Sometimes we all need a little encouragement, and in His Word, God actually tells us encourage one another.
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Sometimes it’s hard to find the words to encourage those around us. It can be hard, too, to find others to encourage us.
With this idea in mind, I’ve created cards to encourage you (my job) and to help you encourage yourselves and those around you.
Use them as daily reminders, tuck them in as a bookmark, leave them for others to find at work, school, or around the house. There are so many ways to use these. Use them as Bible study or journal prompts. Tuck the whole set of them in a Christmas stocking or wrap them as a gift. Print as many as you need! How would you use them? Let me know in the comments.
I’ll be working on some other styles for those of you who may like the idea of these, but not the look. Maybe a Christmas theme for the advent season? What do you think? I really love when you guys have ideas for me. 🙂
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I feel like I’m in full fledged Christmas gear these days, at least in my shop. I’ve spent the whole week getting as many new products created and listed as possible. (Sometimes it feels like I’m moving in slow motion though!) After my Mistletoe Bundle, I jumped into Christmas cards! In addition to all the new, I’m also working on bringing new life to some of the “older” items in the shop already with new photos and videos in my listings (still learning here!) It’s been a week of late nights and crazy days! 🙂
I’ve had chicken cards dancing around in my head for weeks, but with Peru on the calendar for October, there wasn’t much time for designing! Since we’ve been back (after the bulk of the unpacking and laundry were done anyway), I’ve been working in every little bit of time I can find.
I just had to start with my truck. I hope you aren’t getting tired of it, but I love this little truck! I love the simplicity of the white and the snowflakes, the boldness of the red and the tall skinny font.
This is actually the first card of the set I created. I had this one mostly done in September, before things got too busy. I grabbed the chicken coop from my clipart set and converted it to the black and white line drawing I have here. Then I just had to add some lights! 🙂 These lights make me happy too. I hope you like them, because here they are again!
My “Let your lights shine” card was inspired by the Christian children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine”. The chicken brings more life and fun to it, I think.
Which card is your favorite? Are you a chicken fan? I’ll take any input you have!
I love mistletoe! Am I the only one? Somehow I never have any hanging in my home, but I gravitate to all the cute mistletoe signs on Pinterest and I’ve taken to painting and designing products with it over the past 4-5 years now.
Several years ago I designed this wall art, but as Christmas is approaching, I wanted to do something more with it.
In this new bundle you can get cards, tags, bookmarks, stickers and clipart in various styles. Click over to see details of what’s included at my shop!
Here’s my favorite part… with my cards in the past, and even with the card I have in this set, I always felt like I was restricting things to couples… romance. That leaves a whole lot of people out! I don’t like leaving people out! I Know a lot of people who might already feel left out at Christmas and I don’t want to be responsible for that! I love how these bookmarks and tags open things up a little.
I can see these being gifted to all the members in a book club! Or to that friend who loves to read! Or stuck in a stocking! Or tags tied to a book on Christmas morning! Or maybe it’s for you!
Speaking of you… I still have my “In this house we do mistletoe!” wall art. Don’t want is this big??? Print it out any size you want and set it on a shelf or mantle. Or gift them to your mistletoe loving friend! The set also includes this as a PNG file with a transparent background! Put it on a mug… I did and it’s so cute (hmmm… a pic of that would be great right now!)
There you go… right in the middle of this pic from last year’s Christmas Market (how did I never blog about that???). My mistletoe mug! I just love it! I give you permission to have it put on a mug! (for personal use… please don’t sell anything you buy from me. If you are interested in that, we can talk about a commercial license!)
Where were we? Ah, yes… mistletoe. Don’t think I’m against romance and actual kissing! (Have you seen my bedroom wall art? That should be back in my shop soon. If you want it now, message me and I’ll get it done!) I’ve still got a cute card you can slip in to husband’s lunch or into the mail for that love far away! Come over to see my updated Mistletoe Bundle. I can’t wait to hear how you are going to use these!!
My chicken calendars are here and I just love them! Like my Truck Calendars and my Doodle Calendars, they are seasonal and petite! A small (Hobby Lobby) easel will hold them in a little corner of your home. These little cuties are just 3.5 inches tall!
You’ll find a little illustration marking special holidays on most months. A snowflake for New Years, for instance, and a sunflower for 4th of July. I decided to match the illustration at the top this year instead of the actual holiday. I love the little pile of raked up leaves on Thanksgiving Day!
Come over to my Etsy Shop to see the rest of the illustrations for each month! And to celebrate *finally* getting these done, I’ve put all my calendars on sale for 50% off till the end of October! Come be the first to get them!
What’s your favorite month? Tell me in the comments!
I’ve added some new products to my pumpkin wreath. I love this little design, but I wasn’t happy with my listing on Etsy. I wanted more for it… so today I took the time to make it what I wanted it to be! And gave it a face lift in my shop too!
I guess it started this past winter when I began coming out with my little bundles for various holidays, but this one was still just wall art. Prints for framing. Like I said, I love mine, but I wanted more for this little guy… more for all of you!
So now, in addition to the 16×20 wall art prints you can put on your Thanksgiving mantle and the 8×10 frames you can place on your holiday shelf, you can also send Thanksgiving cards, gift bookmarks, and tie on little wreath tags to your hostess gifts and around silverware on your Thanksgiving table!
I can’t believe October is almost over! Let’s have an Etsy sale! My family and I were at a fall bon fire tonight where we cooked hot dogs and s’mores over a fire and enjoyed some great fellowship! Colorful leaves and hay rides made the perfect evening! Sitting at home now I just had to share fall with you in the way of a sale! I’ve got a hand full of pumpkin items on sale for 50% off!
One of my favorite fall decorations, especially for Thanksgiving, is this pumpkin wreath!
These cupcake toppers are an adorable addition to gatherings or a festive family night!
Grab the whole baby shower bundle or head over to grab individual items! (Ask me if you don’t see what you want!)
Pumpkin greeting cards to bring a smile to any occasion!
If you’ve been around a while, you’ll know this 50% off sale isn’t something I do often, but I’m getting ready to count down to Christmas. Check in at my shop or here at the blog to see what is on sale each week. I’m planning at least 50% off on select items through November and December!
My 2024 Mini Doodle Calendar is here! At 3.5 inches tall, it’s the cutest little thing!
Years ago, when I first started illustrating, I began creating these cute little calendars as Christmas gifts. I tied them up with those tiny easels you can find at Hobby Lobby (though that first year my husband made them for me because we couldn’t find any) and attached them to the top of cookie platters for friends at church and tucked them in stockings or packages for family. I even sold a few at our Christmas market.
Everyone loved them, so I did it again! Then life hit and I took a couple years off. People asked about them at market each year and family set aside their little easels for “someday”. Last year, with my new Etsy shop open for business, I decided to make the time to create new ones (chickens and trucks). It was fun to be in the calendar business again. I sold a few and gifted them around to friends and family.
This year I’ve been planning to update my calendars for 2024, but before I could do so, one of you contacted me requesting my 2018 calendar for this next year. I was beyond delighted to have a request and got right to work (after I finished the Mountain Lodge Prints I was working on that is).
And it’s here! As I have been doing with a lot of my early work these days, they have been “re-mastered” and are looking better than new! (“Re-mastered simply means I have better equipment and a few years more skill than I did when I made these originally so I’ve cleaned up the digital files!)
I’m currently packaging up 31 of these cuties to take with us to Peru next week (12 cut out so far). We’re taking the whole family to serve at a South American Missionary Conference and I want to gift these to the missionary families who will be in attendance!
Please click over to find this and my 2024 Old Truck Calendars in my Etsy shop now! (If it’s the Chicken Calendars you want, I’m hoping to have the 2024 version in the shop the first week or so of November!)
This may be one of my favorite parties so far. Now I do love pumpkins, but pumpkins and trucks takes it over the top!
You all know that I’m a bit behind. Well, this fun Pumpkins and Trucks baby shower is from last September! That’s right. I don’t quite know what to say, but here it is in all it’s adorable glory!
I’ve been loving me some old trucks these last few years. I fought the fad long enough and now I’m all in. This little boy baby shower was just begging to be pumpkins… and trucks!
Of course, every party has to start with an invitation and I like to show my guests to be what can be expected if they are able to join us. Equal parts orange buffalo check and old truck cuteness, this invitation is in my shop and customizable by you for quick turn around (any other procrastinators out there like me?)
Just inside the party entrance was this little sign, announcing each one welcome until I could do so myself!
The dessert table is always my labor of love! I have so much fun creating “theme-y” sweets and snacks. Those cookies are something my mom used to make. They aren’t pumpkins but I couldn’t resist that sunflower sparkle. They totally fit. 🙂
Orange pumpkins for those who wanted a more natural sweetness (celery stems bring a little veggie into our evening!)
And those are pumpkin rice krispie treat in the back… with tootsie roll stems. Find all my pinspirations here!
If I was already designing invitations and welcome signs, I just had to make food tents too.
I think they help fill in the table nicely where it would have otherwise have been a little sparce.
Not to mention it gives an easy way to note which treats are gluten or dairy free for your guests! Since I throw these showers on behalf of our church, I generally know most of the attendees and their food allergies and try to be sure there are treats for them as well. If the guest list is larger, I’ll also make cupcakes that are not gluten free or vice versa.
Another gluten free treat!
A few decorations on the drink table. I don’t usually get back to taking pictures once guests arrive, so the drinks were staying cool in the fridge when I took this pic. The print in the frame is something I painted. The words around it are “Give thanks, gather together, glorify God!”
I made some last year special order for a local market and have added it to my Etsy store if anyone is interested.
Several years ago, I determined to learn to make macarons for a tea party women’s retreat I was helping plan. It took months of trial and error and many nights after “bedtime” were spent making yet another batch of these with my husband as we tried to figure it out together. It was worth it though. I just love being able to include these special cookies at the parties and events I plan. It is a special touch and I’ve become known for them around the church.
This is the gift table… I hung that wooden pumpkin garland the next day (I try to decorate the church the night before when I can) and didn’t have the safety pins I needed to hang it. I keep gift tables simple. I want to do something since they start and end empty, but I don’t want to take up too much room either.
Not every party I throw has favors. Often favors and games are the two things that get left out when I start running out of time. I was grateful that one of this mama’s friends wanted to help with her shower so she assembled these for me. All I had to do is send her the file for the label. She found fall wrapped Hershey’s kisses and some orange check ribbon. I love how they turned out.
There are so many more details I could have included in this shower but didn’t have time or resources for. Happily, I went ahead and created them after and have assembled a bundle in my shop. Click over to see the rest of the bundle. Some of the items are available independently, like these cupcake toppers. I have created some greeting and thank you cards with the pumpkins and trucks artwork too.
Are you planning a baby shower or have you done one recently? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
For those of you who have been with me for a while, these might look familiar. They are. I first created these for a women’s retreat my church held back in 2019. For some time now, I’ve wanted to list them in my Etsy shop, but there are copyright rules when you use modern versions of the Bible, so I delayed.
Recently, one of you contacted me about purchasing a KJV version of one of these prints, and that was just what I needed to come up with a way to do it! Several months ago I signed up for Corjl… a website that helps sellers like me give potential buyers like you a way to customize a digital product yourselves! (More to come on that front!)
With this new tool in my belt I set out to do what I’ve been wanting to do, but didn’t know how to accomplish. I remastered each of the prints (I was using older software and super novice skills when I digitized these the first time) for quality and to remove the words I wanted to make customizable. Then I brought them into corjl to finish them up. Hop over to my shop to learn more about them and to test it out with a free demo link!
