Super Simple, Yet Thoughtful Gift Ideas....

Hello everybody, Happy New Years Eve!!!! Can you believe that this is the last day of 2013?!?!?!?! Honestly, I will not be sad to leave this year behind. While I have learned and accomplished quite a bit this year, this has been a year of hard trials, both for myself and ones very dear to me. But anyhow, to a brighter topic, today I thought that I would share a gift set that I made for one of my three new sister-in-laws for Christmas. She is an English teacher and her favorite color is blue, so I thought that I would whip her up a nice, coordinating desk set.

For the Post-It note holder, I simply used a clear, acrylic frame from Dollar Tree and decorated it with a 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye, some small white Basic Grey letter stickers, a blue Prima flower and a Post-It note stack.

 

 For the magnetic notepad, I took some basic tan cardstock and layered some patterned papers to add some interest behind the blue paper pad, which I picked up from Dollar Tree as well. (Side note: Dollar Tree is a great resources for picking up base materials for projects, like mini notebooks, notepads, photo frames, etc.) I used some letter stickers I got in the dollar aisle at Target and some gold pearls from Q&Co. The pen is a gel pen from a Fiskars jumbo pack. 

To attach the pen, I took a 1/16 whole punch and punches a little hole in the top left corner of the cardstock and then looped some twine through the hole and then hooked the pen cap through the twine. I used a hard core magnetic strip that I cut off from a large roll I picked up at Ace Hardware a couple of years ago. I do usually have to put some hot glue behind the magnet to get it to stick permanently to the back of the cardstock, but once the hot glue hardens, it does not come off.

 

I also whipped up a mini notebook with patterned papers from the same My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad, used some small white glitter Thickers from American Crafts and some ribbon from my stash (I believe the ribbon was originally wrapped around a pack of washcloths I picked up at TJMaxx a couple of years ago. The scalloped circle was punched out with a Fiskars punch.

While I did make this as a gift set for a Christmas gift, it could easily be replicated for a gift for just about any occasion.

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Years!! See you in 2014! ;)

This Post Needed a Title.... and a Giveaway!

*** I forgot to add a title to this post, sorry if anyone had any trouble linking to this post!

Hello All, can you believe it's Thursday already??? (For that matter, can you believe its almost the middle of October?!?!?!!?!) Where does the time go?!? I just thought I would pop in and share a project that I whipped up a few weeks ago for my new sister-in-law (my brother's wife). She is in the midst of student teaching, so I thought that she might enjoy some office cute office supplies to stay organized. She really loves canning, so I thought I would use a Dear Lizzy paper from a 6x6 pad I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I also used some old Amy Tangerine papers  from a 6x6 pad a dear friend sent me a year or so ago and Dear Lizzy Fifth and Frolic paper pad, as well as some labels from Heidi Swapp and some October Afternoon Butterfly and small doily stickers. I finished off the projects with some white Basic Grey mini alphas, Q&Co rhinestones and pearls and My Mind's Eye Cut and Paste enamel dots. I used some small flowers that my cousin sent me to finish off the clothespin magnets I made. So that the paper would not peel off the magnets, I used some Modge Podge Acrylic spray to finish them off.

(If you stick with the pics to the bottom, I'm sharing a small giveaway!)

I also wanted to do a small giveaway. I put together a small kit for making Christmas tags and a small card making kit. For a chance to win, become a follower and let me know in the comments and for a second chance blog about the giveaway and put a comment with a link to the post. The giveaway will be open until October 25th and I will post a winner on the following Monday, October 28! I will be picking two winners, one for the Christmas tag set and one for the card kit!

Clothespin Magnets

Happy Monday All. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. It is rather chilly and dreary here, but its actually a nice break from the heat wave we had for the last few weeks.

Today, I thought I'd share a quick project that I whipped up several weeks ago. I intended to put them up in my etsy shop, but I just haven't had the chance to do it yet. A few months ago, I picked up some really cheap embellishments on clearance at Michaels. Since I had a bunch of the same or very similar little fabric brads, I thought I would whip up a couple sets of clothespin magnets. 

For this project, I just used some clothespins from a 100 pack that I got at Walmart, some embellies from Michaels, a hot glue gun, some homemade modge podge, patterned paper, and a heavy duty magnet roll that I got a couple years ago at Ace Hardware (These rolls have lasted me quite a while. I'm  still on my first roll I think.).

Since I will be putting these up in my shop, I wanted to create a cute chipboard shape to package them with, so I ran a very thin sheet of chipboard through my Cuttlebug machine with a Spellbinders die and then cut it in half with my paper trimmer.

Graduations Galore

So, May has been a busy month of Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. Today I wanted to share with you a couple of graduation cards, one for a young lady in our church and the other for my cousin.

For the first card, I used a couple of Amy Tangerine papers, Dear Lizzy black thickers, some Colorbok glittery pink chipboard letters and a paper doily.

On the second card, I used three papers from the Bo Bunny Blast Off paper pad, some Darice wash tape and a icling stamp that I stamped in Memento London Fog ink. I cut the shapes out with my circle and scallop Spellbinders dies.

I don't know about all of you, but I can't wait for the weekend! Hope all of your week's are passing faster than mine is! :)

A Long Delayed Post

Hello All. I wanted to share a few post-it holders that I put together. I usually have issues with the top flap. They are never heavy enough to sit flat so I experimented with a few different ways to add weight to the tops.


For the two post-it holders, I used papers from an Amy Tangerine paper pack that a dear friend got me for Chirstmas. I haven't had much opportunity to play, but I am loving these papers. They are so bright and cheerful!!! For the pink holder, I simply placed a small piece of magnet on the underside of the top. For the blue holder, I completely enclosed the notepad and used two magnets to keep the post-it holder shut. Have I mentioned how much I love these Amy Tangerine papers?

Record Month... Two postings in a row!

Well, as I mentioned in my earlier post, Wednesday evening I couldn't take it any more. I HAD TO CRAFT! So I probably spent 3 hours at my desk crafting away that evening while hubby studied. I took the pictures and edited them all at once, but decided to spread the pictures out over a few days, so I could highlight the different projects. I finished up 5 mini notebooks, which I have been slowly working on for probably the last 2 months (It's been a crazy year.) So I was very happy to have a project completed (I also finished up and sent out a project I have been working on with translating assistance from one of the ladies at church too last night, so I am on a role this week!). I hope to get some better pictures in better light and post them to my etsy shop this weekend, but we have a visiting minister so it might get pushed back a little.

Anyhoo, Below are the notebooks. I tried to make them all varied in appearance so I could have a broader selection to offer, plus I wanted to play with some of the new paper packs that I got in the goodie box I bought earlier this year from my cousin. One of the notepads I finished up on Wednesday evening, but modified it last night because it just didn't look right to me (Last 2 pictures shown below).

Supplies:
Paper: Recollections single sheet papers from Michaels, K&Company 4x6 paper pack, Cosmo Cricket paper pack
Embellishments: Ribbon from stash, Making Memories chipboard letters, patterned tape (don't know brand)

This one just didn't look right with only the thin narrow strip of tape - it was see through and just looked unfinished, so below is how I modified it last night.

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend!

Sticky Note holders

 One of the things that I plan on adding to my Etsy shop soon are Sticky Notes holders. The base is a plastic picture frame, with patterned paper slipped in the frame instead of a picture. On the outside a sticky note pad is glued or taped to the frame and I velcroed a mechanical pencil to the front as well. I believe that the paper is from My MInd's Eye, but I don't remember the exact collection at the moment. the "Be Happy" stamp is from the dollar aisle at Target, the notepad from Wal-Mart and the pencil from the Dollar Tree. The ribbon flower on the pink frame was made by someone at my church. She gave it to me on the outside of a gift bag. I wanted to preserve it, so I used it for added embellishment.

Sorry for the poor pictures quality, after the sun goes down it is hard to take decent pictures in our apartment!

Springtime...in February

It is supposed to be in the 70's today. It was almost 70 (if it didn't actually hit 70) yesterday. Craziness... good craziness.... but craziness.

In the spirit of springtime, I have some more spring creations to share. I also plan on putting these up on my etsy shop. They are actually very similar to a set I made for a charity auction earlier this year and I thought they were so cute that I would whip up another set to put up on my Etsy Shop.

For supplies, I used basic cardstock and papers from a paper pack that I can't remember the name of (my cousin gave it to me and it is fully of such bright cheerful colors and patterns), I used gems from  acmoore (also a gift from my cousin), and the ribbon was just scraps I had on hand. The flowers are from different Prima flower collections. The brads were a gift from my Secret Pal last year. I left the backs blank so that any sentiment/message could be written. I traced the template out from a pattern I cut out off the back of a K & Company paper pack.

And this wraps up the Holiday Expo pics...

So this is a 1.5 day work week... SAWEET! We are leaving tomorrow for Erie, where my family lives. I can't wait!!!

Anyhoo, I just thought that I would wrap up the rest of the pictures I have to share of some close ups of the rest of the crafts I sold at the Holiday Expo last week. (Holy cow, was it only last week??? The last two weeks have been soooo long and yet flown by at the same time...)

Supplies:

Paper:Basic Recollections card stock, patterned paper from scraps, some are from a friend,some are from a K & Company mini paper pack, and the other snowflake paper (the paper used for the card sets) was handstamped by me.

Embellishments:Ribbon from a friend and from gifts that I saved the ribbon from, Used a Recollections edge puncher for some added dimension on some of the magnetic notepads, buttons on gift bows froma friend

Sentiments: All sentiments from a sticker pack that came with a paper crafting magazine last Christmas, typed out on my PC and the Season's Greeting snowflake is a digi image that I will have to post the origin of later...

Christmas Planners and a Giveaway

Good Afternoon All..... Guess what??? It's Friday!!!! Woohoo!!! And better yet it's Friday afternoon!!!!! Less than a week until Thanksgiving!!! (Is it just me or did November just fly by!?!?!?!)

Anyhoo, I just wanted to share some close up pictures of the Christmas Planners that I created for the Holiday Expo earlier this week... if you stick around until the end of this post you may find out that I'm giving one of them away. ;) 

Supplies:
Paper: Bazzil card stock, Recollections card stock, Studio G patterned paper, patterned paper from Dollar Aisle at Target, Recollections patterned paper
Embellishments: Studio G holiday chipboard set, buttons from dollar aisle at Michaels, snowflakes from a Secret Pal and from Michaels (sorry don't remember what brand - I bought them last year) Hero Arts gems, Ribbon from Inkadoo Christmas Stamp Set, Target dollar aisle, and Michaels
Sentiments: Sentiments either from Studio G holiday chipboard set or printed out on my computer with Microsoft Word
Digi Image: Digi image from Bugaboo Stamps

Now about that giveaway....I will be giving away one of the Christmas Planners above, plus a surprise present for whoever wins.

Rules: You will have 3 opportunities to post a comment to win
1. Must be a follower of this blog - if not please follow and then leave me a comment telling me you did!
2. Re-post this giveaway on your blog with a link back to here.
3. Tell me which one of the Christmas planners you like best and what your favorite organization tip for the holidays is.

I will leave take comments up until Friday, November 25 and will announce the winner on Monday, November 27. 

Holiday Expo

Hullo all! Sorry I've been AWOL, but I was in some major last minute crank these crafts out mode for the last two weeks before the Holiday Expo I participated in on Tuesday. I have a bunch of pictures to share what I made, but today I thought I'd just share a couple of pictures I took and a friend took of my table. :) I didn't too bad. The only table that really sold a TON was the lady selling scarfs that she imported from Ecuador. I didn't want to spend money on my table set up, so I just grabbed my green table cloth that I use for the holidays, a orange leaf serving tray to display my paper pumpkins and a small basket to hold the little candy pouches. I just whipped up a sign with the name of my Etsy shop in Word and put it in a frame I already had. I also managed to get my business cards all printed out too. Sweet :)

(Sidenote: The chocolate candy didn't sell, but that's okay, I'll just use it as small gifts for co-workers, and some little cousins and friend's children. :) )