Happy Mother's Day

I hope all you moms out there are busy being pampered and loved today - well, realistically at least the latter. It's a tough job being a mom and holidays tend to create more work for you, even if it's a holiday in honor of you - go figure. So, here's wishing all you dedicated hard working mothers a lovely day filled to the brim with with all the love and patience that you've dolled out to your family over the years.

Image above: the two variations of Mother's Day cards I made for my own mom, grandma, and sister this year! And, since the women in my family are such avid readers I made sure that each card came with a matching laminated bookmark. After the card has been long gone and recycled they will still have that little reminder of my gratitude for them floating through the pages of all the lovely books they read. Now, isn't that sweet?

Teacher Appreciation Sale

In honor of the upcoming Teacher Appreciation Week kicking off tomorrow from May 2nd to May 7th I've joined together with some of my Etsy Greetings team members and offered a sale in the shop this past week! In case anyone forgot today is the last day to pick up any set of stationery at Birdcage Cards at 15% off. Simply use the code EGteach at checkout to get your 15% off. It's a great time to grab a set of pretty stationery and give a little gift to that special teacher in your or your child's life and let them know that you truly appreciate all that they do.

Studio Snapshot

Today is all about multi-tasking. Although, really, what day isn't? I just got back from an extra long weekend at my sister's in Canada and now I'm jumping back into work.

Today is Etsy's Success Symposium and I'm hoping to pick up a heavy handful of handmade business tips throughout the day. So, I've been tuning into the livestream videos from the comfort of my beloved antique spindle legged desk in my sun-porch studio while putting together a kit of D.I.Y. Valentine's for my sister to easily assemble with my 5 year-old niece. Don't you just love a mom who takes the time to teach her children the value of crafting things by hand?!

Upcycled Tags

Remember those interesting sized kraft paper scraps? Well, voila! I turned them into pretty little thank you tags now in the shop.

In the Works and On the Table

It's been a busy month for both me and Birdcage Cards and its only half-way through. *breathe*

Here's a little sneak peak inside my workshop and a look at what's on my cutting table right now - custom bag toppers for the lovely Etsy shop Lolli Luscious. These cute packaging toppers have been producing some interseting sized scraps and I'm feeling a new project coming on. Maybe some handmade tags?

A New Year's Eve Post

Pretty cool huh?

Head on over to Etsy to check out the post yourself. You know it made my day.

Gettin' into the Swing of Things...

For those of you who may have missed my twitter and facebook ramblings it's been a bit chaotic on my side of the world lately. My father underwent surgery right before Thanksgiving and is still recovering from the physical tolls of it. I had a blast participating in the LabRats' trunk show in Etsy's virtual labs, but I spent a lot of time editing pics and getting my shop ready for it. I've been sending out paper goodies in the post left and right and running myself haggard shopping for excellent presents.

And now, with December 25th right around the corner I must admit to finding myself blindly running through the motions of Christmas rather than truly getting in to the spirit of things. That is, until this past weekend when I decorated the tree, strung up my favorite white lights, watched 3 silly holiday movies via the Hallmark channel and Lifetime, and baked sugar cookies from scratch with my mom, sister, and niece - and of course, ate said cookies

It seems that a lot of sparkle and a little sugar was just what was needed to make a cold season feel all warm and cozy again.

{top photo: little treasure via ChelseaVictoria}