboards, my Pinterest account is HERE. I'd love for you to follow my pins! :) Let me know if you'd like to share yours too or email me if you would like an invite to join. Here are some of my favorite links on Pinterest that I've pinned recently.

Love the colors of this nature scene...

Source: etsy.com via Monica on Pinterest

Books and flowers...love.

Source: girlyme.tumblr.com via Monica on Pinterest

Gorgeous fashion...

Source: weheartit.com via Monica on Pinterest

I love pinning tutorials too. Like how to make your own jewelry using stamps and shrinky dink plastic. Cool!

Source: planetjune.com via Sherry on Pinterest

There are lots of fun products out there too! Such as this road tape. I want to try using this in the baby room (we're doing a transportation theme).

Source: ohsweetbabies.com via Monica on Pinterest

So those are a few pins I've added lately. Thanks for letting me share. :) And sorry for the delay in posting the past month. It has been a very busy month. I'll show you what I have been up to tomorrow! :) There will also be a small giveaway too. Be sure to check back if you can!

Have a sunny day!!