Gift Set: Part 1- Masculine Birthday

Ok, so this week (or however it long it takes) I thought I'd post what I gave my secret santa at work. Every day for a week we gave little gifts (I'll show how I packaged those gifts at the end of the week) and on the last day we were told to spend $5 (that was the "BIG" gift!) :) I had previously made a sympathy card for my ss and she really loved it and appreciated my craftiness, so I thought on the last day I'd give her a little gift set. I used the box from my store-bought Christmas cards (I know, I know- how could I? But I got them last year on clearance and I wanted to send photo cards! I promise it won't happen again.) Ahem. Okay, so I used the box which had a clear lid and filled it with 4 cards, a post-it note holder and more of the giant paperclips/bookmarks. I used all K&Co paper to give the set a cohesive look.

So here's the first card... the first of two birthday cards, I wanted (this) one to have a masculine feel because masculine cards always seem to be tough. The turtle stamp is by Inkadinkado, the tag came from a swap, the blue velvet ribbon is Basic Grey and the clear green dots are from Scrapbook Factory. I have a giant bag of fiber, so I'm not sure where that came from, but I tried add interest by tying it around the side.. I don't know how well that turned out, but it is what it is :)

Alrighty, thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for the next card (hopefully) tomorrow!

-Suzanne :O )

sagittarius

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post some birthday cards I made last month. The first is for my dad's cousin. I always thought her to be whimsical and free-spirited, so hopefully this card reflects that a bit. The striped paper is actually from Rob & Bob's Studio christmas pack, but I don't think anyone would know unless I told them. :) The journaling star is by Maya Road and the "smile" sentiment is an oldie rub-on from Target. The aqua brad is by Making Memories and all of the other goodies are from swaps.
The next card I made for my uncle, and he's definitely a guy's guy so I wanted to keep the colors as masculine as possible. Let's see.. the patterned papers are by K&Co and I believe the dark green cardstock is DCWV. I used white scalloped tape by Heidi Swapp and the orange ribbon is Pebbles Inc. The "celebrate" rub-on is by Creative Imaginations- it came in a swatchbook that I use ALL the time- LOVE IT! :D I must give credit to the fab Miss Heidi Van Laar for the layout... I wish I had posted the card during the week of that 2S4U challenge, but I'm always a day late and a dollar short. :( Alrighty.. onto the last card!
The last one's got very few supplies- the card is by DCWV... I have a box of about 50 cards that already have patterns on them and I hardly ever use them, so that was my futile effort to start using them up :) The sentiment and flowers came from swaps, but the brad is another of the same Making Memories that I used on the first card. I made this for my mom's goddaughter who is now a nun, so I tried to keep it classy but still fun :) She used to babysit me, and she knows I make the cards, so the bright colors were my way of saying hi, if that makes sense! lol
Alright, sorry for such a long post, but I hope you like this collection! I had an unexpected snow day today and my mom and I baked a carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting.. it's soooo yummy! I got a thank you card done and I hope to get more cards made after dinner.. I really have to get going on Valentine's Day! Between the cards I need for myself, my mom and the cards my dad gives his students, I think I need somewhere around 35 cards- the thought is overwhelming, but I'm looking forward to it! I hope you're all staying warm and cozy! Thanks for checking in!

-Suzanne :O )

jumbo paperclips or a bookmark?

Hi everyone! Another quick post tonight... this is the last of the Christmas projects for the swap I was in. I only like two out of the three clips, but I think I'm just being hard on myself as usual. I bought a pack of 15 jumbo paper clips at Walmart for something crazy like 97 cents and they make for a really quick and easy project. I recommend you check out Dawn's video on how to make these, but basically I punched out two scalloped circles, made sure they were adhered well to the top and added small embellishments. I guess they're intended to be paperclips but you could use them as bookmarks too :) I hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

Door Knob Hanger

Hi everyone! Just a quick post for today :) I made a door knob hanger for my swap partner and used up some old but cute Target embellishments. I also used more of the K&Co peppermint twist paper, some DCWV rub-ons, my scalloped square paper punch by EK Success and some colorful gems, also from Target. I bought some door knob hangers at Goodwill, and I believe they were made for computer printing. I covered the blank hanger with the patterned paper, but I realized afterwards I didn't even need the blank hanger- I could have just cut the patterned paper to size and punched a hole out, with a slit so it could hang on the knob. You live and you learn, right? :) Anyway, I hope you like today's project and are having a fab weekend! Thanks for taking a peek!

-Suzanne :O )

matchbook post-it note holder

Hi everyone! Hopefully the blog title isn't too confusing... it's a notepad that looks like a matchbook :) Someone sent me one as a thank you for hosting a swap, so I used that as a template. I used more of the K&Co Peppermint Twist paper and a coordinating embellishment. I bought some "cell phone bling" (that kind of makes me nauseous, who actually adds gems to their cell phone???) at the dollar store a while ago. It was in the shape of clouds and a rainbow, so I cut up the gems from the cloud and added them to the green scalloped circle. I love when I can find other uses for inexpensive products- yay! I added a bit of sheer pink polka dot ribbon, glued the post-it note down, stapled the bottom of the "matchbook" and voila! A quick and easy gift. I made 23 more of these guys for my dad to give to his students for Christmas, but I used up some paper I've been wanting to get rid of because I figure eight year olds don't appreciate hand-crafted items. :) Anyway, I hope you like my little notepad and thanks for popping by!

-Suzanne :O )

gift card organizer!

Hi everyone! Here's the first of several holiday projects I made for a swap. I don't know if anyone has made a similar project, but I haven't seen one anywhere else, so I was proud of myself for being original (or so I hope!) :) I bought a box of coin envelopes at my local Goodwill store (250 for $1.99- yesssss!) and thought "there must be SOMEthing I can do with these!" I used some here and there for return postage when I participated in swaps, but then the swapping site closed, so I was stuck with about 254 envelopes and nothing to do with them. So I thought about what I could make for my partner, and the idea came to me that whenever I go shopping, I seem to have a hard time finding my gift cards because I just shove them in my purse. I thought a gift card holder might be a nice way to solve that problem, so I cut the flaps off of four of the envelopes and glued five together, using the flap on the fifth envelope to secure the whole holder. I glued the envelopes only in the middle, so they would be able to open (my mom held the holder open for me so I could show you all how it works). :) I used a photo anchor and a brad to keep the holder closed. I used some of my new favorite Christmas paper (by K&Co called Peppermint Twist) to decorate the front and back. The bell embellishment and "cheer" sentiment came in the paper pack, which made decorating a breeze (LOVE coordinating time-savers!). I painted the flap green with acrylic Making Memories paint and added the snowflake rub-ons by DCWV. It was a fairly quick project once I figured out what I was doing, and I think next year I'll make one for myself! I hope you enjoy this project, and thanks for stopping by!

-Suzanne :O )

another year wiser

Hi everyone! A quick post to share with you tonight... I made this card last month for my grandmother to send to my aunt (her daughter in law) because she has loved owls for as long as I can remember. The stamp is by Inkadinkado (loooove $ stamps!), the balloon, hat, and "celebrate" are felt stickers by Queen & Co., and I hand-cut the branch. I added a teeny tiny yellow gem from Target's dollar spot to the owl's hat. I'm not sure who manufactured the papers; I think all but one came from swaps. The paper that did come from my stash is the one I used for the background and I believe it's called "Britney's Beads" by Reminisce. I wish I could say I used my cuttlebug for the pink paper, but even that came pre-embossed from a swapping friend (I still only have two folders for my cuttlebug!). The sentiment is from Joann's, which I punched out and stapled to the inside of the card (if anyone has better suggestions on how to adhere vellum, please let me know!). My aunt is very spunky, and I wanted to make a card to match her personality, so hopefully it brought a smile to her face.
I'm not sure why December was such a tough month for me blog-wise... I just seemed to run out of free time, but that's what I'm unsure of- my family hasn't even celebrated christmas yet, so I should have had plenty of free time! :P My brother is driving up from FL in a few weeks, so we will celebrate then. The reason I bring this up is that I hope to start using the "post later" option... I made a whole bunch of Christmas crafts that I would like to share this week, so even if I don't have time during the week, I can still post. yesssssssss :)
I spent my new year's eve asleep with the flu, but I hope you all have a happy and healthy 2009. I can't wait to see where this year takes us!

-Suzanne :O )