My Time Made Easy - Sneak Peek Day!

 Hello sweeties and welcome!  I'm super excited to be sharing a couple projects over the next three days for the My Time Made Easy December Launch!

I got so excited when I initially saw this first template that I'll be showcasing today ... I sent Lauren a note right away to let her know just how {perfect} this was for me ... the timing couldn't be any better!

So, why don't we get right down to business ... introducing:

INSERT CARD HERE template and BOW TIED cut file!

For our family that lives across the miles, gift cards have become very popular to give for birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.  And, as the kiddos have all grown and gotten older, gift cards are so much easier than shopping for that perfect gift, only to find the size or color is wrong ... or they simply don't like it!  I don't know about you, but as the kids have gotten older, it seems I've lost my ability to pick out suitable clothes on my own ... everything I pick is 'lame'!!

{New} Cool Escape paper with Beautiful Baubles cut file.

So, when I first laid my eyes on this perfect little template, I knew exactly what I would do!  I ran to the store and purchased gift cards to different shops and restaurants for each person on my 'across the miles' gift-giving list!

All Beautiful Baubles tags stamped with Secret Santa acrylic stamp set.

We'll be seeing each of these people 'live' this year -- we're all meeting up for a family reunion in Walt Disney World in a couple weeks to celebrate my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary!!  I'll be able to hand carry these adorable little gift card boxes and hand deliver them to each person ... how cool is that!  No mailing for me this year -- yippiee!

Mrs. Candy Claus paper with Beautiful Baubles cut file.

But, if you had to mail this little cutie patootie, no problem-o ... small enough to fit in the smallest 1st class box available at the post office and you can click and ship from home too -- love that option!!

Cool Cooking paper with Beautiful Baubles cut file. 

So, I spent just about two hours printing papers, cutting out templates for the boxes, cutting out cut files for the bows and ornaments and then assembling.  Easy peesy ... five presents that I can check off my list -- viola!

Mrs. Candy Claus paper with Beautiful Baubles cut file.

I love how the boys gifts are so masculine looking with the argyle papers and the girls gifts are pretty in pink!  I know the recipients will love these sweet treats ... and the nice thing is that they can reuse the box to give a gift card to someone they know in the future!!  I wonder where my little boxes will turn up next??

Hot Holidays paper with Beautiful Baubles cut file.

When you need a 'little something' but don't want to just walk up and hand someone a gift card, this little box is just perfect!  It takes only minutes to assemble and makes such a special presentation!  Adorable for teacher gifts, administrative assistants, service personnel, neighbors ... and the list goes on!

I'm LOVIN' this template ... one of my all-time favs from My Time Made Easy!

Be sure to hop on along and visit all the other teamies who each have their own version of this wonderful template to share with you today ...

My Time Made Easy Design Team:

Lauren Meader (owner)

Katie Shawger Cotton

Kathryn Berthiaume

Lisa Kind

Tangii Crain

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Monique Hansen

... and then be sure to check back with me tomorrow for our official RELEASE PARTY!!  All the teamies and I will be sharing another wonderful template, some cut files, papers and stamps ... all perfect to help you with your holiday gift giving and home decor projects too!

Need more holiday gift giving ideas, then be sure to stop on by the My Time Made Easy DESIGNER'S GALLERY -- tons of creativity and inspiration found there!

Hugs!
xoxoxoxo

Challenges for this project:

My Time Made Easy Pretty Palette #37 - ivory, kraft, green

Fussy and Fancy #50 - gift/anything but a card

Stamptacular Sunday #140 - anything Christmas
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Color Throwdown #170 - navy, olive, red, daffodil (Nick's box) 

The Kraft Journal #47!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome to The Kraft Journal's #47 challenge - 'Christmas Cards'!

 

I am excited to be here today to share my 4th and final Guest Designer Project for the month of November!  I love to make cards with an unexpected surprise for the recipient!  This Christmas card has a Ghirardelli Peppermint Chocolate slipped into the pocket - yum!

I used a Mini Kraft Merchandise Bag available from The Kraft Outlet to hold the candy.  I clipped off the top with pinking shears so that the striped candy wrapper would peek out of the top of the envie!  The front of the envie was decorated and wrapped up pretty with some Red Baker's Twine!  

The sentiment is stamped on a x-small Grungy Prim Tag.  Strips of scrapping stickers were adhered to a piece of Lunch Bag Kraft cardstock to create the base of the card ... and viola!  A sweet treat ... yummy to give and receive!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed joining the kraft-y teamies this month as their Guest Designer and sharing some kraft-y inspiration with you all!  I look forward to joining the team permanently in January 2012! 

Until then, happy kraft-ing, my friends!!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card:  
The Ribbon Reel #16 - anything

Stamptacular Sunday #140 - anything Christmas

The Beary Sweet Challenge #37 - your beary best

Simon Says Stamp - tags

The Shabby Tea Room #90!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome to The Shabby Tea Room #90!  Cindy is our shabby fabby host this week and she has chosen the theme of 'Winter Picnic' and given us all this gorgeous picture for inspiration ...

... GORGEOUS, right??!!??  Cindy asks that we all create a card or project inspired by the above photo using WHITE OR CREAM and NEUTRALS WITH SILVER and GLITTER!!!

 

The Shabby Girls are so excited to be partnering with JustRite Stamps again this week ... swoon!  I got to design with a couple of their brand new clear stamp sets and I absolutely love them!  For the main image I used the O Christmas Tree set stamping the image in silver on Vintage Cream cardstock -- what a lovely and elegant pattern it creates!   This set is full of absolutely stunning holiday tree images with beautiful patterns!

 

For the sentiment banner, I used the Winter Words clear stamp set ... I adore how elegant and beautiful the font is on this sentiment and all the additional sentiments contained in this stunning set!  I also used Spellbinders Nested Pennants and Nested Lacey Pennants die sets to quickly and easily die cut all the pieces for my tree!  All other supplies are from Melissa Frances!

 

And there you have it ... my winter white Winter Picnic design ... {love}!!!

Please be sure to stop by and visit the other Shabby Girls' individual blogs for tons more stunning winter white inspiration:

Charlene Cundy - Expresstions of Me!
 
Cindy Holshouser - Sweet P Paperie

Fran Westmoreland - Purple Peanut's Crafty Blog

Melissa Bove - Creating From the Heart

Sheri Holt - My Sheri Cards

... and then I hope you'll have time to give our 'Winter Picnic' challenge a try!!

Thanks for visiting with me for a bit today ... have a wonderful stampy day!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for this card:  

Simon Says Stamp & Show - stars

Stamptacular Sunday - anything Christmas

JustRite Friday Inspiration #63 - Christmas cards

The Ribbon Reel #16 - anything

The Beary Sweet Challenge #37 - your beary best

Simon Says Stamp - tag

The Ribbon Reel #16!

 Hello sweeties and welcome to The Ribbon Reel #16!  This next challenge will be fun .. ANYTHING GOES!  Because of the fast-approaching holidays, I decided to make a holiday card ... you can't have too many of these sweet handmade creations around this time of year to send along to family and friends!!

 

I adhered a strip of 38mm Pink Stripe Grosgrain Ribbon from The Ribbon Reel Shop to the base of the card after stamping all the background elements.  On top of that, I adhered a strip of Aqua Blue Velvet - yummy!  I added some delicious 12 mm Guipure Lace Drops Trim around the pink embossed wreath and then finished the wreath off with some Pink Button Twine to add a festive bow and nosegay for my shabby little decoration! 

All the sentiments and images were stamped using the Christmas Mail clear art stamp from Crafty Secrets!

Be sure to hop on over to The Ribbon Reel Blog to check out the inspiration from the other teamies!!  I hope you'll have time over the next two weeks to play along with our 'Anything Goes' challenge!

Hugs!

xoxoxoxo

Challenges for this card:  

City Crafter Challenge Blog #84 - pink Christmas

Stamptacular Sunday #140 - anything Christmas

Simon Says Stamp - tags

The Scrapcake ... FINALE!!

Hello sweeties and welcome to my blog today!  I'm sad to say that today is the final day I'll be sharing projects with you all that I created specifically for The Scrapcake using their amazing papers - WOW!  My oh my how time flies when you're having fun ... the entire month of November has just flown by.  Today I have three fun projects to share ...

 

... first up is a sweet holiday banner I created using the fabulous Cozy Christmas Collection!!

 

I adore banners and have this little sweetie pie hanging on a bank of three windows in my kitchen so I can walk by it all day and smile when I see it!

 

I love the mixy-matchy feel of all of the amazing papers contained in this wonderful collection!

 

The cuffs, heels and toes are embossed and have glitter added.  The paper medallions are handmade with some more pretty prints from the Cozy Christmas and then I added some sweet little bits and bobs of bling accessories to finish off this adorable banner!

The next project is a 'yummy' way to give a sweet treat during the holiday season and beyond ... I used more papers from the delicious Cozy Christmas Collection to create this gift. 

 

I covered a Kraft CD sleeve from The Kraft Outlet with some pretty papers and then had fun adding a stamped sentiment and pretty little embellishments!

 

I slipped a delicious cookie inside a glassine bag and then added a folded paper doilie and some pretty red baker's twine to finish off this sweet treat!

 

My third project for The Scrapcake today is an altered vintage muffin tin I picked up while antiquing this past spring!

 

I punched circles out of pieces from the Cozy Christmas Collection and adhered them inside all the muffin forms.  

 

Then I had fun adding teeny tiny little treasures to the forms to complete the design!

 

The pretty handmade accordian medallion and sweet tag were made from papers from the Cozy Christmas Collection -- the stamped sentiment is from Inspired By Stamping - Christmas Cheer Set! 

Thank you ever so much to Karola for inviting me to participate as the November Guest Designer at The Scrapcake Blog!  I enjoyed sharing just a wee bit of paper crafting fun with everyone and appreciate the invitation beyond words!!  It's been fun creating with these amazing paper lines and getting to know the girlies on The Scrapcake Design Team!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Challenges for these projects:  

Fussy and Fancy #50 - gift/anything but a card

City Crafter Challenge Blog #84 - pink Christmas

Stamptacular Sunday #140 - anything Christmas

Top Tip Tuesday #61 - more than one fold

The Beary Sweet Challenge #37 - your beary best

Simon Says Stamp - tags

Moxie Fab World - accordion or medallions

Cyber SAVINGS ...

 I wanted to share some CYBER SAVINGS with you all for a couple of the Design Teams I'm currently creating for:

 

Inspired By Stamping:   FREE SHIPPING Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th!

My Time Made Easy:  25% off STORE WIDE Saturday, November 26th through Monday, November 28th!

The Kraft Outlet:  15% off orders over $50 through November 30th.  

Crafty Secrets:  Discounted pricing on Clear Art Stamps and many other warehouse close-outs - while supplies last.

HAPPY CYBER SHOPPING :)

Create for CARDS spotlight ...

I hope everyone in the US had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving Day yesterday ... filled with good food and surrounded by family and friends!

 

Thanks so much to Paige for spotlighting my Thanksgiving card for last week's Create for CARDS Challenge!  

I'm trying to take it easy today after the marathon cooking that I did yesterday!  This morning, my youngest son and I made golumbkis and they are happy in the hot tub (roasting pan) in the oven baking away for dinner tonight.  Golumbkis are stuffed cabbage rolls with a tomato sauce.  The stuffing is rice, ground beef and salt pork and then you roll it up in a cooked cabbage leaf.  A little time-consuming to make, but oh so yummy in the tummy when done!!  They are a traditional Polish food that I enjoy making for my little family during the holiday season!

Well, the guys popped up the two last, largest trees for me this morning, so I'm off to hunt my decoration boxes and do a bit of tree trimming while watching HGTV!!!  Happy {sigh} inserted here!

Have a wonderful stampy day!

Hugs!

xoxoxo

Top Five at Fussy and Fancy!

A big 'thank you' to Juanita and the girlies over at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenges for choosing my card as one of their top five picks for the 'thanks with a sentiment challenge'!

Hugs!
xoxoxoxo

Happy Thanksgiving ...

 Happy gobble gobble day to all my stampy friends in the US!

 

Besides giving thanks for the many blessings my family has, we're also celebrating my youngest son's birthday -- he turned TWENTY yesterday!!!  No more teenagers in my house ... grown young men!  My how times just flies right on by!!  I remember the nurse handing me a sweet little 7 lb. 8 oz. bundle of joy wrapped in a blue blanket 20 years ago ... and now he's 6' tall and a sophomore in college!

For me, I'm cooking a feast for my sweet little family today, enjoying some football on TV ... the guys will skip out to play some golf in the afternoon, so I'll get some stampy and holiday decorating time in!   This mama is SO enjoying having all the birdies back in the 'nest' and home for the nice, long holiday weekend!!

I hope you all have a fabulous day ... no matter where you live and what your plans are for the day!

Hugs!

xooxoxo

The Kraft Journal #46!

 Hello sweet friends and welcome to The Kraft Journal's #46 challenge - 'Christmas Gifts'!

 

I'm having a ball as The Kraft Journal's November Guest Designer ... I adore all things kraft-y!!

 

I simply adore designing paper crafted 3-D gift items ... and especially for the holidays!  Giving that someone special a handmade from the heart treasure will certainly show how much you care this season!

 

I used the Medium Kraft Pillow Box available from The Kraft Outlet to create a couple of sweet treats filled with Holiday Peppermint Tea Bags! 

 

The festive nosegay was created with some aqua twill tape, a handmade chenille candy cane and some sweet jingle bells tied on with Brown Kraft Baker's Twine.

 

For the matching little card, I used more of the Brown Kraft Baker's Twine to tie the jingle bell around the stocking.  Lunch Bag Kraft cardstock was used for the card base - inked with cream paint to create a time-worn look, and Buff Ivory cardstock was used to stamp the sweet little stocking!!  CAS and easy peesy!

All patterned papers are from The Scrapcake and stamped images are from Inspired by Stamping.

A sweet treat you'll love to give this holiday season!  These would make adorable hostess gifts for all the parties you'll be invited to attend this year too!

Be sure to hop on over to The Kraft Journal to check out the other teamies fab inspiration!

Thanks for peeking in today!

Hugs!
xoxoxo

Challenges for this project:  

JUGS #111 - red, white, green

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenges #144 - flags or pennants

The Beary Sweet Challenge #37 - your beary best

Top Tip Tuesday #60 - tags

Really Reasonable Ribbons #36 - CAS  Christmas with ribbon (card)