cute lovebirds

Let's start off with some cute lovebirds. I just love this card that I found on a Pinterest board. It was actually a card that was sold in the SunkissedKeepsakes Etsy shop. Very simple and sweet layout. The birds are so cute, and I love the little bowtie and veil!

I would also like to introduce my own lovebirds today. This is my son Justin and his fiance Julie's Save the Date card. They are such a great couple. My son is a wonderful young man. Very wise and kind. Very much like his dad. He works with mentally ill patients, holding group therapy sessions, helping with ECT treatments and as a recreational therapist in an acute psychiatric hospital. He also travels to hospitals in Missouri teaching crisis management and intervention to hospital staff. His fiance is an RN. She is so sweet, and already such an important part of our family. They are both living and working here in the St Louis area, but they are getting married in a church in Julie's hometown in Kansas. The reception will be held outdoors on her family's farm. It is going to be a rustic, DIY reception. I will share some of the fun wedding projects Julie and I have been working on as the month progresses.

That's it for today. Visit tomorrow for Vintage Image Saturday!

Our May Swappers Are Ready to Roll!

Let's get going and have some fun this month! We've got Pam, Jayne, Sherry, May, Elizabeth, Debby M (a newbie this month), Becky G, Francie, Wendy, Marti, Joyce, Marie and Lorraine. Visit their blogs to say hello- they are all listed in the right column over there (scroll down a bit) >>>

Also, while you're visiting blogs, don't forget to follow the Mr Linky links below to see all the great creations from last month's Mothers Day Peach Swap. If you haven't added your Mr Linky yet, please do so we can see your goodies!

Tomorrow the white, ivory and Wedding inspiration begins! And I will also introduce you to my very own wedding couple, Justin and Julie!

There's still time...sign ups end tomorrow morning, April 3rd

Sign Up TODAY for the May Wedding Swap!

My son is getting married on May 31st of this year, so therefore I've chosen the theme of "Weddings" for our May Swap! We will be swapping these 3 things:

1. a handmade card
2. a handmade tag
3. just a WEE BIT of ivory and/or white craft destash

There will be daily posts filled with lots of wedding and white/ivory inspiration! And of course, there will be a White and Ivory Givaway on April 15th. The "mail by" date for this swap is May 1st. Don't miss the fun- sign up now! Here's how:

STEP ONE: See the list of Swap Rules in the right column >>> and be sure you can follow through with all of them before you sign up.

STEP TWO: How to sign up for the MAY Swap:

Send an email to aswapforallseasons@gmail.com with the following info:
1. your name
2. email address for your partner to contact you
3. link to your blog
4. if you are willing to mail to an international partner THIS month

If you have never swapped with A Swap For All Seasons before, please list any recent swaps you have participated in and how you found A Swap For All Seasons.

I will send out a confirmation email letting you know if you have been added to the swap. When the sign ups are closed, you will get an email with a list of participants and who you will be swapping with.

As long as you are still seeing this post, you can still sign up! I will close the sign ups on the morning of April 3rd or if we reach 25 swappers. COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOT CONSIDERED A SIGN UP FOR THE SWAP- please send an email!

Reminders and Mr Linky for the April Mothers Day Swap

Today is the mailing deadline for the April Swap. If you haven't mailed your package, please do it today! I'll be mailing everyone a follow-up email sometime next week.

Don't forget to sign up for the May Wedding Swap beginning tomorrow, April 1st.

Here is our Mr. Linky for the April Swap. Please post what you received from your partner (and what you made if you'd like!). I can't wait to see!

my VIP

This last vintage photo for the month Susie's and my mom on her wedding day. I thought it an appropriate way to "Spring Forward" from the April Mother's Day swap to the May Wedding Swap. Our mom was beautiful, inside and out. Her initials were VIP and she liked to joke about that! She certainly was the VIP of my life. She's been gone 16 years now and I miss her everyday. I'm sure this is something that many of you understand completely. So let's end this Mother's Day swap with love and prayers for Moms everywhere!

See you tomorrow with our Mr Linky for the month.

vintage image Saturday...photo booth fun with mom

Moms & kids...priceless!

vintage postcards

Such a great idea to use a vintage postcard on a tag. You could either photocopy it and reduce the size a bit, or crop the original if necessary to get a good fit. The sample shown here looks like the postcard was reduced in size. I found this tag on Mollie's Pinterest Board, but I am not sure if she is the artist. She has great tags and cards on her boards, however!
I'm also showing a couple of vintage postcard images that I think would be ideal for a Mother's Day tag. Love it!

more prettiness

I just love this card. So fresh and pretty! I found it on Pinterest, and followed the link here but the card is no longer on the site. She used one of my very favorite papers. And I love the sewing and simplicity of the layout.

pretty little details

Such a great tag! I love all the pretty little details. It came from the Spellbinders website. The idea gallery at Spellbinders has lots of great inspiration.

from Debbie

Special thanks to swapper extraordinare Debbie, for sharing these 3 great cards with us this month. The top 2 could easily be used for Mothers Day as is, or with the word Mom or Mother added/substituted. The top one is very elegant and has such beautiful color. The middle one with the little girl is my personal favorite. I love the image and the papers. The bottom one is of course, adorable! Thanks again, Debbie!

Please, if anyone has made cards/tags in the past that go along with the swap themes, send them to me at aswapforallseasons@gmail.com so I can share them! I'd love to be able to showcase the talent in this wonderful group!

Wrapping it up...the final week of the April Swap... really?

I feel as though it just started and here we are in the final full week of the swap. I thought I'd kick off this week with a great packaging idea.

This paper bag pocket came from this blog. The blog is not in English, but the picture tutorial is easy enough to understand from the pictures.

This would be ideal packaging for our monthly swaps! You could showcase the month, color and overall theme right there on the paper bag pocket and place your card/tag/destash inside. So nice!

peachy destash

Vintage Image Saturday...celebrity moms and daughters

so charming

I love this picture of the mom and daughter twirling. It reminds me of my favorite movie, "You've Got Mail". If you've seen it, you know how adorable Meg Ryan was talking about she and her mother "twirling". If for some reason you haven't seen it, my goodness you must! Anyway, the image would be sweet on a card.

I also love this tag I found on Pinterest. I know the jewelry lovers/makers in this group will love it too. Such a great way to give a little gift on a tag. Perfect for a co-worker or friend. Or for mom! You could hang charms that have meaning to her. It could be removed from the tag and dangled from a chain, from a purse, etc. You can find the tag on this blog. The artist, Anitra calls it "Charmed I'm Sure". So sweet!

cute duos

Oh my goodness, how cute are this mother/daughter duo! I love the old photo booth pictures!
Today's card is one that I made. The flag garland was actually a piece of flag garland scrapbook paper and I cut portions of it to use. Flags for card garland can easily be made from washi tape looped around string and cut into a point or straight across the bottom. It can also be made from tiny fabric strips (love!) or any little scrap of paper. So trendy and fun! The charm and the image is from Red Lead . The little doily is from a package of Martha Stewart paper embellishments. It was white and I ran over it with the car (no!), with a Ranger Distress Ink Pad in Antique Linen. For the little tag, I printed the words on the computer onto scrapbook paper and used my Martha Stewart tag punch.
See you tomorrow!

a little humor...

I made this tag so that I could use
a. my favorite fun stamp
b. my favorite trim
c. one of our favorite phrases (My daughter Mary Grace says, "You are a rock star!" when someone says or does something she likes. So of course, I now say it to her as well.)

Handmade cards/tags are a great way to incorporate a person's favorites or inside family/friend jokes into your gift. So many times have I looked at dozens of cards at the store and can't find one that says what I want it to say? The answer? Go home and make one (and save yourself $3)

The vintage image for today features a great little "mom joke". I love it.

when a picture is worth a thousand words

This picture stole my heart and must stand alone.

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Since "vintage image Saturday" was preempted by the Peach Giveaway, I thought I'd share an image each day this week along with card and tag inspiration.

Since today is St. Patrick's Day, I chose an adorable image of 2 little Irish dancers. If mom is Irish, this image would be perfect on a Mother's Day card. I would add some green coloring to their outfits and perhaps a wee tint of red to their hair!

I also chose a lovely green card to showcase today. It was from Dee Dee's Mother's Day Blog Hop and can be found here. So vibrant and pretty. I love the glittery paper and especially that trim along the top.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Peach Giveaway Winner!

Well, someone did! And it's my favorite Createologist! Please don't choke on your peach tea, Sherry! Congratulations! You had comment #3 which was chosen by the random number generator at mathgoodies.com. If you'll send me an email with your mailing address, I'll mail your peachy package right away!

I'll be back tomorrow with more Mother's Day card and tag inspiration!

The PEACH GIVEAWAY is TODAY! Leave a Comment to Enter

This giveaway is open to everyone, not just April swappers. Just leave a comment on this post anytime today, March 15th to enter. Also, please leave your email address if you haven't swapped with us this year so I know how to contact you if you win.

The winner will be chosen by the random number generator on mathgoodies.com and announced tomorrow, March 16th.

The winner will receive the peachy goodies in the picture, which includes: a selection of peachy papers, velvet ribbon, button, pretty paper roses, peachy pearly flat back embellishments, washi tape, gorgeous cupcake liners (great for making garlands and for paper crafting too), an exclusive Red Lead rubber stamp, and last but not least, a handmade card and tag. Alas, no special Crayolas this month, but they will be back!

it's about time

Another great tag. I found this on the "My Creations" Pinterest board of Robin Martinez. I love the coloring and the detail. Such pretty paper flowers. Isn't the clock a Tim Holtz Sizzix die? Anyway, great inspiration! Fabtagstic!

And speaking of time, it's about time for the Peach Giveaway! It is tomorrow, March 15th here on the blog. Sometime tomorrow, visit and leave a message on the Giveaway post. As long as your comment is dated March 15th, you are eligable for the drawing. Don't miss out!

fashion forward

Dress forms and dresses are a great theme idea for a mother's day card or tag. There are so many great dress form and dress rubber stamps, chipboard cut outs, and even images from vintage patterns or magazines that would be perfect. Depending on your image, paper and/or color choices, you can make it contemporary and trendy or go with an old-fashioned, vintage feel.

These examples were made by Carolyn, a Stampin' Up Demonstrator in Australia, using Stampin' Up products. Very nice!

watch me go!

Elizabeth sent me this tag, and I absolutely adore it! It is so nicely made. I love every little element. She said the lady in the cute little car reminded her of me "on the go". That made me love it even more! Oh, the fun I could have in that sweet little ride! I'd go from Michaels, to the yarn store, to the fabric store, to the bead store, tooting my little horn and waving to everyone along the way. A special "thank you" to Elizabeth for your sweet gift and for inspiring us today!

queen mum

This is the card I made for the Peach Giveaway on March 15th (another reminder!)

How It's Made:
I used a white premade cardboard crown frame and covered it with peachy/coral script paper to hide the opening. I attached that to a card covered with a pretty floral. I embellished the crown with a pearl button and flat-back pearls and rhinestones. Her Magesty is a glossy, domed bottle cap picture that I glued into a aluminum rimmed tag. I added some gold glitter around the picture and used a gold Krylon pen to make the silver rim of the tag gold. I added a thin gold bow and gold metallic letter stickers to spell "mother" for accent. I found some wonderful laser cut metallic corner stickers at a rubber stamp convention, and used those in the top corners of the card. And lastly, I added a lovely piece of vintage gold German scrap below the crown.

The inside reads, "Happy Mothers Day with Love from your Royal Subjects"

more peachy destash ideas

I love the salmony/coral hues... don't you?

delightful

Bright, cheery, happy, colorful, fun! It's a tag inside of a flower pot pocket. It was made by Nancy Riley, and it can be seen on her blog She shares a link to a tutorial on how to make it as well. Well worth the visit!

vintage image Saturday...vintage Mothers Day cards

Feel free to save and enjoy these images. I couldn't resist the squirrel for Marie, and the sister card for Susie! (Susie is not swapping this month. She is currently in Jupiter, Florida watching the Cardinals at Spring Training and soaking up sun(the lucky dog. She is also busy planning a bridal shower for my future daughter-in-law, which is so sweet!)

a dressy card for mom

What's not to love about this one? There are so many little variations that come to mind-I'm thinking a real vintage brooch or earring, a tiny pearl necklace, tiny real buttons, a lace or embroidered collar cut from a piece of vinage linen...other color combos (hmmm... how about peach?) I found this card on Pinterest and after following the link a few steps I found the card on this blog post from 2008. Great card Sara, wherever you are! I hope you are well and still creating!

Oh, and by the way. I changed the music. The sad mother songs were too much for me. I instead changed to the music my parents loved, and I grew up listening to.... I can still hear my dad whistling "Elmer's Tune"... Much happier!

peachy destash ideas

more to come...

a peachy tag

I made this tag to be part of the "Peach Giveaway" on March 15th. (reminder!)

Details: I glued a piece of vintage ledger paper to a large office tag. I dug into that never-ending supply of prima paper flowers that I told you about and found a few peachy ones to stack together. I glued some milinery leaves and the flowers to the tag, topped with a button. I used a small, pretty floral tag that sweet Elizabeth sent me as a hostess gift, to which I glued some tiny paper scrabble letters to spell "MOM" and tied it into the bow for the top. From coordinating papers, I punched 2 tiny tags with my Martha Stewart tag punch and added a rhinestone to each as embellishment. I fastened these little tags as well as a little gold "cherish" tag to the bow with a tiny brass safety pin . Then I glued a few matching buttons from my button jars to the bottom.

Tomorrow I've got some peachy destash ideas for you!