tree of gratitude

Typically Steve & I travel to West Michigan for all holidays since both of our families are there, but since we’re hosting an exchange student &  recently  had our kitchen remodeled our family is coming down to Detroit for Thanksgiving this year.

I don’t get to host family functions that often so I wanted to create something out of the ordinary to celebrate this day of gratitude. So I put together this PDF that prompts thoughts of thankfulness.

You can print it on regular copy paper, however a buff colored paper gives it more of a classic grade school look.  Each copy gives you two sets of 13 different gratitude flags.

You can bundle the flags together & use them as part of your family table setting or fill out a new tag everyday leading up Thanksgiving.

After you cut up the sayings using a paper cutter or a good ole’ pair of scissors, fill in the blanks with all the blessings that surround you.

You can use the flags to create a simple garland for your window or mantel…

Or snip some barren branches in your backyard & adhere your flags of gratitude to them, accenting the twigs with bits of colored ribbon.

I look forward to adding more flags when Steve’s family comes for a visit in a couple of weeks.  Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions of giving thanks?  I’d love to see what these gratitude tags inspire you to create.  Click here to comment.

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kaiserschmarren

Tessa, our German exchange student gave us this lovely German cook book upon her arrival this fall and we broke it in for the first time when she invited her friends from the international club over for some breakfast dinner.

Here’s what ya need for 2 servings…

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

7 oz of whipping cream or milk

1/3 cup raisins

cooking oil

powdered sugar

fruit preserves

Separate the eggs and beat the whites until they form stiff peaks.

Mix the egg yolks, flour, salt, vanilla and cream or milk until you obtain a smooth mixture.

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites & raisins.

Heat some oil in a pan and add batter.  Cook until the underside has turned pale yellow and cut through the still rather liquid pancake to make 4 servings.  Flip them over and cook until golden yellow.  Then tear into small pieces using the spatula.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar & preserves…. served authentically by two pretty German gals, Lea & Tessa.

This makes quite a sweet dinner, but I believe it would be even a better breakfast.  Thanks gals for a taste of Deutschland.

 

gettin’ it done diy style

As Danielle & Dena, our store managers & the rest of their elves are busy turning catching fireflies into a winter wonderland, I’m spending all my time at the studio playing photographer & graphic designer for a.i paper design.

Now… real photographers – don’t laugh at me until you’ve tried to shoot 4 to 6 frames with plexi-glass in one setting without getting obvious glares.  I even asked one of our Yellow Door gals who has a degree in photography & she shook her head when I asked her for any tips.

So armed with a stack full of old suitcases, painted doors, numerous painted wall patches around the studio (thanks Steve) and a dozen old books ~ off I go to create my little vignettes showcasing all my paper designs.

Just a small sampling of my amateur efforts (taking a professional photography class is on my to-do list)

Next comes this year’s wholesale catalog layout.  We design & print a new catalog every year so stores across the states can order our paper wares with ease.  The first 6 pages are very close to being done… just 20 or so more to go.

I do really love the graphic design part of my job but it does suck up many of my days (and evenings). This time of the year I always struggle with the desire to be in the middle of creating Christmasville at catching fireflies yet knowing my paper design business needs my attention too. Lucky for me, I have two very talented chief elves that are making all things merry & bright in Rochester & Berkley.

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helping our furry friends find forever homes

We were thrilled to deliver loads of supplies & donate over $600 to Almost Home Animal Rescue in celebration of Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month this October.

Gus could hardly believe all the great canned food, toys, treats & towels that our firefly fans brought in for his furry friends.

Isn’t Tucker the cutest boy?  It’s hard to believe he hasn’t been snatched up yet!  And Greta started purring as soon as we picked her up :-)  You can see the rest of the dogs & cats they have available for adoption HERE.

Being a rescue himself, Gus thinks it’s pretty awesome we have such generous firefly fans.  Thank you for making days brighter for furry friends looking for forever homes!

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I love “I like you”

I love discovering artsy shops in far away towns… seeing their local offerings, how they display goods, the general vibe of the store and more.  So when I stepped into I Like You in downtown Minneapolis a giant smile appeared on my face because they got an A+ in all of the above.

This space used to be an old recording studio but after some love, care and astro-turf Sarah & her partner turned it into an eclectic collection of handmade goodies from the state of Minnesota

Michelle & I bumped into Sarah twice during our stay in the twin cities… first at Junk Bonanza & then at the Creative Connection.

When we found out she had a store nearby, we knew immediately  where we were going on our free day in the city.

Let me give you a tour…

And all her super clever & kitschy displays…

These tiered displays take the cake… especially with the cute creatures inside the glasses!

Between going to loads of art fairs and the two biggest gift shows in the states, I see a lot of stuff… so when I find fresh & fun treasures like these, it makes my day.

Even their back room & kids corner is full of personality.

Sarah said all of the back room goods were from the Minnesota State Fair where they set up a temporary shop… now this sounds like a fair I might need to visit sometime soon.

There’s no question… I like LOVE this endearing shop.  Thank you Sarah for being such an inspiration to a fellow shop owner.

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our furry family members

We’re pretty excited that we’ve raised over $450 for Almost Home Animal Rescue in celebration of Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month this October, but there’s still time to add to that number.  We’re donating a dollar for every new facebook like we get through October 31. We invite you to help us spread the word by placing this link: http://bit.ly/5-Fantastic-Reasons-To-Like-Catching-Fireflies in your facebook status.

Most everyone who’s on our team has a four legged friend or two that has been rescued.  We asked them what was their favorite thing about their pooch or kitty…

Kim of our Rochester location says, “My favorite thing to do with my dog is to throw him a hula hoop in the backyard. He is much too large to play with just a tennis ball.”

Sara of our Berkley store says, “Our favorite thing about Josie is that she’s a great cuddler.  She’s always on the lookout for a lap to crawl into and snuggle up for a nap.”

Danielle, our Berkley manager says, “We adopted Simon 9 years ago.  I have too many favorites to pick just one.  He’s my bestest buddy.”

Tammy from our Berkley store says, “We adopted Lillith a year ago in October and my daughter fell in love with her because they share the same name!  My daughter is Lilly and Lillith is her cat.  Lillith loves to ‘sing’.  We start to sing Happy Birthday to -and Lillith meows and the kids crack up as she finishes the song.  As we all know with cats, Lillith has to be in the mood to sing!”

Dena, our Rochester manager says, “She has this amazing ability to make me laugh everyday with her silly faces. Makes me excited to home to that everyday. Such a blessing.”

April adopted Tuesday 13 years ago after she worked at a kids day camp at an animal shelter in Ann Arbor.  “One of the many things I love about Tuesday is how she tries to squeeze into small boxes or baskets and after she gets settled in, her fluffiness spills over the edge like a muffin top.”

Steve & April adopted Gus from a Basset Hound Rescue over 3 years ago.  He makes us smile in many ways but Steve’s favorite thing about Gus is when he stares at him while he eats and he lifts his ears slightly, tilts his head and looks at his plate as if he is trying to move it with mental telepathy.

Piper has called our Berkley catching fireflies home for the past 7 years.  She has loads of fans who dote over her daily, however our manager, Danielle takes pride in knowing Piper loves her the very most.

lemon cupcakes and yellow doors

Since our sister store, Yellow Door Art Market celebrated their first birthday last weekend, it was only appropriate to make yellow treats for all our party goers.

After a few searches on Pinterest I decided on these pretties.

They received rave reviews by all who indulged so next time you’re craving a mix of citrus & sweet, you may want to whip up a batch…

Lemon Cake:

class actress

These catchy tunes by Brooklynite, Elizabeth Harper are the latest on my download list.

A review reads, “Class Actress is the moniker for Brooklyn singer-songwriter Elizabeth Harper, but this definitely isn’t her first venture into the music industry. Harper had released a solo record under her own name back in 2005, but it wasn’t until she hooked up with electronic producer Mark Richardson that her songs were really given the proper vehicle to set herself apart in the indie music world.”

“Rapprocher balances these unashamedly poppy and simple melodies with layers of analog synths and vintage drum beats that keep the album from ever being too sugary. In fact, Class Actress actually went through the pain of sampling ’80s drum hits and really gives this album the feel of something that was recorded in 1982.”

“Rapprocher is a tight little album full of melodramatic pop tunes dripping in ’80s loving.”

Like discovering catchy tunes that take you to a happy place?  Simply subscribe to this blog and we’ll email you our latest and greatest music finds.

 

reflection on the creative connection

It was about a month ago when I cleared 5 days from my normal routine & headed to St. Paul to partake in the 2nd annual Creative Connection.  This fantastic conference is all about women, passion & business and is the brain child of Jo Packham, creator & editor in chief of the magazine Where Women Create.

The time away was just what I needed and gave me a super-charged dose of inspiration (so much so… it’s taken me this long to write this post).  The thing about being a business owner… it’s easy to just to continue running laps around the track but if that’s all you do, you’ll never experience the gorgeous countryside, buzzing city or all that’s in between.  I find whenever I remove myself from the day to day, that’s when new dreams & ideas start to stir.

Here’s what 5 days away gave me…

1. The opportunity to meet wonderfully creative women like Kelly Rae Roberts & Claudine Hellmuth plus many-many others.

2. Learning new techniques to get my creative juices flowing and creating goodies just for fun… like headbands & screen printed napkins.

3.  Discovering LOADS of amazing blogs & getting to know some of the gals behind them like Megan Hunt (aka Princess Lasertron) who taught my headband class.  I just love her energy, outlook on life & quirky-ness (I mean who else would ever think of naming their business Princess Lasetron?)  And check out her wedding dress that she designed & made… this girl’s got moxie!

I’ve subscribed to so many blogs after this event and can’t wait to start sharing some of them with you.  One of my goals is giving blog tours once a week on my blog so I can shine a light on other creative women that are making a living at doing what they love.

Speaking of blogs, you may have noticed that we’ve done a little housekeeping ourselves.  I’ve made the transition to hosting our blog right on our website so now everything catching fireflies is in one simple spot.

Oh and I’m also wanting to sign up for this next time they have a class.

4.  Since I do what I love for a living, work does tend to be woven into most things I do… but one ‘hobby’ I really want to dive into is photography.  Watching all these creative bloggers & friends buzz around with their big cameras encouraged me to make the time to play around capturing the loveliness of this life in a whole new light.  (plus I gotta figure out how to take pictures of our Basset Hound, Gus running in our backyard after seeing these hilarious photos)

5.  I love savvy business women who are making things happen.  After hearing these two on a panel about monetizing your blog, I immediately started following their websites/blogs:  TaraGentile.com,  ScoutieGirl.com & CraftMBA  They are filled with lots of incredible information that benefit artists & entrepreneurs.

6. Becki Crosby of Whippy Cake taught a class on photo styling… because don’t those pictures look good enough to eat?!  While I did learn some tips on how to set up great photos… being in a room filled with flower pictures for 3 hours rubbed off on me & really influenced my 2012 frame line.

A sneak peak of what’s to come in the new year.

7. So many amazing speakers & panels of women who have followed their creative bliss to find great success like…  Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks, Melody Ross of Brave Girls Club, Janine Vangool of Uppercase Magazine, Kelly Rae Roberts, Leigh Standley of Curly Girl & Susan Branch.

8.  Experiencing all that the twin cities offer like a great little collection of food trucks… then enjoying my lunch overlooking the Mississippi River.

And finding fabulous little shops like Digs Studio, Patina and I like you (this place is so wonderful- I have to devote a whole blog post about it soon).

And have you ever seen such a stunning candy shop?! Sadly they weren’t open when we walked by :-(

Another delightful discovery for a hearty fall breakfast… Ranchero Cubano – Victors 1959 Cafe.

9. Spending time with friends from afar.  Normally I only get to see Michelle Allen during the trade show season, so it was really refreshing to spend a chunk of time with her in a creatively charged environment.  We were both inspired & look forward to putting it on our calendar next year!

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pet supply drive

This October it’s all about the dogs.  In addition to donating  a dollar to Almost Home Animal Rescue for every new facebook like we get,  we’re also collecting supplies they could use at their kennel.  Since they have no government funding, every little bit helps!

We invite you to bring in paper towel, dog & cat toys, grooming brushes, used terry cloth towels, canned cat & dog food to our Berkley & Rochester locations during the month of October.  As a thank you for your donation, we’ll give you a humorous note pad or magnet of your choice with any purchase.

Thanks a bunch for helping us make days brighter for animals in need of forever homes.

Like to see how you can help us make days brighter for those in need? Stay in the loop by signing up to receive these inspiring updates in your email inbox!