Book Buddies

If you missed the Sweet N Sassy SNR Digi Day 17 on Thursday, I was the hostess! The challenge is still up and if you participate before midnight Wednesday, you receive a 25% off coupon from Sweet N Sassy! The challenge is to use lace, anything that looks like lace.
I was inspired by the SNS digi stamp Lizzy Reading to Sassy. Since I am studying to be a librarian this image was just so appropriate for me, although I hope to be reading to kids not cats. I have a dear friend that is going through the whole MLS program with me and we have come running to each other regularly to whine, cry, and collaborate! But, this weekend marks the end of our semester, and I wanted to give her a little something to show her how much I appreciate her help, advise, and friendship. I found a paper mache' book at Hobby Lobby that I thought would make the perfect gift box. See what you think!

In case you can't see that it's book-shaped, look at it from this angle:

Okay, now take a look at the inside with a little gift card nesting inside. The sentiment on the inside cover is SNS True Friend.

Now that I'm a librarian, I may need to make some more of these to give as gifts! I just painted the book box with gold for the "pages" and black for the cover using acrylic paints. The paper for the book cover is Basic Grey Origins. On the inside, I printed the digi sentiment directly on the patterned paper. I colored Lizzy and Sassy with my copic markers and added some chalk around the image. The lace is from Walmart. It has holes for threading ribbon through it and I used PTI Lemon Tart Satin ribbon. I also used the PTI ribbon to create a book ribbon which I attached to the top of the "book". Then, I created some eyelet "lace" with my SU eyelet border punch. The bookplate hardware is also from SU, but I colored it with my copic airbrush system. The sentiment is SU Oval All.
I've still got to find the real goodies that I'm going to put inside, but I can't wait to give it to her!

Sew Special Purse

There are so many great digital stamps coming out of Sweet N Sassy I just can't keep up! I want them all! But some of my favorite images are of Cocoa. I love how he peeks out from behind things. So adorable!
I had a totally different project in mind when I first saw this Sew Happy Cocoa image. I was going to actually do some sewing for one thing, but then I found a miniature sewing kit at the dollar store and was looking for a way to package that up and that's how this little Sew Special Purse was created!

I don't know that I would give a small sewing kit to a real seamstress, but this would be a great gift for a grad going off to college. Put a little cash in the purse along with the safety pins, needles, and thread and the graduate is ready for minor clothing emergencies anyway. The sentiment is also perfect for a special graduate. It's from the Sew Many Thoughts sentiment set.
I added a couple of tissue paper flowers and some buttons to give the project a homespun feel. The "purse" is from a template I purchased online. I normally am not crazy about orange, but I really liked it with this project.  Be sure to go check out all the latest Cocoa stamps at Sweet N Sassy. There are some really "sweet" ones available. Happy Valentine's Day!
Project Recipe

Paper: SU Bermuda Bay CS, SU Welcome Neighbor DSP, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS

Stamps: SNS Sew Happy Cocoa, SNS Sew Many Thoughts

Tools: PTI Purse-onality Clutch template, SU Small and Large Tag punches, SU Scallop Circle Punch, cuttlebug, Spellbinders Classic Circle dies, copic markers, Prisma pencils

Embellishments: PTI Holiday Mix Vintage Button Collection, PTI twine, Paper Studio brads, PTI Orange Zest Satin Ribbon

Tea For Two and Two for Tea

My craft room is all clean and organized! I used some gift cards I got for Christmas and bought a file cabinet and a chest of drawers but I still needed to clean out and toss. I tend to look at packaging and think "What can I do to 'jazz' that up and use it for something else?" Now, that's a great way to go green and save some green, but it doesn't take long to hoard quite a stash of boxes, cartons, crates, jars, and baskets. I determined that I must start actually using and creating with this "stuff"! So with that in mind, I reached in a drawer and pulled out a sturdy plastic box that once upon a time held some smaller plastic boxes. I decided that this would make the perfect container for gifting some delicious teas.

I filled this with some of my favorite teas, but I won't really give these away as these are too hard to come by around here and I like them too much to part with them, but there's plenty of room in this box to fill with an assortment of teas. Now, for the best part...the outside packaging...

Closed and tied shut, this gift is now ready to deliver to a cherished friend or helpful neighbor. I used the card sketch from the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge. LSS is sponsoring this week's challenge so be sure to check it out and enter for a chance to win a prize from LSS.
The cute coffee cup (think tea cup here) is from the Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Coffee Talk digital stamp set. I love how easy and fun this cup is to color in with copics. Grab this set for only $5 and earn a free stamp from the store. Speaking of freebies, be sure to click on over to Lindsay's blog. She has a habit of offering free stuff on Thursdays! Then, grab a cup of coffee or tea and hop around to see what the rest of the design team has been up to this week. You're sure to be inspired. Oh, and don't forget to try the challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches. Have a zippy week, all!
Project Recipe

Paper: SU More Mustard CS, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS, My Mind's Eye PP

Stamps: LSS Coffee Talk digital stamp set

Tools: cuttlebug, Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle Nestabilities dies, EK Success corner rounder, copic markers, Prisma pencils

Embellishments: Prima flowers, PTI Ocean Tides grosgrain ribbon, SU Love & Happiness rub-ons (sentiment), Paper Studio Spare Parts brown brad assortment

Cuttin Up with Shutt-erfly

My Cricut is a smokin'! And I've fallen in love with it again. Yes, Provo Craft is finally releasing cartridges more frequently and are even offering more affordable options, but that's not what's rekindled the romance with my Cricut. No, there has just been a rash of designers offering better and better SVG files for cutting with the Cricut and SCAL (or the new Make the Cut). You can see some great projects I've made with SVG cut files from LSS  here, here, and here. But the project I created today is from another 3D template designer--Lauren Meader of My Time Made Easy. Lauren's started a new company offering mainly digital products and featuring templates for creating great and easy 3D projects.

This template is called Shutt-erfly because of its unique closure. I chose not to feature the top closure, but instead focused in on the daisy which I also created using another SVG file called Flutters and Flowers from My Time Made Easy. I have unlimited cuts from the files, and they can be resized to fit whatever project I'm working on.
I just think these SVG files are a much better investment than cartridges which I never seem to use. Of course, in case you can't tell, I'm very partial to gift packaging and love the ease of cutting these with a machine instead of a pair of scissors!
Project Recipe

Paper: SU Rich Razzleberry, SU Orchid Opulence, SU Old Olive, SU Cottage Wall DSP

Stamps: My Time Made Easy All A Flutter

Tools: Cricut, SCAL, My Time Made Easy Shutt-erfly and Flutters and Flowers SVG cut files, SU Tag punches (large and small), Martha Stewart lattice border punch

Embellishments: Recollections brad (Michaels)

LSS Recipe Folio and SCAL

What a cute little box! It's supposed to be a recipe folio, but I'm thinking this would hold some neat little goodies. I'm thinking even a couple of cookies could go in here as a special treat for Valentines or some other special occasion. I am really loving these SVG files from LSS. A Cricut, SCAL software and an inexpensive cut file and in a few minutes, I've got a great little project finished up. I used Velcro dots to keep the box closed.
The special thing about these SVG files is that they can be resized very easily. I love giving gift cards but am always looking for a gift box to hold them. This little box could so easily be made smaller and then filled with a gift card and a little filler. Then, it looks like I really put a lot of effort into a simple gift! You can find this recipe folio set here. And be sure to check out my post from yesterday for another project using an SVG file from LSS.
I have so much paper it borders on a sin! So, I'm trying super duper hard to refrain from buying any more and just using up my stash, but, oh, what a challenge! I did use some CTMH papers that I've had for a while. I really like using the CTMH cardstock that comes in these sets because the cardstock is a little thinner than that I get from SU or PTI. That makes it a little easier to cut with my Cricut and a little easier to work with, but it still provides enough structure to keep the project stiff.
Project Recipe

Paper: CTMH That's Amore

Stamps: PTI Handwritten Notes

Tools: Cricut, SCAL, LSS Recipe Cards and Folio SVG

Embellishments: Paper Studio Spare Parts Designer Silk Flower brads, PTI Dark Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon, SU Tag punches, Prima flower, SU red brad