Thursday, August 30, 2007

And just for effect...

Then: October 2004
Now: Summer 2007







My Boobah is turning THREE!

In October my daughter is turning three...I can't even believe it...I don't even know if I can process how fast it's all flying by!

But I set to work last night and I've just about finished her birthday invitations. She's girlie without being princessy, she's sassy without being snarky, she loves pink but she also loves brown and black! I love that she knows what she likes and what she doesn't. And she's just matter of fact about it!





Basic Instructions:
Cardstock: SU! Barely Banana - distresses around the edges with SU! Chocolate Chip ink, I used the ticket corner punch - the card measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/2
Pocket: SU! Bashful Blue stamped with Pocket Fun - wrinkled and distressed with Buckeroo Blue ink to make it look more like worn in denim. Making Memory brads in the corners.
Ticket: (this is where the party information will be going) Measuring at 1 3/4 x 3 1/2 - Heidi Grace - Heidi's cute cakes Designer Paper stamped with Rubber Soul - Please Join Us. SU! Chocolate Chip ink and hole punched at the top with 5" of SU! Chocolate 1/4 " grosgrain ribbon threaded through. Corners are done with the ticket punch from SU!. The back of the ticket has embossed flowers in pink, blue and brown. (so that there's a *little* girlie, girl displayed in the invitation) Some of the tickets have a flocked background so that rather than being embossed it's fuzzy to the touch. Very sweet.
Left Design: Background is SU! Bashful Blue cut at 4" x 2 1/4". Front piece is also Heidi Grace Cute Cakes DP cut at 2 and not quite 1/4 and it's 3 3/4" tall. Corners are done with the ticket punch.

Monogram: Done in SU! Barely Banana and circle punched with SU! 1 1/4" punch. Stamped with the new Wild West alphabet from the 2007-8 SU! catalog in Chocolate chip. This is mounted on a pop-dot for some extra dimension.
I hope you enjoy!!
Thanks for looking!!




Wooooooshhhhhhh!

What a whirlwind August has been!! By now I'm sure you've seen my post about our fabulous trip to ME. Two days after that trip I was plagued by the dreaded 'stomach virus'. I will spare you the details but it wasn't pretty. Shortly after recovering from that I came down with a horrible cold that turned into bronchitis of sorts. Out flat for 2 days...my darling husband had to stay home from work for 2 days because I was that bad. And then OF COURSE the kids caught the cold and the sick. *Just* when I thought we were done with all the sickness my daughter woke up last Saturday morning at 4:30 am with a double ear infection. She's 100% better now and almost done with her antibiotic. Poor kid...poor us! hahah! Anyway, I've been so busy doing everything else that my poor studio was gathering dust and crying out to be worked at! So...now that everyone is healthy I had a chance to get back to it last night for the first time in 3.5 weeks!!! YAY!

Oh and I sent out the following announcement officially getting Paper Canteen up and running:

Hi Everyone!

I am VERY excited to be able to officially announce that I have started my own paper crafting business!! I have always loved working with paper, ribbons, stamps and embellishments and have been doing so for many years as a hobby. I finally decided (with the urging of many great friends and family) to turn my love of paper crafting into a business! I have been taking orders throughout this summer and have been having great success!!

The name of my company is Paper Canteen. You can check out my blog at www.papercanteen.blogspot.com. I am working on getting a website up and running but for now this is where I journal and catalog all of my creations.

I am offering full paper crafting services including but not exclusive to the items listed below:

Greeting cards for all occasions
Invitations
Custom journals, sketchbooks and notebooks
Custom scrapbooks of all sizes – including mini travel sizes
Custom packaging for party favors and gifts – large and small
Gift tags
Custom monogrammed stationery
Custom pens

Prices are available upon request and do vary depending on the work involved. For those among you who are creative but don’t desire or have time to dedicate to crafting I am happy to work with you in regards to color coordination, themes, designs and layouts. For those among you who are not interested in crafting or design, you can tell me a basic idea and I am happy to come up with a few samples for you to choose from and you can leave all the work to me!

I take custom orders in any amount! Whether you want a box of personalized stationery, all occasion cards for yourself or for a gift OR if you want to place a bulk order for holiday cards or just to have a stash of year round birthday cards…it can be done!

You won’t find designs like mine in any store or boutique! All designs and layouts are one of a kind and completely handmade.

I hope that you check out my blog at www.papercanteen.blogspot.com to get an idea of the creations that I offer. You can contact me either through my email link there or you can call me directly at 508-533-7257 if you’d like to discuss an idea that you have or to place an order.

Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to enhance the beauty of paper in your world!

Sincerely-

Meredith Winston
www.papercanteen.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Farm Life

I have almost zero time to blog at this moment (feeding the kiddies dinner) but we were very fortunate enough to be able to go to my husband's aunt's farm in ME for the last 5 days. It was completely exhausting but fun nonetheless. We did a ton of fun things including horseback riding, egg gathering every night from the chicken coop, boating, jumping into Long Lake from the boat, tubing, nature walks, a trip to Freeport to L.L. Bean and daily feeding and care of horses, chickens, roosters and geese.

I've included a few of my favorite pictures (I think we took close to 500!). I'm exhausted beyond exhausted but we're having Flursday with our dearest friends tonight (as we do every Thursday) and I cannot wait to see them! I *may* try to do some late night stamping tonight...we'll see how I feel after a couple of glasses of wine! My efforts may have to wait until tomorrow.