Turkey centerpiece

My mom made this darling turkey on her Pazzles. She downloaded the cut file from the Pazzles group. Isn't he just the cutest? He is a centerpiece but also a gift box, his little body is a gift box you access by pulling up his head. (Hee Hee, that is all I am saying....that one is just too easy.) He is about 15 inches wide and 9 inches tall, and even more adorable in person. Thanks mom, I love him. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I have to return to the working world tomorrow. I am very thankful for my job, but WOW did I enjoy staying home this past week for vacation. I had high hopes of getting more done. But now I feel I had just the right amount of leisure during my vacation. So I am ok with the fact the tree is up in the living room but only has the lights on it and I still have the Thanksgiving decorations up in the dining room.


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Matchbook mini album

Oh my goodness, how cute is this? I saw this tutorial a year ago and it has been on my to do list since then. I found the cutest cello bags at Walmart and picked them up with this project in mind. The tutorial can be found at followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com, her 12-10-09 post. She is right, it is quick and easy with a beautiful gift in the end. LOVE IT!!!!

This is a side view to give you a different perspective. I'm not in love with the binding end being .75 inch wide and the other end being 1.5 inches wide. I will change that on my 2nd one. I do not embellish as much as some. I prefer to keep my pages available for pictures near to full size as possible. But that's just me. But I do plan on making more of these.

Ta Da!! these are the cello bags, that are used here as pockets for the tags to push into. I used 5 bags, folded in half to make 10 pockets. That makes 20 sides of the tags to add photos and journaling too. Or you could journal the story on the inside of the front cover (I did not add patterned paper as she directed), and use all 20 sides for photos.

I used SU! cherry cobbler paper for the cover, the patterned paper is gorgeous Jillybean soup paper from LSS The Green Tangerine. The ribbon is new from my JoAnns shopping with mom for her birthday. Woo Hoo! What a fun girl day that was. The darling Merry Christmas stamp is new from my Friday "kick off vacation with a bang" shopping trip to LSS The Paper Garden. The kraft and evergreen paper are miscellaneous stuff from my stash. Very fun to pull all these beautiful things together and make a pretty gift. Now I'm off to coordinate blues and reds for the snowman cello bags I also picked up for this project. See you again, real soon. ;)  I just love vacation!

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

4 drawer easel calendar

Early morning crafting, there is nothing better. I was searching through all my saved projects I have been wanting to attempt and I came across this gem. The tutorial is found at apathofpaper.blogspot.com her 08-16-10 post. I just love a picture tutorial, and hers is awesome. Makes it super quick and easy to follow her instructions and put this gift together. I believe I spent just under 3 hours making it. The hardest part definitely was stamping the calendar pages, cutting them out, perforating across the top of them and then binding them together. But it was totally worth the time because its adorable.

It's just under 5 inches square. It has 4 usable drawers with cute ribbon handles. I used DCWV garden party premium stack. I love the premium stacks for boxes and 3D creations because the thickness of the paper is perfect. Makes for a sturdy finished product. The calendar set is CTMH and I stamped it using chocolate and twilight ink pads.

Here it is with the easel folded down and ready to wrap for someones birthday.

I'm gonna go through more saved favorites now and see what else I can find to create. This is way better then crazy hectic shopping or decorating the Christmas tree. Yea me!

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Tic Tac holders

I saw this adorable Tic Tac holder on Jensscrappypages.blogspot.com, her 10-22-10 post. They are super quick to whip up, and super cute to give away.

I used my cute reasonable ribbon club ribbons on these little gifty's. Love it! And the stamp is new cutie-pa-tootie from SU!

Hee hee, I had to cheat and put a mini candy cane inside, cuz its Thanksgiving and I have a rule of not going to the store. Especially just for a package or 4 (ok, so I couldn't just make 1 or 2 but 4 because they are so cute!) of Tic Tacs. So I improvised. But it doesn't detract from its cuteness, in my humble opinion.

I hope everyone had a fabulous family filled day. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, but especially you.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Christmas door hanging

I was inspired to make this door hanging by my friend Tina, the crazy stamp lady. She made a gorgeous one with snowmen that says noel. She hasn't posted photos of it to her blog yet so I am working from memory. But I believe hers was made with the top note die. My mom also made one using her Pazzles and it says joy. They are both so beautiful, I just had to try my hand at it. I decided to use the new SU! fancy label punch for mine. I punched once for the white layer and punched it twice in the red layer for each letter of my saying. I then cut the 2 red pieces in half, one long ways and one across the shorter side. I taped them across the back of the white layer to give the look of a .25 inch border all the way around.

Here is a close up of some of the letters. I stamped the letters with CTMH homestead alphabet in holiday red ink and the SU! bells & boughs is stamped in CTMH garden green. I ran all of the white layers through the cuttlebug in the 5 x 7 inch dots embossing folder. Then I taped and pieced the red layers on. These completed pieces then got a generous dose of smooch gold lame shimmer spray and the holly berries were highlighted with ruby red liquid pearls. 

Here is a close up of the bottom end of the ribbon hanger. I used 15 inches of the riding hood red 1.5 inch grosgrain that is in the SU! clearance rack right now. I also used some of the bakers twine to hold on two of the cutest itty bitty gold bells. I bought the twine and the bells at a local scrapbook store called The Paper Garden here in Sacramento, CA. Its a fabulous place, check out their blog here. Eye candy everywhere, so much so that I walk out of there with information overload. The ladies that work and play there all day are super-dee-duper talented. Its a great source of inspiration.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Origami stars

I came across a tutorial for making these paper stars today and as usual for me, I could not stop at just 1. I admit it, I have a problem. I get addicted to something and make many. These are really cool, embellished with pewter brads from CTMH. They appear like the light weight metal stars....but ta da, they are paper. Love it!

Here's a close up of the brads and the inked edges and the cream de cocoa glimmer mist.

This is a shot of them hanging in my dining room. A small wall just perfect for 4 stars in various sizes and fall paper patterns. I hung each of them with a single Fiskars adhesive foam dot, I placed it at the top point. I wanted the 3D effect to stay pronounced so I did not put the pop dot in the center.

I am thinking I will make some for Christmas next. 

The tutorial is found here, tracys-trinkets-treasures.blogspot.com the 10-22-10 post. I would say be forewarned they are addictive, but I am beginning to understand that not everyone suffers from that problem like I do. Oh well, there are worse addictions, right? 

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Gatefold cards

I made these 2 gatefold cards using inspiration from a friends beautiful birthday card. Hers was bright sherbet colors, pinks and oranges and bright and cheery. I went a little more fall and sophisticated (I hope) with my design. I chose my favorite for my moms birthday card, Happy Birthday Mom. I love you. The other is blank so I can use it for anything.

This is the one I gave my mom. I love these flowers, they actually drove the choice of papers with the color pallet from the flowers.

Here is the fabulous sentiment stamp on the inside of moms card. I love this stamp. I used an aqua pen and twilight ink pad to water color the letters.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Chocolates and candles gift set

 I love it when what I picture in my head translates correctly to paper and crafting. This is one of those moments.

As I become more familiar with my Cricut design studio software and I get more and more familiar with the design of boxes I am slowly becoming able to see the shapes needed to create a finished product.

This little matchbox of sorts is a finished size of 3.5 x 5 inches. It holds 4 tea light candles and 3 Hersheys nuggets. The nuggets had a tendency to slide around a tad, so I also added a treat sized Heath bar underneath the nuggets to take up some of the slack in the space designated for chocolate. You can never have too much chocolate, right?

This is a peek at the insides. The tea light candles have an image stamped on tissue paper and then punched out with my Creative memories 1.5 inch circle punch added to the top. I poked a hole in the center of the tissue paper with my piercing tool and slipped it over the candle wick. Then I used my heat tool and blew on the top of the candle until some of the wax liquefied and permeated the tissue paper. When it cools it appears like it was always a part of the candle. Its a really pretty effect I think.

These nuggets are wrapped in a coordinating patterned paper that is cut at 1 x 3 inches. The Heath bar which isn't really visible in any of these photos, but trust me it's there, is wrapped in the same patterned paper but it's cut at 2.75 x 2.75 inches.

So after my first successful completed box (and several failed test cuts...) I went a little crazy. They go together quickly. I did these 3 in 1 hour. The pink/purples ones, I ran the chocolate wrappers through the cuttlebug in an embossing folder, to give them some texture to the plain card stock.

Here is a close up, see the nugget wrappers have embossing texture? The candles have a simpler shwoopy stamp pattern on the tissue paper.

All of the paper is from the DCWV Rustic paper pad. I'm really happy with how these turned out.

I used Cricut design studio and George basic shapes cartridge to design this .cut file. If you would like to have this .cut file please leave me a comment (including your email address pretty please) and I will send it out to you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Present wrapping with a homemade bow

I made this gift box to coordinate with the gift bag made earlier last week. The paper bow was made following a video tutorial. I have held this post for several days searching for the video and I can't find it. There are tons out there, but I am unable to find the one I was actually watching and learning from. Sorry, just query paper bow in youtube and you will find this style and many others. I will edit this post and add the link if I come across it soon.

I also adorned the box with a cuttlebug butterfly that I die cut and then ran through the coordinating embossing folder. The strips of faux ribbon are border punched with a SU! punch. My favorite part of this gift wrapping is that it actually just slid down over the box the item came in. It makes me think of the old price is right show where the big boxes lifted up to reveal a treasure inside. Maybe its just me, but I thought it was kind of cool.
Happy Thanksgiving holiday week. I am on vacation from work and mixing preparations for this holiday and the next and a fair amount of crafting too. Yahoo for me! So I hope I have lots to post this week.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Another fantastic SU! Stamp-a-stack class

Just look at these beautiful creations! All dreamed up by my friend and SU! demonstrator Tina. Check her out at thecrazystamplady.blogspot.com . Prepare to be amazed. The above card uses the beautiful new die to make the snowflake layers. They are so detailed and intricate.

This one is a Tina original. She dreamed up this gate fold card held closed with the belt being held under the adorable mittens. Wonderful!

This is a technique I have been dying to attempt, but just hadnt gotten around to yet. It creates a gorgeous stamping area and a border of embossed design. I really loved learning this.

'

My picture does not do these justice. They are so elegant and gorgeous and of course shimmery. Tina's favorite thing. Shimmer, shimmer, shimmer. More of the delicate snowflake dies.

Another elegant card. Simple but stunning. Again, shimmered to within an inch of its life, sorry it doesnt show so well in my photo. It has red stickles and them gold lame shimmer spritzed all over. Very stunning.

Thanks Tina, these are perfect examples of why you will always be the paper crafting queen.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Glitter ornaments in a gift box and decorated gift bag

This post is chock full of homemade goodies for gift giving. The glitter ornaments above where made with the help of a video tutorial found at everydaycricut.com 11-14-09 post. Be fore warned, these ornaments are simple and addictive. But they do make gorgeous ornaments and hopefully much appreciated gifts.
The box that the ornaments are given in is also another homemade goody. The instructions are for sale at inkingidaho.blogspot.com. My SU! demonstrator friend Brandy showed me how to make this. It is originally intended for cupcakes but it fits these ornaments perfectly also.

Here is a close up of some Martha Stewart snowflake punches and a little bling added to the box.

And more snowflakes. You can never have too many snowflakes or bling in my book.

This is a plain gift bag from Dollar Tree that I embellished and dressed up, its for a November birthday, hence the non-Christmasy look to the gift bag. I added some cardstock in a hot pink color that I punched a border along 1 side. I then layered on some DCWV patterned paper from a recent Christmas stack. The piece de resistance, in my humble opinion, the pretty crocheted cotton ribbon with the sequins flowers sewn directly onto it. I punched a butterfly with the Creative memories punch in white and pink and layered them together and curved the wings up and glued it and another sequins flower to the bag. Voila! A 100% homemade present from start to finish.
I hope it is received with as much love and enthusiasm as it is given. I hope you enjoy this and it inspires you to make some pretty gifts.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Ribbon birthday card

This is a birthday card for a friend. It is chock full of ribbon. I got the idea from reasonableribbon.blogspot.com 08-01-10 challenge post. Scroll, scroll, scroll through all of the great ideas and entry #55 is the one I took inspiration from. I love ribbon and I really love reasonable ribbon and my ribbon club monthly shipment. Fabulous!

I used CTMH stamps, little inchie ones to add the sentiment and the decorations inside and bubblegum ink color. I like the clean but feminine lines of this card. Thanks for stopping by.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Masculine retirement card

This is a card for a friend who retired recently, we are going to his retirement dinner this weekend so I was put in charge of making a card for the whole work team to sign and include a gift card inside. Keeping it masculine is always a challenge for me. I used a DCWV fall stack from last year and the CTMH legendary stamp set.

This is the inside, notice the pocket there at the bottom of the right side. I did the rock n roll technique with the shwoopy design on the pocket, using twilight and chocolate ink pads and new mini eyelets I picked up at "the expo" this past Friday. Woot! I love new toys.
Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

4x4 gift basket

This is a treat basket or box (don't add the handle and its a box in my book) that I created using the new Cricut solutions cartridge, Thanksgiving. It has a cool shwoopy edge card base that I welded it together to make a box base.

Here you see the shwoopy edge better. You also see the embossing with the Basic Grey embossing folder I got at "the expo" this past Friday. I also inked it with a sponge and my new distressing ink in aged mahogany. The paper is from DCWV Rustic pad. I sure wish it was double sided. Its the perfect heavy weight for making boxes and baskets.  

This is the embellishment I did just on the front side. The bow was tied with my bow easy.

Here is another one, with the decorative paper facing inside and I glimmer misted the outside. I used 3 different colors of glimmer mist.

The paper is again from the DCWV Rustic tablet.

More prima flowers and some bling added to the centers.
It's a simple enough cut, but since I already did the work if you would like to save time and use my .cut file I would be happy to share. Leave me a comment (including your email addy) and will send it out to you.


Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Scrapbook Expo

I had a ton of fun at the Scrapbook Expo in Sacramento on Friday. My mom and friend Ang have been counting down to this day for months. We were there in line by 9:30am, and once inside the showroom at 10am we went right to the fabulous Tattered Angels booth and did their free make and take. After that it was near 6 hours of browsing. 

We stopped for a yummy lunch and caught a "breeze" of a second wind. But our feet soar and our bags heavy, we headed out about 3:30pm-ish. Above is all my loot (and a few gifts) spread out on my bed. What fun we had.  

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

More mini milk carton bird houses

Somebody stop me....Please. These are addictive. Cutting 2 per 8.5 x 11 makes quick and efficient work. I think they will make cute ornaments and stuffed with candy a nice little treat for family, friends, and co-workers.  

The cool part is the new Tim Holtz snow flurries embossing folder I got at Sacramento Scrapbook Expo on Friday. I think its pretty neat. So I whipped up a batch of these lil cuteys today.

Thank goodness I'm getting an extra hours sleep since I am up so late playing in my craft room. Yea me!!! Have a great rest of your weekend.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!

Snowflake Christmas card

At 4:30am I'm awake and can't go back to sleep. I am buzzing with paper ideas. Its been 4 days since I even peeked in my craft room. So I jump up, put on my big fluffy slippers and go do a little paper craft therapy time. This is the card I came up with. Now I look at it and it still needs something.....but I'm not sure what. A lil ribbon tab or maybe a little trio of red pearls or maybe some stickles. Maybe tomorrow morning it will come to me. ;) But I do feel better for having stamped and punched and taped and embossed paper this morning.

Have a fabulous Thursday. And don't hate me because it is my Friday or because tomorrow I go to the Sacramento Scrapbook Expo. Woot! Woot!! I can't wait. Paper crafting nirvana here I come. I'm ready with my pink pirate princess tee from Rusty pickle (last years scrappy t-shirt I bought at the Expo), my most comfy tennies, my fanny pack, my tote bag and my ATM card.

Find inspiration everywhere! Go... Create something fun & fabulous. Enjoy!