Hodge Podge!

Hello & How are ya? Almost Friday, are you counting down, hee hee? I think Friday should be part of our weekends so we always have a 3-day weekend! Dontcha' think everyone would be sooo much happier :o) I think everyone is too busy, works too much and everyone needs to just slow down! That's my cure to a less grumpy society, whaddya think--LOL! Anywhoo, I've got 2 very different projects to share with ya today....

Okay, confession time for ya---I'm not a crier, random musing yes I know. I hate to cry, don't do it very often and just overall do not like crying or whining (even from my kids)! But this project made me tear up just a bit yesterday. A year and a half ago we lost our first "baby" of 13 years, our beloved mini schnauzer named "Trinket" to cancer. She was me & my hubby's first baby before we had actual "human" babies, lol--and she was special. She had big ears, was super high maintenance & had to pee constantly--but I loved her dearly and it was so hard when we lost her. I still miss her everyday and it really was like losing a child to me--for 13 years she was my constant companion, always happy & just plain ole loving & always giving us a good laugh!

Anywhoo, the lil' schnauzer dog in this stamp got me remembering her and tearing up a bit, so I thought I'd share that w/ ya :o) I just adore this stamp set from The Greeting Farm called "Home Sweet Home"--the animal images are just too stinkin' cute for words! And this image sums up my home on a daily basis--with 7 furbabies in the house there is always a mess, something chewed up and chaos always--but I LOVE it!

I had picked up this unfinished wood wall hanging from Michaels awhile ago (for like $.75) and finally got around to using it by making myself this fun hanger! I just covered it with my Coredinations cs (nice & heavyweight cs) and the dp is some old paper from AC Moore (Happy Scrappy I think)--so fun! Colored with Copics & I cut it out using my Curvy Rectangle Nestabilities. The lil' sentiment has 2 coats of Diamond glaze on top for shine too and love this ribbon by Stampin' Up! I left the wood unfinished because I liked the vintage look of it all together--do you likee? I'm going to hang it up in my laundry room---love it! And I have 2 more cards with this stamp set coming next week!

Second card today, uses Storage Units, Ink & More's new Easter set called "You're Some Bunny Special". These sets are so much fun to make scenes with like the one I created above. I paper pieced her lil' dress coat and added the Easter Basket with dimensionals. I love the spring green & baby blue colors together, so pretty & different for an Easter card. I stamped the sentiment directly on the dp and added fun ribbon from PTI, Kaiser pearls , the dp is "Two Scoops" by Basic Grey!

Remember that today by (11 pm PST) you need to have your entries in for the Guest Designer spot for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design if you're wanting to do it! You can find all the details for that right HERE!

Hope you enjoyed my rambling today (lol) and I'll see ya back here tomorrow!

hugz,

Suzanne

Sneak Peeks of Spring!!

Hello friends & Happy Wednesday! LOL--I'm sitting here writing and thinking to myself its only Tuesday, ha ha, then realized oh no, it is Wednesday! I swear my brain is fried this week for sure! Too many items on the to-do list and my mind is twirling and my body is tired!! My Cherry Coke is not doing its job---I'm going to have to write them and complain that they didn't put enough caffeine in my soda this month, LOL!! I need something if I'm gonna make it thru this week, not sure what yet---hee hee! Anyhow, I've got a couple of sneak peeks for you today from Storage Units, Ink & More!

Introducing "Your Some Bunny Special" which is...you guessed it...a fun, spring & Easter set full of lots of images to create fun scenes with on your projects! That's why I love these sets so much, there are so many stamps in each set that it gives you unlimitless possibilities---love 'em!! I used some more paper from my scrap pile (me being green & using what I have, lol)--this lovely paper is from Chatterbox and I love the colors & delicate floral on it.

I used three stamps from this set including the girl in her Easter best and the Easter basket which I cut out & popped w/ dimensionals! I drew my own grass with my Copics and added these fun Stampendous stickers from 7 Kids College Fund---they're shimmery, lots on a sheet & come in different colors! I paired the dp with cs and ribbons from Paper Trey Ink. Using the sentiment I created my own tag and tied it on with my scrappers floss.

This close-up shows the diamond glaze I used on her bows, shoes & Easter eggs and stickles on the ruffle of her dress & daisies in her hat! I really love how this turned out!

This is just a "mini" sneak peek of the other set being released on March 1st called "Let's Play"! I made a fun 4x4 card using DCWV "Grade School" pack dp--fun and colorful. I thought this would make a cute invitation for a child's playdate!! I added some more Diamond Glaze to the wagon and the sentiment to really make it pop!

Make sure and check out the other sneak peeks this week by the DT. Today my DT sistah's Leigh & Amber have some more sneak peeks for ya!! These sets will be available for purchase on March 1st!!

Alrighty, I'm off to find something to keep me energetic and sane this week---lol! Not sure what's available for all that, hee hee!

hugz,

Suzanne

Rock On!!

Hiya everyone! How's your week going so far? The weathermen were wrong AGAIN and we ended up with only rain yesterday---so the kids went off to school, yay!! I love a quiet house, I get sooo much more work done, lol! I'm having some terrible back issues right now that aren't going away so I might be off to the dr's in a lil' bit--so this post will not be super long for ya!




Today is Whatchadoin' Wednesday over at Storage Units, Ink & More and its challenge #22 which is "Love is in the Air"! The challenge is to make a card for a loved one but the card CANNOT be standard size (4.5x5.5)---yeah, I didn't venture far from that cuz' my card is 4.5x4.5 square, but I like it, lol! I had to use this image from SUINK's new set "Sweet Things"--such a fun image to color in. This dp is from my new favorite DCWV "Sweet" stack--isnt' it gorgeous and my favorite colors together are blue & chocolate (blog header anyone)! I colored w/ Copics and then added Diamond Glaze to the chocolates & ribbon to make them pop! In the corners I added some Bella Baubles in cappucino--oh my how I lovee those baubles. I think I'll give this card to my sweet, sweet hubby!! If you wanna join in on the fun, upload your creations to SCS using the keyword "WWC22"--we'd love to see!


Second card of the day is for this week's SCS color challenge #200 which was to use pumpkin pie, brilliant blue & garden green together---can you say "ewwww", not my favorites thats for sure! I really needed to make some "older" boy cards and I find them soooo hard to make w/o being too cutesy, but this set "Rock-On" from H&M Stamp Co. really helps and its on sale right now for $4 at H&M's HUGE Garage Sale (if you haven't shopped yet, ya bettah' hurry, all sets under $5 thru tonight).

Guitar Hero is a super popular game at our house and alot of teen's right now (I'm not very good, but its always fun to get your inner rock-goddess on, giggle) so I made this card with that in mind. The dp is from DCWV's "Pet" stack (I know strange, but it worked) and I added a nice, thick coat of diamond glaze to the guitar and speaker to make them really pop. I had to add the sparkly glitterdots to the mix too---I must've done a pretty good job cuz' my son gave it his "thumbs up", lol!

If you were hoping to get that cutie-pie H&M set called "My Favorite Valentine" and it was sold out--my DT sistah Julia is giving one away as blog candy on Saturday, so make sure and visit. DT sistah Carolina is also giving yummy blog candy away--a $20 gift card to H&M Stamps for you to spend!!

Hope you're having a great week & see ya back here tomorrow.

hugz,

Suzanne

Sneakie Peekie Time!

Happy Sunday everyone! Have you all recovered from your holiday festivities yet? I'm trying to catch up on ALOT of lost sleep and get some crafting time in, since I haven't made anything in a week (GASP)!! We had a wonderful Christmas and I loved every minute but I have to say I'm looking forward to the semi-calmness of January, LOL! We're going to a friend's house for a New Year's Eve get together, but it will be low-key just how I like it :o) Anyone of you have any exciting New Year's plans? Ok, onto 2 sneakie peekies for ya....

This first card uses one of two new sets being released by Storage Units, Ink & More on Jan. 1st! Both sets involve love & sweet things great for Valentine's Day :o) I really love SUINK stamps because the sets include so many separate stamps for you to use together or separately---and I love to make scenes with them! I used 5 stamps from the "Will You Be My Valentine" set for this card. The dp is from K&Co's "Smitten" line which I lovee! I colored with Copics and added some stardust stickles to the image. The hearts are from my new Heart Nestabilities that I got just in time for Valentine projects. You likee? Make sure and visit my fellow DT sistah's blogs today for their sneak peekies too (Mary Jo & Colleen)! I'll list the DT sistahs who will have sneak peeks this week everyday for ya!

This next card uses a new stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps (to be released Jan.1st) called "Charliene Cowgirl"--if you're familiar with their cute Charlie Cowhorse stamps then you'll lovee this set too. For this card I only used part of the horse image in my circle and I didn't make her look too girly so that this card would work for both a boy or a girl. I colored with Copics and used this yummy "Men of Life" dp from PTI which is so fun! I stamped out separately the horseshoe & boots and used my Nesties to cut them all out. The stars are from my SU star punch and I used Stampendous GeoSparklers on the ends to make them look like sheriff's stars. The sentiment is from CDS's "Casual Curls Sentiments" set which works perfectly for that cowboy font look! Make sure and visit the DT's (list on my sidebar) blogs all this week for their beautiful & fun creations using all the new sets. I will have sneak peeks of a few different sets here on my blog this week too!

If you've been waiting to get some Shimmerz, Scrapper's Floss and Doodlebug Flocks/Glitters---Susana's Custom Art & Card Design has them all in now in lots of scrumptious colors, so check 'em out!

H&M Stamps will be having a HUGE BLOWOUT Garage Sale on Jan.6th-7th--ALL stamp sets will be $5!! So if you got some Xmas money, that's a great deal and great way to spend it, LOL!!

See ya back here tomorrow,

Suzanne

Gone Fishin' for Christmas!!

Happy December 15th everyone!! Ten more days to go until the "big guy" comes and visits--seems like December has flown by, lol! Hope you all got some of your to-do list done this weekend--I checked off a few things but my list doesn't appear to be any shorter, LOL!!

THE BLOG CANDY WINNER FOR MY RUBBER ROMANCE PACKAGE IS.......
Here are your random numbers:
18
Timestamp: 2008-12-15 20:30:34 UTC

Katarina of Kama Design

Congrats Katarina on winning--email me your address and I will get the goodies out to you this week! Thanks everyone for playing!!
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We went and decorated our Gingerbread Houses (see slide show for pictures-click to make larger too) at our Club for the very first time! To be honest w/ ya though, I do not like "messes" and to have icing everywhere and drying on my hands~ICKY, not my thing. I also don't like alot of sugar, it literally makes me gag, so to see all the candies laid out & gobs of icing was almost too much for my stomach. But the kids loved it and had a blast so that was TOTALLY worth it to me :o) They are now recovering from their "sugar high" cuz' I couldn't tell ya how much they ate, but it was probably more than they have had in a whole year!

And now in a totally unrelated project, LOL, here is my lil' fishin' fella! I will have more Xmas projects this week, but I needed a break from all things Christmas for a bit! This lil' guy reminds me of my son and one of his favorite pasttimes--fishing! This stamp set "Look What I Caught" from SUINK is just the cutest & comes with lots of stamps to make different scenes (I used 4 stamps). He's colored w/ Copics and then I cut his hat & cattails out and attached them separately. The sky was done by sponging ink w/ a makeup sponge over a scalloped circle cut-out and the water has stickles on it for shimmer. The dp is by SU and I love these patterns for masculine cards. Just a fun lil' card that my son can send his Pop-Pop or Great Uncle (who share his love of fishing)! I also entered this in this past week's SCS "Ways to Use It" WT196 which was half-baked or stampin' only part of an image & imagining what the other end is. Mine would be his fishing line and you can "imagine" the fish or bobble buoy on the other end, LOL!

Holiday Hugz~Suzanne

Winter Wonderland!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! It surely is no winter wonderland here in VA although it is brrrr....COLD & snow flurries in the air! I'm still hopin' for some sun today (wishful thinking perhaps). My kids are doing the snow dance every night, but I can definitely wait--I HATE WINTER so I'm just gonna say I'm waiting on spring from now on, lol! And because I'm so cold and have lots of holiday projects to work on I'm keepin it short for ya today (yes, really, lol)!



Today is Whatchadoin' Wednesday over at Storage Units, Ink and More and our challenge was to make a holiday gift bag. You can join in too and upload with the keyword SUINKWWC15 so we can all see! I decided that you can't really give a gift w/o a card right? So I made a coordinating gift bag & card! I really wanted to use some other images from SUINK's new "Aspen" stamp set and this one was perfect. She doesn't actually hold the mug of cocoa, its a separate stamp in the set, but I drew her arm in on that side and then added the mug (cut out & popped up & glitterfied)! Coloring is all Copics and the dp is from DCWV "Winter Stack". The sentiments are from SUINK's "Winter Thoughts" which you can get free with the purchase of 6 stamp sets--great sentiments in that set too!

The gift bag was just a plain white bag w/ handle that I literally cut down to size and added my own ribbon handle to the sides (SU ribbon). Plain bags are so much fun (& easy) to personalize & decorate for your gift recipients--not to mention how much cheaper than the store ones! The snowflakes are from my Marvy and Martha Stewart punches and I just layered them and added glitterdots on top. Just a fun, cheerful holiday gift set for you to give to someone special. Create a gift bag & upload to SCS so we can see all your fun holiday creations! And check out my DT sistah's wonderful creations over on the SUINK blog too!

I'm back to working on projects today & oh boy, do I have lotsa new goodies to share with you in the upcoming days--fun, fun!! BTW, my friend Susana is having a sale on all her HOTP stamps so go check 'em out (25% off) over at her store!! See ya tomorrow!

hugz,
Suzanne

Holiday Season!!

Hiya Everyone! If there isn't any sun today I may have to go buy myself an SAD light, lol! It's been dreary for 5 days and it's bummin' me out bigtime! I'm off to lunch today with my lunch bunch gal pals, which should cheer me up some :o) Oh, the holiday rush is coming fast I tell ya--I'm feeling the crush myself! Here's a couple of holiday cards for ya today!

This card uses two new stamps from 2 of my favorite stamp lines! I knew this new Tilda with Presents that I got from Magnolia-licious would pair well with this lovely Christmas Tree from Whiff of Joy. This was definitely a labor of love, but worth it--the tree was so much fun to color. I colored with both my Copics and my Spica pens--the second picture (click to enlarge) shows just how sparkly those Spicas are! The dp is from HotOffThePress and the cardstock including the shimmery gold cs is from PTI. The sentiment is also from Whiff of Joy--this set is great for mixing and matching for the holidays.

This card uses Storage Units, Ink & More new set called "Oh Holy Night". Just like all their other stamp sets you can really mix and match to create different scenes. I really like to use some of my non-holiday dp for some of my cards to mix it up and I adore this K&Co. "Blue Awning" dp. Colored with Copics and accented with some stickles. The scrolls are from my Marvy punch & then I added rhinestones to and buttons are Basic Grey.

Hope you like the projects today! I'll see ya back here tomorrow!

hugz,

Suzanne

A Red, White & Blue Holiday!!

Yippee it's Friday, ladies! Ahh, I've been waiting not so patiently for it, lol! I'm having a few friends over on Saturday for some stampin' fun--you may know or visit some of these ladies in blogland, Christine & Marti! Lotsa chatting, stamping & they get to play with all my stamps, lol! And Sunday I'm gonna start putting up my 1 of my 8 Christmas trees (at least the 6 fake ones)--it takes me awhile so I have to start super early so that Thanksgiving weekend we can go get our 2 real trees. Yes, I am that crazy but I LOVE Christmas! I'm already picking out the new Christmas albums I'm gonna buy for my Ipod this year (Faith Hill, Enya & the new Burl Ives remix to name a few...)! So in my holiday spirit I've got some holiday projects done up in our patriotic red, white & blue...

This card and ornament use SUINK's new set called "Deer Ol Santa"--I love this set and the many ways you can mix and match the stamps. It reminds me of the original claymation Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer & Frosty shows (dontcha' still love those, I do)! Nowadays there are tons of Christmas cartoons/shows, but growing up w/o cable (GASP, I am that old, hee hee) I couldn't wait for the holiday show line up which always included Rudolph & Frosty!

The dp is from HOTP--lovee the bright blue! I colored with Copics and I sponged my nighttime clouds w/ Pacific Point SU ink. I wanted Santa to be holding the reins for his reindeer including Rudolph who has a red stickled nose, lol. I paper pierced my holes and then threaded red embroidery floss thru and taped on the backside. The sled rails, buttons and Santa's bag & buckle are glittered w/ my gold spica pen. If you haven't tried out these Copic Spicas, you really should cuz' they flow wonderfully & leave the nicest shimmer--if you don't want to invest in the set, buy one or two separately (I would go with clear, gold or silver first)!

Here's another coaster ornament for ya--I tell ya' I'm gonna use these 700+ coasters eventually, lol! For this one I just cut out the center with my scalloped square Nestabilities and also used the second larger nestie to cut out a layer of the same dp. The edge is colored w/ a copic marker and the inside embossed edge is too. I then took my liquid gold pen and edged all around. I cut a layer of clear acetate and attached to the back w/ adhesive. Then I stamped, colored & cut out my Santa again and attached him w/ a dimensional to the front on top of the acetate. The ribbon bow & hanger is from PTI (pure poppy).

I think this would make the cutest holiday gift for someone--an ornament and matching card & homemade to boot! So whatcha' think?

Don't forget tonight is the release party for PTI at 10 pm (EST)--maybe I'll see ya there!

hugz,

Suzanne

My Biggest Blog Candy Evah!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm happy to be back & hopefully you're happy I'm back too, lol! And I'm back with a huge contest for ya too! Well, over the weekend I exceeded my 50,000 hits by alot, hee hee--you crazy readers!! And thanks to all of you who stop by and visit, perhaps gleaming some inspiration from me and enjoying what I do--Cuz' now I got BLOG CANDY to GIVEAWAY--YAHOO!!!
***WARNING--This is a SUPER LONG POST--so read to the end, okay!***

So here is the big kahuna of all my BLOG CANDY giveaways evah--& I told ya it was Christmas themed! And the most exciting part of this giveaway is that apron stamp by the fabulously talented Karen Lockhart. She colored the front of the stamp and signed it--how FABULOUS is that cuz' she never does this, evah (except on a very few limited edition stamps)! This is a one-of-a-kind stamp that will be a keepsake for sure (and she made me one to boot, am I a lucky girl or what). She also designed the butterfly button for the lucky winner too! Susana of Susana's Custom Art & Card Design was able to get these for giveaways from Karen Lockhart so make sure & visit her because she has one up for grabs too--you can have a SECOND CHANCE by joining her store email list so get over there & sign up already!!

So here is what you get if you win:

-1 Karen Lockhart Apron stamp, signed & colored by Karen

-1 Karen Lockhart button

-1 tin of Prima poinsettia flowers/holly

-1 roll of ribbon

-1 Copic Atyou Spica Gold pen

-1 bottle of Christmas Red Stickles

-1 6x6 Basic Grey "Wassail" paper pad (LOVE IT)

-2 packages of Christmas buttons/charms

So how do you enter? Leave me an answer to my "random question" & link this blog candy to your blog (if you don't have a blog, just spread the word okay :)) & let me know you linked!

My random question (which I love to ask) is "What is your favorite Holiday song of all time & why?" You have until this Sunday, 11/9 at midnite (EST--my time) to leave me a comment on THIS POST ONLY! Then on Monday the 10th I will pick a winner by random.org & announce it on my blog (please leave me an email address if you don't have a blog & don't answer anonymously or I can't get a hold of ya, 'kay).

Remember to take advantage of a second chance to win a signed and colored Karen Lockhart stamp & some Copic Spica pens--please visit my friend Susana's webstore, Susana's Custom Art & Card Design--she has another signed apron stamp by Karen Lockhart up for grabs for a lucky someone. You can also purchase Karen Lockhart stamps from her store and lots of other fabby things too!

In honor of this fabby blog candy, I created this fun holiday project using my Karen Lockhart stamps! I stamped my apron first and then paper pieced almost all of it with this delish, yummo dp by Stampin Up called "Holiday Treasures" that might be my most favoritest holiday paper evah'!! I also used Karen's "Itty Bitty Christmas Border" to stamp around the corners and then went over theberries & boughs with my Copic Atyou Spica pens in clear & red (btw Susana carries these fab pens by the set or by themselves if you're interested). The yummy cider recipe (I love cider & Starbucks Caramel Apple Cider is the BEST evah', but I also make my own too) came from my Gooseberry Patch Christmas book that I printed onto my PTI vintage cream cs with my computer. And this is actually a card that you can give or just use as a recipe card--the reciever gets to decide! I'm making some of these for my kid's teachers along with a glass bottle of cider--such a fun gift!

The box is called a blessings box and you can see the tutorial (by Angie Juda) here--very easy to make & fun too. This box holds my cider mix that I made & then put in a cellophane bag. I used my "Holiday Treasures" dp by SU again too. The "homemade" stamp is from PTI's "Holiday Treats" set. The only change I made to the box was to use my SU "word punch" to make handles at the top so I could tie it shut with ribbon. And the exciting part of this project is that you can WIN IT!! I will choose a second winner on Monday and they will recieve this gift set and a few stamped images (surprise images)!!! So make sure and enter, cuz' ya never know!!

And today is also Whatchadoin' Wednesday over at Storage Units, Ink and More! Make sure and check out their blog for all my DT sistah's fabby projects. We were challenged to use our newly released stamps to make a scene. I used my new "Deer Ole Santa" set for my scene. I also used my brayer for the very first time (GASP)--I love to see everyone make these gorgeous backgrounds but have never attempted it thinking I wouldn't be able to do it. Whaddya think--I think it turned out pretty well for my first time & it wasn't hard at all :) I used SU's glossy white cs and 3 blue inks in various shades--the stars were made with my Ranger Inkssentials pen. I cut my house and Santa out after coloring them with Copics and attached them to the bg. I stamped my trees and the sentiment in Night of Navy ink right onto the bg. I used my DecoArt SnowWriter for the snow and then added some stickles to the snow, sled & trees. That beautiful shimmery, navy paper is from PTI and I used my new Martha Stewart snowflake border punch on the edges. This card reminds me of my favorite holiday story "Twas the Night Before Christmas"--whatcha' think? Check out all of SUINK's new sets if you haven't already--they're super cute!

Ok, final newsies of the day--The Stampin Place is having a huge sale right now thru November 9th (25% off all stamps, 15% off stampin' supplies) so check it out! And check out my Whiff of Joy DT sistah Bev's Blog Candy--she has a "Santa Charlie" to giveaway along w/ some other fabby goodies! Also I had to say that my Hot Cocoa Box was given an Honorable Mention on Paper Trey Ink's blog by Nichole Heady--this is my second honorable mention so maybe the third time's the charm to win, hee hee!

And that is the end of my longest post 'evah, lol!! I will see ya back here tomorrow with some more projects to share! Hope ya voted yesterday if you're in the US--I'm happy for the chance to vote and I hope our country will soon be on the upswing again & I'm glad Barack Obama will hopefully be leading us towards that (and that's it for my political musings I promise)!

hugz,

Suzanne

Fall Fever!!

Good Wednesday Morning to Ya! I am feeling so much better, now if my energy level would rise up I'd be set, lol! I have a few things to share with ya today so bear with me. First and foremost, my teabox template/directions is at the end of this post if you've been waiting for it (I will post the dimensions for the hot chocolate box tomorrow). Secondly, please visit my Whiff of Joy DT sistah Murielle's blog to enter for some yummy blog candy including a "Melinda Blowing Kisses" stamp. And lastly its Whatchadoin' Wednesday over at Storage Units, Ink and More so go check out all my DT sistah's lovely creations this week!

Ok, my first card was done using this week's SCS "Try a New Technique" Challenge #190 which was to make a stair-step card. I think this is such a fun and easy idea--how fun would this be to give to someone and there are so many different ways to use this (love it)!! I used my new stamps from Storage Units, Ink and More (Bountiful Harvest and Giving Thanks)--these 2 sets allow you to mix and match so many ways. I created the background scene with my SU inkpads, a cut-up makeup sponge and homemade hill and cloud template (cut out circles and scalloped circle)--I just sponged different colors onto my cs to make the water, land and clouds, easy-peasy. Each image was stamped, colored w/ Copics and then cut out and attached with dimensionals. The cs is Coredinations and the dp is from SU "prints pack". Whatcha' think?

The second fall card today uses both stamps and a sketch challenge from H&M Stamps--see the sketch here--Play along to win a 10% off coupon to the store. This scarecrow and crow stamp are from the "Old Fashioned Hayride" set which I colored w/ Copics. I inked the edges for distressing in 2 different ColorBox colors (their chalk inks are wonderful for this). The fun colorful dp is from DCWV's "Pet Stack"--I loved the shock of bright blue in this plaid dp, so fun! I embossed the brown strip of cs w/ my CB "button border" embossing folder and added some Basic Grey buttons on top. I wanted this card to look like it was bursting with hay like the scarecrow so I bundled up raffia, trimmed it and attached it underneath w/ gluedots. I think it turned out cute.
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Ok, below are the pictures and directions for my tea box that you can see here. I will post the dimensions for the hot chocolate box tomorrow. Once you make one (they're super easy) you can adjust the dimensions to whatever you'd like.

To start with you need:
-(1)2.75"x9.75" pc of cs for the frame of the box
-(2) 2.75"x4" pieces of cs for sides
-scor-pal or other scoring tools
-ruler
-tacky tape or other strong adhesive

Referring to my photo(double click to make larger) you need to score the longer piece of cs along the long edge at: 2.75, 3.5, 6.5, and 7.25. Fold and crease your score lines well. Your front foldover flap should be a tad shorter than the back.

Next, you need to take the two smaller pieces of cs (for sides) and score along long edge at a 1/2 inch seven times on each piece. You should end up with an accordian fold with 4 mountain/valley peaks.

Attach your 2 side pieces to the main box frame (see above picture) with tacky-tape or another strong adhesive--my picture shows it attached to the back, but you will also need to attach it to the front. And that's it, now you decorate it to your heart's desire.

I used a Basic Grey magnet hidden under my dp to keep it closed. You could also use velcro or a pretty ribbon. This holder will fit 4 teabags. If you have any questions just email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net . Alright that's all for me today--I'm off to run errands. Hope this tutorial was ok and easy to follow.

hugz,
Suzanne

Thanksgiving Blessings-- Pizza Box!!

Hi All and Happy Sunday! We are off to the Pumpkin Patch today--hooray!! I'm still pretty sick but I'm suckin' it up like a good Mom does and hopefully will not pass out along the way, lol!! I'll share some pictures of our trip w/ ya tomorrow. The weather has been spectacular here this weekend, really just perfect w/ blue skies and 75 degrees, love it and I'm sooooooo dreading winter! But the kids have off of school on Monday for Columbus Day so no early morning for us tomorrow--yippee--makes me happy!!

I really wanted to try out the Try a New Technique challenge over on SCS this week--you have to make a pizza box which I've been dying to try out. I will tell you this is super easy and quick to make, I love it cuz' it was so easy to make. I paired it up with my new Storage Units, Ink and More stamps and Coredinations cs and made a Thanksgiving Blessing Box. I thought it would be a great idea to make this box and matching cards to record our blessings or what we're thankful for this year and any hopes or wishes for the new year. This way we can read them at our Thanksgiving dinner table and pull them out year after year to remember them by (especially since my kids are growing up soooo fast)!

The cards for the inside measure up to be 3.75x3.75 with the stamped image protruding slightly from the top. I made 10 of these cards and they fit nicely in the box--you could also include envelopes and make this a cute notecard gift set for someone. I stamped out some of the smaller images from the "Giving Thanks" and "Bountiful Harvest" stamp sets and colored them w/ Copics. The front of the box got the same treatment this time using the wheat and the sentiment I actually cut in half (great bonus about acrylic stamps) and bent it on my acrylic block so it would wrap around the wheat. The dp is from SU and I also used my Fiskars threading water border punch for the edges of the box and some dew drops in the corners to finish it up. So whatcha' think? I'm thinkin' I'll be making more of these real soon, lol!

Have a great Sunday!

Suzanne