Get Connected Promotion

Just a reminder that until April 30th, spend $40 on Occasions Mini Catalog products and choose any one item from the "Under $10" page in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for free. There is no limit to the number of free "Under $10" products you can earn and you can purchase stamps and/or accessories to reach the $40 minimum.

Hold a workshop of $150 or more and choose any one item from the "Under $10" page in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for free. For every $150 spent at the workshop, the hostess will receive another "Under $10" item. If you host a $300 workshop, you get to choose two "Under $10" items!

For more information, click here.

More Bunny Treat Boxes

I made one of these boxes for my last month's Gift Exchange partner and decided I "needed" to make more. I made these two for a couple ladies that came to my last Stamp-A-Stack. Are these not just the cutest little boxes you've seen? I think I'll have to try to come up with something for Mother's Day....maybe a flower? What do you think...any ideas to replace the bunny with? Let me know and I'll post it if I can create it! :o)

10 Year Friendship Swap cards

I belong to a wonderful Yahoo! Group that is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. One of the members decided to host a "Friendship Swap" and I participated. I knew what I wanted to do from the beginning....Flower pot cards with a packet of flower seeds. The "rules" were to create cards to swap and include a little written note about yourself so that you can get to know the other participants a little better. I put the packet of seeds and the note about myself behind the flower card. These were so easy to make...no adhesive for the flower pot (I did put a mini glue dot on the back of the ribbon just to hold it still) and little adhesive on the flowers! :o)

These are my completed flower pots.

Here is an up close view of one of the cards.

The card comes out to show the sentiment and your note.

The card pulled all the way out.

The flowers are created with the Simple Flower Embosslit.

My Easter Goodies

I wanted to make up some goodies for Easter this year....I don't know why, I just did. ;o) We go to my parent's house for Easter lunch and egg hunting every year and even though our kids are older, they look forward to hunting eggs. I wanted to make a very simple treat for my parents (the last 2 pictures) with some of my mom's favorite and then I just kept going with the other treats....I had a ball creating these!

Let me know what you think about them..

This is the basket that I put all the treats in...it looked so cute (if I do say so myself-LOL!).

I used the Scallop Circle, small star, 1/4" circle and Boho Flowers punches to make the little chick and the Top Note Big Shot Die to make the bag topper. I stamped a flower from Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set to create the background. Can it really get any easier than this? I think not!

How would you like to see these sweet butterflies flying around your yard? These were created with Stampin' Up!s exclusive Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die. I made a ton of these knowing that they would be one of the favorites...and they were! My mom took what was left over to the kids on her school bus the following day and she said they really liked them.
After I cut out the butterflies, I decided the wings needed some texture. I

used my exclusive Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz plates to give the wings that texture. I think they turned out pretty cute.

This box holds 12 Hershey's Nuggets! It's another Big Shot Die...Box #2. With the Big Shot dies, creating these treat boxes are a snap!

Yet another Stampin' Up! exclusive die for the Big Shot! This is created using the Stampin' Up! Baskets & Blooms Bigz XL die. I thought this made a cute little "Easter Basket" so I added some grass (under the treats).

You guessed it...another die! The Top Note Bigz die was used here. Talk about easy! Just cut out 2 of the Top Notes and adhere a small paper bag (cut down to about 3" tall) to the insides of both. Open bag, fill with treats and ta da...you've got an EASY treat holder! Can you imagine all the possibilities with this one?!

These are the treats I put inside the treat holder above.

You can make bag toppers with the Top Note Bigz die as well! All you have to do is fold your card stock in half and put the folded edge right below the "cut line" on the die. You'll have a perfectly cut bag topper that's folded at the top. You can also do this to create your cards...just adhere it to a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of card stock and you've got your card.

This is Stampin' Up!s exclusive Matchbox Bigz XL die from the Occasions mini catalog. I can't tell you how E-A-S-Y this box is to make! The box has NO adhesive at all and the cover only needs it on one end!

I put some mini-Snickers and M&Ms in one and little chocolate bunnies in the other. I wanted to keep these really simple so I didn't add any embellishments to them....and they went over pretty darn well. Just think what would have happened if I had actually added some type of embellishment! ;o)

Yes, this is yet another Big Shot Die! I used the Scallop Circle to create these bag toppers. For the bunnies, I used the 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle, 1/2" circle and small oval punches. These were so easy to do that I was a little sad I ran out of candy!

My mom loves black jelly beans....and those creme things (I have no idea what they're called)! They're kind of like Jr. Mints but the inside is not peppermint-flavored. I don't like them but Mama does so I try to make her something using them whenever I see them. I used a "Frappacino" bottle to hold the candies. I knew that these shouldn't be really decorated so I kept them very simple!

The simple decorations for these bottles was a cute bunny on each (created with the punches mentioned above & a cotton ball) as well as the Simple Flower Embosslit Die (they're on the lid).

I loved the way they turned out and couldn't wait to hear how much my parents liked opening up their little bunny jars to get a treat! That's not what happened! I got a phone call from Mama a couple days later...She asked how I got the treats into the jar! WHAT?! Are you kidding me? It's a twist-off lid! I thought she had lost her mind and couldn't believe she was asking me how to open the jar! I told her to twist off the lid and she said they tried that....and they tried using a bottle opener but they wouldn't budge! I couldn't believe the lids wouldn't come off and she said that every time she walked into the kitchen she would see the black jellybeans and wanted one even more and couldn't get into them...it was driving them crazy! You'll be happy to know that my dad got them open.....he used his vice grips! Oh my word!! I can't tell you how hard I laughed whelm Mama told me this...and I can't tell you how shocked I am that it took that to open them! LOL!!

Brittany's Easter Basket

This is my baby girl's last year at home...she turns 18 AND graduates high school next month and then she's off to college. Not that I'm sad or not looking forward to her going to college....I am. This is a wonderful stage in her life that I want her to grab hold of and enjoy! I'm SO excited for her! I know that she'll be home on the weekends (Kimberly has already made her promise she'll be here on the weekends that she's here! LOL!) and she's not going to be far from home (only about 45 minutes). I just wanted to make this Easter a special one for her and I had so much fun putting her Easter basket together so I thought I would share it with y'all.

She LOVES Peeps...hence the Peeps on each side of the basket!
Isn't that little duck dressed as a bunny too cute?!

PEZ at the holidays is a tradition here. Did you know they have chocolate PEZ...I didn't!

When I saw this "Peep", I had to get it for her! You touch 2 metal "buttons" on the bottom and the chick lights up...3 different colors flash....too cute!

An online friend of mine posted this last year and I knew it would be perfect for her this year! What I didn't realize is that it comes with a recipe to make a dessert! Not sure she'll make the dessert but I know she'll eat the Peeps! ;o)

This is the only stamped item she got in her basket. It's a cute little 3x3 (when folded) treat holder. I thought it would be perfect for her because she doesn't like chocolate and the little treat is really small.

1st unfold view

Totally open view.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and Blessed Easter! I will be spending time with my family, laughing uncontrollably at some point and thanking God for the blessings he's given me!

I have a LOT to be thankful for and I know that...it is not something that goes unnoticed or unappreciated. One of the MANY blessings I have is YOU! Thank you for touching my life in some way or another! I hope that I bring you as much joy and happiness as you bring me - whether it be a simple, "Hello", an e-mail or a phone call out of the blue...I appreciate you and would like you to know that your friendship is a wonderful thing that I cherish! Thank you! :o)

Haley's Birthday Card

April 10th was our niece, Haley's 13th birthday and I decided she needed an extra cake! This is the new Sizzix Pop-Up Die (the Cake 3 Tier Die). You do need to have some type of closure for the card because the cake makes it pretty bulky but I didn't add it to Haley's card. I thought these colors worked well for a 13 year old...how bout you?

This is the outside of her card. I used the Scallop Oval punch that is in the Occasions mini catalog to punch the purple oval and the large oval punch to punch out the birthday greeting.

This in the cake on the inside of the card. Isn't it cute?

Basketball

A friend asked me if I could help the girls high school basketball team make a gift for their coach. She said they had a frame and all the girls had signed the mat but there was "white space" left and they wanted to use it up and make it look pretty so she asked if I could add the word "SOUTH" and something to it. "Sure I can, bring it on over!" I knew I wanted to add "bouncing" basketballs on each side of "SOUTH" and the years on either side. I didn't realize that I didn't have the matching numbers for this alphabet when I did the project so I have to get it back from the coach since I now have those numbers! ;o)

This is the finished (almost) project.

The close-up shot of the "bouncing" basketball.

My beautiful & crazy helper, Brittany! She held the frame so I could take pictures of it
and then decided to peek over just as I was about to take this one.
She's such a nut & I love her more than she'll ever know! :oD

What do you think? I would love to hear your comments on this little project.

Hospitals and Sleep

Most of you know that I spent "4 luxurious days" in the hospital a few weeks ago due to my annual "mystery pains". You also know that I absolutely LOVED the medical staff that visited me during the night while I was not sleeping and during the day when I was napping.....since I really didn't sleep the whole time I was there! Seriously, these staff members should be going around to each and every hospital teaching "bedside manner" classes!!! To show my appreciation for their kindness, I made mini pound cakes (using my grandmother's recipe of course!) and a "Thank You" card for each one that took care of me.

After the tests that were done, I still have one more (Monday morning at 8:30 no less!) so the doctor can see how much damage has been done over the years but his diagnosis is Crohn's Disease...but only a mild to moderate case and he sees no reason that I will not be able to live my life as I always have! He has me on medication for the inflammation and one of the meds will be my "long term" medication to treat the Crohn's. I believe I've been lead to Dr. Lee and have all the trust in him that he will treat me as a whole and not just the "disease". He's a wonderful man that wants to get to the bottom of what ails you....how refreshing!!

Now, these are pictures of the boxes of mini cakes (no, I didn't think to take one out and take a picture of it....what was I thinking?) and cards that I delivered to the hospital the week after I was released. By the way....my sleeping "habits" are still all out of whack....I was up at 4a today and am still awake at 11:49p!! YIKES! Good thing the meds are giving me energy! LOL!!

Gift Exchange Goodies

Each month on a Yahoo! Group that I belong to, we have a Gift Exchange. I am the Moderator of this program and I really look forward to it! I get to pair two members together for the month and they e-mail, chat, IM, etc. to get to know each other and then they send a "goodie" package to each other at the end of the month. Last month, I got a late start to getting my package together because of my little "4-day luxury hospital stay". LOL! I got myself together after I got home and sent my package late (communicating with my GE partner the whole time of course!). I had a BLAST putting this package together and thought I would share what she received....

The whole package (almost)

I bought this frame at the Dollar Tree...simple.

I added the flowers in the corners as well as the words between the hearts and "dressed it up".

How easy it was with the rub-ons that I used....how cute is that?!

This is a drink "topper".

You put it over the top of a water bottle (through the hole) and it holds your drink mix.

The top picture shows the drink mix & sent and the bottom picture shows

how I "popped up" the flower.

This is an "Embosslet Holder" that I made for the Stampin' Up! gift I sent.

I used the Big Shot to cut out the scallop envelope....SO easy it should be illegal! LOL!

I had to laugh after I sealed Shaline's package and opened my package from her

(I refused to open it until I had finished my package to her!)....

She sent me the exact same Embosslet!

What's that saying...."Great minds think alike" ;o)

This is a "to do" note pad that I covered and added a ribbon to keep it closed.

I got this and 2 items that are not in the picture from Michaels.

The other items were a tin that I filled with ribbon

and a magnetic notepad with an "S" on the front.

The colors were what I chose to use when I covered the notepad above.

I got this idea from a Demo friend of mine....how cute is this?!!

The paper bag is from Michaels (they're small).

The front and back is cut using the Big Shot Top Note Die!

Decorate, embellish, adhere the bag to the front & back and you're done!

Fill the bag with candy treats and you've got an E-A-S-Y goodie bag!!!

How in the world can you send someone a goodie package near Easter & not send a bunny?!

This little guy is created using ONE Top Note Die and a 4.5"x6" sheet of card stock!

Amy Celona is the Demonstrator that created this little guy and I followed her instructions.

You can find them here.

She has other tutorials as well so be sure to check them out.

You can see the Hershey's Nuggets that I added to the inside of the box in this picture.

The perfect little treat...a cute little critter and chocolate!