The little things make the biggest difference...

Remember my post from last week, where I stated I might need a bit of help tweeking a packaging? Well, I decided to not do any tweeking simply because my original design was too complicated to mass produce.


I wanted to 'wrap' a piece of Ferrero Rocher - yummy hazelnut/chocolate/cruncy/melt-in-your-mouth goodness.....





They come in a large plastic tray and each piece is already pre-wrapped in gold foil with a little cup-cake like base as you can see below...




Below is my original concept...Keep in mind this was a prototype and an original first time creation...nothing fancy but just an idea of what might have become.



And this is the bottom view....




Because there were so many I had to do to give as a little gift to everyone at work, the thought of having to glue, stamp and hold together for a bit for the glue to dry, the impracticality of it hit me, and I quickly changed course to my favorite all time thing to make - little origami boxes. No glue, no staples, just paper folding at it's finest!!

And because I have fallen in love with the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding set, it was my go-to papers for the lids! I originally went to PTI's papers for the base colors, but alas, they were just a bit too thick to do the origami folding and I used SU! papers, which, while they did okay, were still a bit too thick and I did encounter some cracking, but it was manageable. Below are all the little boxes all stacked up. But this is only half of them - there is a another load I did, but I couldn't configure them all into one photo!



I hope this has inspired you to look beyond your first thought to tweak on your own! Thanks for stopping by!

Okay, so the Flurry of Fun got interrupted.......

Yes, I did not post on Sunday because real life got a hold of me and hasn't let go until now! BLAH! I wish I could live in my Crafty Cove all day, every day, but alas, it isn't always so! Until TONIGHT!!! I've been making many things gearing up to Christmas, and between everything going on, shopping and crafting, tonight is the first night I have been able to resume my Flurry of Fun posts. So tonight, for your viewing pleasure, Flurry of Fun #5 - The Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates Music Makeover....



I don't know of a single person who hasn't given or received a CD of some sort, be it a music or movie CD. A couple of years ago, some stores started carrying their gift cards in CD cases, which I find a little more fun, since you don't know what you are getting until you open it, which is the case tonight.

At work, we usually buy a little something for everyone in our department. Right now, our department alone holds approximately 15 people (if you count both divisions) and is HUGE compared to the 5 people in place back when I started!. During this shaky economic time, we decided to draw names and have a limit of $20, which works for me! We each made a list of what we wanted and drew names and I drew Rebecca! On her list was gift cards to several major stores and some movie CD's. Well, I'm all for the gift cards because it allows you to buy what you want! You can do it on line or go to the actual store, they are very convenient and you get your whole dollars worth. I put $20 on the gift card and paid $20 - no tax! Okay - enough with my ramblings about how I love gift cards....on with the show!!!

So I used Lauren's fabulous template to create a 'box' for my CD case. The gift card did not come with a CD case, but I have a huge quantity I bought a while back, and with Lauren's template I was able to provide a great package for it! I created a little flap using SU! and Basic Grey papers and wrapped it with a bit of ribbon from PTI to create a belly band so she can slide it off and perhaps re-gift with it. (I am all for re-gifting if someone else can benefit from it. Nothing wrong with it - don't be a hater!) Below you can see my CD in the template box....



And a close up of the sentiment from the PTI set Merry and Bright....



Below is a picture of the altered CD case - I just cut a scrap of double sided Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper to slide into each side and adhered them with glue dots in each corner.



And next comes the Best Buy gift card positioned inside of the CD case with the help of the SU! slot punch to hold the gift card and a couple of pop dots to give it some depth.



Now that you have seen the whole she-bang, you are probably wondering about the little star shaped thingy on the outside of the box. It's a little paper ornament I made that uses four strips of paper and no glue! Kind of origami-like but it's origins are world-wide. Here are a few pictures of the ornament....







I see a potential tutorial in my future on how to do the star ornament.....perhaps if I can have my hubby be a photographer I might be able to supply one for you.

Thanks for looking tonight! I hope it has inspired you to create something. Please post back to me if it has - I would lOvE to see what you have come up with!

Flurry of Fun #4: The Christmas Card That Isn't!

My Hubby vetoed this card as a non-Christmas card. There isn't anything that speaks to him as Christmas-y. When I asked him about the red and green colors, he promptly stated that just because it's red and green doesn't make it a Christmas card. He has a point. But regardless, someone I know will get this as their Christmas card....because I'm a rebel like that!



Below is a full frontal view which shows off a bit of bling that is on the card provided by my Zig Painty Pen in silver. I also used a few of the stars from the PTI Merry and Bright set to stamp on the Pure Poppy paper.



And a bit more with the pen on the main image. The patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye which I found at the local craft store. I finished off the card with a bit of bling in the center of the star, again provided by The Paper Store.



That's all I've got for tonight, but be sure to check back tomorrow as the Flurry of Fun continues! Thanks for stopping by!

Flurry of Fun #3: Holiday Greetings

As most of you who read this blog (I believe there are seven of you) know, I am a huge fan of Papertrey Ink. Just about everything they have is inspiring to me and I use their stamps, inks, papers and ribbons often. This card is no exception.

I stamped the trees from the PTI Merry and Bright set three times in three different colors of ink and then cut them out and adhered two of the trees directly onto the papers.



Just about everything on this card is PTI, except for the little bit of bling at the top of the tree. That is by The Paper Studio and I found it at my local craft store.



I used a punch by Stampin' Up to punch out the sentiment, which I then sponged and edged with ink. I adhered it with dimensionals to the paper which I ran thru my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Do you like the patterned paper? So do I! And yep, that's from PTI too!



And finally I tied a piece of grosgrain ribbon around it and adhered the final tree over the top of the ribbon. It was a very quick and simple card, which I think might be one I will use to mass-produce cards for people at work.

Hope you enjoyed the card! There is another post scheduled for later on tonight. Stay tuned for another entry during this Flurry of Fun!!

Flurry of Fun # 2: Michelle Wooderson Inspired Christmas Planner....

I've 'called her out' before on my blog here, and she just keeps inspiring me. Her planner, which you can see here, inspired me to change it up a bit for my Mom. I lOvE Michelle's planner, but I also knew it wouldn't work for my Mom. My Mom is the type of person who has to have everything in one place and it can't be a 'loose-leaf' type of planner like Michelle's planners are. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I know my Mom! So I came up with this.



It's a little Bind-It-All planner so she can co-ordinate who and what she has to shop for and can tuck it all into her purse and haul it out when she needs it.



As you can see, I made little tabs using the SU! Curly Label Punch and each punch has the family members initials on it with the SU! Straight Up Alpha & Numbers stamp set.



The white paper is by Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select and it holds up so well with this type of project. All the solid colored paper is also by Papertrey Ink. All of the patterned paper is from the Figgy Pudding line by Basic Grey. (Yes, again with that Figgy Pudding paper!)



As you can see, each page that flips on by has a strip of the Basic Grey paper on the edge. (Note To Self: Don't try to punch the BIA holes before adhering the patterned paper on both sides ~ just adhere all paper and THEN punch! TRUST ME!)

You get the general idea....I hope this inspires YOU on Flurry of Fun! Thanks for looking!!!

Flurry of Fun #1...just a quick post tonight....

This is the first year that I have not mass-produced Christmas cards for every one. I decided that I would still mass-produce for people at work, but for friends and family who know my passion, they would get individual cards. This is really a hard step for me, because I lOvE to produce sets of cards. I love the routine and for me to create individual cards for family and friends is a challenge and so I stepped up to the plate.

The first card out is one using the Unity Stamps set called Jolly Little Winter. The paper on the top is from the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line which I have become enchanted with this holiday season. The bottom paper is from my local craft store, and, unfortunately, I didn't write down. If someone knows who the manufacturer is, please let me know.



I stamped the little GIRL penguin with my Stazon on to Papertrey Ink Stampers Select white card stock. If you haven't tried the PTI SS yet, I suggest you do because it can hold up all on it's own without any other paper supporting it. I love it! I then colored her in with Copics and used my Nestabilities to frame her with SU! card stock. The puffy ball 'ribbon' represents snowballs and I got that at the ribbon club I belonged to many, many years ago which is still going on and you can find it here.

I hope you liked the Flurry of Fun! Post a comment....I would love to hear from you! Thanks for stopping by!

Hold on to your hats people......

I've got a FLURRY of Christmas fun coming! Let me know if you like it or not! Over the next three days, I'll be posting daily with my Flurry of Fun creations. There is a planner, a couple of cards and something I may need your help on if I don't tweak it by Sunday night! STAY TUNED!!!

O Christmas Tree Card

I was inspired by Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding line of papers that I've been playing with so much lately, and I came up with this!



It's a card in the SHAPE of a Christmas tree, with Christmas tree's ON it! I think this card is so cute and it came out on paper exactly the way I had it in my head! The main base of the card is PTI Ripe Avocado paper. The sentiment and little silver star is from PTI's Merry & Bright set, the big gold star is from PTI's 2008 Holiday Tag Collection. The stamp of the big star has a small star that is partially embedded into it, and when I heat embossed it, the star kind of got lost. So I stamped and embossed the little star from the Merry & Bright set all on it's own in silver, cut it out and added it right over the original little star with a dimensional, and then cut away the original star, giving the silver star the spotlight! You can see it in the picture below, followed by a picture of the back. I didn't want the card to come to a point, because then it would be too fragile.





And next is a closer look at the sentiment and tiny gold cording. I framed the sentiment in PTI Pure Poppy and Ripe Avocado papers that I cut out with my Cricut.



I hope you liked the card today! Thanks for stopping by!!