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.

Another beautiful wedding....

I know this is very similar to my recent post but I don't have any cards to show you. I've been very busy with work and weddings.  Here's one that I just went to in Temecula, at a family winery.

It was a lovely wedding.  Love was in abundance.

This took place over a pond on the property-- it was such a beautiful setting.


Here is my wedding gift card box. I used the Cricut for the side panels to cut words from the Sweethearts cartridge. 

The butterflies were punched out of the invitation paper (that had vines and grapes on it).

This cake was made by my co-worker who made the cake for the bride & groom.  (She's a beautiful cake designer).

 

A wedding gift card package....

I went to a fabulous wedding last night in Huntington Beach. There were so many cool things at this wedding, starting with the bridesmaid who had her Pomeranians in a carriage to the awesome reception. 

Look at this:  I loved it! The little doggies were SOOOOO cute.

The bride and groom looked positively lovely and I was so happy to be able to meet their family and share in their special day.

The reception was so much fun. There was dancing, a free candy store filled with assorted purple candies that we could fill our acrylic canisters with to take home, a taco-bar, a photo booth (with hats and masks to use), and a fry-girl.  What's that, I asked?  It's a girl who fries little donuts with sugar and cinnamon (kinda like a popcorn stand).  HOLY COW.  Then, about 10:30pm, we all got little sparklers (that you have at the Fourth of July) and lined the walkway (on both sides)  and they walked down the walkway.  Apparently, that's a new thing that people do at weddings...  

Here is my wrapped gift... 

This is after it was wrapped. I used the big glass pendant that was on the wedding invitation.  The sentiment came from an Inkadinkadoo clear acrylic stamp set.

 ... inside was my gift box.

once you lifted the lid...

SASSY SAY'N'S BY MARLOONEY

I am a HUGE fan of Marlene's over at www.disguisedasagrownup.blogspot.com

And I just was able to see some of her sentiments that she created and is selling over at 

http://www.dudetimedoodles.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=41_57

"BEHOLD FARTUCUS???? "

I love it!!!

I can't wait for this weekend before I can do some shopping. The digi images are reasonable also and very cute AND they take PayPal!!!!

Cha-Ching!!!

If you're not a follower of Marlene... you're missing out! She's hilarious and will make you laugh at least 1 time a day, typically at 9pm PST.

I used aluminum foil that I glued on to a circular cardstock with QuickDry (Scotch) and then ran it through the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.  This helped keep the shape.  I then cut the foil off.  I glued it to a Gypsy cut Scallop Circle. I used glitter paper for the bird and flower.  I cut the images from the Sweethearts Cartridge (I think). I then faux stitched. Nicole, the Canadian Nickel, created the Aluminum Foil technique.

To find out how to do the Embossing Foil Technique, please go to http://canadiannickelscrapn.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-09-27T00%3A01%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=8

Look at the 9/22/10 entry.

A Storybook Wedding

Yesterday, one of my co-worker's got married.   It was a LOVELY wedding. So elegant.
I gave her one of my Wedding Boxes and incorporated the colors of her wedding as well as her wedding invitation into the Wedding box (the black/white paper).

Her dress was absolutely beautiful.  I wish I could show the front of it but I don't want to put her photo up without her permission... so I'll show you the rear view.    (stop snickering, Marlene).  :-)

She looked absolutely perfect!

Music courtesy of Ne-Yo, "Because of You"

Here is the close up of the plastic strips to allow the doves and flowers to float

Sympathy Card for a Dog Friend...

A friend of mine recently lost her dog due to health problems complicated by old age.  To tell you that she invested time and money and love in this dog's life is an understatement however, some of you out there know what that emotional investment is like.  If you have a friend who lost a pet and has a hard time dealing with grief, here 's some tips that I try to follow:

1.  It always helps to make a card!  Isn't that what we're good at?  Whether it's a little drawing or a beautifully colored image or a Cricut cut out... it's the thought that counts.

Sorry for the lighting. I'm still trying to get the photography part of blogging right.
I tried to keep the card simple yet hopeful.  Now that I'm looking at it... boy, is it simple. Or as Mary (Cardztv) says SUPER SIMPLE. 

I used DCWV Summer Dream Cardstock (glitter paper) and Create-A-Critter and Sweethearts Cartridge

2. I try to send a small donation to Kansas State University School of Veterinary Medicine. In exchange, they send a lovely letter to the pet owner (and you) acknowledging your donation in the name of "Fifi."  You can indicate how you want your contribution to be distributed:   Greatest Need, Medical Research, Veterinary Medical Education, etc .  Here is the link and if you click on the left side where it says Donate to the Pet Tribute Site, you can print the form.  They are very prompt in sending the letter to both the animal owner and you.

  http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/development/PetTribute/index.htm

There is a wonderful staff there that handles these requests and my experience has been, no donation was too small.

I found out about this great idea when my dog Auggie passed away.  My veterinarian made a donation on Auggie's behalf.  What a thoughtful thing to do.

Auggie Doggie

3.  And there are various grief hotlines and resources that you can direct your friend to. UC Davis used to have one, but now due to budget cuts, they refer you to other resources.    Please see the link attached:

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ccah/petloss_resources.cfm

Amuse-bouche:

Our dog training class had Obedience trials today.  My little dog, SamUL, did his trial on-leash.  My older dog, Colt, did his trial off-leash (because he has been in the class for over a year and shouldn't require a leash.   The operative verb is SHOULD in this sentence).  Colt's original family, my nephews, came to watch him perform.  Needless to say, he was distracted at the time of his trials and eventually was awarded a plaque.  The plaque read something about how the owner (me) wasted money on a trainer because he's hopeless.   My nephew was happy that Colt won a plaque and here is his photo.

Here is Colt's (AWFUL) performance.  

There were quite a few distractions but that is no excuse.

Here is SamUL's performance.  He is still considered a beginner so he did his 'on-leash.'  He did much better than Colt but then again, SamUL is an over-achiever... especially in the art of Couch Eviseration.
The video was shot by one of my nephews. I will leave out names to not embarrass the nephew who seemed to be having GI issues.
 

A gaggle of newlyweds

Everyone around me is getting married.  Well, almost everyone.  I've been busy making gift boxes for those gift cards.  I thought I'd post some samples of two 'wedding' gift boxes I made.

The first gift box was for a friend whose wedding colors were turquoise and brown.  I incorporated parts of her invitation into the gift box (It's the license plate of the car).  Please click below to see my live action video with music by Chaka Khan. (Yea, I need to keep my day job. )

 

The second gift box was for one of my scrapping friends.  Her colors were royal blue and black.  I wasn't able to do a video for hers, so here are the photos

The cartridge I used was Sweethearts

This was one of the side panels