EXPLOSION BOX

After seeing Monique's adorable Halloween explosion box on her blog, I knew I just had to try making one myself. I made this box for my SIL's birthday. It's pretty simple. I figured I would let her add her own pictures and then embellish it herself. The papers are from Cloud9Design's Finley's Estate Collection. They are so gorgeous and elegant. The box was very simple to make with the exception of the top. I had to use a "life line" and phoned a friend for help. Thank you Monique!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - CARD

This is a quick little birthday card that I made for my SIL. I found the idea in the June issue of Paper Crafts 101 magazine. Their card actually used letter stamps and the masking technique. As I don't own any letter stamps I used my Quick Kutz Venus Dies for the lettering. I just rolled them through the cuttlebug...so easy. I can't believe I considered getting rid of my Quick Kutz dies once I got my Cricut. I love my Cricut but when you just need one letter, or maybe a few letters cut from several different colors, it is so easy to roll them through the cuttlebug. The paper is from the DCWV Glitter Stack and the stamps are Studio G $1 finds from Michael's. I also used the threading water punch, which is my new favorite punch BTW.

TEA PARTY

Here are a few pictures from our Tea Party on Saturday. We had such a blast!! Scott and Brittany worked the event as our servers. They were so adorable and served us flawlessly!! One of the ladies even left Brittany a tip on the table when she left. Here is a picture of one of the place settings. This was the cup and saucer that Caitlin used. A grandmother of one of the girls let us borrow the cups and saucers for the event. They were all absolutely gorgeous. It was hard to choose which one we wanted to use.
Here we are enjoying our luncheon tea. Scott and Brittany served us five courses. We had scones with devonshire cream, tea sandwiches, mini quiches, strawberry salad and elegant little desserts. Oh and the tea was to DIE for!! Pecan pie, amaretto, chocolate mint chip, white chocolate mousse, island coconut, and morning sunshine were just a few of the teas that we offered. It was a lot of work planning and preparing everything but it was well worth it as the girls and their mothers all had a great time.

TEA TIME - PLACE CARDS AND MENU

I don't own the Story Book Cricut cartridge, but it is one that I want SO bad!! How cute are the little butterflies? This cart has so many elegant and graceful images, not to mention the most adorable font. I have this cart on my Christmas wish list...and well I think I have been good...so we will see what is under my tree this year. I hope Santa is reading this. Anyways, here are some place cards and menus that I whipped up for tomorrow. A friend was kind enough to let me borrow her cart...thank you Wendy...and I used the threading water punch to finish them off. I will post pictures tomorrow evening after our party.

I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT

This Saturday I am throwing a tea party for my Girl Scout Troop and their mothers. The tea party is in honor of them "bridging" from Junior level to Cadette level. We had originally planned to have it at a wonderful little tea house in Folsom but two days prior to the event the owner called to tell me that their doors will be closed that day. So what is a gal to do when all of the tea houses in the area are completely booked (we made our reservations 3 months ago) and she doesn't want to disappoint her girls? Well, she throws one for the girls at home. Who says you have to go to a fancy tea house? I was lucky to find several mini teapots, like this one pictured for each girl and her mother to take home, at several different thrift stores in the area. I'm hoping the girls will have a great time and enjoy everything that I am preparing for them.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - CARD

I love this time of year, the start of all the holidays!! Here is a Halloween card that I made and yes that is a Bella stamp. I'm sure I have mentioned that I am obsessed with all things Bella right?

The patterned paper is from the DCWV Halloween stack from last year. The Bella stamp is called "Witchybella", which I colored with Prismas and then used the OMS technique. The stamp inside the circle tag is a Studio G $1 stamp that I got from Michael's last year. The border of the card can be done using the Threading Water punch, can I just say that I love this punch!! I also added some Stardust Stickles to the Bella. Hey who says witches can't be cute and sparkly?

TRICK OR TREAT GOODIES

Here are a few treat bags that I threw together for fun. The black cardstock is embossed with the spiderweb A2 cuttlebug folder. I love this folder!! The cute little ghost stamp is a Studio G $1 stamp that I found at Joann's. Of course I added a little bit of Crystal stickles to the ghost. The scalloped circle was cut from the Mini Monograms Cricut cartridge at 2 1/2 inches. I plan on making tons of these for several events that I have coming up.