All That Shimmers Is Gold.... 26

Hi Girls! Happy First Day of Winter :) Hope you are all staying warm & safe where ever you may live. While the days to Christmas Day are dwindling down, I was able to create another special gift set for a dear friend of mine :) I would love to know what sort of weather conditions you experienced on the 1st Day of Winter 2009? Here in Phoenix, AZ it was about 65 degrees or so & sort of overcast. Be Sweet!

Here is my gift set:I wanted to make a custom gift box to pack those little Hershey Nuggets in, so I used the NEW My Time Made Easy "In A Pinch" Pretty Packages template © Lauren Meader. I cut this using my Cricut Expressions machine. Once assembled the final template measures 6 3/4" H x 3" W X 2" D. (Both panels for this size template fit perfectly on a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock).Perfect to accommodate my bag of treats :) Prior to assembling, I sewed all 4 multi-layered paper panels on. The Spellbinders Poinsettia's are layered x2, embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile EF & distressed with Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo ink. I tied it up with a BIG bow :)

(Note: you can rotate this image 360 degrees by doing the following... Within the photo, click and drag your mouse pointer to the left or right to spin the box! You can also use the left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the left and right arrows icons. You can also zoom in or out to get a better view of the box by using the (+) and (-) icons. Lastly, you can simply press the Play icon (circular arrow) to rotate the box automatically. Give it a try!)



The "In A Pinch" © MTME is such a versatile template that can be used for any occasion gift packaging year round & so much fun to accessorize!
I was so drawn to the color palette chosen by Jules this week at The Play Date Cafe. Jules describes these colors as "...more of a heavenly/angelic Christmas color scheme!" I think this color combo is so rich & elegant looking.
For some fun sketch inspiration, I played along with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #52, MTSC52. For more inspiration, please be sure to visit both The Play Date Cafe & the Lord Have Mercy site!With a close up view, you can see the beautiful gold shimmer on the K&Company DP.

Ingredients Used:

My Time Made Easy "In A Pinch" Pretty Packaging template © Lauren Meader

Stamps: SU All Holidays, To You & Yours, PTI Vintage Ornaments & Fancy Flouishes Paper: K&Company DP, Bazzill Kraft, Admiral, SU Really Rust, Very Vanilla Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo, SU Not Quite Navy, VersaMark Sprinkles: Making Memories hardware, Cuttlebug EF, Spellbinders Oval, Scalloped Oval, Poinsettia & Labels 4 nesties, EK Success border punch, buttons from stash, generic gold embossing powder & cord, Offray ribbon,

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SANTA BINGO! 39

Hello Ladies! Is ANYONE up for a game of SANTA BINGO? I made this card to simply to add to my Holiday collection :) As some of you know, this month I am the Guest Designer at Pile it On!. As a quick refresher, Pile it On! is a challenge site that would like you, the crafter, to incorporate their challenge with at least one other CURRENT challenge (at the time of posting). Sounds easy right? To make my card I used the following challenges in no particular order: 1. Pile it On! Use 3 flowers & 5 pearls 2. Just Us Girls dry embossing challenge, JUGS7, 3. For sketch inspiration: the lovely Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #106, WSC106, 4. Cards Blog - BIG ol’ ribbon bow. If you would like to gaze upon some really cool creations, please be sure to check out all these sites that I have mentioned! Hopefully you will join me in one or all of these challenges :) I'd love to know if you play BINGO! Be Sweet!



Here is my SANTA BINGO card:
What do you think of that BIG ol' ribbon bow? I am sure it won't squish into an envelope, so I will definitely have to hand deliver this one :)

You can really see the Swiss Dots all over the Poinsettia from this close up view! After cutting the Poinsettias using the Quickutz die, I ran them through The Big Shot Express using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF :) I like the way it adds a lil' more texture & dimension.

To accentuate the 5 bottom squares, I cut them out, then adhered them with an adhesive foam square. I stamped the leave images directly on the Bingo card by inking up the PTI Poinsettia leaf image with SU Garden Green ink.

Ingredients Used: Stamps: SU Perfect Presentation, PTI Peaceful Poinsettia Paper: Bazzill Pomegranate, SU Whisper White, Kraft Ink: SU Garden Green, Ranger Antique Photo Sprinkles: SU tag punches, Offray ribbon, Quickutz Poinsettia die, Martha Stewart pearls, generic brads & cord, Making Memories hardware

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It's ALL about the OWLS! 30

Hi Ladies! I would first like to thank all the ladies at The Color Throwdown for selecting my Happy Harvest gift set creations as an Honorable Mention for last week's color challenge! Yeah :) If you would like to see the set, please click here (I have a give-away attached!) I think owls are so GORGEOUS looking, especially the LIVE ones! Just look at those EYES!
You may have seen my Backyard Hootie on a prior post, if not I hope you enjoy the BEAUTY of this creature! I live on top of a mountain ridge & there is a family of owls that live up here too!!!! :) They hunt in the valley below & help keep unwanted vermins out of our backyard! I made this card for The Embellish Magazine.com Color Challenge featuring OWLS. For my sketch inspiration, I used Kazan's awesome sketch #39, 2S4Y39. For your enjoyment, please visit both of these sites as the DT's have BEAUTIFUL samples of inspiration :) Thanks for looking! Be Sweet!






Here is my OWL card:
I pulled out my sewing machine, dusted it off & put it to use! FINALLY! I obviously need practice, but it sure was less time consuming than hand-stitching :) We were encouraged to use various items on our creations in addition to cs, so I picked a small twig off of a bush in my backyard & used it as a perch! The perch is very fragile, making this a hand deliverable card only!

I think this Hero Arts Owl stamp is very girly looking - those eyelashes are sooooo luscious! To accent her eyes, I paper pieced them! Cutting out those teeny tiny pieces was not an easy task! LOL Using EK Success flower punches of various sizes, I made some flower embellies.
Ingredients Used: Stamps: Hero Arts Owl stamp, PTI Polk A Dot Basics, SU Fancy Flexible Phrases Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Natural's Ivory, PTI Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss Ink: Copic markers: G40 Dim Green, YG 95 Pale Olive, YG03 Yellow Green, E47 Dark Brown, R32 Peach, R22 Light Prawn, R43 Bougainvillaea, 0 Colorless Blender, SU Chocolate Chip, Ranger/Tim Holtz Antique Photo Sprinkles: EK Success flower punches, Spellbinders Labels 1 dies, Sizzix SU Leaf die, Sizzix Sizzlits Flourish die, Cuttlebug EF, SU cord, Making Memories eyelet, buttons from stash

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From Our House To Yours 23

Hi Everyone! It is my hopes to get a JUMP start on my Christmas card making this year! LOL I found this cuuute Basic Grey DP from the Eskimo Kisses line on my last trip to my LSS. It had such a HOMEY appeal to me :) I paired it with this HOME image from We R Memory Keepers that cost a mere 99 cents! For Sketch Inspiration, I used Jen del Murro's awesome Sketch For You To Try which can be found at iheart2stamp.com I was also able to combine Pile it on's Challenge #18 - Three Dimensional :) Whether you are looking for some inspiration or a sketch to try, I recommend visiting both these sites as you will not be disappointed with all the DT examples as well as the other participants submissions! I'd love to know if you are getting a JUMP start on your Holiday cards/gifts? Be Sweet!

Here is my From Our House To Yours card & treat bag tag:

This Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses DP looks like it had freshly snowed on this village, so I used my Martha Stewart punches x 3, layered them x 2 & sewed a button right smack in the center of each :)

In this bird's eye view pic, the Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing really shows up on the white center circle behind the stamped house images as well as the Swiss Dots embossing on the light blue strips x 3.

I made this coordinating tag. I love how such a simple lil' tag can really dress up a plain cellophane bag of treats!

Ingredients Used: Stamps: We R Memory Keepers Home, SU Sweet Season, To You & Yours Paper: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses DP, SU Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Bazzill Pomegranate Ink: SU Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip Sprinkles: Spellbinders Scalloped Circle & Circle nesties, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots & Snowflake EF, SU cord, Martha Stewart punches, PTI buttons, generic red button, Offray ribbon, Making Memories brads, We R Memory Keepers eyelet & Crop a dile 11,

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Happy Father's Day! 5

Happy Father's Day!

Hello Girls. I hope all of you are enjoying Father's Day with the special man / men in your lives, whether he's your husband, father, grandfather or all 3 of them! I am celebrating the day with my DH, son & step-son. :) (Both my dad and father-in-law have passed away so we keep them in our thoughts & prayers). Since my hubbie is my in-house tech support, I had to wait until today to give him his homespun lil' gift of love! :) (Note the Apple laptop as my prop! He has been a Mac fan right from Apple's very beginning. EVERY year we make a pilgrimage to San Francisco to attend the week long MacWorld convention!) :) I made him the picnic basket using the template that I purchased from PTI for $5. (I have sooo many ideas / plans for this picnic basket, the $5 was well worth it!) The template comes with 2 different sizes, I used the larger of the 2. What you can fit inside is pretty unlimited. Since my honey has a sweet tooth & loves See's peanut brittle, that is what he got! :) I looooved the color challenge combo at Diva Coffee Break Designs this week so much, that I used it to make these items. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peak at my creations! I love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment! :) Be Sweet! Until next time...

Ingredients used:

Paper: SU Kraft, Whisper White, Always Artichoke,

Night of Navy, Bashful Blue

Ink: VersaMark, SU Bashful Blue

Stamps: SU Darling Dots, All Holidays

Sprinkles: Sizzix SU Top Note die, Cuttlebug Star dies & Swiss Dots EF, Spellbinders Scalloped Long Rectangles Nesties, Basic Grey button & brads, We R Memory Keepers XL eyelet, Offray ribbon, SU cord, Provo Craft Terrificly Tacky Tape, generic white embossing powder

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Happy Memorial Day! 12

Happy Memorial Day!

Hi Cyber Girl Friends! :) I hope all of you had a relaxing Memorial Day! I posted the following comment elsewhere on my blog but I want to make sure all of you had the opportunity to read it. First, I want to thank you for all your support! You are all so nice! :) I guess I lost focus for a short time & got caught up in the moment of wanting to make the Top 10 in the challenges :( I apologize because my intentions with this blog was to share what I love to do with girls like all of you who are interested in my creations! I hope you all understand. :) All the comments that you girls leave and the number of followers that are interested in my creations are WAY MORE than I ever imagined! :) I admit, it would be exciting to make the Top however, the challenges jump start my creative juices! :) So sincerely, thank you all very much! :) Now for this card, I realize I am a little late with this Memorial Day card but I was busy today making 4 sets of that "Bird" gift basket for a few friends & my sister. :) I knew I did not need this card until Tuesday morning when I returned to work. :) My inspiration for making this All American Patchwork Quilt card was for one of my dearest friends, Helen. Helen is a Registered Nurse that is also my Mentor/Co-Worker/Friend. Her very first nursing assignment fresh out of Nursing School was in an Army M.A.S.H. Unit during the Vietnam War! I work in the Operating Room and Helen is our Foundation! This is a Thank You card for ALL the men & women, ESPECIALLY Helen, for serving OUR Country, putting their lives on the line for OUR Freedom! I incorporated Color Inspiration #53 found at KWERNERDESIGN.COM Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! Please feel free to leave a comment. Be Sweet! Until next time...

Ingredients used:

Paper: Bazzill North Sea, SU Whisper White, Real Red, Summer Sun, Basic Black, DCWV The Summer Stack 2005

Ink: SU Basic Black

Stamps: SU Cute & Curly

Sprinkles: Sizzix SU Top Note die & Curly Label Punch, EK Success 1" square punch, Making Memories Buttons, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, Offray ribbon, generic brads, DMC floss

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A Little Something for You Gift Tag 3

A Little Something for You Gift Tag

Hi Girls! I almost forgot about this gift tag that I wanted to share. I made this tag to attach to a loaf of pumpkin/ginger bread, (my favorite anytime of the year:), that I made as a gift for some of my special friends for Mother's Day. Sorry about the photo, I took it in my car with my cellphone! :) I first cut the tag using chipboard for stability, then adhered the embellished cardstock die cut to the chipboard. Hope you like the tag! Thanks for stopping by and looking! Be Sweet! Until next time...

Ingredients used:

Paper: SU More Mustard, Whisper White, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip

Ink: SU More Mustard, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip

Stamps: SU Petal Pizzazz, Yummy

Sprinkles: Sizzix SU Birds & Blooms dies, Sizzix SU Top Note Big Shot die, Paper Studio ribbon, Basic Grey brads, Crop-a-Dile II, We R Memory Keepers XL eyelet, generic chipboard

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