Candy gifts

Happy Valentines Day!

 Today I'm back to show you the presents I made for the secretaries at my office.  I found this post through Pinterest and really wanted to give it a try.  I didn't want to make a traditionally Valentiney gift for the secretaries- that might be kind of weird- so this seemed like something fun I could use.

I cut three pieces of colored cardstock down to 4x6, and three pieces of white cardstock slightly smaller.  I stamped the sentiments on each of the white cardstocks (using Elle's Studio's Cameron font for the Junior Mints and two different fonts from Lawn Fawn on the other two).  The Junior Mints were so big that I had to use the cardstock to cover the whole box, so to make up for it I traced and cut the word "Mint" with my Cameo.  Then I taped the candies on where they belonged.

To store the candies, I bought this bag from the Silhouette Store.  I used white cardstock to make the bag- be prepared, it takes a few sheets- and then used some patterned paper from the KI Memories Classic Prints paper pad to make the decorative panels.

Background stamping

One of the things I've been doing lately is stamping backgrounds onto cards, and then not putting sentiments on them until it's time to use them.  That way, I can use the cards for whatever occasion comes up to use them for.

The first one of these I made using the "Big Star" wood stamp by Hero Arts.  I stamped all over a piece of white cardstock using Distress Ink- I used Broken China and Chipped Sapphire.  Then I cut it down to fit on a piece of navy cardstock.  There's plenty of room on the bottom right corner for me to stamp a sentiment in blue when the time comes.  I'm planning to enter this card at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes challenge this week.

The second card I made using the "Bokeh Builder" clear stamp set from Studio L2e.  I used a combination of all of my various yellow, orange, and reddish colored ink pads- mostly they were stamped with Hero Arts "Butter Bar," "Orange Soda," and "Pale Tomato."  I also added in a few stamps here and there with Memento inks, too, though.  Then I cut it down, matted it with a piece of orange cardstock, and put them onto a white cardstock base.  I figure that I can stamp a sentiment in black or another dark color pretty much anywhere on this page.

So there you go- a way to add a few cards to my stash that are more likely to get used and not just sit in there!

I'm still here

Whoa, I just realized it's been a MONTH and an HALF since my last post!  What happened?  Well, Christmas vacation happened- we took a fun trip to Niagara Falls for awhile in there, plus family and friend get togethers, etc.  Also, a bathroom renovation that took a wrong turn and turned into a complete redo of the plumbing for the bathroom AND laundry room (which is directly behind the bathroom)...and still isn't done.  Last, a lot of my crafting has been Project Life and scrapbook pages, which tend to be more personal and aren't things that I necessarily want to share online.

ANYWAY, as a peace offering, here are the official 2014 Christmas cards.  I found a print on Pinterest, traced it into my cameo, and cut it out.    I used some kraft cardstock for the bases, then white cardstock on top of that, and then either red or green for the top layer.  Clean and simple.  The hardest part was all of the tiny pieces inside of the letters like "a" and "e."

I've also made a few card bases with some of the stamps I got for Christmas, but they don't have any sentiments on them yet because that allows me to use them for whatever situation comes up that I want to use them for.  I'll try to get a photo of those and get them up soon.