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Yep, those are some of the ingredients for her birthday dress I want to make.....I have a special plan for her party attire.....that will include lots of polka dots, ruffles, tulle, shimmer and glitz......she'll look all cute with it on, and then she will happily smear it with cupcakes and frosting, I'm sure!
I just can not believe my little mama is turning 1 already!! This first year, so far, has been absolutely magical in every single way. I'm not going to get into all that gooey stuff, but I will say......she is the absolute SUNSHINE of my entire being and I cherish every single minute we have together, every single day!!
On to a lil Lemon Tree love! I was feelin' a little "dark".... I LOVE how bright papers look against black, so I went for it....and came up with these jumbo "cut out window" cards......
I Heart You Birdie...check it out HERE
I also just finished up a sweet family album & matching card, using that super-duper cute paper from October Afternoon--LOVE the colors! They are from the "County Fair" collection....a must have for paper lovers! (and look, there are no owls on it--can you believe it??)
BUT.............wait ( you know I had to sneak some in!)
This Friday's freebie is a special one......I am teaming up with Nicole (she lives in Hawaii--jealous!?).....she has the yummiest etsy shop around!! It's where I bought all of those cute stamps from recently. She is donating a precious little owl stamp for this Friday's Freebie!! YAY! Thank you, Nicole...
You will get to choose one of these owl stamps........
Or the "light" owl......
And, to top it all off, I will also include these sweet owl fabric/cardtock tags...
AND these fun Holiday Hoots stickers...a set of 24!
What a fun giveaway....you get an owl stamp, owl tags and owl stickers! So, here's what ya gotta do to qualify.....
Visit Nicole's SHOP, have a little look around and come back to comment to THIS post and tell me.....what is you favorite item in her shop and why?
And, don't forget to visit her blog, for sneak peeks of life in Hawaii, new stamp designs and more!
P.S. Nicole told me that if you purchase anything from her shop.....AND YOU MENTION that SHELLY from LEMON TREE sent you (in the notes to seller box)---she will send you this elephant stamp with your order for FREE!!! 
HOW SA-WEET is that??? But, you have to mention my name!!
Lilyana will choose a winner for FREEBIE FRIDAY on Tuesday (Sept. 2), to give ya'll (did I just type ya'll??) a nice long weekend to qualify!
Happy Labor Day Weekend!!
xoxo
I am honored that I have a blog that can inspire....thanks bunches! I get inspiration and smiles from 
Yep, I am officially 33.
That's right! Every single item in my 
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A set of 3 gift tags....
And this felt gift card holder....
Sooooo....since I have that going on through the weekend, I thought it was perfect for my FREEBIE FRIDAY! Be sure to 
Going to give an etsy-love shout out to 
And look at this little dolly of an owl...
This "thank you" owl stamp needs no intro...so dang cute!
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Like a pattern for these cute stuffed birdies.....looks like a fun project!
And these adorable crayon holders....I can't wait to make one for my little 
Oh, and if anyone is interested in whipping up this snazzy quilt for me, I'd have no problems with that.
Seriously.....how on earth was I going to leave these hoots at Tar-
Which brings me to my next owl-y thing.....meet Stephanie the Owl..... 
She's a hand puppet....a full figured hand puppet....
I could NOT sleep last night (maybe it was that Starbucks at 8pm I had) and I was up until 1am making this 
Had the bucket of nature, but cute girl was NOT interested in its contents. Found the grass to be more interesting...
Pigtails: check! The top is a bit large still, so we had to rig it up with a hair pretty.....
And they're rubbery soft, perfect for little fingers to manipulate. Yummy chopped up 
She scanned it for a bit before digging in....it gets an "A"--I love these things!
I know it's still 2 months away, but I'm thinking about Lily's first Halloween costume.....I'm not a big "Halloweener", but I do like the idea of my dolly all dressed up in a fun outfit. Remember, I do like my photo-op's! You've probably already guessed that I want Lil to be an owl this year.....and let me tell you, there are NOT very many cute pre-made options out there......
NEVER, no way....this looks like the scratchy-est polyester ever made.
So, then I was thinking....scrap the owl idea and maybe a peacock? Getting cuter....
Just not quite what I had in mind...so, I guess I will have to go the old fashioned route and make my own....anyone got any ideas?? I am in love with this 
And sweet lil cozy Christmas cards...
Snatch 'em up at the 
Miss Thang here (bossin the boys around already) will help mama by picking a name on Sunday!.jpg)
Poor little guy.....it's like he just gave up......jpg)
All you gotta do it leave a comment to this post by answering this question.....
Yep, that's right....NINE 7 Gypsies!! I love these stamps! THANK YOU soo so much to my sweet bloggy friend, 
I have a few in larger sizes, but I have so many teeny tiny acrylic stamps that get lost on those big blocks! I end up getting the ink everywhere and making a mess (I'm a messy crafter anyways).
Well, I use them for mounting my teeny stamps and they work PERFECT. And, they are cheap...I found a set of 6 of them for under $3.00 and I use them all the time now!
And I wore it this weekend.....for my very FIRST overnight trip with the girls! Lily's 9 months old and I just did my first getaway, can you believe it?? I so did not want to leave her, but I had 7th row tickets to see Dave Matthews Band with the girls! Normally we would have gone to both shows, two nights, but....NO WAY! My friend, Stephanie had her first baby 6 months ago and we just couldn't bring ourselves to stay away for more than one night.....here we are posing for one of the many, many pics that we took!.jpg)
And, here's us with Heather, our other BF.....I call them my blondies....yep, we're the three musketeers! And, for us the best part about being together is getting "ready"! Listening to music, sharing funny stories, trying on outfits, and just bein' silly!
And, this trip was EXTRA special, cuz those sneaky gals had a surprise brewing for me.....they had planned to celebrate my birthday on this trip since Heather lives so far away.....and so they had the hotel room decorated in pink streamers, signs and tasty desserts before I got there and I was shocked!!! I was very touched to see how much effort they had put in to make my night away so special. I just love you girls!! 
............And, Stephanie was snooping around in my etsy "favorites"......and handed me a little package with these yummy owl stamps!!! She's so sneaky!! These fabulous stamps are from 
And the winner of the tags and gift certificate is......JPG)
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Wait...........there's more! I will also be throwing in a $5.00 "gift certificate" to 
The first thing I do is "square off" the vinyl. If you have ever bought fabric, you know that when you get it home, it looks like a toddler cut it, well the same thing goes for the vinyl. I use my rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat to make sure I have even edges. Of course, you do not need these supplies if you trust that you can cut straight & pretty good.
Once, you made sure your vinyl is all even, time to cut out the rectangles! I always make sure to fold the vinyl in half so that I am cutting the top and the bottom of the tags at the same time. I have made all of my tags 5 X 3 inches, so that is how I cut the vinyl....and I make alot, so here is my pile of 5 X 3 vinyl rectangles, ready to be turned into pretty tags!
I take the top and bottom piece of cut out vinyl and begin sewing around one long end, one short end and then back up the other long end, make sure to leave one short end unsewn (to use as opening to fill with goodies). PLEASE NOTE: Make sure to start this project with a fresh, brand new needle as the vinyl is thick and can be diffucult to sew through.....and have plenty of new needles available.....I have broken many of them sewing through this stuff!
Once you have sewn up 3 sides, you can now put in your fun stuff! I add in a "happy birthday" circle or whatever tickles your fancy...and don't forget any glitter or confetti!
I would make sure not to fill it up too much, since it gets tight in there pretty quickly, and you still need to be able to sew it shut! Which is what you do next.......I sew the open side shut first and then I go around the entire tag again.....
and again! I usually go around 2 or 3 times.....because I like how the stitching looks, but you can do it however you like....and it doesn't need to be perfect! Have fun with it...maybe use decorative stitches?
Next, use a tiny hole punch to make a hole somewhere at the top of the tag....and then put an eyelet into that hole.....
Then, get out your hammer & eyelet setter and hammer that eyelet flat (make sure to turn your tag upside down, so you're hammering the back side of the eyelet!). It ususally only takes one quick blow and it's flat. 
Then you just slide your pipecleaner through the eyelet, fold it up and twist.....add whatever pretty ribbons you like!
If you decide to make any, link me or send me some pics! Would love to see! I have more holiday ones coming to the 
She will be having all kinds of fun stuff going on, so be sure to check it out. And, she has alot of etsy shops participating in 
And, there she goes tryin to get up those stairs again!! Come on.....get those gates here already!
