sticker maker.

I found a new blog last week: papered thoughts

She has some great ideas and inspiration on her blog. I suggest checking it out!

She has these great stickers she had made using cancelled stamps, and I just loved them. I emailed her asking her how she turned those old stamps into stickers, and she told me she had a Xyron Sticker Maker! I really appreciated her telling me how she made them. 

The very next day I headed up to Michael's with my mom and bought myself one. And to top it all off, I had a 40% off coupon, so I got the machine for under $15.00!

As soon as I got home I had to play with it right away! 

I made two stickers using some of my papa's old cancelled stamps. I love the way they turned out!

p.s. Look for many more projects coming soon using my new sticker maker!

mailboxes. berlin

While my husband was in Berlin, Germany last week on a vacation with his brother and he sent me this picture of some mailboxes he saw! Aren't they great?

p.s. There is something special about the mailboxes in Europe. Don't you agree?

received with love.

Zach always says he is not a good gift giver. I say he is wrong!

He picked up some great things for me while he was in Berlin:

He got me four adorable cat and mouse notecards. Who doesn't love a good notecard with a cat on it! He also picked up some cute postcards and an East Berlin notebook. I always carry a notebook with me, so that was perfect.

He also got me a cupcake pin and awesome cupcake berlin tote bag!

Zach and I went to Berlin together when we first started dating and I was fascinated with their crosswalk guys. They are completely different than ours in the states and super cute. They even have little hats on! Anyways, I had asked him to get me some candy with these little guys on them and he did way better than that. He got me a coffee mug, a wine stopper and cookie cutters! LOVE!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Image from: parade.com

p.s. Do you have any superstitions?

lunch notes.

I think it is fun to sneak a little love note to someone whenever you can. My husband got home last night after being gone for a week, so when I made his lunch this morning I left him a little love note inside. I hope it brightened his day!

p.s. Do you leave little love notes anywhere?

remembering.

Image from: texasgopvote.com

May we always remember the ones that were lost 12 years ago today. Pray for peace for the families that lost loved ones and pray for the survivors that struggle every day. And may we always remember to love one another.

cancelled postmark.

I am still slowly working on projects around the house and clearing out some of my mama and papas things. My mama was an avid stamp collector and I have found tons of books filled with stamps and first day covers. I also found a stash of cancelled stamps that my papa had cut from envelopes.

I looked online for the best way to remove the stamps from the envelopes and they suggested soaking them in room temperature water until the stamp loosens itself from the envelope.

Here are some of the many cancelled stamps soaking. There were so many, it took me several batches to get them all done.

I then laid them out on paper towels to dry for about 24 hours. This method worked perfectly! They are all perfectly flat and clean of any envelope residue. 

There were a lot of stamps, some of them even dating back to 1954. I was excited to find this little collection and looking forward to doing some craft projects using them all.