mini-me!

So this is me, although, I don't really wear midriff bearing tops {anymore!} ... and ... my waistline isn't really that tiny ... and ... my lipstick doesn't usually stay on all that well {that is when I have time to actually put lipstick on}.

But ... I do pull my hair back {too often}, mom's do rule, I do support breast cancer research, I do prefer being barefoot, and I don't know ... I argue that a good string of pearls can be worn with just about anything!

This is too much fun and something you've got to try! Design-her Gals will entrance you for hours! You can make all kinds of fun things, stationery, note cards ... makes a great gift item, and you can even sign up for a membership to be able to print your creations at home.

The best part? 5% of every order goes to the Gal to Gal Foundation supporting stage IV breast cancer patients and their families. I love great products with a purpose!

weekend greeting winner

First ... wow! a great big thank you to everyone who bid yesterday! It's so awesome and inspiring to me to know that so many people ... strangers ... from all over the world are connecting for this family.

And now for the winner of last week's weekend greeting ... Meghan! Meghan, please email me your contact info by Monday and I'll get your lovely WC card out to you then. Have a blast at your reunion!

I have a soft spot for you, as I recently {well, a couple of years ago now} went to my {ahem}, 20th reunion. I did not want to go, but then a piece of me was very intrigued to see what was up. My 'Romy' and I were total BFF's {the original} since 5th grade, but somehow sort of went our separate ways after high school.

We kept in touch through Christmas cards and {my} birth announcements, emailing occasionally ... but when the invite for the reunion came out, we decided we needed to go. We were total 'Romy & Michelle's' ... I kept reminding her we didn't have many friends, who would we talk to, why are we going ... but it ended up being a great night. And I guess we had more friends than I remembered.

And I guess in the bigger scheme of things ... I'm so thankful that I wasn't one of those girls that ... 20 years later, is intoxicated and still dancing on the table!

silent auction for nienie

{photo courtesy of blue lily photography}

This is NieNie ... Stephanie & Christian Nielson.  They need our help.  I recently mentioned Design Mom's idea for a silent auction to help raise money for the NieNie Fund.  The photo below is what bwp is offering for our silent auction, hosted right here.  {find rules at the bottom of this post}.

This is a gift case filled to the brim with yummy goodies from the likes of susyjack*, Linda & Harriett, Dutch Door Press, Pink Loves Brown, Linea Carta, Jack & Lulu, Kate Spade ... just to name a few.  And the approximate value is $150.00.

And WOW! the outpouring of love for NieNie has been overwhelming!  I've read somewhere there are over 130 different auctions!  Here are some I've found {please check out design mom for a full listing, including what everyone is auctioning}:

KC Masterpiece

Design Mom

Bird On The Lawn

30 Handmade Days

Blue Lily Photography

Persimmon & Pink

Swanky Paper

A Daily Scoop

Sarah Jane

Ponytail Challenge

Choose to Write

The Sweet Line

Tangled and True

Lindsey Zufelt

A Room Somewhere

Tollipop

I Never Grew Up

Bloom

Caitlyn & Todd

Baby Anne Quilts

Patrick Lane

Heather Hales Design

The Dill Spiel

Knuckle Headers

Modern Myrtle

Get Up and Play

XO, Miss L2

Butternut Sage Designs

Make Mine A Quad

Claire B Cotts

A Daisy Original

Live Simply Live

Katie Timothy

Life Kunst

Sweet Treats 1

My Neck Candy

Noodle and Lou

The Biggie Blog

Beckstrom Family

Piece of Rager Mind

Mallory Robin

Olivia in Provo

Kayta Family

Summer Projection

Darling Darleen

Word Candy Vinyl

Vintage Fern

Lindsey Loo Designs

Sells Tidbits

C Jane

I had mentioned that if anyone wanted to host an auction, but needed something to auction, to contact me and I would send it to them.  Katie contacted me and I've sent her these Snow & Graham goodies to auction on her site.  {just an fyi, in case you're interested in some other bwp goodies!}

Okay, and now for the rules to start bidding on {and hopefully win!} the bwp gift case:

1. Silent auction will start Thursday, August 28 at 6:00am {ct}

2. Auction will end Sunday, August 31st at 10pm {ct}

3. Opening bid must start at $10.00

4. Bids must be placed in whole increments of $1.00

5. You will leave your bids in the comment section

6. You must leave an email address.  For security purposes, I suggest using this format; tracie{at}broadwaypaper{dot}com

7. I will confirm the winning bid {although it may be quite obvious!} on Monday, September 1 at 8:00am {ct}

8. The winning bidder must donate the amount bid to the NieNie Fund via a PayPal account already set up.  I will forward you a link to their account ... once you've paid, please forward me the confirmation and I will send you your lovely package.

Whew!  I think that does it ... sure hope I'm not missing anything here.

Let's all band together for a great purpose!  And be sure to stop by some of the other auctions ... great fun for a great cause!

tony's table {three}

My girls go back-to-school today, so I thought this back-to-school display is perfect for today.  Is this an awesome display though?  Tony actually made a paper computer!  The keys on the keyboard write out to say "the staff of broadway paper welcomes you."  I love it!

I'm also a fan of some of the other fun things displayed on the table.  You can never go wrong with a susyjack* pencil holder.  And I love all the task clips from Knock Knock.  I'm loving the Orbit holder & other pencil {catch all} holder from Umbra {unfortunately, we don't have those online}.

So here's to school buses, gym shoes {the school now requires velcro gym shoes!}, sharpened pencils, and a fresh box of 24 crayolas!

do it with hattitude

Say what?!?  Have you ever heard of a hattitude party?  hat+attitude = hattitude.

I spent the day yesterday with my dear friend, Marta, watching her getting pumped full of chemotherapy drugs.  And I'm having a terrible time writing this post, as there are basically no words to adequately describe watching your young friend {mother of two small children} face something like this.

Marta was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer {Triple Negative} less than four months ago.  Even though it was caught fairly early, she was diagnosed at stage three.  And because of the very aggressive growth rate of this cancer, she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction one month after being diagnosed.  She's had some big ups and big downs ... but my goodness ... if attitude is everything, Marta is going to get through this with flying colors.

The reason for my post, is I'd like to give some suggestions on what you can do to help family, friends or even acquaintances get through a time like this.  We all often feel helpless.  And I would say, just do something ... anything.  Any gesture is going to be greatly appreciated and needed.

But first let me tell you what the worst thing is that you could do.  Tell the family, "call me if you need anything."  Even though it's said with the best of intentions ... let me be the first to tell you ... you won't be gettin' a phone call!

So what can you do?  Besides all the usual gestures {which are absolutely important}, you could set up a free website for your friend.  CaringBridge offers and hosts a free website for patients faced with illnesses.  It is an absolutely awesome way for people to stay in touch with the patient.  The patient writes in her journal and friends/family are alerted there's a new entry, they login, can sign the guest book ... it's really just an awesome thing.  Visit Marta's site here.  And I promise, anyone can set up the site.  There are easy peasy templates to choose from, you enter in a little information, download a few photos, it gives you a website address and you're all set.  I promise the family {and friends} will be forever thankful!

Next ... go to a chemo or doctor's appointment with your friend.  A spouse may not always be able to go, or someone may need to stay with the kids.  And I promise you, your friend will love a little 'friend' time.  Bring some magazines, some snacks, and spend your time giggling with your friend to keep their attention drawn away from what they're there for.  You may not always have time to do this ... but just make it happen.  It will mean the world to your friend ... and I'll bet you're the one who walks away feeling blessed.

Send the kids something to keep them busy while mom or dad aren't feeling well enough to play.

Send flowers on chemo day.

If you're not a phone person ... send a few texts now and then just to let them know they're on your mind.

Do a walk or run or triathlon in their honor.  We did the Danskin triathlon for Marta this year and wrote her name on the back of our legs.  She was honored indeed.

And so what's this hattitude thing about?  Before she started her treatments, we had the best bash for her!  Everyone brought something along to give her {gift certificates, scarves, blankets, lotions ...} ... there was a large table completely overflowing with gifts.  The entire day was an absolute blessing to Marta and a great way to send her off before getting her surgeries and starting chemo. 

Lastly ... in this book of all posts ... the television networks {ABC, NBC, CBS} are airing 'Stand Up To Cancer' on September 5 {7pm ct & 8pm et/pt}.  Check out the website for more information.  You can donate, launch a star, or honor someone.  There's even a link for an evite {I endorse the evite for this situation only!} for a viewing party.  With the scary statistic that 1 in 3 people will get cancer {one out of every three!!!} ... it's time to take a stand against this disease.

a little love ...

Many thanks to one of my new favorite designers, Cathe from Feterie for a recent spotlight on her fun blog!  Check it out ...

seriously?

{photo courtesy of wikipedia}

So, seriously?  Jerry Springer?  That's our celeb sighting?  Some old guy that hosts trash TV?  And seriously?  He's still on TV?

Yesterday afternoon we had lunch at The Ivy, with our heads constantly moving this way and that, trying to spot a celeb.  There were paparazzi everywhere and you could tell they were standing on edge for something big ... word was that Johnny Depp was going to arrive, but we never saw nuttin'!

We visited Malibu, sat in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire, Santa Monica, Rodeo Drive, Robertson Blvd., Kitson, Lisa Kline ... nuttin'!

Then last night we had dinner at Mr. Chow ... I was pretty sure we were going for broke when who walked in?  Jerry Springer.  The girls could've cared less.  Me too for that matter.  Try explaining to a 13 & 14 year old how the old man standing in the foyer is a celebrity!

Later as we were eating we could see flash bulbs going off outside the restaurant, but never spotted 'anyone' coming in.  And as we left, ran into a wall of paparazzi again ... actually, one guy was parked outside The Ivy earlier in the day.

Unsuccessful in the way of 'sightings' ... but totally successful in the way of bonding.  And I wouldn't trade that for nuttin'!

support for nienie ...

{photo courtesy of design mom}

As is my usual MO, I can't remember where I first read about this ... but when I did, it touched me deeply.  I've been seeing the news pop up on a few more blogs here and there and am amazed {though I probably shouldn't be} at how the blog community is reacting with love, support and most importantly prayers.

Stephanie {Nie} and her husband, Christian were in a private plane crash and remain in critical {burn} condition.  Christian's flight instructor was killed in the crash.  The engine in the plane stalled shortly after takeoff and landed in a wood pile.  c jane has a link on her blog to the news story ... it shows a very vivid picture of the crash site that gives me chills.

I have my private pilot's license.  My husband is a private pilot and to impress him during our days of dating, I decided to get mine too.  I think a short skirt would've done the trick ... but no, that's ambitious me ...

The last flight I ever took {as pilot} was July 12, 2001.  I took off from a small Wisconsin airport with the intention of flying to Madison.  My mom, aunt and cousin were all on board.  It was a super windy day, but the wind was right down the runway {no cross wind} so I thought I'd be fine.  I radioed the tower with my intended destination and requested permission to takeoff.  Once I received clearance, I headed down the runway ... just before takeoff speed {and before I was ready}, our little plane took off.  The wind had gotten me at just the wrong time and put my plane in the air.  I was freaked out ... big time!  The stall horn came on, my heart was racing and I was freaking out.  My instincts must have kicked in {or maybe is was the Big Guy holding me}, but I somehow knew enough to keep the plane level and stop climbing and fortunately, the horn stopped and I gained control of the plane and my airspeed.

My hands are honestly sweating as I'm typing this ...

Anyway.

Once I gained control of my breathing, I circled back toward the landing pattern and called the tower for permission to land.  "That was the fastest trip to Madison I've ever seen," he said.  I landed safely, parked the plane, thanked God, and walked away from that little hobby.

So that was pretty rambly of me ... it just scares me sometimes to think of the 'what-if' scenario.  And to hear Stephanie's story ... it just makes me pretty sad, and I guess thankful all at the same time.  Stephanie and Christian have four small children.  They have months of recovery ahead of them.  Their children are going to a different state to be with relatives while their parents heal ... please, won't you join me in praying for them?

I was excited to see this post today and decided for next week's weekend greeting, I'm going to do a silent auction too.  I think it'll be an awesome way we can all show our support.

I also want to spread the word for any of you that have blogs that would want to host an auction too.  {please email me if you would like me to donate a prize to your auction}.  If you don't have a blog, or don't want to host an auction, please see Design Mom's post for some other ways you can help.

I don't know what I'm going to give yet for a prize, but I promise it will be greater than great!  And instead of posting next Friday {for the weekend greeting}, I'm going to start the silent auction on Thursday.  I'll let you know what the prize is and what the rules are at that time.

I urge, urge, urge you to get involved and help ... it's the least we can do.

another thank you!

Isn't this precious?  We recently did a reorder from LobotoME, which included some new goodies {soon to be on our webshop}.  And last week I received a special delivery tube, finely decorated with kid art ... nothing grabs your attention, or says 'fun' like kid art!

So there's a little thank you note inside from Jenny, along with a clip and poster ... the tube masterpiece was from her little one to mine ... sweet!

weekend greeting giveaway {five}

This weekend greeting is once again from The Great Lakes.  If the pictures weren't a dead give-away as to my whereabouts, I'm in LA right now ... so this card is perfect!

Here's the deal for the giveaway ... leave me a comment saying who you would send this card to and why. I will pick my favorite comment and send it out to you when I receive your address. You can find more rules here.

As for last week's winner, I had such a hard time deciding {not unusual} ... but I gotta follow my heart and go with Abbie.  I just finished a round of NutriSystem at the beginning of the year, so I've got a personal soft spot for Abbie.

Abbie, just email me your address by Monday night and I'll put the card in the mail to you.  Thanks everyone for 'playing!'

So ... a little bit about my trip (in case ya' all are still reading and care}.  Miss teenager is mine from a previous marriage and it's important to me to spend some alone time with her.  I wanted to take a girls trip and asked her where she'd like to go ... LA was her answer ... basically a mission to find the Jonas Brothers {who we're seeing in concert, at home, on Sunday ... and we have backstage passes ... this is going to be absolutely priceless to watch how she reacts to meeting her future husband ... Nick, she's all about Nick}.

She's been reading more and more about celebrities and famous people and I think she's getting a bug! And since I'm more likely to know the names of Gwenyth, Halle, and Jennifer's kids, than say ... the abbreviation for Maine ... I figured a trip to LA would be fun.  We're having a great time, but no celeb spotting yet ... oh! actually, the girls {we brought taylor's bff along ...} saw lil' romeo.  {p.s., the 'star' cookies are from the hotel ... cool, huh?}

And about that bug Taylor's getting, she's been asking if she could try modeling.  Actually, she asked what would be the easiest way to 'get famous' {are you laughing?}.  And since she doesn't really dance, sing or act ... she thought modeling might be a path to try.  And because I'm a freak for photos, I figured at the very least I'd get some new wall art!  These photos are courtesy {well, not as in free ...} of Zoe McKenzie Photography in Chicago.  And even if I wasn't her mommy, I think they turned out pretty great!

a few good posts ...

I guess I'll call this link time ...

{photos courtesy of operation nice}

I posted about Operation Nice a couple of weeks ago ... and thought it was worth revisiting to let you know Melissa has a couple of great downloads.  You can get the postcard here.  And the notecard here.  I love these ideas ... Melissa has written 'nice' notecards and left them all over the city.  I think it's worth joining this revolution!

{photo courtesy of i heart you}

I've mentioned before that my nephew has recently graduated from basic training {he's now awaiting airborne training!}, so this post touched me.  What a great way for us to support our troops, and it takes only 2 minutes of your time.  Also a way to do something 'nice' ...

{photo courtesy of snippet & ink}

Okay and yeah, I just can't stay away.  They're on my radar, so by default, they're on yours too.  This is just too lovely not to share!

lucky stationery

So ... I wanted to send my contact at Lucky a little note with the items I was sending to her, but began feeling the need for some updated stationery {you know how you seem to make yourself last on the list for things?  Well, my stationery had gotten a bit outdated.}.  What's the Chief Paper Lover to do?  {Sorry Cathe to steal your title, but I've envied it for too long now and it somehow fits this post perfectly!}  :)

So what's the CPL supposed to do?  Why take full advantage of her designer of course!  Nellie put together this cute stationery for me.  And because she's so awesome and good, she gave me two options to pick from ... I love her!  Isn't it cute?  And the liner she used was perfect because I sent that wrap to Lucky as a sample.

And for an update on my Lucky dilemma ... I sent way too many products, I just couldn't narrow it down.  And thank you, thank you to those of you that came to my rescue and sent me some new samples!  Sabrina at Hello!Lucky, Alexandra at Snow & Graham, Kira at Tiara Designs, Erika at Delphine ... and thanks also to Cathe at Feterie, Emily at Orange Beautiful, Dave at Fiona Designs, and Susy at susyjack* ... thanks for trying guys!  I know it was a super quick deadline.  It's been such a whirlwind, I sure hope I'm not missing anyone!

I can't list out everything I sent {to be honest, I just don't have the energy}, but here are the designers I included in my shipment {if my memory serves me correctly} ...

Hello!Lucky, Delphine, susyjack*, Orange Beautiful, Pikku, Sarah Marie, Feterie, Elum, Tiselle, Tenth & Grant, Rag & Bone, EcoJot, Deluce Design, The Great Lakes, Little Oranges, Nantaka Joy, Night Owl Paper Goods, Urban Bark Papers, Snow & Graham, and Wiley Valentine.

I'll keep you posted ...

traveling ...

Guess where?

a sweet new dress

Could this dress be any sweeter??  I suppose the fact that it comes from a store named Sugar City Shop {currently closed} could be the reason.

So here's the scoop ... I'd like to give credit to where I found this dress, but I subscribe to no less than a thousand blog feeds, so when I see something I completely lose track of where I saw it.  Am I the only one that happens to?

My strong feeling is that I saw this dress on another blog, so clicked over to the link ... and fell in love!  And of course, now I subscribe to that blog too {definitely bloglines worthy}!

Anyway ... when the package came in the mail, I was awed!  Of course I didn't remember I ordered the dress or that I was expecting something to come ... you know that surprised, Christmas morning feeling?

Look at this packaging!  Hand-written address, complete with swirly outlining!  Stitching {yes, with an actual sewing machine} around the outside of the package.  And the cutest thank you notes ever ... and some extra blank ones that the girls got to love.

This was a purchase that kept on giving!

new from orange beautiful

{photo courtesy of orange beautiful}

As I mentioned, I haven't been on my game lately and seem to be running behind in everything!

I've been meaning to post this, but haven't had a chance.  I received a note from Emily a week or so ago about their newest creation ... a 'Cash Money' print, available in six different color combos ... I'm diggin' 'em ... what do you think?

If you love them, you can purchase here.  I can't decide my favorite ... maybe the gold on brown?

nellie's inspiration

BWP's very talented graphic designer, Nellie, has a little thing for navy & white and all things nautical.  She was all juiced up over my recent post and suggestion of doing my future office in navy & white.  So I decided to pull a little inspiration board together in honor of her.

She's recently married {07.07.07 ... yeah, cuz she's that cool} and had a completely nautical theme.  Everything was designed and hand-made by her.

Location | a Lake Club

Save-the-dates | a boat sail

Place cards | paper sailboats

Wedding favor | a small pail of swedish fish

Bridesmaid dresses | navy with small white polka dots {jcrew}

Cake | white tiered with navy ribbon

The wedding was beautiful and not a detail missing ... check out the 'thank you' for the musician.  And because she's our designer, we got to use some of her pieces in our marketing materials {yay us!}.

And now for my inspiration ... Nellie painted the living room, of her recently purchased house, in navy!  This room looks so cozy!  And toy-free ... for now!  Hint, hint Nellie ...

remember these guys?

I posted on Hello!Lucky a few weeks ago and thought I'd revisit after seeing this post.  Thank you so much Sabrina for the mention!

And this is Hunter's birth announcement that Sabrina mentions.  Sigh ... the last birth announcement I'll ever send out {another reason I kept having babies!}.  I love everything about the way this announcement turned out.  I'm a sucker for envelope liner and I love the tiny pink dots!  The little scroll in Mr. Lamb's mouth says, "it's another girl" ... love that!  And of course the precious photo of my squishy little baby!

And since I've 'went there' ... I decided to share the following photo that I shot while trying to get Hunter's announcement photo.  Hunter was up early {as new babies often are!} and Wynter had gotten up too ... for some reason she was running nakie {we love nakie time in our house} and kept getting in my shot.  I was blessed to grab this one ...

Sabrina was also kind enough to help me with our little 'Lucky' dilemma ... thanks guys ... I still *heart* you!

photography crush

{photo courtesy of creature comforts}

I love photography ... and just about fell over when I clicked through this post today at Creature Comforts.  You must check out Susannah's flickr page ... please note, she's only 15 years old!

bwp pick of the week {three}

I'm in love, and you will be too ...

progress on construction ...

Things are moving along on our construction project ... yay!  I took the girls through the other day and they are quite excited.  Although, miss teenager is a little ... eh-hum ... shall we say green?

This photo is of my office ... the fireplace will be in the right{ish} hand corner, to the left of the blue plastic.  And the blue plastic will be replaced with windows.  We love as much window light as we can get ... the problem that leaves me with, is not enough wall space for photos {and kid art ... love kid art!}.  I've also included a photo of progress on my chimney.  Mmmmm, I can already smell the burning wood ...

The photo on the left is the hallway outside my office that runs from the existing house to the new bedroom.  The door shown is the girls old bathroom that will stay intact, but be repainted.

I had fun showing the girls the space and in fact, a wall of my new office space is one of their old bedroom walls.  When we were in there, we saw some little hooks still up from where their 'chore charts' used to hang.

The photo on the right is of their new bedroom space, looking toward the closets and playroom area.  Today, we picked out where each one will have their space.

These photos show the siding is going up ... the final siding will be painted a weathered grey to match the rest of the house.  And you can also see the roof is getting tiled, actually, that should be complete now.

The patio I was standing on to take the picture is right outside our bedroom and the stones in the foreground lead to our bedroom patio door.

You may have to click to enlarge these and take a better look ... I was standing on our bedroom patio taking the photos and saw my reflection and thought I'd take a shot.  These are looking directly into our bedroom, you can't see much because of the reflection, but I thought they turned out kinda cool and that I would share.  If you look closely in the photo on the left, you can see the through the windows to the other side of the house.  As you can see ... we really do like a lot of windows!

{p.s. my construction photography pretty much sucks ... how's one supposed to take sexy photos of plywood?}

national magazine dilemma

So ... I get an email yesterday from Lucky magazine. Crazy excitement!! We've been wanting to put together press packages to send to different publications, but just haven't been able to get to it ... so the fact that they contacted us is just pretty darn cool!

Here's the thing ... they want to feature us in the Lucky Breaks section for the December issue. What does this mean? We'll get a whole lotta publicity! But it also means I need to offer a 25% discount on the entire broadwaypaper.com web store for 60 days!! Yikes! That will hit me hard.

I have to be honest, this paper store does not yield me much {read any} money! It's pretty much a break even business for me. I know my rent for this gorgeous store is outrageous ... but still! Another little secret is that I sweat when I offer a small 10% discount. When I first bought the store I never offered discounts ... refused! I've loosened up a bit ... but this offer has me a little shaky.

I know I'm gonna do it. You can't say no to Lucky ... although, I did have to say no to Martha a few months ago ... but that's a different post.

So here's the other thing ... they'd like some 'sophisticated' holiday items ... by next week! I haven't started ordering holiday from my 'sophisticated' companies yet. Another yikes!! They need about 25ish things and pick only one to use in the feature. And that's another thing, how can one product represent your whole store?

Liz, Erika, Susy, Nicole, Emily, anyone, anyone ... I need some sophisticated holiday designs ... like yesterday!

{and dear readers ... now that I spilled my secret ... promise you won't wait til November to place your orders!}

fun waste of time

Have any of you seen this site?  As evident with the following photos ... you can waste a good amount of time there!  You just pick the effect you want, upload your image and ta-da ... a new work of art!

{effect: museumr | photo: found here}

{effect: museumr | photo: piper, frog hunting}

{effect: lomography | photo: hunter, eating blueberries}

{effect: rubik's cube | hunter: on helicopter flight}

{effect: amazing circles | photo: hunter, eating corn at the fair, original below}

weekend greeting giveaway {four}

This weekend greeting is from Mr. Boddington's Studio.  "Dearest Friend, I just ate a pan of brownies."  Do you love it?  I wasn't on my game this week and last minute thought it'd be cute to have the girls eat some brownies and take a photo holding the card ... instead we have Piper here with chocolate pudding smeared all over her face ... she loved that!

Then for dessert last night the girls got cupcakes {please ... they're store bought} and I couldn't resist snapping some shots of Hunter and her frosting smeared face.  I promise I wasn't torturing her, that's her 'camera' smile ... seriously ... for over a year now!  It's sorta too cute to try to change it, so for kicks I ask her to smile.

So on to the giveaway!  All you need to do is leave a comment {by next Friday} saying who you would give this card to and why.  I'll pick a winner and send you out the card ... easy peasy!  You can find more rules here.

And sadly, there were no winners of last week's weekend greeting.

mindy weiss wedding collection

Have you seen this wedding collection from Mindy Weiss?  It's kinda cool.  You all must know who Mindy is, but in case you've been living um ... somewhere that would cause you not to know who Mindy is, I'll lay it down for you ...

Mindy is thee go-to wedding & event planner.  Beverly Hills, Hollywood, celebrities {Gavin & Gwen, Heidi & Seal, Eva & Tony} ... you get the idea.

So Mindy's basically gone 'Target' and is offering celebrity-style goods with a non-celeb price.  Gotta love when that happens!

My favs are the wedding planner, hanging door pad, and wedding tip envelopes.  And if you're looking for a fun gift option, I'd go with the guest book or passport cases {every new bride or bride-to-be loves the whole mr. & mrs. thing!}.

eye candy

{photo courtesy of snippet & ink}

Okay, I realize you can check in with Snippet & Ink yourself and don't necessarily need me repeating it here ... but I can't help it!!! I love their inspiration boards and want to share them from a mountain top!

I'm way behind in my blogline feeds, so just came across this and screamed {silently, inside my head} EYE CANDY ... don't you think?

more lovely greetings

These adorable cards are from Dee&Lala ... another NSS find.  I guess I'm lovin' the simple, but colorful design right now ...

Again with the letterpress treats ... need I say more?

Skunks, opossums, worms, oh my!  Do you love these letterpress creatures?  We have an opossum that hangs around our house ... I realize they may be a tad on the creepy side, but I've come to love this guy.  It's like an evening show with the kids all gathered 'round the window watching the little guy scour through the dirt.

And these remind me of my drive in to work ... I live about 30 miles from the store in a rural area and right now they are starting to harvest cabbage in the fields {this might be lettuce on the card, but it humor me and pretend it's cabbage}.  And of course, Wisconsin is all about the cow ... gotta love the clover in his mouth! 

new website for snow & graham

That's me at the NSS!!  Emily made me a personalized binder for the show ... everyone asked where I got it and I proudly explained Emily's talents and how she personalized it just for my 'show needs' ... there was even a secret compartment to store my credit card ... although not so secret, when in my excitement I showed everyone where it was!

So when we were drooling all over the S&G booth ... the lovely ladies of Snow & Graham of course spotted my creation and asked to take a picture of it.

I was super happy to see it on their newly released website yesterday.  And since this so does not describe me {well ... maybe in my fantasies}, I would like to tell you what the fine print says:

"#1642 Queen Anne's Lace, Snow & Graham wrap covers this binder spotted on the arm of the uber-cool Tracie of Broadway Papers."  {But really, it's just Broadway Paper ... and really, I know I'm not uber-cool ... or I wouldn't be calling it out in a blog post, right?}

And then I spotted this!!!  How cool?  A deer head wrapped in paper ... and Snow & Graham paper to boot!  Jennifer Khoshbin's website is absolutely amazing ... you must check out the whole thing ... you'll be so inspired by what you see.  It's incredible to think of the things you can do with paper.  I love, love the book projects!
{image via jenkhoshbin.com}

{image via jenkhoshbin.com}