A Simple Good-Bye to 2011

Hey People!  Did you all have a great Holiday?  I sure did, even though life has been crazy busy!  Contrary to popular belief, just because it is "vacation" time for the kiddos, the schedule does not stop!  The Oldest kiddo has had basketball tournaments, and both kids have resumed basketball practice this week.  Add to the normal chaos of the Holiday of me working full time covering for all the other therapists wanting to take time off and there has just been NO time for any blogging (or creating, for that matter!!).  But, it's all good!  Busy keeps everyone out of trouble! haha!!

I was originally going to pop in here and share some of my favorite creations from 2011.  But, I decided to nix that idea.  2011 is just that.....2011!! It's time to move on and look forward to 2012! 

So, instead, I'm going to close out the year with a couple of very simple, last minute gifts that I had to make before the Holiday. 

Sometimes, simple is the only way to go. 

First, tags made for some homemade Orange Cranberry Bread that I made to give to the oldest Kiddo's high school teachers.

I baked the bread in $1 ceramic pans that Michael's always carries this time of year.  As the oldest kiddo put it, "the ceramic container's make it look like a better gift than the tin foil pans."  hahha!!  The tags came from an old SU set Christmas Punch.  I colored directly onto the stamp with SU markers in Cranberry Crisp and Old Olive.  Huffed onto the stamp (that really sounds like something you shouldn't be doing!) and stamped onto Pure Luxury card stock and punched out with the matching scalloped punch from SU.

Next, a quick gift set I made for the Toad's step grandmother.  Six cards and envies put into a clear stationery box. 

I used a LaBlanche stamp.  These stamps are so detailed that I think you can get by without coloring (which, I did not have time to do!!). These stamps are silicon on a foam backing.  I will admit, that I had to practice a bit to figure out how to get all the detail to stamp nicely.  Memento ink worked best for me.  And once I put the stamp to the paper, I "walked" my fingers over the entire image area (these stamps have the detailed picture cling on the back of the stamp).  If I tried to put just straight pressure down on the stamp (like I do with a wood mounted stamp), I found that the image often was blurred.  Just stamping left detail out.  So, walking it was!!  The sentiment came from another old SU set All Year Cheer, and was stamped in Wild Wasabi ink. 

I do want to say that I'm so ever grateful for all of your comments and encouragement over this past year! You all make blogging fun and I appreciate the time that you take to share my exploration of creativity.  I look forward to more creative adventures in the New Year!! 

Have a Safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!   

From the Desk of......

Hey People!  Are you all ready for the holiday?  I'm a bit closer, but still have a list that is long enough that I might need an extra week to get it all done!  Oh wait...that isn't happening, is it?! 

Thought I'd pop in and share the gift that was made for the Youngest Kiddo's teacher.  She loves personalized gifts and just happened to mentioned how much she loves the vintage look.  Sooo, I put the two together and made a vintage theme box that contains 12 cards/envelopes.

Graphic 45's An ABC Primer  8x8 pad was the PERFECT paper for this project.  I made the box to fit standard 4.25" x 5.5" cards/envies.  I made the box from the cardboard that comes in 12x12 paper packs and adhered the paper with Claudine's matte multi medium.  I cut the ruler from one of the sheets and adhered it to a piece of the scrap cardboard to give it dimension.  I used another sheet of the same image to paper piece some of the books and the top portion of the little girl giving a spankin' and adhered with dimensionals for even more dimension and interest. 

For the personalization, I traced the shape of the paper's image that had ABC on it, and traced it around my personalization that was on the computer on Very Vanilla card stock.  The edges of the box and personalization note were distressed with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.  I used the same ink to also distress my gingham ribbon.  The apple was die cut with Spellbinders Nested Apples from SU's Riding hood Red paper and shaded with a mixture of Distress Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo.  The highlights were added with Inkssential's white opaque pen and then the whole apple was coated in Glossy Accents.

Showing more of the dimension and the sides of the box

I made three cards of 4 different styles.  All are on a base of Pure Luxury Ivory (which matches SU's Very Vanilla very nicely, but is much more sturdy, which I like for a card base) and measure 4.25" x 5.5".  All the papers are again from the ABC Primer.  The apple die cuts are a Cuttlebug die and all were shaded with Distress Vintage Photo, highlighted with the Inkssentials white opaque pen and covered in Glossy Accents. 



These cards had some scored lines made with my Scor-Buddy to add a bit more interest

SU's More Mustard was used for the solid strip

All the card were CAS (clean and simple) as I did not want Ms. White to have pay any extra postage for added embellishments! 

Geesh.  I just realized that these are not the best photos! This is what happens when one takes the photos on a rainy day and forgets to check the outcome! The bases look white versus vanilla/ivory.  The colors are a bit washed out too....I'd love to re take the photos, but. uhhh, I don't think that it would be proper to ask Ms. White for her gift back!! haha!  Oh well. 

Ok!  That's it for me today!  I'm going to go check my list again and see if there is something else I can check off before calling it a night!! 

'Till then...................

Deck the Cards with Lots of Embellies.....

Fala la la la la la la!!

'Tis the season to be decorating and adding all those extra little touches to the home, decor items  and packages!  Today and tomorrow, the E-Team is going to share some ideas on using Maya Road's Vintage Embellishments Bits Pack. 

Thursday's Blog's to Hop

Linda L

Micki

Me!

Friday's Blog's to Hop

Broni

Daisy

Latrice

Sherry is sitting this one out, but make sure you stop by and wish her some holiday cheer!!

Daisy is REALLY in the Holiday Spirit and is generously picking 6 (SIX) winners for this blog hop! A winner will be chosen from each blog. 3 winners will win a $20 eP GC & 3 winners will win a fun box stuffed with eP embellishments that will include trims, brads, buttons, decorative pins, Stickles, & more!

•You can leave comments beginning Thurs - Sun (Dec 15-Dec 18)

•Winner's will be announced on Tues Dec 20th on the eP blog. 

I don't know about you, but I'm soooo far behind in my holiday preparations, that I'm beginning to think I'm ahead of the game, haha!  So, I'm looking for quick easy ideas to use on my (ahem) last minute gifts and projects.  While looking through the Pottery Barn Teen catalog and BINGO!!  Fun, quick and CUTE inspiration!!



First, the catalog inspiration:

Aaand....My Take!!

 

The main circle is from the Embellishment Pack.  What is nice about this is, it has a different pattern on the "backside", so there is no wrong way to wear the necklace, or if it gets twisted, no worries!  I just looped the chain and using jump rings, added the Findings Baubles and the smaller circle and beads from an old necklace.  Easy Peasy!!

Then I just happened to notice the cute flower paper clips that were also in the pack.





Seriously.....how easy was this to make such CUTE earrings?!!  All I did was use jump rings to hook everything together!! I think both these projects together took me under 15 minutes to make (I spent more time trying different layouts than the actual assembling!!)

 

I think that these would make a great stocking stuffer for a teen girl (or a young at heart lady! haha).  Quick, easy and cute.  What more could one ask for from a homemade gift?!! 

 

I'll be back later this weekend with the project that I did for one of the teachers.  'Till then.....