Hey, Valentine!

Hello there! How are you, friends? Well, Valentine's Day is approaching fast, so I've got a couple of fun projects to share with you today.  The first project is the one above - it's an adorable triangle treat box that was shared with us at Leadership.  This was originally created by Sam Hammond Donald, aka Pootles, and the link to her awesome tutorial is here. I made 2 of these cute little boxes for my little man's teachers.  It makes for such a sweet Valentine with the Stacked with Love paper stack! Here's another look:

 

The next Valentine idea was a ton of fun to put together..primarily because I got to stamp with my son to create his Valentine's cards for his preschool class! I have to say it warmed my heart to see him stamp.  He was just too darn cute and he really did enjoy doing it!  

 

As you can see, he even got to use the Big Shot!  That was probably his favorite. He loved to turn the crank! Do you want to see the finished product? 

 

Aren't these cute?  I am such a big fan of the "Hey Valentine" stamp set! I used the fish image as well as the cute fox #1 Valentine image for the teacher tag. For the Valentine treats for his school friends, I filled them with these mini play packs that all come prepackaged with a small coloring book, 2 crayons, and a sticker.  I have to admit that I did color in the little fish on the cover, but I made it fuss free for the kiddos by stapling the Valentine to the front and just dropped in the play pack without  using any ribbon or string.

Well, my friends, hope you liked these! Would love to hear what you think!  I'll catch up with you all soon.  Have a great one!

Valentine Mini Cupcakes!

Hi there, blog friends!  Happy Friday! This past weekend, I was feeling festive and inspired to make some Valentine mini cupcakes for my workshop.  I couldn't resist the cute sprinkles that were calling my name at the grocery store and so I thought, why not? Well, I'm pleased to say I had fun making them.  I think that since it involves "creating", it was a very therapeutic, yet fun task for me. :)  So, the picture above is a subset of my finished baking project.  Of course, I had to embellish with some flags made out of Polka Dot Parade DSP.

Well, wouldn't you know it - the batch made 30 cupcakes, so I definitely had a bunch left over.  Way too many for my little guy, hubby and I to eat up.  So, I decided to share with my neighbors.  This is where packaging at the ready comes in handy!

This cute Decorative Window Gift Box was a perfect size for 4 mini cupcakes!  The height and width really were just perfect!  Here's what my little neighbor goodie looked like after packaging them all up!

I got to use the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch yet again!  I love having this punch.  It turns out, it's been pretty handy to have!  My heart tags were super easy and quick to put together, too! I used the Full Heart punch and then embellished the bottom of the tag with a little fringe border, which I whipped up in a snap with the Fringe Scissors.  All in all, my overstock of mini cupcakes turned into a fun little neighbor gift-giving moment. Not only that, but back at the home front, I got to cherish my little guy's enjoyment of savoring his cupcakes.  Or, as he says "cut cakes." :)

Hope you have a fantastic Friday!

Little banner with {love}

Hi all!  Happy Friday!  Just popping in with a quick post.  Here's a fun Valentine card I created with the super cute Banner punch and Decorative Dots embossing folder from Sale-a-bration catty.  The "love" sentiment is the Expressions Thinlits die from the Holiday Catalog.  Such a fun and easy card!  Hope you have a great Friday! 

Feast your eyes on the Spring Mini Catalog!

Hi there blog friends!  How are you all doing?  Hope you guys are having a great week so far.  I know I probably already broke my New Year's resolution of being a more frequent blogger, but I will be trying to get on a more regular schedule.

Today, I'm excited to share the new Stampin'Up! Spring Catalog with you - it's got oodles of awesome products and the projects  throughout the catty  are a real  feast for the eyes. I know when I first went through it, I wanted everything!  You can take a look at the full catty here.  Let me know what you think!

While I'm at it, I also have a couple of Valentine's promos to share with you that are going on now and available til Jan 21!  Click on the image below to see the details:

Currently, I am en route to Orlando with my dear friend and downline, Norma, to attend Stampin'Up!'s Leadership conference.  It's Stampin'Up!'s 25th year, so I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. So, stay tuned!  I'll be sure to share what I can.  I am planning to blog on the go while I'm there, thanks to my new handy dandy Mac!  I have to say that having been a PC girl, this conversion to the Mac is a whole new world for me - even though I've been exposed to Apple products {a la iPhone and iPad}.  I've already learned a few great tips from Norma, so I think my blogging experience will be even more efficient than posting from a PC!  

Thanks for coming by to visit.  I'll be back soon!  Have a great day! :)

{Heartstrings} Forever and Always

Pin It

Hello there dear blog friends!  Hope you had a nice weekend.  I'm just popping in with a quick post - a simple card I made from the extra hearts I had left over from my "you're just my type" card in my previous post.  I'm a big fan of clean and simple, and for this month's So Shelli Challenge, I think this card fits the bill!  What do you think?  I love using twine on my projects and am so thrilled that the new Occasions Mini has twine in the In Colors!  Here's the super simple recipe for this card for you...

{Forever and Always Heartstrings}
*Stamp Sets: Take It to Heart, Loving Thoughts
*Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Pool Party
*Inks: Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, and Pool Party Markers; Early Espresso Classic Ink Pad
*Accessories: Fashionable Hearts Embosslits, Calypso Coral and Pool Party Baker's Twine, Corner Rounder

Hope you like it!  Thanks for popping by today.   Have a fantastic week and I'll catch up with you guys soon.

you're just my type.

Hey there friends! I've got my first card for the year to share with you.  I am so excited that I got a chance to craft for a quick second!  I got to play with some of my fave new goodies from the Occasions Mini catty.  What do you think of the little sneaky peek above?  I love this new stamp set, called "You're My Type" and I'm also a big fan of this color scheme - Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake.  Yummy vintage retro Valentine with a splash of color.  Here's a look at the full card for you:

Pin It

I had so much fun playing with the new Labels Framelits and the pretty Doily sizzlit.  Don't they add a nice touch of texture to the card?  How about the sweet little hearts?  Those are a new embosslit called Fashionable Hearts..just too cute!

 .

Here's another angle of the card.  I love that Stampin'Up! now has twine in the In Colors!  How cool is that?  For this card, I used Pool Party and Calypso Coral and added a button embelly as well.  Hope you liked this Occasions card!  Here's the recipe for you:

{you're just my type!}

*Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, and Sweet Shop DSP

*Inks: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake

*Stamp Sets: Just My Type

*Accessories: Paper Doily Sizzlit, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Labels Framelits, Pool Party and Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Twitterpated Designer Button, Sponge Dauber, Corner Rounder

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  Have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day! xoxo

Hi all!  Wanted to pop in and wish you a HappyValentine's Day today!  Hope you guys have a great day.  Today I've got some cute  Fancy Favor Valentine bags - so easy to put together and also great packaging for some kisses or sweet treats!  Here's a few more pics for you:

Before I go, what's Valentine's day without some flowers?  Had to share these pretty flowers I got from the Farmer's Market this past weekend - they had such  great variety!  I was excited to pick some of my favorite springtime flowers and put them together - this fun vase has hydrangeas, tulips, ranunculus, hyacinths, and freesias.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

a rosey hearted {Valentine}

Valentine's day is almost here...are you ready, dear bloggie friends?  I'm sure you guys are.  I just had to share another Valentine idea - this one is the very first heart bag I made with the Petal Cone.  How do you like this sneek peak so far?  I've had this project in my craft room for a few weeks now, but it just didn't seem quite finished to me, until I happened upon a card by Tara Bilbao that had these super sweet rosettes on it.  Fast forward to my project - the little rose was just the right embellishment I was looking for! Of course, I had to try the make the flower - it was way too cute to pass up. {I learned this on Tara's blog, too, so if you're reading this, Tara, thanks a bunch!} It is such a sweet bloom, don't you think?  So pretty with a touch of Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled on the edges.  I am such a FLOWER girl!  Maybe that's why my name is Rose. {hee!}

Here's a little more of the bag - now you get to see the sentiment.  Perfect greeting in such a cute font - this happens to be from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.

And here's the big picture - so cute and fun. I love this simple heart bag that you can make from the petal cone.  I even made the heart wings from the half scallop circle on the die.  Hope you like it!  Would you like the recipe?

{rosey hearted valentine}

*Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Wishes

*Cardstock: Pretty In Pink, Whisper White, Glimmer Paper

*Inks: Real Red, Crumb Cake

*Accessories: Petal Cone die, Modern Label Punch, Jumbo Brads, Real Red Polka Dotted Grosgrain ribbon {retired}, dimensionals

Enjoy and have a fabbie weekend!  Bye for now :)

simply be my {Valentine}

Hi there bloggie friends!  Did you guys watch the superbowl?  Congrats to all the Packers fans out there!  I thought I'd post a quick card I created trying a new technique I learned from dear friend Sharon Field at Created By U - she shows how to use the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder to create a border on different sized cards!  How fun, right?  She's a genius and it really does come out perfect! For my card, I used a 4 1/4" square base.  I made a little Valentine so that I could play along with this week's Paper Player's challenge, too!  WooHoo!!  Their theme this week is Love is in the air:

Now here's a look at my full card:

And here's a look at the inside:

Super simple, but I have to say I've been inspired by clean lines lately..not to mention, square shaped cards.  In Crumb Cake.  You'll see more of these square cards this week.  :)  How about the recipe for this simple valentine?  As I mentioned, you should hop over to Sharon's blog if you'd like to see how to do the card border! 

{Simply Be MyValentine}

*Stamp Set: Filled With Love

*Cardstock: Crumb Cake, First Edition DSP, Real Red Glimmer Paper

*Inks: Real Red Classic Ink, Crumb Cake {sponged on the edges}

*Accessories:  Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Petal Card Extra Large Double Punch, Heart To Heart Extra Large Punch

Hope you like it.  Would love to hear what you think!  Thanks for stopping in! 

filled with {LOVE}!

Happy Thursday!  Today, I'm sharing a super cute Valentine Card that was totally inspired by a Thank You card I received from my cousin, Grace.  As soon as I saw her card, I knew I wanted to case it and I had this Filled With Love stamp set in mind.  It's from the Filled with Love promotion, which comes with these pretty DSP papers, too.  I am also really digging the red glimmer paper - so, so CUTE!  Wanna see the full card?  Here you go:

There are a lot of fun elements to this little Valentine.  For the card cover, I used the Scallop from the Scallop Circles #2 die, and for the inner circle, I used the 3" Circle Originals die that's from the Occasions Mini catalog. It is the perfect size to use with the scallop circle as a mat!  Love that!  I also used the Embosslit Heart with the red glimmer paper, which has such a pretty effect.  I stamped then punched the Filled With Love heart with the heart punch.  To add interest to the edge, I used the scallop border punch with the glimmer paper to give it a little bling factor.

The design is soo much fun!  I love the tab closure.  It adds the total cute factor, I think.  You'll have to scroll down to the end to check out my cousin's card and you'll see why I was so inspired!  Here are a few more views of this valentine card.

I finished off the tab closure by rounding the edges with the corner rounder.

Inside, I stamped the "Be My Valentine" and added a couple heart flowers.  The little heart punch goes perfect with this set, too!  Now....here's my cousin's card.  So cute!!

Love how she used the Owl punch!!  This is such a great card design, I'm gonna have to make more cards like this.  Hope you got some good ideas!  Here's the recipe for the Valentine card:

{We're Good Together}

*Stamp Set: Filled With Love

*Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack (from Filled With Love Bundle), Whisper White, Glimmer Paper

*Inks: Real Red

*Accessories: Scallop Circles #2 Bigz Die, 3" Circle originals die, small heart punch, Full Heart punch, Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit, 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Border punch

Here's the Filled With Love Bundle deets:

You have until January 24th to order this adorable bundle, but make sure you don't miss out - order it today!

You'll love it.  Thanks for coming by! :)

Heart Strings

Hi all - hope you had a great weekend!  As usual, it felt like it flew by for me.  I'm still trying to get into a groove with being back to work and scheduling time to craft, plus it's a little bit tricky with so many things going on this month with my work projects and life in general, so I hope you bear with me. :)  Anyways, as for this project, I have to admit it took me a little while to come up with what to make.  I might be going through some creative block!   Hope you like the card though - this is simple, yet fun...and also requires no stamping!   Don't get me wrong, I wanted to stamp, but for this card, I didn't think it required it :)  Hope you like it!

The finished card measures 3"x6."  The paper pretty much dresses up the card, don't you think?  It's from the Love Impressions Specialty DSP in the Occasions Mini.  This particular piece of DSP is of a heavy weight cardstock, so it would also be great to use with a favor type of die cut too!  Back to the card - I added a little border of whisper white cardstock with the Pinking Hearts trim - so cute and dainty! I also added a smidge of real red taffeta ribbon and of course, the heart strings!  I used baker's twine and then the Heart Small punch for the glittery hearts.  Here's one last look for you:

Enjoy!  Hope you guys ave a great Monday and I'll catch up with you guys soon!  It's getting late for me so I'm gonna say ciao for now :)

I {xoxo} the Occasions Mini!

Hi all!  The Occasions Mini is available today!  Yay!!  And, I'm sharing my first Valentine's card of the year with some of the fun goodies from this awesome mini catty.  For starters, how about those yummy glitter hearts?!  I punched them out from the pretty Glimmer Paper that comes in a 2 pack of 12" x12" paper.  I love the effect it has - it's even prettier in person, I think!  Here's a look at the full card for you.

Isn't the "Love You" image in the bottom right corner so cute?  That's from the Rub On sheets called "Love Impressions" which coordinates with the DSP {also called the same name}.  So fun.  As for the big heart, I punched and layered it on the Heart of Hearts Embosslit, which gives it that dainty little scalloped edge. Can you believe this card has no stamping?   Here's the recipe for you.

{xoxo Love You}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Love Impressions, Glimmer Paper

*Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Heart Small Punch, Heart of Heart Embosslit, Love Impressions Rub Ons, Corner Rounder, dimensionals, Snail

Hope you like it!  You can also check out the Occasions Mini catalog here.

Have a great day!! Toodles for now.

New Year and back to work {already?!}...

Hi all!  How are you?  Hope you all had a nice holiday season.  I can't believe it's already time to go back to work.  It's a bit of a dreary day here in Southern California.  We've got a winter storm at the moment that's dropping inches of rain and snow across the southland.  YES - SNOW.  Here.  In Southern California.  Not here where I live, but we certainly drove through it yesterday on our way back home from San Francisco.  Yup - 10 hours of travel (which normally takes about 6) to get home.  Crazy, huh?!  Thankfully, we got home safely...just a little more tired and worn down from a long day's journey.

Anyway, fast forward to today - I've got a couple of fun things to share with you guys.  First, I wanted to share the brand new January issue of the Paper Crafters Sampler, which will be available on January 11th!  This month's theme focuses on Valentine's projects "With Love." Here's a sneak peek for you:

This is my first issue as a designer and I have to say, I LOVED getting to preview all the projects from the rest of the DT!  I think you guys will love it too!  If you're interested in purchasing the issue, you can head over to the Paper Crafters Sampler site, and use promocode PCSRD or mention me ;) 

The second thing I wanted to share was Stampin'Up!'s Filled With Love promotion.  It's a great little bundle to get you ready for Valentine's Day!

Here's what you get with the bundle, plus a free pack of bitty buttons, too!

You can order this bundle by clicking here.

Hope you guys have a great first week in the New Year!  Have a fantastic day.  Thanks for coming by.  Ciao for now :)

My favorite cards from 2010

Hi all!  As we reflect back on 2010, I thought I'd share my favorite cards and projects from this year with you:

Hope you enjoyed the look back!  Thanks again to each of you for visiting and letting me share a part of my world with you.  Wish you all a very happy New Year!