DIY Stamped Gift Bags & A Belated Father's Day Recap

Clearly behind on my blog posts, I wanted to share our Father's Day celebration back in June with you because I was so proud of the way my gift bags turned out! That and I have some really cute family pictures from the brunch.

For the three Dads in my life - my husband, Mike, my step-father, Mike, and my father-in-law, Frank, I had fun shopping for some of their favorite things, sudoku, crossword puzzles, books and the like! The kids and I decorated blank white gift bags to make the gift extra special (and provide some crafty, kids activity!)

I used PSA Esssentials Peanuts Flying Ace Peel & Stick Stamp pack to create adorable stamped bags. You can do this with any stamp set to match your theme or occasion. (Whimsy Cakes works great for Birthday Bags! Or try a number from PSA Vanilla Number Set for the age of the person's birthday party you are attending.)

Not to sound too salesy but note that our stamps with the PSA Essentials stamper really make crisp and clean impressions.  This really is because of the self-inking PSA stamper.

I went with a patriotic red, white and blue theme...

I scored some beautiful Papyrus cards from Target.  Since I was hand delivering and not mailing them, I could use my monogram stamp instead of my address stamp.  This is the Antique Cipher style.  Check out the cards!

Of course, Connor had to write a note...

Here we are celebrating at my parents house on Father's Day! I am beyond blessed that we get to celebrate ALL together. My in-laws and my parents are very good friends. No picking and choosing. We get the best of both worlds. I feel incredibly lucky.

Here's to three of the best Dads in the world and all those wonderful Dad's out there reading this. Happy very belated Father's Day! (Feel free to shout, it's AUGUST, Libby! I know, I know... I am really behind...)

Lemonade Stand

The Oriental Trading Company catalog gets me every time. They really have my number! A few weeks ago, I received a summer catalog that contained 2 whole pages of a lemonade stand party. This was how the idea of a O'Regan lemonade stand was born. The sparkly marketing of that catalog and also that my daughter, Molly, has been saving for a Barbie Dream House since the beginning of the summer. We required that she choose a charity and donate half of the earnings to that charity.  With guidance, she choose to support hungry children so we are making a donation to Feed America.

Like all parties or events with my kids, we do a lot of prep activities to support the event.  We worked on painting a sign, assembling fans (because holy cow, it was a REALLY hot day!), making lemon cookies, wrapping some store-bought lemon loaf, practicing with our cash registers and making change for customers, and making some decorations.  You know we incorporated PSA Essentials Peel & Stick Stamps into the mix, too!

We only had about 4 actual neighborhood customers but are thankful for sweet friends and family, The Bradfords, Eccles, Yaccos, Golsons, and Evanisko's for coming by to support the cause.  What fun! Here's a photo recap of the O'Regan Lemonade Stand!

(Please excuse my son in underwear, honestly, at least he has undies on. He mostly likes to run around naked... yikes!) 

Mike was so happy with me and having to put together the Lemonade Stand I purchased from Oriental Trading Company.  I honestly had no idea so much assembly was required.

So nice of the Eccles boys and Parker to come help out! (I had to get Parker a special apron, too. Love that little girl!)

What an awesome afternoon! Thanks again to our friends who were able to support the cause and join the fun.

Stationery Binder Organizer

Last week, I made an amazing purchase at Target: a small, 3-ring binder and clear cover pages that fit inside. With these, I created my own organizer for all of the beautiful cards I've accumulated over the years but have yet to send.  When I was in London last summer, I visited some really cool old bookshops and several stationery stores and picked up some unique cards that I have never seen in the U.S.  I tend to stock up on cards when I am in a museum store. I literally have a stack of a hundred cards that I have purchased but never sent. Having them all in one place that is handy and organized will be a huge asset to actually getting these puppies in the mail.




I also thought that while I get organized on all my beautiful cards, I would get organized on all of my awesome stamps.  I organized my sentiment PSA Essentials stamps -- the ones that I use to switch out my monogram and add in a saying like "Way 2 Go" for a graduation card that I was sending -- into the binder too.   Now I will easily be able to pull out the "Happy Birthday" stamp or "Thank you" stamp when I am sending that type of card.

The cards and the clear acrylic stamps by PSA Essentials all fit nicely in the binder and they make me want to write just about everyone I know.  I also added tabs with "birthday", "anniversary",  "sympathy", and more greeting categories to know what I need (more like would like to...) shop for and where I have holes. (Strangely, I have an over abundance of baby girl cards...)

I've been searching for a stylish perpetual calendar so that each month or week I can look at see who I should sent birthday or anniversary cards to.  I would just love to be able to sit down with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning and look through my perpetual calendar and send out cards from my stationery binder organizer.  The next part of this mini-project is finding that perpetual calendar.  I have yet to find a pretty and stylish one.  If you know of one, please leave a comment here! I even hinted to my friends at Lifeguard Press at the National Stationery Show that I was searching for one. Kate Spade should certainly add that to their new product line...

Of course, then I will stamp these beautiful cards with one of many of my PSA Essentials Personalized and Switchable Peel & Stick Stamps.  Eek! This is super fun for a stationery and stamp geek like me.

More on this project when I find my perpetual calendar!