Gift set of cards

     This is a set of cards I made for a friend I met for lunch before the holidays. I found the warm earthy tones of the BoBunny paper very soothing.  The set contained four different styles of cards.  On this one I made the flowers used to embellish it and a stamp by Impression Obsession.

     The paper and sentiment from My Favorite Things on this card just screamed butterflies.......these are metal and add a nice touch.

     My friend likes chickens and roosters and swore she wouldn't send this one out as she wanted to hang it in her kitchen....I told her I can always make another one.  Colored this fella with some copic markers and used an embossing folder that looks like chicken wire for the background.

     This sentiment is a favorite Spellbinder die and the leaves are from some ribbon in my closet.  The sentiment is a stamp from Stampabilities.
     We had a great lunch together the day I gave her these cards - we even took some time to stop by one of my favorite stamp shops while we on that end of town.


Supplies:  BoBunny Paper, Spellbinder dies, Cheery Lynn die, Martha Stewart punch, My Favorite Things, Copics, Stampabilities, Impression Obsession, Ribbon, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders 

'Spa' in a jar for Christmas

     Personally crafting of any kind is fun to me.  I especially enjoy making gifts for friends and family.  While shopping at The Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain a few months back I purchased some fabulous handmade soap.  What attracted me to this particular booth was the genttlemen had teak wood soap holders available for sale with his soap.  Hand made bars of soap are great but they can get all 'icky - sticky' looking when they are wet and sitting with no air around them. I was fascinated by the way he had cut slits on each side that allowed air to circulate around the bar after you used it.  As I thought about buying these I remembered an inspiration I had pinned from Pinterest for a spa in a jar.  The little grey cells began working and I bought a bunch of soap and holders.  

     Then the fun began.....My thinking was that I would simply buy a mason jar and add some goodies and have my 'Spa in a jar'.  Oh, if it had only been that simple.  The soap tied so sweetly to the holder was 3 inches across - no matter what I did it wasn't going to fit in a mason jar, and if I did get it in (sideways) the other items were going to be pretty cramped.  Not one to be easily defeated the hunt began for a jar that would work......I scrolled places on-line, I looked all over Michael's, Hobby Lobby and JoAnns - and as I hunted I began to get the sinking feeling nothing was going to work the way I had intended it to.  As I prepared to give up on my idea I wandered down the isle of my local Publix grocery - lo' an behold on the bottom shelf I spotted various size Anchor Hocking plastic jars.  Much better than glass ones that were heavy and hard to ship and if my eyes were not deceiving me they were the right size. I grabbed two sizes and put them in the cart - could these possibly work?  To my great surprise they did!!!!  The tallest was the perfect size to not only hold the soap and holder, but the rather large file I had purchased as well.  Then the real fun began as I shopped around for more items to fit in my jar.  

     My original idea had been to wrap a band of white card stock around the jar with my design but once again my handy dandy Silhouette Cameo came to the rescue.  While shopping I discovered some new clear printable sticker paper by Silhouette and scooped it up to use.  I made some long thick lines, typed out my heading 'SPA' in a jar, added a Bugaboo Digi of Stella in the tub, then I finished the label off with a definition for pamper.  After printing this from my Silhouette I then cut several out and labeled my jars.  

     Having also bought a shorter jar I used some other holiday soaps I had on hand and created some smaller 'spa' jars as well.  Once again I designed and printed my topper on my Silhouette, printed it then had my Silhouette cut it out.  

  

      It was great fun putting these goodies together - for my sisters I scored a few samples of some colognes I knew they liked and added them as well as some soft socks, and other beauty items not in the picture above. I think my younger sister has already tried some of her new products to pamper herself.

     I am going to post this at the Silhouette Cameo challenge site for their December challenge of 3-d and anything but a card.....consider joining in on the fun with a project of your own.  

Supplies:  Silhouette Cameo, Silhouette Clear Sticker paper, Bugaboo Digi Stamp, Bath and Body products, soap, Anchor Hocking containers

Challenges:  Silhouette #8 3-D

Exploding Barn

     My daughter and I made our yearly trek to the White Stallion Ranch to do some horseback riding.  There are about 18 of us who meet there each December from all over the US and world (England, Germany, Channel Islands, Minnesota, California, New Jersey, D.C. Tennessee - we adopted a visiting Australian this year as well). Every year we celebrate the birthday of a lovely lady named TJ.  This year we knew we would be celebrating number 75 with her.  Such a birthday called for a special card.  Months ago I began dreaming the idea up in my head for an explosion box card AND FINALLY just before Thanksgiving I had time to sit and play.
     With the help of my Silhouette Cameo I was able to design a cake (my own design) and a barn style cover for the box (again my own design).  The barn door is a cut file designed by Cali Arroyo, and the cactus and wheel are a cut file design by Jamie Cripps.   The sweet horse on top of the cake and peeking out the window is a digital stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps.   

     After designing this cake and frosting on my Silhouette Cameo.... I decorated it with a personalized message for TJ!!  Every cowgirl needs some 'bling' and TJ's is on her cake - since the whole theme was barn oriented I placed the cake on some hay!  

     I couldn't carry the card around the ranch and get signatures on the sly (given its size) so I created individual cards that I could slide out of the fences and carry around with a pen in a zip lock bag.  This allowed me to get lots of good wishes for her on both sides of the inserts.  

     Below is TJ getting ready to open her explosion box card - she was so excited by all the people who left her messages and Birthday wishes and she is ALWAYS so complimentary about the cards I make her....this one was a huge surprise to her.  

     It was great fun making a card like this for such a special lady.....BTW she is wearing antlers because I couldn't find a tiara at the grocery store in Marana and holiday antlers were as close as I could come.  She is a great sport.  

     Going to post this on the Silhouette challenge this month for 3-D  --  I love making 3-D cards and using my Silhouette has made them even more fun. I am posting this over at the Silhouette Challenge for 3-d and anything but a card for December - think about joining in on the fun.  

Supplies:  Silhouette Cameo, Rhinestones, Embellishments, Memory Box  fence, Clear Dollar Digital Stamp, Copic markers

Challenges:  Silhouette #8 3D