Birthday Gift Idea

Hello! A few weeks ago it was my husband's cousin's birthday, and I of course jumped at the chance to create something as a gift for her.  I'm loving the Tag A Bag Gift Boxes from Stampin' Up!  They are begging to be used for tons of fun stuff.  One day I had the idea to line the clear sleeve with birthday paper and tie the box off with a bow, so I got out my favorite birthday paper from their catalog, Birthday Basics, and cut a piece to slip inside the box.  I scored it on both ends to fold easier, and then tied the box off with Summer Starfruit ribbon after I stuffed the box with yummy chocolate chip cookies.  (My favorite!)

 I added a tag to the box and just forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her.

 Then I made her a fun little pedicure in a jar.  My sister showed me this idea a year or two ago, and I love it.  I would be happy to receive a gift like this.  I never have enough nail polish, and it's fun to take time to pamper yourself every once in a while.  I made the tag with the new Scallop Tag Topper Punch, added a strip of paper from the Sale-A-Bration pack Sweet Sorbet, and stamped a heart from the Banner Blast Sale-A-Bration stamp set.  To finish off the tag, I added some Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

 I included in the jar a nail file/buffer block, a pair of nail clippers, a bottle of nail polish, a bottle of lotion, and some cotton squares for removing old nail polish.  If I had a bigger jar, I would have included a mini bottle of nail polish remover.

I had fun making my little gift for her and am pretty sure she enjoyed them.  Thanks for stopping by today, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Birthday Card and Wrapped Candy Bar

Hello!  Here's another project I made with the bows I showed yesterday cut from the Gift Bow Bigz Die from Stampin' Up!  It was my Aunt's birthday earlier this month, and I made a card and wrapped a candy bar using two bows cut out from the Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper.  I copied a card that Shelli Gardner displayed at convention that was a moving card.  I made another one at my friend Mayra's house a few weeks ago and decided I could make another one easily.  I was wrong!  This card is quite tricky, so I don't have instructions to post today.  Sorry about that!  I think this card requires more time to make than I like to spend on one card, so chances are I probably won't be making more of it.  It's definitely a card with a huge 'WOW' factor, but I don't have that much time with an 18 month old, so my Aunt was lucky to be the recipient of a one and only card!

The inside of the card is supposed to slide out when you lift the 'lid' of the present, but I had a lot of trouble getting my card to slide easily, and I cut, cut again, glued, ripped and re glued, and still wasn't happy with the result of the sliding.  The white inside isn't supposed to come out all the way, but I think mine had to to be able to read anything I wrote on the inside.  Note-this card is great for someone who hates to fill up an entire inside of a greeting card!  Me, on the other hand, I like to write long messages to friends and family, but this card was cut short because of the slide feature.  You can tell I had tons of trouble getting the sliding to work just right because you can see the ripped crumb cake under the whisper white on the inside flap!  :)  My aunt is sweet and probably (hopefully) didn't care.

Here's the matching cover I made for a Hershey's bar that I sent with her card:  This project was super easy compared to the card!

The bow on this candy bar was made from the 'extra' loop that you can add to the center of the bow (which I chose not to use), and then I cut two little ribbon ends from scraps and made this bow.

Hope you liked the projects today.  Stop by again tomorrow for some more gift ideas!

Gift Bow Bigz Die and Halloween Treats

Hello!  I got to play around with Stampin' Up!'s Gift Bow Bigz L Die (#129977  $32.95), and I must say, I love it!  When I first saw it in the holiday catalog, I wasn't sold on it and honestly thought it was ugly and straight from the late 80's/early 90's, and that I was never going to use it!  But then I saw something made with it at my friend Mayra's house, and I realized it didn't have to look so dated.  I cut out some bows from various designer series paper packs from Stampin' Up! and was actually excited to use my new bows.  They can be really cute!

Note: I didn't use the extra piece that cuts out to make the center loop.  I left that off my bows because I felt it made my bows too frilly and too big for what I wanted to do with them.

As I looked at the bows, I wanted to do something with them, and here's what I did with the Halloween bow:

I made a thank you treat for my friend Sue, to give to her when I delivered an order to her.  

I have more projects to share with you using these bows, so come back tomorrow to see them!