...NuTs about YoU...

I whipped this up in under 30 minutes for my neighbor's daughter's teacher...

I used Nicole Heady's pattern for a criss cross box.  The squirrel is from the PTI punny valentine set and the NuTs abut YoU stamp is an old aMuse stamp...

A few nesties, some patterned paper, a punch or two and twine...PooF...done! :)

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...My PuNnY VaLenTinE...

Here are the mailboxes I made for the boys this year.

Each day in February, I'm going to put a PuNnY note in them and a matching prize.

Here's a closer view of Connor's...

I kept them SuPeR simple!  They are for boys...so it seemed silly to go all crazy...I could have left them blank and no one would have cared except me...

Here's Sanford's.  I coordinated them....uUmmmm...ok...let's be honest here...I was lazy...I just flipped the patterned paper over and used the secondary design...that's what it's there for right?!?!? Right?!?!?!

Here they are on the mantle along with all the Valentine decorations that happened this year...I love that felt heart banner...it was a steal for $3 at Target! :)

Here's the  entry table.  I went  ahead and printed out an 8x10 version of the cute Eighteen25 subway art...I just LOVE it!!

Oh...and here's a picture of the first days pun and prize...husband version... (the boy got the same thing...but without the juice and the newspaper) :)

candy and the pun...You're SWeeT...starting simple 

Thanks for looking!

jen

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...MisC CraFtieS...

MY super sweet friend Laura has been making a lot of different vegetable/vegetarian soups and bringing them over for me to have for lunch.  It is such a treat to have something delicious for lunch that's good for me and that I didn't have to cook ! :)

Yesterday I made some Tomato Soup and packaged some up for her.

I recycled a jar she brought me and googled -free vintage tomato printable-  

I printed it up, added a tag, some letter stickers, and few other embellies and dropped it off last night for her lunch today :)

Connor is starting a Minecraft Club at his middle school...the geek doesn't fall far from the screen :) ...

So I printed this box up last night and filled it with candy for him to give to the teacher that volunteered to be his advisor.

There is a website dedicated to all things MinecraFt papercraft...you can find it HERE in case you need a CrEepEr or dirt block printable for a special occassion :)  It actually is SuPeR cooL!!  There are blocky versions of Winnie the Pooh, SpongeBob, and a San Franciso 49er...HyStERicaL!!!

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...NaPKiN RinGS...

..My fav neighbor is having a late Christmas dinner for her girlfriends and their families.

Since January 12 is to late to do a Christmas theme...she's going with straight up WiNTeR.

When she told me that she bought cloth napkins for her big shindig...I offered to make her some themed napkin rings.

She had a set of cute snowflake plates to use for the grown ups.

So I made one set for the adults...

...super quick and easy...circle punches, snowflake punch, embossing folders, and some ribbon...

I punched one hole through the center and threaded the ribbon through, wrapped it around the napkin, then back up through the same hole and tied it in a knot.  She told me to keep it simple or I'd have done a button and some bakers twine and  mini tags with the guests names on them :)

...Here are all 8 of them...SuPeR fast...maybe 40 minutes for everything...

She has some solid blue plastic plates for the kids...so I thought they needed something different...

...Snowmen seemed a better fit for kids than snowflakes...

...same basic layout...again ReaLLy quick...and I got to use a cricut cartridge that I've had for years and I've never used...it's called GinGeRBreaD...adorable!!  It screams Christmas tags to me...if I can get my act together this year, it would be GReaT to use homemade tags instead of those lame-o stickers I always use.

Here are all the kiddie ones together.

I hope her party goes well!  It looks great over at her house...floating candles, fairy lights, cute place settings...and it's how it all LooKS that reaLLy matters right? :)

Thanks for looking!

jen

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...TE CarD FoLiO...

Back in early November, Taylor from Taylored Expressions made the CuTeST "card folio" on her blog to promote her November release...

I immediately had to try one :)

Here are the cards I made to go inside...personalized thank you notes for my neighbor's daughter's teacher...

simple...computer generated personalization and then I added in the SNOW form the PTI set...I know I totally CASED this idea from someone...but I don't remember from who...SoRRy!!  Thanks for the BriLLianT idea! 

...This is the inside of the cards...

...and the back...

...and the envies...

...here is one side of my "folio" holder...look how cute the decorated binder clip turned out...

30 seconds + 2 buttons and a glue gun= AdoRaBLe! 

...and the other side...

 ...the entire thing laying open...

...the front, folded closed, with the bow tied...

...and with the complementary felt ornament I made to hang on the front...

these are copied from Debbie Olsen's  blog...she made them last year 

I have to tell you...that PTI Made of Snow die set got a MaJoR workout this Christmas!!

I ended up making a few of these sets for people to give to their kids teachers...I love it when an idea turns out to be cute and practical :)

thanks for looking!

jen

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....ThanKSgiViNG TreaTS...

This pumpkin is sooo not an original idea...I've seen the almost exact same pumpkin somewhere...but I can't remember where to give credit :(

After I made the pumpkins, I found a free download for this adorable Thanksgiving printable on facebook and decided that it would be perfect for treats for Connor's teachers... I printed out a sheet of little circles to cover the bottom of some kisses

...I had the clear boxes upstairs in my stash, so all I had to buy was the kisses...

...easy-peasy...

...and  maybe... a squidge of chocolate in a cute package is just enough to bump the boy's grades up...or at least make his teacher's think nice things about him while they are coming up with his trimester grades tonight...

I'll post some pics of a Christmas gift project tomorrow....I love how it turned out...so did my neighbor, since she requested one for her daughter's teacher ;) ... 

Thanks for looking!  Have a great weekend!!

jen

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...CraZy QuiCK...

blog post to go with a crazy quick HaLLoWeEn treat idea

1. buy SniCkERs pumpkins from Target DoLLar bin
2. congratulate self profusely for not eating SniCkERs pumpkins before HaLLowEeN!
3. slide candy into a plastic pretzel bag from Michaels
4. die cut and punch a few shapes
5. hot glue and staple shapes onto bag
6. place pumpkin sticker in the middle
7. blog about how clever you are

Connor is taking four of these to school for his teachers...seriously took 10 minutes to make and 3 of that was waiting for my archaic glue gun to heat up.

Have a HaPPy HaLLowEeN tomorrow!

jen

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...JuSt a LittLe CorNy...

I'm still stuck on that color scheme from yesterday ;)

the bLaCk, AqUa, OrAnGe colors just reaLLy appeal to me!!

so I made something else to LinK up to the 

StaMpiN' CeLebRaTioN October ChaLLenge

and 

this week's Ribbon Carousel Challenge which is

...HaLLoWeen SpiRiT...

Here's what I made...I added yellow even though there isn't any in the photo...the whole idea is for it to be INSPIRATIONAL right?  It was!!

I was totaLLY inspired to make this. ;)

...and he definitely has HaLLoWeeN SpiRiT...

I started seeing it in the car last night as we were driving home from delivering dinner to my hubby.  By the time I actually started it, I knew exactly what I wanted to use and the only auditioning that took place was for the ribbon...that is reaLLy unusual for me...I usually try out 7 different papers/sizes/shapes/textures for everything...

It's why the craft cubby generaLLy looks like a ToRNadO just swept through it.

I was looking at a blog the other day and found a link back to SCS for a tutorial on how to  make these adorable 

FLaT BacKeD TreAt BoXeS

...and I just knew that my LittLe handmade CaNdY CorN reaLLy wanted to sit on one!

I used some PTI Halloween stamps and a TE border stamp that coordinates with a spellbinders nestie.

Here's a close up of CorNy...just because he makes me smile whenever I look at him! 

I'm hoping to find a candy corn lip gloss to slide into the little box...it would be the perfect size and I think my niece would LoVe it ;)

Thanks for LoOking!

jen

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...FriGhTFuL & DeLighTFuL...

I took a quick peek at the Mojo Monday sketch today...and it was sooooo calling to me...

and I'd had the Stampin' Celebration! October challenge bookmarked since Friday...

I just LoVeD the colors on this!

The orange, aqua, and that black and white ribbon on the top of the wreath?!?!  AwEsOMe!!

so...I made this....

I used the colors and the layout...except instead of putting it on a card....

I put it on a plastic card box and added a ribbon handle.

It will be soooooo cute when it's full of candy corn!

I could have shown you now, except that someone....who shall remain nameless but is 11, lives in my house, and who's name rhymes with Donnor....ate it all ;)

Here's a closer view of my pumpkin...it's just embossed oval punches layered together....I love how the PTI sentiment pops embossed in white on that black paper.

Here's a close up of the ribbon handle/button detail.

I just cheated and glued it on...hopefully, the recipient won't get too aggressive swinging it around or they may send their candy corn flying...I personally wouldn't consider that a big loss (candy corn is some NASTY stuff!) but I know it would bring tears to the eyes of some people...again...with names that rhyme with Donnor....

I'm linking this up at Mojo Monday and Stampin' Celebration.

Thanks for looking!

jen

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...50th BiRtHdaY gift...

Our friends 50th birthday was this week.  

I dropped her off cupcakes last Saturday...raspberry stout cupcakes with chambord ganache and Bailey's irish cream buttercream

I delivered a bottle of wine and a balloon on her real birthday.

But for a 50th birthday, you deserve at least a birthday week...it's too big an event to fit all of the festivities into just one day :)

Plus, she invited some friends out to dinner last night, so I needed something special to bring.

...enter the craft project that made me cry...

okay...looks incredibly simple right...how could that possibly have caused TEARS?????

So, the box is a go-to staple for me...they sell the sweet little things at Hallmark for like $6...and that amazing doo-dad on top...another $2.50...those guys at Hallmark are simply genius when it comes to packaging...now...almost $9 is more than I'd normally spend just to wrap something...but I've been sick all week and I knew I only had one project in me...not a project and a cute package....gotta know your limits...



So the actual present was 50 scratch off lottery tickets...which is why the box says - Hope you get LUCKY- inside...get your minds out of the gutter...what were you thinking?!?!?!


The concept of the packaging for the lottery tickets was simple...accordion fold paper to hold each ticket and just glue as many pieces of paper together as needed to make it big enough to hold all the tickets...it was the scale of the project that I failed to grasp...


ok...so...here's the tear inducing project...

Here's the front....simple enough...nothing drama inducing here...

...and a side view...where you can begin to see the dilemma...that is an awful LOT of folding going on....

I don't have a good close up of the finished product because it's nearly impossible to fit something 

over 10 FEET long 

into one photo...8 sheets of cardstock, cut in half and then each half folded first up 1 1/2 inches to make a pocket and then scored and folded every 2 1/2 inches to make the page...and i needed FIFTY pages...I scored and folded for over an hour...

The concept seemed so simple...but the reality was an ugly, unwieldy, disaster...

ok...maybe not a disaster...but it wasn't a walk in the park...

I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the weird chemicals in the cough syrup...

but half way through the folding I was in tears...

Since I was sick, we didn't actually get to go to the dinner...but I heard the birthday girl liked her present...and hopefully, she really will get lucky and there will be something good on one of those scratch off tickets! ;)

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
jen

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....AdoRaBLe ReiNdEeR...

So I picked up this outfit for my new niece last night...I just couldn't resist it...seriously...

Could you have walked away from this reindeer cuteness?!?

with these little feeties???

...and this hat?!?  AcK!!! Cute OvERLoaD!!!!!

It is possible the real reason I bought the outfit was that as soon as I saw it, I KNEW exactly how to package it...possible...but that might be a little twisted...I mean, who buys something because of how they can wrap it???

You saw this coming right???

Bwahaahahahahahahahaha!!! 

I took a brown lunch bag, added some punches, and antlers and poof...it was a reindeer...just like the little guy on the outfit...

See???   Just a lunch bag...I should have titled this post ~ $10 and 10 minutes~...because that's what it took! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with our Christmas mantle and entry table.

Thanks for looking!

Have an AmAziNg Thursday!

jen

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...ChriStMaS CaNdY...

I got home from a meeting one night last week and was waiting for my husband to finish up a phone call...instead of pacing and being impatient...I went into the cubbyhole and made this.

Seriously...20 minutes...and I was done.

I used one of the clear purses from Taylored Expressions...I have a bunch of extras from the baby shower...and there was a doily laying on my desk...so I used that...

The new Papertrey Tremendous Treats:Christmas set was sitting there too...I stamped it up, colored it...and ta-da...CutE-NeSs...

I tied the ribbon around the purse and held up the doily...but you could see the ribbon through the doily...yuck! I punched a red circle and it fit PerfEctLy behind the center of the doily...LoVe when that happens!

I added a baker's twine bow and a sweet, sparkly jingle bell I picked up at Michaels. 

I colored Santa's beard a really light grey and then added little white swirls to it for some interest...I also added a little chunky glitter to Santa's hat...Every fat man needs a little bling right?

I had a package of HersheY choCoLaTe BeLLs in the kitchen just waiting for a crafty project...the ENTIRE bag (minus the 3 silver ones...really??? how could an entire bag only have 3 silver ones?) fits into the purse...

I'm making up a dozen or so of these...they are quick, I already have everything to make the package, and I think they are perfect for Sanford to give to the ladies in the school office and for Connor to give to his previous teachers :)

Thanks for looking!

Have a GreAt Tuesday!

jen

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