A Super Creative Gift!!!

My friend is SO creative!!!  Using Tags, Bags, Boxes and More (Cricut Cartridge), she made this fabulous matchbook.  Inside, was a cute little accordion card with photos of Sam and Colt. She is such a dear friend who is so talented and such a good soul!!!

(Before you check out the great card, I wanted to share with you a great blog I found.  For those of you who have kids or have parties or gatherings, there are some great recipes and ideas you could use.   Creative paper crafting can be incorporated to the presentation.

The blog is called GLORIOUS TREATS.  Click HERE!)

And then she made this great little container with M&M Pretzels. She bought the container at Michaels (complete with little silver spoon) and decorated it!

Fun with friends...

I was able to get together with friends in the last few days...

Today, I met with a fellow scrapping friend and we talked... crafting (of course), over Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt.  (Yummy Salted Caramel yogurt with seasalt sprinkled on it).  It tasted like a toasted marshmellow.

Here is a paper box that she made me.  She is sooo good about the finite details in her cards and projects (including scrapping)...

Look how she topped this box.  She is SOOO CRAFTY!!!  :)

The tutorial for this box is here....

Amuse-bouche:

The other day, I got together with friends for some Southwestern food. 

http://www.blueagaveswgrill.com/about.html

Of course, we HAD to start off with a margarita.

  

Yellow corn tortillas filled with sautéed shrimp, asparagus and red bell peppers. Topped with a peach and cranberry salsa and accompanied by zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus and southwest turmeric rice.

A warm chocolate raspberry-pear cake is oozing with a white chocolate center and topped with fresh whipped cream.

A wedding gift box

Today we had a wedding shower for someone at work. I made my exploding gift box however THIS time, I made my own paper.  Here's my wedding gift box....
(for a video tutorial on the exploding box, click HERE)

I used a Hero Arts background stamp with VersaMark/clear embossing powder.  I then dabbed a combination of Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress STAINS and blended with a gloved finger.  The flowers came from the wedding section at Michaels.

 

Here's the lid.  I gathered some Recollections wired flowers into a bunch. I used a medium size DOT to glue it down.  Those things are super sticky!.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo (I've used it before on prior wedding gift boxes).  I used Tumbled Glass distress stains on the edge of the tag.

 When you open the lid... here's what you see. The car and phrases were cut from the Sweethearts cartridge (Cricut).  The matte that I wrote on was from Spellbinders. 

TO make it look like the doves and hearts were floating, I used clear sheets that I bought at Michaels (in the painting/water color section).  I inked the edges of the doves and hearts (from Sweethearts cartridge).  I used the thick red clear tape but it wasn't strong enough so I had to bond the strips with Glossy Accents. BOY That stuff worked great!!!

I put red bling for the tail lights and red Stickles for the license plate.  I used the Zip 2way glue and then sprinkled Crystal glitter to bling the car up.  I applied Tea Dye Distress Ink (brushed it with an ink pad) to the silhouettes of the man and woman). 


Amuse-bouche:

Here is the lovely shower cake we got the employee.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It was purchased at VON's grocery store and it was really yummy!!! (in case you're looking for a nice cake for a party).

One of my employees made these gorgeous cupcakes for the wedding shower potluck. The inside had strawberries and a cool-whip type spread. Isn't it beautiful?

She got the recipe from Giada de Laurentiis however I can't find it on the internet. It might be in one of her cookbooks.

Yummy Yummy-- ICE CREAM

I made this little gift wallet for someone (with a Farrell's gift card in it).  The sundaes were cut from the Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge.  I used Liquid Pearls, Glossy Accents and Stickles to embellish them.   (And Ranger's White Enamel.)  I used my clear sparkle gel pen and colored over the sundae scoops to give it a light shimmer.

I just LOVE brightening envelopes... probably because it only takes seconds (unlike a card which takes me hours!)

A variety of Jenni Bowlin inks. Sentiments came from a little sentiment pack (Stampendous) .  The bicycle stamp is a Hero Arts stamp (from Michaels)

I found another cute little blog that I would like to share with you...

   http://allbycathyfong.blogspot.com/

Gift card wallets, courtesy of Mary, at Cardztv

I made some more of these great gift card holders.  One is for a promotion for a co-worker of mine.

The monkey came from a Recollections set of embellishments that I got at Michaels.  There was about 100 pieces in this big bag. 

The "Congrats" and dog/cat image came from Lawn Fawn.  The cartoon bubble came from the $1 bin at Michaels.  The coloring was COPICS.

This is for a baby's birth-- gift card.

The sentiment "It's a girl" came from Lawn Fawn.

Valentine's Candy in a gift container....

Here's a neat container that I used to fill with Valentine's candy.  

See below:  I cut red cardstock at 8.25" x 4.25".  I used two Paper Trey Ink stamps and stamped the images using Colorbox white ink and Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar ink and Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  The punch was a small punch that I had from years ago (I don't know who the maker is).  I punched hearts about 1" in from the edge.  I put red Stickles on the heart.

I used Scotch Quick Dry and adhered the openings shut. I used the paper crimper (Fiskar's) to crimp the edges (use glue as well)

Amuse-bouche:

Well I've had some days off from work and even though I have tons of scrapping things I need to work on (playing with new Distress stains, stamps, etc)... I have been such a SLACKER.  I have been sleeping, watching Big Bang Theory, eating, watching American Idol on my DVR until 3am, and as of 24 hours ago, I started reading Stephen King's 11/22/63.  I can't stop reading it.  It's soooo good. 

 

A small gift bag...

I created this bag from "Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More."  It took me a lot longer to make because I wanted to use pattern paper, but then discovered that on the other side of the bag, my leaves were upside down.  So, I cut it 3 times:  I cut it in light green thick cardstock.  And twice more in the pattern paper shown in the photo.  I cut out the pattern twice so that when I adhered it on the green cardstock, the main panels were facing upright.  I took green tissue paper and stamped my sentiments from "Tiny Tags II" (Paper Trey Ink).

The pink ink is from Stampin' Up (Melon Mambo) and the brown ink is from Jenni Bowlin

 Amuse-bouche:

This is a neat Christmas gift my dear friend made me.  She took Sam's photo & created this cute photo holder!!! I know you've seen others on other websites but I love the colors and ribbon and reindeer.  I had to share!

Gift card holders.... super idea Mary!

I saw this tutorial on Cardztv. It's super easy and can be made really fast.  If you haven't been a subscriber or follower of Mary's site, you should consider it. She puts on videos all the time and is really good at explaining things!!!   

Embellishments are from Recoolections

A Farrell's just opened up in our City (see gift card above).  It's a great place for kids parties.  It's in an inconvenient location of being on my route home from the gym... and having a walk-up window. 

Amuse-bouche:
Here are photos from Christmas photos from the gift opening extravaganza...

Sigh... I'm hoping he'll outgrow this "phase" and become a KINGS fan.

Colt FINALLY got his squirrel.

SamUL is exhausted from the 'cousins'

 I went to my uncle/aunt's on Christmas for a visit as he's been not feeling well.  Here is a view of Griffith Observatory/ Hollywood sign from his patio.

My father has a captive audience.

View of downtown Glendale and Burbank (towards the left)

Christmas backpacks, filled with goodies

I filled these little backpacks with m&m's and a movie pass.  I made little tags to put in the bottom pocket.  The stamp was from Paper Trey Ink.  The ink was Jenni Bowlin.

I LOVE these backpacks. They take a while to make (especially with the eyelets)... but they're worth it!

Amuse-bouche:

 Here are some photos from Christmas Eve:

Sammy and Grandpa

Clark Kent and his mother

Please DROP something

Seaweed salad and Sashimi (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and octopus)

Still waiting...

SamUL:  I can't get away; he's got me by the leash

G's trophy for roller hockey