Secret Pal Delights

Happy, happy weekend everyone.  I hope that your weekend is turning out to be as productive as mine has so far.  Of course mine's been productive out of necessity.  Since my week days are so busy with work, the gym, and taking care of the family I have no time for crafting these days, and so I have to fit it in on the weekends when I can.

This weekend I finished up some gifts I've been trying to make for all the ladies at work that are participating in our Secret Pal gift exchange.  Everyone knows that I'm crafty so I have to find a way to sneak it in so that my true secret pal doesn't know who I am.  How's that for crafty?  LOL

So I found just enough of these tube gems in my stash and decided to transform them in to my Valentine's Day gift for each of my "sisters".  I covered the bottom third of the tube with a valentine print paper.

Then I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 2 for the heart tag.  And the little bow cut out was the perfect fit for the lid so I adhered the cut to each lid.  Waste not, want not after all.....

The stamped sentiment is a combination of stamps from the Cardz TV stamp set "Snail Mail" and Fresh Squeezed Stamps set The Envelope Please.

And now I'm going to play along with the new 3D Valentine Challenge going on over at Cardz TV.  This new DT has really rocked out this week's challenge and I can't wait to play along with them.

Forever, You and Me

This is a card that I made some time ago.  My inspiration for the card came from a picture I saw of a bathroom scene complete with his and hers towels hanging on the wall. Isn't it great the things that kick our creative juices in to high gear?

For the front of my card I used:

Sweethearts - for the you & me cut

Every Day Paper Dolls - for the bathtub, bubbles and towels

Paper Pups - for the dog

George - for the "towel bar"

My "tiles" are 1" squares that I cut on my paper trimmer

For the inside of my card I used:

Home Decor - for the word Forever

Indie Art - for the lips

Unfortunately the lips don't show up very well in the picture, but they were cut from a shimmering card stock so as to give that appearance of lip gloss.

Falling In Love.....

Since today is one of those homebound days due to weather and a hubby with the flu I decided to sit down and do a little cardmaking before I began housework.  And even though I really need to get some birthday cards made I decided to do one for Valentine's Day.

For this card - which is a loose scraplifting of one I found on Pintrest - I used the cute little owls from Create a Critter 2 - both cut at two inches.  As you can see I positioned both of them on a rope of twine which I picked up during the after Christmas sales.  Because of my inside sentiment (which I'll show you momentarily) I wanted to position them so that it looks like one owl is "falling" in to the other owl.  Oh and the hearts that are scattered across my twine are also cut from CAC2. 

My background paper is called Lots of Love and is one I've had in my stash for years.  And that just goes to show you how much paper I have.  LOL

So about the inside of my card......I found this quote on Pintrest and I just fell in love with it.  (No pun intended.)  Knowing that I'd use it somewhere I pinned it to my Crafty Projects to Try board. 

The stamped sentiment on the outside of my card is from the Cardz TV Stamps set title "Snail Mail". 

And there you have my first official Valentine's Day card of 2014.  Stay tuned as I'm sure there will be more to come.

Minion Hat

I loom knitted up several of these hats this year and everyone just crazy over them.  Personally I thought they'd look much better in a crocheted version but I don't know how to crochet - YET!  Regardless they turned out pretty good, were super quick to make and oh so easy....

 

 

 

For those of you who loom knit and would like to make some for yourself you can find the pattern here.  Now before you get alarmed that the instructions for the eye are crocheted I did find a couple of different ways to make the eye on the loom.  After trying two different versions I took what I liked best from both and now make my eyes as follows:

 

 

 

I use the blue KK loom if I'm doing a one eyed hat or the flower loom if I'm doing a two eyed hat.  Cast on the loom and purl one row of gray.  Switch to white yarn and garter stitch two rows.  Switch to black and ewrap for one row and gather bind off.

 

Mini Coffee Cup Candy Holders

I found this awesome and fun idea over at Inking Idaho a couple weeks ago and immediately I had to purchase the cups and lids so I could make my own.  However, I needed these to house my own special homemade candies that I make ever Christmas to give as gifts to co-workers, friends, teachers, etc.  Problem was my candies were going to be heavier than the typical store bought chocolates so I had to figure out a way to stabilize the holders. 

 

Now before I tell you about the couple of changes I made to this project, you'll find the directions at Inking Idaho and the template for the cup covers over at Stamping & Scrapbooking.  Be sure to download everything before you begin. 

 

Okay, so the changes I made to the project were:

 

To stabilize the holder I cut a piece of chipboard 2" x 4 1/2", covered it with a piece of matching paper and adhered it to the inside bottom of the holder BEFORE adhering the handle.

 

Because not all of my cups will be placed in holders or have the straws I wanted to cover the tops.  I found that cutting a circle on my Cricut at a size of 1.9" fit perfectly.

 

 

 

And in case you're wondering, the snowman I have on my holder is from Create a Critter 2 and was cut at 2".  The stamped sentiments on my lids are from the Cardz TV Stamps set Very Merry.

Angel Tree Gift Tags

Late last week my co-worker and I found out that we are responsible for setting up our company's Angel Tree.  Being new in our Human Resources positions neither of us were aware of this but we immediately sprung in to action so we could make it happen.

 

With such a narrow window of time to get everything done I was not able to make my tags using my Cricut as I normally would but I still wanted them to be fun and nice looking.  So this past Saturday I took a couple of hours to play in shaving cream and food dye, "painted" up 40 tags to start with and then applied various stickers, cut-outs and chipboard. 

 

For the final touch I added a stamped sentiment on each tag that I thought matched up with the character/item on the tag.  All of my sentiments (except one) are from the Cardz TV stamp set "Very Merry".

Sending Love at Christmas

I'm a little behind the 8 ball with a challenge that I was supposed to do for posting on Friday so to all of my DT sisters I apologize profusely.  The last two weeks have been so chaotic for our family with traveling for the holidays, getting sick while on vacation and coming home to even more sickness.  It's all been a whirlwind and we are ready for our lives to get back to their normal routines.

 

With all of that said, I'd like to share with you the card that I created for the Cardz TV Go to Galz Linky Party Challenge - Winter Wonderland.  I absolutely love these little penguins!

 

To create this card I used the following cartridges:

 

Zooballoo for the penguins and Winter Woodland for the hats.  The north sign is a Sizzix die.

 

The shimmering snow was created with a mixture of MS glitters:  Carabba Marble and Crystal Coarse.  After tearing my papers to create the layered ground I inked with a blue ink and then ran them through my Xyron, sprinkled the glitters on the paper and used my fingers to spread it around.

 

The stamped sentiment is from the Cardz TV "Very Merry" stamp set. 

 

 

 

This set has been a life saver for a couple of different projects this weekend.  Stay tuned for more details....

 

In the meantime, hop on over to Cardz TV, check out the other designs the Go To Galz created for you and while you're there be sure to purchase this wonderful stamp set.