It's the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm SO EXCITED! Even though I LOVE tea instead. I love all of the inspiration that is out there and I cannot seem to resist a fun coffee set. I found these wood slice tags at our Farmer's Market this year and thought they would be amazing for Christmas tags. I really wanted to see how my Verve coffee stamps would turn out on these and loved them using Memento ink. I'm hoping to find some more time to participate in this hop, too. Fingers crossed :)

I've been wanting to play with the Really Rainbow Christmas paper for awhile and finally pulled it out for some colourful tags. I was inspired by Beverley Brown on Day 8 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags with her use of vellum over a small patterned paper. I decided to use a colourful snowflake die to go along with my colourful snowflake background paper.


Christmas Tag Count: 31 + 6 = 37

I have been working on these particular tags for quite some time...inspired by tags on Day 4 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! Oops! It took awhile for them to come together, but I think they are cute! I was originally inspired by Audrey Tokach's colourful tag. The stamps and sentiment I wanted to use were a little big for this tag so I added a tab above it and finished it off by reusing some fun twine that was wrapped around my Lawn Fawn order. I also found this beautiful branch with pinecones on my driveway the other day and thought it would be perfect to stage some photos!


Christmas Tag Count: 28 +3 = 31

Why I'm aiming to shop small and shop locally made this holiday season:

- Made in Canada supports our local economy
- Helps Canadian Mamas (and sometimes Dads too) stay home with their family
- Quality over Quantity; better fit and often for longer
- More environmentally friendly and sustainable options
- Unique and often one of a kind, customizable and creative options

For awhile now, I have been fascinated and excited when I can find something locally made. Even something made in Canada seems to be few and far between these days in the popular big box stores. I have come to learn that items that are "made in Canada" can have major differences among them, however. For example, you could be supporting a handmade maker in Canada, a Canadian designer that finds ethical manufacturing options for their products within Canada, a company that designs in Canada and manufactures overseas (which may or may not be ethically manufactured), or a company that simply has a warehouse in Canada that ships out the items they have received from overseas...MAJOR DIFFERENCES! I did not use to think about the differences in these options and the impact they have on our economy and our environment.

As I have continued my journey in cutting out plastic in my life where I can and aiming to be less wasteful, I have come to think more and more about the purchases I make every day, as well as those purchases that I make for my family and friends. Since my son has been born, I have started paying more attention to where his clothes and toys are made and how they are made. As a maker myself, I can appreciate the time spent designing something, gathering the right supplies, and putting it all together. Through doing some research this year, I have come to find many small shops around me, in BC and across Canada, who are aligning their practices with qualities I have come to admire and appreciate.

In addition to the craft fairs in my local area and the small shops who are also carrying made in Canada products, I have found many small BC and Canadian shops online. Here are some I will be supporting this holiday season:


ROWE Kids
Calgary, AB: the zomper has become our go-to outfit with an ankle-ankle zipper convenient for easy diaper changes

Olive.me.handmade
Fernie, BC: organic cotton leggings and toques made in beautiful wilderness designs

Lilly & Frank
Surrey, BC: organic handmade cloth diapers

Josiah & Co.
Hamilton, ON: not only are these crocheted booties beautifully handmade but they are"handmade with heaven babies in mind", something near and dear to my heart

The Baby Niche
Lethbridge, AB: wooden and silicone teething toys handmade by a wife & husband team

Trae Designs
Squamish, BC: handcrafted wooden toys

Timber Child
Okanagon, BC: natural lifestyle products for children such as wooden plates and toys

LoveBird Sewing Co.
Armstrong, BC: coziest blankets, but also home of the baby nest, one of the best and most used purchases we have made for our son

Peaks & Valleys Baby
Smithers, BC: swaddles, blankets, changepad covers, and crib sheets in beautiful organic fabrics

Snuglee Bug Knits
Surrey, BC: cozy knit toques (and she used to make baskets, too)


Why am I posting about this? Because I really did not use to think about the impact of my choices on the environment and the economy, because I want to support small Canadian businesses and people wanting to stay home with their children, and because I appreciate a good quality handmade product. You may pay a little bit more up front to buy locally handmade, but if you do your research, you will often end up buying less and buying something that will last, which is far more sustainable for us and for our environment.

I have been itching to get this cute Lawn Fawn set out and thought it would be perfect for my friend's birthday today who appreciates a good pun :). I was excited to do some more ink blending and was happy I still had some purple (her favourite colour) plaid left to use for the background as well as a little bit for the alpaca's scarf! I also used a tiny bit of vintage photo distress ink to give my alpaca a little dimension and colour. I used the Freshly Made Sketches layout, and am also linking up with the colour inspiration challenge over at Lawn Fawnatics and the "all that glitters is gold" challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, who just happens to be featuring Lawn Fawn this week, too!

I have managed to get in some good crafty time lately to build up my Christmas tag stash! I'm loving all of the fantastic inspiration over at Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. These particular tags were inspired by Zsofia Molnar on Day 9. I pulled out some of my favourite Verve and loved how these came together.


Christmas Tag Count: 16 + 12 = 28

It was Studio Katia day over at Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags yesterday so I set out to create some tags with some of my favourite products from there. Going along with my goal to shop more locally this year, Studio Katia is a Canadian brand that I am very happy to support! I love their high quality products and beautiful designs. I was inspired by the colours in Dana Gong's fun tags. I added a Lawn Fawn critter that I had coloured up with some distress inks and found a glittery red gem to add to his nose (thanks for the suggestion, Auntie Karen!). I am also linking up with the Lawn Fawnatics color inspiration challenge. I then added some fun iridescent ice flakes to finish the tag.


Christmas Tag Count: 12 + 4 = 16

This card came together with the Freshly Made Sketches layout and the beautiful Grateful Heart paper collection. I love how our stitched heart dies pair so nicely with our basic heart dies.

Kraft Paper

Thin Cuts - Basic Hearts

Thin Cuts - Stitched Hearts

Grateful Heart Paper Collection

Cheers to Wine Wednesday :)

I was excited to add some more tags to my growing collection! I loved Svitlana Shayevich's pretty tags on Day 2 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. I must admit, when I first looked at them I thought they were gold glitter! That stuck in my head and I set to work to make some tags and the cheers just seemed to go along with the snowflakes. Of course I had to make a wine bottle tag, too, with the cheers die cut! I paired our current favourite wine, Wayne Gretzky Estates Cabernet Merlot from Niagara, with the wine bottle tag.

Christmas Tag Count: 7 + 5 = 12

I felt very inspired when I woke up this morning and checked out Day 5 of Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, especially by the striking tags created by Zsofia Molnar. I decided to get into my craftroom and create my own version using white, chocolate, and gold. I pulled out this older stamp set from Close To My Heart and set to work with some older papers too. I loved how simply these came together!
Christmas Tag Count: 3 + 4 = 7

It's November and my Christmas tag stash has officially been started now thanks to the amazing inspiration over at Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! I was inspired right off the bat on Day 1 with Tracey's gorgeous purple snowflake tags.  Since Day 1 is sponsored by one of my favourites, Simon Says Stamp, I decided to pull out some of their snowflakes for my tags and add in some blue and green oxide inks in addition to the purple that I had. I'm quite pleased with the colour combo and am stoked to be starting my tag stash! Fingers crossed I will continue in this way throughout the month :). I am also linking up with the "anything goes" challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Christmas Tag Count: 3

This week I set out to make a card for my friend who just moved into her new house! I thought this Art Impressions door would be great for the front and used this Irish blessing on the inside from Verve. I put it all together using Freshly Made Sketches. I am also linking up with the Art Impressions challenge of using layers.