The New and Improved Dish of Bliss!

This is how I wanted the"Dish of Bliss For You" to look. A nice little crystal dish filled with Hershey's Milk Chocolates wrapped in cellophane and tied up with a cute little tag! Yea, that's the ticket!!! BTW, the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bliss are truly Bliss! Tried one as I was putting this together, rich and creamy and oh so chocolaty! Yum!!!!
Scroll down to the previous post to see how you can win your very own Dish of Bliss and a Bird Nest pin too!

A little Giveaway and a Pin for Mom

Just a couple little gifts tonight, one for my mom and one for a lucky blog peep.

I found this cute little pin at a garage sale a few weeks ago and can't wait any longer to give it to my mom. She truly does deserve it. She doesn't read my blog unless I ask to her look at something specific, so the surprise won't be ruined! Made the little Just For You tag to go with it. Here we have a "Dish Full of Bliss Just For You!" I am loving this! I will be searching hi and low for cute little dishes now and perfecting my matching gift tag. (Any ideas or suggestions?)
I need a big roll of clear cellophane for this one. Last time I was at the Galt Market the ribbon, bag booth wasn't there. Anyone know where I can find a roll that will last a while?
We also have a cute little bird nest pin. I see bird nests and robins eggs are pretty popular with crafty bloggers, so I thought some of you might really like it!

Here are the finished packaged gifts. Like I said I really need to get rolled cellophane I am not too happy with this look, but it will do for now.

The giveaway includes the bird nest pin and the Dish Full of Bliss (I am loving that!). One lucky reader can win this nice little package! Leave me a comment for 1 entry, post my giveaway on your blog for another entry (email me to let me know). I will have my son draw the lucky winner next Friday Sept 4th. Good Luck and thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend!

Time well spent

My daughter is home from college for the weekend and she wanted to make me dinner tonight. Hmmmm, things have changed. :) It was so great, we visited in the kitchen and while she was cooking I was making cards and we talked. What a nice evening! Best part, I didn't cook or have to clean up! Oh yea!!!!
More Top Note die cut cards and tags for Friendship and Birthdays.

A Bliss Card

I think I came up with this idea on my own, but I can't be sure because I browse so many crafty card maker's blogs??? Oh well, a cute idea nonetheless. I used the Top Note die cut from Stampin Up' and cut 2 dies. Cut one in half and adhered it to the first around the edges. Then embellished it with a colorful brad. Then I took a tag and adhered some of the same srapbooking paper on it, embellished it with a stamped "Bliss", ribbon and another brad and here is a different take on a greeting card. I must say that I am running out of this Raspberry Tart scrapbooking paper that came from Stampin' Up, and it is now discontinued! :(

Halloween is coming! Candycorn time!

OK, I know I am probably a dork. But finding these new Hershey's Candy Corn Kisses at Target made my day! How cool are these? As an avid crafter I knew immediately they would be a perfect compliment to my forever growing stock of Halloween treat bags!
Asked my co workers do the taste testing (and myself of course) and got a thumbs up from everyone. They taste like a creamy white chocolate candy corn. (YUM!)
There is a recipe for Reese's Candy Corn Autumn Cookies on the back of the bag! I am sure I will be buying a lot these for baking and filling all those treat bags!
I am oh so ready for Fall!!!!

A busy but oh so fun weekend!!

Yes a busy weekend and yes I am tired. But what a great weekend!!! I just couldn't wait to share! First I went to a Stampin' Up' take and make taught by my friend and craft mentor Julia.
We made this simple yet elegant birthday card and these very easy to put together gift card envelopes. I purchased a stamp set and curly punch for these cute Boo! bags. (Yes, I am still on a bag kick!) I love the way the stamp is matched to the punch.

Then rush home to head into Oakland for an A's game. I grew up in the Bay Area and am a big fan of the A's but hadn't been to a game in years!!! They won by 1! Go A's!!!

Then they had awesome fireworks! We got to sit on the field to watch them! They were in celebration of the Woodstock 40th anniversary. So, in addition to totally awesome fireworks, we got to hear Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimmy Hendrix and more!!! It was awesome! Fireworks bring out my inner child! What a great day!!!OK, so my camera added 20 pounds to me haha! But I had to share this picture!!! We were at the California State Fair today. In the Candy exhibit building they had this most adorable Lucy lookalike. She was great! I participated in a re enactment of the famous I Love Lucy candy factory episode. It was hilarious! Sorry, I couldn't get the video to post!

If you get a chance to go to the fair do not miss the candy exhibit and be sure to say hi to Lucy!

I learned something new! Woohoo!!!

Some of you savvy bloggers may laugh at me, but I just figured out how to add butons to my blog!!!! I have added a button for Whitney Caroline Designs, and That's All She Wrote. If you scroll down and look on the right side of my blog you can click right on these buttons and go directly to these 2 cool websites!!!!

I haven't been able to purchase anything from these great sites yet, but I hope to soon and I will certainly post about it! Because these are 2 good things definitely worth sharing!!!!

Whitney Caroline Designs has the cutest totes, duffel's, bags and so much more! And she is big on the cool monograms! A great place for special gifts! Right now she has a monogrammed tote bag giveway contest going on, so be sure to scroll down and click on the Whitney Caroline Design Button.

Next we have Katie at That's All She Wrote. Katie makes personalized signs. She has some really great items for wedding and anniversary gifts. So be sure to scroll down and click on her site!

I really do hope to do some more posting about these 2 great sites very soon!

Showing some CSUMB love!

The countdown is on! Val's little going away party is tomorrow night and her move to Monterey is Sunday! YIKES!!!
In my effort to have a nice little party but not spend a lot of dough I have come up with a few inexpensive decorations. Yesterday I posted the Good Luck Val banner.
Today we have little CSUMB banners in dollar store vases with rocks and glass stones to hold them up. They will do nicely on a few tables. (I found all CSUMB images on line) Next, I have another banner, but this one with the CSUMB mascot. I actually made two of these. 3 banners in all to hang. I think that should dress things up a bit!

This is a close up of that cute little Otter! I am loving the Otter!

Lastly, just a little decoration for Val's room. John saw this lounge sign while we were in Reno and photgraphed it. It reads "Val's Midtown Lounge". I printed it out in black and white. Had a black frame sitting around, grabbed some scrapbook paper that would match her room and here you go! Hope Val likes my style! I am not sure sending a young woman off to college with a lounge sign is appropriate?? I only did it because her name was on it of course and the martini glass looked cool, a little retro. Then you toss in some lepoard print and we are back in the day! (yes, a little before my time, but I am familiar with the era :)

Bye Bye Val!

My daughter Valerie is leaving the nest this Sunday. It is with mixed emotions that I send my first child (now 20 years old) off to Monterey to attend college. I am sure it is time for her fly, but it is bittersweet. To send her off we are having a little get together this Friday night. I made her this banner in colors to match her bedroom (brown and pink). I am hoping she will hang this in her new room and be reminded of my love for her. OK, gotta go now, getting misty.

Bags, bags and more bags!

I love vintage images!!! I thought this little one was very cute! I am on a bag making roll here! I think I will finish making a ton of these! Then move on to the next Halloween project! So stayed tuned, so much more to come!

Halloween Craft #2 - and it's only August! Yea!

Since I already had my Halloween stuff out , I figured out something else I can craft! I can use the same little bags I use for the bag/basket craft (#2 white bags at papermart.com) for these! I cut about an inch or so off the top of the bag. Used the Stampin' Up Top Note die cut for the header, punched one hole through the bag and header and tied with black ribbon. I used a stamp for the Trick or Treat and scrapbooking paper. I have a lot of white # 2 bags, so I will be making up a bunch of these! This idea can be modified for Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, Baby Showers and so on and so on!

The A/C is on but I am getting Fall Fever!

It is hot here today and I am sitting here with the A/C on, but I have Fall on the brain. I came upon Lilybeans Paperie and got the Fall bug! She has some really nice things made up and I must try to make them! I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head, but for today I have just this one little project to share with you.

This cute little bag/basket is made with the Top Note die cut from Stampin' Up. I used black and orange scrapbook paper for the die cut. Found the stamp at Joanne's for $1.00 and had the little spider from last year. The scrapbook paper die cuts are adhered to a small white bag that I have cut down to fit. Tied it up with black ribbon and dangled the little spider from it. WHEN the Halloween candy comes out I just put some in the bag and that wraps it up! Pretty basic. More to come!

I love scrapbooking paper!

I really do love scrapbooking paper! I really love it when it goes on sale for 5 sheets for .95 cents at Joanne's! Was there last night to pick up some fall and Halloween paper for some upcoming crafts.
This is what is so great about having a supply of different designed scrapbooking paper in your house. I am getting ready to head out to my sons football game this morning and look over at my "Disneyland" coin jar. (there really are coins saved, I just dumped them out for the photo for some odd reason??). Anyway, I think this jar looks really plain. I grab a couple pieces of scrap paper left over from other projects, my paper cutter, two way tape and ribbon and now have this cute little coin saver! It only took a few minutes and I won't be late for football! I love scrapbook paper! And I am really excited about my Fall and Halloween projects which I am hoping to get to very soon!!!! Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Photo Albums, Tags and Bags

This is what got me going on my crafting today. My friend Terry gave me this little gate because she didn't know what to do with it. I didn't either at first. Initially I started clipping photos to it. Today I noticed the tags hanging around my desk and thought, hmmmmm, maybe they will look better on this little vintage looking gate. Yes, they do look perfect there!

What do you do with a funky photo album from the dollar store? You take out your scrapbook paper and some embellishments and re-do them to look like this. Simple yet crafty! These make great gifts, especially if you have photos to put in them. I am giving these to my family filled with photos from our vacation. I hope they like them!!!

I can make these in any design. They would make nice gifts for a bridal party, filled with photos of the wedding shower or bachelorette party?? (just an idea), or great thank you gifts or for just about any other occasion. I am still coming up with more uses, Halloween themed with pictures from the Halloween party and on and on...I am loving these simple yet elegant gift bag ensembles. Gift tag, bag and tissue! You are ready to go! A nice way to package up the photo albums shown above. :) I can match to any theme and color on these as well. I will be making up a bunch of these for a possible Fall craft sale. They will sell for $3.00 a set. Pretty reasonable don't ya think?

I didn't make the matching bag for this "Bliss" tag, but I like it! I need to buy LOTS of embellishments and more ribbon. Bliss Bag Ensembles coming soon!

Decorating on a Nickel :)

I almost titled this "I dub myself the Queen of Decorating on a Dime", but decided I am too humble for that and I am sure that there are far more crafty out there than I. As my daughter is moving to Monterey in two weeks to go to college I have become a junkin' junkie!! However, my junkin' finds don't stop with my daughter I have some re-makes of my own going on. Oops a little out of order again, but here we go. These lovely black and gold curtains were found a couple of months ago at a church rummage sale and cost next to nothing. I wasn't sure where they were going to go, but I figured that out today. As you will see in the next photos I took my solid black panels that I purchased at Lowe's last year for 9 or 10 dollars each and put them in my bedroom. I put these lovely black and gold panels in my kitchen. Adds just a little pop! My bedroom scheme is changing to black and white due to a different headboard. John is moving also, so we swapped out our beds as his king was too big for his new room. As you can see the black panels from the kitchen worked nicely in my bedroom. I also had these white panels that I had previously removed from my children's rooms when we moved into this house. I washed them and put them away thinking I could use them someday. Today was that day! The tassels were saved from the previous curtains I had in my bedroom. I am loving the black and white.

This is the inspiration for my bedroom re-do. I made these last year. I took some washed out looking frames and prints and painted the frames black and used scrapbook paper for the print. I love these. They were previously in my hallway, but look much better behind my headboard!

I have such vision for this little wood box! I got it at a garage sale for $2.00. It is to become my daughters coffee table. I will post the after pictures. This is my plan: Sand it and paint it black (I love black!) and then I am going paint the top 1/2 white and 1/2 black and do some stenciling. I saw a great idea on Etsy and am going to try to reproduce it! Can't wait to get it done and show it to you!