Birthday Box

My neighbor/friend Peggy is crazy wonderful.  One of many reasons is because she remembers EVERYONE'S birthday and sends them a card, ON TIME.  Now I may remember birthdays sometimes, and I have LOTS of cards, and I may occasionally remember to sign and send said cards, but not usually all of the above and on time.  Bad, bad me.  Anyway, Peggy also manages what she calls my "Puck & Cluck" (dog and chickens) when I'm on the road, and if my dog thinks she's special she gets extra gold stars around here.  In fact, more than gold stars, I thought I'd leave her a gift this time.  I had some cute birthday cards from a recent Stamp-a-stack class so I thought I'd  make up a quick box and give them to her.  I know she doesn't read my blog yet so it will be a surprise.  I'll say it's from Puck.

Isn't it cute?  I used retired Taken with Teal card stock and Espresso ribbon for the box and bow, but everything else is in the current catalog.  I caked on the layers because it is so much fun!  The heart is a Framelit heart.  I used 3 different impressions folders (heart, background white, and the scallop edge), the 5 petal flower punch, 3/4" circle punch (that I clipped with scissors to make fluffy), a flower shaped brad, and of course, Teeny Tiny wishes.  What would I do without that set?
I should talk about the banner because it has become all the rage and it is so easy to make the banner edge.  I feed the end of my strip of paper into the corner of the square punch and snip it off- voila!  The square punch has officially become my most used and under mentioned punches.  Everyone should have one- and if you want your own just bop on over to my website and order it!  You'll be glad you did.
Here is the opened box:

  Do you think she'll like it?

Valentine Treats

I realized I will be seeing my nephews and godchildren over the weekend and thought I better come up with some valentine treats!  It's a good way to be popular with children if you didn't already know...

I recycled the owl from Fox & Friends because let's face it- he is too cute and he works well for boys and girls.  I also stayed away from pinks too; I chose my colors mostly from the packet of m&ms I tucked inside here:

Isn't that cute?  To make it I started with a piece of Real Red card stock cut to 4x6 1/2 inches scored at 3" and 6".  After I ran it through the embossing folder I glued it with snail along the 1/2 inch tab to make a sleeve.  I punched a slit on the top through both thicknesses.  Then I took a strip of Pacific Point card stock, 1/2" x11", folded it in half, pushed the fold down into the sleeve, and fed one end through the front slit and one end through the back slit leaving a "hammock" to insert the m&m package (or whatever else you can think of).  The top ends of this strip are then glued together to keep them from pulling back through the slits and thus dropping your treat on the ground.  I pull of the strip of card stock and your treat emerges!  Isn't that great?  If I was smarter I would have taken photos while assembling this project, but hey, I'm a new blogger and still learning as I go!
Let's see, I used Real Red, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point, and Whisper White card stock, 2 circle punches, heart, and a scallop punch, "be mine" is from Outlines Occasions SAB stamp set, the heart Framelits, dot embossing folder and Texturz plate for the Sizzix.

Rugged and Manly and Stuff!

I don't know about you but my Valentine is Rugged, and Manly, and Stuff, as we say in our family.  That's code for cute in the more macho fashion I guess.  My Valentine also has a birthday on Valentine's day so I do double duty on that day.  This year I thought I'd move away from the pinks and start with an earthier color palate. I let the Designer Series Paper Well Worn dictate the color scheme- River Rock, Not Quite Navy, and for the red, Cajun Craze.  I saw this cute standup card/treat holder at my friend Julie's Blog, but she hadn't posted a tutorial yet, so I made up my own pattern using a 7x7" square of DSP to make 3x3" card fit nicely in the front slot-

and then there is room in the back for a tasty treat!  I think these would make fantastic place cards for a table as well!

The little card uses the new Heart Framelits die for the Sizzix machine, the Background 1 (#114512)  Texturz plate and Perfect Polka Dots (#117335) Embossing folder, the cutter kit (#106958) to distress the heart and background, Teeny Tiny wishes stamp set for the greeting, the 3/4" circle punch, and Antique brad (#117273), and some Crumb cake seam binding.  A little sponging around the edges gives a time worn look, and notice that I used the punch from the holder to back the brad on the card and tie it all together!
Thanks for stopping by!