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!!

Jolly Christmas Card

With Thanksgiving officially over, I present to you one of several Christmas cards that I have been working on. First up is a card using Card Positioning Systems layout #92.




I started with a base of PTI Kraft Cardstock and ran my Tim Holtz Distress Inks along the sides to muddle it up a bit. The patterned paper is Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey which I used my Tim Holtz paper distresser on the edges and inked them with the same Distress inks. The green is PTI's Ripe Avacado which I ran thru my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and smudged Distress Inks over the top. I tied a piece of PTI Dark Chocolate ribbon around the side as an accent.

The main images and sentiment were from my local craft store and are by Stampabilities. After coloring the Santa and Rudolph in with my Prisma pencils, I used some Liquid Applique on the Santa and some Crystal Effects on Rudolph's nose then matted them with SU! Eggplant Envy paper. I positioned the sentiment so it appears that Santa is holding it up.



And finally, I decorated the inside with enough white space to stamp a message or hand write one to whomever I decide to give it to.



Thanks for stopping by!

A Day at the River House-Turkey Style!

Turkeys run abundant throughout our property at the River House....except when the official turkey hunting season is upon us. During the 'official' season they are scarce and elusive, which is the way God intended. Turkeys are not dumb...wild turkeys can fly very fast and they can see in cOlOr! Don't ask me why or how, but they can! You can read up on turkeys here.

Anyhoooooo.....I captured a few pictures on our visit to the River House a few months ago, and you can see them below. As with all pictures on this blog, you can click directly on the picture, and it will get bigger. I hope YOUR turkey was a bit plumper than these!! Thanks for looking!!! And I hope you had a safe, festive and heart-warming time with your families!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving today, I hope you have a happy and safe holiday! Pumpkin pie is currently in the oven and the cherry pie is ready to go in next! YUMMY! Take care!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

I am not participating tonight, but you can sure find a LOT of inspiration over on the PTI forum tonight. You can read all the deets here. Then go check out the forum thread entitled "November Blog Hop" to see links to everyone's creations. Truly a fun time!

For your comic relief tonight.....

I present to you......FATNESS!! My dog, my protector, my rock of 65 pounds of lovin' warmth on 6" legs. And those are his back legs. His front legs only measure 4"! But this dog is the best I've ever had. He knows me and my husband like no other dog has. And trust me, I've had many different breeds through out my whole life. This dog is the BEST!



And did you know he is an import? He was originally born in Russia. My hubby and I often call him a Russian Bolshevik especially when he is being naughty. Naughty in the way that most puppies are......eating anything that falls to the floor, chewing shoes, being crazy etc. etc. Fatness is two years old and a European pure bred English Bulldog. He isn't show-worthy because when he was a baby, he had a small spot of pink showing on his nose. Unacceptable in the show ring. You or I would probably not see it but the 'show ring masters' do.

Doesn't he have the teeeny-tineyest little front teeth? They look like baby teeth but those are permanent. But behind those little tiny teeth are the biggest inscisors ever! He only shows them when he wants to. Especially when you take his woobie away from him. His woobie is whatever blanket or toy he uses to create a blissful nights sleep with. He is not biased when it comes to what he sleeps with, it's all about the comfort that he creates with!

Why am I posting this on my crafty blog you may ask? Because I CAN!!!!
Thanks for looking! I may be posting again tomorrow, I've got a lot of cute stuff that I'm working on....but I'm not making any promises! Until next time!

Thanksgiving Card

I made this card for The 'Other Man' in My Life along with a little turkey magnet. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I really dislike how it kind of gets pushed to the side between Halloween and Christmas. To me, Thanksgiving is all about getting together to have a great meal made with love, conversation with family and friends and the true meaning of Thanksgiving....Giving thanks to God for what we have been given! It always has been and will forever remain my very favorite holiday.

So on to the card!!!



I started with a base of PTI Kraft Cardstock and stamped the background in SU! Chocolate Chip ink with my Paper Inspiration Linen Texture stamp. I picked up the stamp from an Archiver's store several years ago....I have no idea if they still carry it or not. I wanted a base to add layers to and this stamp fit the bill!

As you can see in the photo, I cut the 8.5 x 11 card stock in half on the 8.5 side and folded along the 11" side to have it stand upright.

In the photo below, you can seen the stamped sentiment and frame. I used my Cricut to cut out the frame from SU! Pumpkin Pie and PTI Dark Chocolate papers. I adhered a piece of PTI Ripe Avacado ribbon around the layers and attached the cut out sentiment to the ribbon using pop dots. The brads are from Making Memories. The gourd paper is by K&Co.



For the inside I added a few cut out gourds from the same K&Co. patterned paper and a piece of PTI Vintage Cream which had been sponged around the edge with SU! Pumpkin Pie ink. The inside looks a little messed up because I wrote on the inside before I had an opportunity to photograph it so I had to white out the words! BLAH!



I used the Card Positioning Systems layout of the week for inspiration for today's card. If you are ever at a loss as to a layout for your card check here first! They have a ton of great layouts!

I hope you enjoyed today's card. I'm not promising any more frequent blogging right now, as the holidays are fast approaching and my family comes first. But I do have a few extra days off next week, so hopefully I'll be able to be posting more. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Turkey Magnet

I was inspired by Angie Kennedy Juda's turkey made entirely with Stampin' Up! punches to attempt to make my own little turkey. I decided to turn it into a magnet, so it will, hopefully, get some use out of it. I'm making these for the 30 or so people who will be going to my Aunt's house on Thanksgiving Day, as well as the 20 people at my MIL's house. I think I'm going to be a little busy!



I used a mixture of Stampin' Up! and Papertrey Ink papers and since I don't own all the punches, I improvised. For the feathers and body, I used my circle Nestabilities. I used a standard hole punch for the buttons down the front. For the hat I used PTI's 3/4" square punch. And for the feet, I used an old star punch - you can see that detail on the back. I then used the 3/4" square punch to punch thru the magnetic material to adhere to the back. I also replaced the punched paper eyes with googlie eyes I had from a previous project.



Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have been inspired!

With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are always difficult for me to make. Not the design or sentiment, just the whole process of making a card for someone who is grieving for someone. The whole time when I'm making a sympathy card, I think about the person who I'm making it for and I think about the feelings they are experiencing because of the loss. As like most of the sympathy cards I've made, this was a do-over because of the tears I shed that fell upon the original creation and spoiled it. This card was no exception. It was especially hard for me, because I made if for a woman who has lost her father. My Dad died 2 years ago and that place in my heart is still empty. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him or wish he was still here so I could ask him about something. He truly was my hero and he is deeply missed.

Okay - enough boo-hooing, on with the card!



The main card base is with PTI Stampers Select card stock. Sturdy, pristine white - I love it. It holds up all on it's own as a true card base should. I cut my 8.5 x 11 piece along the 11" side at 4.5. That way, when I created the crease, the card would be like a mountain fold. I used a corner rounder on the edges of the base and on the PTI Aqua Mist layer. I used images from PTI's Everyday Blessings stamp set throughout the card. This set has so many Biblical verses that are so meaningful to me that when I saw it, I knew I had to buy it.

Below is a full frontal view of the finished card....



Followed by a close up of the main image. The pearls were a find from my local craft store. They come prepared with adhesive already on them. They don't have any name brand on them, so I can't say who makes them, but I really love that if I wanted to adhere a straight line, I could, because they are all stuck together in one straight line. On this card, I cut them apart to adhere on to the cross image.



And finally, the inside of the card as I decorated it. I left enough white space below the sentiment to write a little note to my friend who has lost HER hero.



As always, thanks for taking a peek at my creations!

Just another quick post for you....

I told you I was MIA but not absent in my card making. Here is another post for you tonight! I made a little bitty pocket card for my sweet daughter. Not mine, physically, but by marriage. She is a strong young woman who has two strong young ladies in the making of her own. She lives far away from us but I love her as if she were my own. I love her free spirit and Independence and enthusiasm. She doesn't let ANYTHING take that away from her. She has had a LOT of hard knocks of life on her door step, but perseveres, come what may. This woman is a FIGHTER! She is gorgeous, and FLAUNTS it with the knowledge that, if she CHOOSES to flaunt, she is taking a roll-call and sizing you up....deeming if you are WORTHY of her inner circle. She tells it like it is and has no shame for telling it like it is! She has so much courage and doesn't take nonsense from anyone!!

So, on to the wee pocket card (wee ~ thanks to my friend Claire, means cute and little at the same time.)

This pocket card is just about all Stampin' Up! stuff. The only things not SU! are the ribbon, which is PTI, the flower punch which is from Martha found at a local store and the bling also found at a different store.



Below is a pic of the insert outside of the pocket. Again. using SU! products. As a former SU! demo I'm not afraid or intimidate to jump back into the SU! world - they have some great stuff! The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is from the Birthday Greetings set, unfortunately retired in 2005. But I love the way the sentiment is curved. Retired or not, I used it. After all, I'm just a regular stamper now, and I don't HAVE to use what's in ~ just what I love!




The next pic shows you the hand-crafted envelope using, YES-ONCE AGAIN, Lauren's envelope template. I know I've said it before, but her formula is amazing. She has perfected it down to a T! I will forever keep her formula in my recipe box! And me, being mathematically challenged, can even do it! Try it ~ you will like it! And NO - I'm not being paid to promote it! It just works, that's why I keep prompting you to try it!



And finally, the last pic of the wee pocket card is the completed envelope with, of course, the sticky seal to hold it all closed. The finishing touch on a cute little card!



Thanks for stopping by tonight! I've been a little long-winded so I appreciate you finishing until the end.

MIA......that's ME!!!

No, my Son is not, just me! I've made several creations that I haven't posted because I've been busy in my real life. But I've found time to post one here for you tonight.

We decided to throw a baby shower for the woman at work who is due with her second child that I made this card for. And I was asked to make her shower card.

Well, I couldn't NOT make a card without a matching envelope, using Lauren's formula it was very easy and this is what I came up with:



I used PTI Lemon Tart as the main base for the envelope and card, and because the card is going to be passed around, I wanted to make it larger than the standard card size. The actual card measures 4.25" x 6.5". I also wanted a lot of space available for people to sign the card, so the inside is very plain.



I used the Papertrey Ink Bitty Baby Blessings set throughout the card and created a decorative edge to the card and envelope with a Martha punch I found at my local Michael's.



If you are wondering about the larger duck all on it's own, it's a sticker I made so we can seal the card once everyone has signed it.

So that's it for today. Thanks for taking a look!