Embellished Gifts

Here's my entry for the latest PTI challenge: to make our own floral embellishments and use some on our card.  I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for me to use up my SU! felt fusion I an II as well as some brads.  The thing about these embellishments is that I never really go straight to them because they aren't already pre-assembled (like the BG felties).  I decided I should really keep a few pre-assembled on hand just for myself (never mind my crafty friends that Nichole was talking about :)

The card is pretty basic layout but the felt flowers, swiss dot, and scallop trim border punch really add some wow.  Easy card! And a gift for a friend all in 20 minutes!

Take Out???

It is very late so this is just going to be a quick post for my entry in the latest PTI challenges.  The challenge was to add origami to our project and I took the safe route and used the "Cup" Tutorial because it was really easy and it also reminded me of those Chinese food take out boxes.  Anyhow, I'll add more deets later when I'll be able to better explain myself.

Hope you like it!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Paper:  Night & Day dsp, Scenic Route dp (Ashville??)
Ink:  Black
Accessories:  Orange Beads, scallop border punch, wire
Stamps:  On My Couch (PTI)

Edit: I thought this would make a great card to give to a girlfriend for some girl time.  Our idea of a break is having a nice relaxing time on a couch, without kids and no meals to make, chatting and watching chick flicks.  I'm not great at wire work and I tried another new technique with the beading.

Happy Friday!

TGIF!  I'm looking forward to my relatively relaxing weekend.  No plans except dance class and grocery shopping and hopefully a little bit of reading....oh and working on those daily PTI challenges.  I haven't been up to too much craftiness this week.  I'm giving my mojo a break and time to refuel.

The card I'm sharing with you is my brother-in-laws (BIL) 40th birthday card that I made last week.  It was a very last minute thing so the layout is simple but again the focus was meant to be on the picture.  This picture is one that my husband has fondly tucked away in his wallet.  Apparently the story behind this picture is that before the confirmation mass my dh 'stole' his brothers camera which made him cry and my dh took this picture. That's why  my BIL has an odd look on his face (he's trying to smile without seething anger at his bro.)  Since we were giving my BIL a waterproof camera for his birthday it was very fitting to use this photo.  I tried to keep the colours and paper with the 70's theme in the picture.

Anyhow the card ended up being a nice conversational piece.  The story was told to his close friends that made it to the party and he and his brother were able to recount the days gone by.

Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive dsp,  October Afternoon dp (New Pencil)

Accessories:  Twine, Wood button

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Stamps:  Signature Greetings (PTI)

Valentine Treats

Here are the goody bags that my kids will be giving to their classmates this Valentines.  I like to make them generic so that each child is treated the same and no one feels left out.  I also like the opportunity to stay away from popular themes like Disney Princess, Strawberry Shortcake, Transformers, Blues Clues, High School Musical, etc.  When I make them by hand I don't have to worry so much about age appropriateness.  The boys might go yuck when they see all the red, pink and hearts but they are probably going to be more concerned with the goodies inside than the packaging ;)  There's a lollipop, chocolate heart and sugar cookie.

My daughter decided on the Verve sentiment and then I went from there.  Bittersweet patterned paper along with the Top Note die and the cuttlebug heart embossing folder.  This project gave me a chance to use up a lot of the Purely Pomegranate cs I've been hoarding for the last year and a bit.  I still have a tone of the Bittersweet paper but I'm sure I'll find even more uses for it.

Anyhow I should go now and put the rest of these bags together (53 in all).  I've got all the pieces I need, now I just have to sit down and do it!

Good night!

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Bittersweet dp (BG)

Ink:  Purely Pomegranate

Accessories: SU! Top Note Die, Scallop circle punch, small corner rounder punch, heart ef (CB), Hugs & Kisses dies (CB)

Stamp: Delightful and Delicious (Verve)

Warm Hug ~ Verve Style

Happy Terrific Tuesday everyone!  This is my quiet day with only the little guy in the house so, for me, it is indeed Terrific! I have a couple of posts to share with you today for the Verve Tags, Tins And Treats Project Parade.  This post is also for the Everything But The Kitchen Sink challenge: to use a box top in your projects.  I chose to use the box top from Nestle's Rich and Creamy Hot Chocolate as well as the individual packets for the treat.

For the Thanks a Latte card I used the box flap to hold my chocolate treat package together. See the picture below to see how I covered most of it up and cut the slit.  For my second packet I used 3/4" circle punch out the "Made with Real Cocoa" and adhered it with a dimensional. This packet is held together by enveloping it in a Melon Mambo strip of paper that can be slipped off to open.  I'm not a fan of the Pink and Brown together but it was worth a try :)  Both packages can fit in an A4 envelope and used instead of a card.

Thanks A Latte

Paper:  Bazzil Corduroy cs, October afternoon New Pencils (Brown), Old Olive dsp, SU! Kraft

Ink: Old olive, Dusty Durango

Accessories: Craft knife and ruler, MS border punch

Stamps: Delightful and Delicious (Verve)

Goodness of Life

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, SU! Kraft, Razzleberry Lemonade dsp

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Melon Mambo, brown marker

Accessories: EK border punch, dimensionals, Hot Chocolate packet

Stamps: Delightful and Delicious (Verve)

Thank you so much for taking a peak at my hard work. Enjoy your day and warm hugs from me to you :)

Fun Paint by Number Challenge

I have to say this is one of the best challenges I've done in a long time.  It's a part of the PTI Anniversary celebrations over at  Nichole Heady's blog and it was so quick and fun!  You have until tomorrow 7 am EST to complete and link up your project.  I loved having the sketch (with the measurements included) and the colours are chosen for you based on the beginning letter of your name.  Now how easy is that!  It takes all the guess work out of it.  The challenge really is making yours stand out from all of the others.  I can't say that mine really stands out but I'll tell you what I like about it.

I used swiss dot ef on the white panel, white embossing powder on the sentiment and for my resourceful part I used the pillow cushions from my much loved "On My Couch" set as a background stamp on the Raspberry fizz panel.  I also really like how my bow turned out.  I was going to use white as my card base and the Dusty Durango (I had not Terra cotta Tile) with the swiss dot but the card was just too dark.  To brighten things up I just switched those two colours around.  I can't believe this card took me a total of 15 minutes to make.  This post has taken me longer to create.

Have a fantastic Tuesday everybody and thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Ribbon Embellishment

Good morning everyone!  I'm back from my trip to Vancouver and getting back to the grind!  My dh and I had a wonderful time at his brothers 40th birthday party of Friday night in Vancouver's Gastown and Saturday I had an amazing time shopping with my daughter on Robson Street.  Things were very busy in downtown Vancouver with all the Olympic activities but it was exciting!  Some streets were closed off for art exhibits and other things related to the Olympics.  So besides the plethora of people it was relaxing without the usual downtown traffic.  My daughter was a little worried about getting lost and I don't think she's seen so many people in one place but it was a great experience for her.

Anyhow here's what I made last week for the latest Embellishment Magazine Challenge.  I picked up the heart ribbon with this exact challenge in mind and I got a chance to use my new heart border punch.  I gathered the Raspberry Fizz ribbon and attached with glue and then layered the heart ribbon to hide some of the glue. Ideally I had wanted to sew the ribbon down but my sewing machine just wouldn't do it so I improvised with adhesive.  The layout was done "wing-it" style because I really had no idea what I wanted to do.

For those of my friends who are interested: I gave my in-laws their Anniversary card and they were very happy with it.  My mother-in-law actually thanked me personally and not through my hubby!  I think I may have created a keepsake card :)

Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise, Sending Love dsp, Whisper White,

Ink: Tempting Turquoise

Accessories: Die Cut (Cupid, Pink Paislee), MS heart border punch, Raspberry fizz ribbon (PTI), Heart ribbon (American Crafts), Pink Gingham ribbon (SU), Tag corner punch (SU), 1/8" circle punch.

Stamps: Signature Greetings (PTI)