A BITTERSWEET VALENTINE PROJECT

Today I am sharing with you a very bittersweet project that I made for my oldest daughter, who moved out and into her first apartment this past weekend.  While I am very happy for her that she is becoming such an amazing adult and is spreading her wings, I am also very sad.  The thought that I will not see her face every day or sit across the dinner table from her every night has turned me into a hot mess.  :(  

My husband and I surprised her with a Keurig for Valentine's Day.  I made a k-cup holder to present the coffee in.  I found a really great tutorial at VIRGINIA'S SCRAPPY PLACE.  She provides wonderful directions and photos. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

A SWEET VALENTINE

A really short post today.  I wanted to share some super simple matchbook treat holders that I whipped up for some of my toddler buddies to celebrate Valentine's Day. You can find the tutorial by visiting Mickey's blog, STAMPING WITH THE STARS.

Nothing says I love you to a toddler like M&M's.  :) 

LATTE FUN - CARD

I have been wanting this Latte Anya stamp from THE GREETING FARM forever.  Every time I went to order it, it was on back order.  Then I requested it for Christmas, alas on back order again.  I finally got her for my birthday several weeks ago and I LOVE her!!  She is my new favorite stamp.  I should mention that I did find her two weeks ago at my LSS, after trying for months to buy her on-line.  Go figure :P

You can find the tutorial for this k-cup holder created by Lori Tecler HERE.  The tutorial is for a 2 k-cup caddy. I wanted mine to hold 4 so I made two holders and then glued the backs together.  Here is a LINK for the  template for the card fold I used.  All of the patterned paper used for both the card and the holder is from the Paper Studio.

I am so excited for this little gift and card pairing.  I love how they turned out and can't wait to give them away!!

Challenges that I am entering this project into:
*THE GREETING FARM: FFF PAPER PIECING

SOAK UP SOME FUN - CARD

Have you ever made a card or a project that you were so tickled with that you wanted to keep it for yourself?  This was that project for me!!  However, it was for a very dear friend's birthday so I JUST had to give it to her...darn it.

The inspiration for my card came from a blog that I umm, stalk, I mean follow regularly.  Sheri of  PAPER CRAFTY'S CREATIONS is truly talented!!  She creates some of the cutest cards ever!!  When I saw THIS card on her blog, I fell in love.  I adore WHIMSIE DOODLES' images and knew that the Bubble Leah digi image would be perfect for my gift of bath goodies for my friend. 

The image was colored in with Copics. I then added a little stickles to the bubbles and some Glossy Accents to the champagne glass.  I also used A LOT of bling on this card.  If you read my previous blog post, you'll know I had to make up for the masculine card that I was forced to make. 

For the gift bag I just enlarged the image and printed it out twice.  Once on my white cardstock for coloring and again on my patterned paper for her towels and bath rug.  Oh and I added lots of bling to the bag as well.  I went a little bling crazy.

I seriously hope my friend likes this as she almost did not get it.  Don't forget to stop by Sheri's BLOG to check out all of the cuteness she has going on there. 

HIPPITY HOPPITY, EASTER'S ON IT'S WAY!

 Just a short and sweet post to share with you all that WHIMSIE DOODLES has a free bunny basket template available for download on their BLOG.  You can see my attempt at it in the above pic.  It was easy to put together and is perfect for a little treat.

In case you were wondering what was in my little bunny basket look at the picture below.  Just how stinking cute are these Ghirardelli chocolates?!?!  I found them at Target and could not resist them.  Two of these chocolates fit perfectly in the bunny basket.

You only have a few days left before Easter so hurry on over to WHIMSIE DOODLES and grab your template while you can!

TEST TUBE TREAT HOLDERS

 

 

As promised on yesterday's blog post, here are the holders for the test tube treats.  These were really quick and easy to whip up and I only used scraps from my scrap stash to make them.  You can find the directions and the template I used for making them HERE.  The link will take you to Lisa's blog and to her most recent post, however on her left hand sidebar you will find the link to the test tube holder templates. 

The images used on all three of my holders are from WHIMSIE DOODLES.  They are one of my favorite sites for digi images.  As a side note, I would like to thank my daughter, Brittany, for the photos you have seen on my blog recently.  She has volunteered herself as my project photographer.  She does a much better job at it than I do and has more patience for it.  Thanks Britt!!

Oh and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

 

TEST TUBE TREATS

 

 

 

Ughh, I hate how dark this picture turned out. No matter what I did or how many times I took and re-took it, it turned out terrible. 

 

These are just a couple of the MANY test tube treats I whipped up for my daycare children, past and present.  The tags, which I colored in with Copic markers, are from WHIMSIE DOODLES. They have lots and lots of adorable digi images. 

 

I think the tags are cute but stop by tomorrow to see the test tube treat holders that I made up for my niece and nephew.  They are super easy to make and are totally adorable. 

 

Until tomorrow,

VALENTINE'S TREAT BOX

 

I have always loved the idea of getting a heart shaped candy box, taking out the candy, and filling the box with trinkets or goodies for my girls that are not candy related.   When I saw THIS adorable box on Frances's blog I knew I wouldn't have to subject myself to the grueling task of eating all those chocolates, even though it was a torture I was willing to endure.  ;)

 

Frances gives a really great video tutorial and her box is so stinking cute!!!  The stamped image on my project is from Whipper Snapper Designs and is called "Bo Bunny".  The patterned paper is from my scrap stash and the sentiment is a $1 Studio G stamp. 

 

Instead of candy I filled the box up with Disney trading pins for both girls for our upcoming Disneyland trip.  The whole family collects pins and we are obsessed with pin trading and anything Disney.  I think I was Minnie Mouse in a prior life. 

 

I-POD VALENTINE

I have been meaning to post these little babies for some time.  As I said in my first post back in May, I am way behind on posting my projects.

I have no clue who originally came up with these candy conversation heart holders, but they are the cutest things.  My good friend Jeri, from Craft us Crazy, made one of these for each of my daughters several years ago and they were a huge hit with my girls. 

This year I decided to make one for my niece, a few of the daycare babes' older siblings, and a few of my former daycare children that are now in school.  You can find the tutorial for these cute little boxes here on the Family Fun website.  They even have the printable music screens: one that is filled out for you or one that you can customize with your own music selection.  Oh and how cute are the mini peanut butter cup ear buds?  YUM!

CRAFT US CRAZY CHALLENGE #5

CHALLENGE #5 - EASTER

It is challenge time again over at CRAFT US CRAZY. I am always amazed with each challenge at all of the amazing talent out there!! This week's challenge is another fun one....the theme is EASTER! Bunnies (chocolate or otherwise), chicks, baskets, eggs, jellybeans, peeps, candy, and pastel colors. Anything goes that ties into the EASTER theme. Please check out the CRAFT US CRAZY blog for all of the challenge details and information on our amazing sponsors and prizes this week.

Speaking of sponsors, we have two really great ones!! This week's challenge sponsor is PEGGY LOVES VINTAGE. They have the cutest images and they are so easy to use as they are already pre-colored. Our sponsor for the entire month of April is STAMPFAIRY, one of my favorites!

For this week's challenge I made a mini pizza box using a image from PEGGY LOVES VINTAGE. I printed the image out several times to add layers to the roses, butterfly and bunnies. I had never made one of these boxes before but I found a great tutorial over at SCS and it was super easy to make.

I am hoping you will join us over at CRAFT US CRAZY. I am looking forward to seeing every one's EASTER themed projects!!

**PROJECT INGREDIENTS***

Cardstock: Bazzill

Image: PEGGY LOVES VINTAGE

Border Punch : Martha Stewart - Daisy Punch

Ribbon

Yellow Flowers: Petaloo

Pink Flowers: Recollections

Stickles

This week's challenge sponsor:

Sponsor for the month of April:

CRAFT US CRAZY CHALLENGE #2

CHALLENGE #2 - WINTER THEME

It is that time again. Time for another challenge over at CRAFT US CRAZY. Our first challenge had an amazing amount of participants with amazing talent showcased!! This week's challenge is to complete a project using a WINTER theme. Our fantastic sponsor for this week's challenge is MELJEN'S DESIGNS. They have some of the most adorable digi images. For the entire month of February we have two terrific sponsors, THE CUTTING CAFE and STAMPS ALIVE.

Now onto my project. I made a hot cocoa packet holder, you can find the tutorial for it HERE. I used the Penguins Skating Buddy digi image from MELJEN'S DESIGNS. I printed and colored the image several times and cut out certain elements of the image to layer for depth. I added a little glossy accents to the skate blades and a little flock to the earmuffs. I did not have the right color of flock that I needed so I used white and colored over it with my Copic marker. Just make sure to swipe your Copic over a sheet of scratch paper to remove any stray fuzz.

A pic of the yummy goodness that is inside. :)

Here is a view of the layers added to the image.

I hope you will join our Winter Themed challenge over at CRAFT US CRAZY. Remember it is not necessary to submit a challenge project using a product from one of our sponsors, but if you do GREAT!!

***PROJECT INGREDIENTS***

Digi Image: Penguins Skating Buddy by Meljen's Designs

Paper: Imagine That

Nesties: Labels 2

Copics

Border Punch: EK Success Dotted Wave

Chipboard Snowflake: Little Yellow Bicycle

Snowflake Brads

Chalk

Stickles

Doodlebug Crush Velvet Flock

Popdots

Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa ;)


This week's challenge sponsor:

Sponsors for the month of February:

HOGS AND KISSES - CARD

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! The girls and I are throwing our daycare kiddies a Valentine's party. Brittany is making the treats, I have the Valentine's Dora special set to record on DVR, Valentine's Bingo ready to go and we will be exchanging Valentines. Should be lots of fun.

Below are a few of the Valentine's that I made to give to the little ones. The images are from Whimsie Doodles and are called Valen-Tinies. The set comes with 9 images and 7 sentiments. They make adorable valentines for little ones.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine's tomorrow!!

A FABULOUS BIRTHDAY - CARD

If you have not checked out the Slumber Party Cricut cartridge yet, you must. This cart is just fabulous for those that have girls of any age. We have a young friend, of the family, that is celebrating her birthday this weekend. I decided to make this card for her to match the cute little Barbie make-up kit we got her.

All of the cuts from the Slumber Party cart were cut at 2". The sentiment is a Studio G $1 stamp from Michael's. A little ribbon and some bling and you have a fabulous card for a fabulous little girl.

I also made a some treat bags for the chocolate shoes, sunglasses and lipsticks that I made for her to hand out to her party guests.