Random Stuff -parties, shoes, trees

This week is just kind of getting away from me. Figured I could find some random "stuff" to share with you before more time gets away from me!

Sunday is my neice Shelby's 16th birthday. Her dad is having a party for her and I offered to make favors and have an ice cream sundae bar. There are going to be lots of guests so I chose something inexpensive for the favors. These are the small size York peppermint patties. Scrapbooking paper and 2 different sized scallop circle punches and a small round punch were used to make these Sweet 16 favors. I already had this cute plate thingie (I know it has a real name, but can't think of it at the moment).

I love black and white! As you can see here! I love my new converse shoes too!!! I would like a pair of red and navy blue ones too. Can a girl ever have too many of any kind of shoes?? I think not!!!!

I took this photo last Saturday. Good thing! Because today after all the wind and rain, most of these lovely petals are on my lawn and driveway! I don't know the actual name of this tree, but I call it my lovely tulip tree.

I have a busy weekend ahead, watching John's band play friday night, serving at a crab feed saturday, and helping with the Sweet 16 party on Sunday. It is going to be a busy weekend! Busy but FUN!

I hope you are having a good week, and I hope you too have some fun things planned for the weekend, or maybe not, and just get to relax for a bit!!! Those relaxing weekends are often times much needed and welcomed!

I have been in the house too long- 2 posts in 1 day!

Yes, I have been home for 5 days in a row! I should have gone to work today, but my son had a fever last night and this morning so I stayed home with him. He is a tough kid, so he is fine now and I will be back to work tomorrow. But 5 days off! Yikes!!!!!!

My neice Shelby will be turning 16 on February 28th. Her dad-my brother is having a Sweet 16 BBQ at his house for her. She is a sweet girl and I really want to help make this party memorable for her. I have promised her a Sweet 16 banner and a Sundae bar. I also promised party favors. So now I am stumped on what I can make that isn't too difficult, because I don't know how many guest she will be having. The crafting twin Judy, sent me the link for this cute gable box. It was very easy to make. Actually, any box pattern that requires scoring is now easy for me with the Martha Stewart score tool. I posted about it last week. If you love crafting and haven't bought one yet, get your Michael's 40 or 50% coupons and get one! It truly is great!

Anyone out there have any ideas for Sweet 16 party favors???

The little things in life

I had become so overwhelmed with all the "things" I needed to get done at home that I didn't know where to begin. I think the funky weather wasn't helping either.
Luckily we have had several days of sunshine here in Lodi CA!
As I finally got to my yard work, I found a few of these perfect gardenias in my front yard! I had to cut a couple of them. Something so small yet so beautiful.
I am thankful for the sunshine and for the beautiful flowers that it brings.
I was also able to get to the other chores that were burdening my mind. My garage looks lovely!
I am so thankful for the days of sunshine we have had. My weekend was not all work though, John and I went out to dinner on Valentines day. That was wonderful too! So I can say I had a productive and fun weekend.
I am home again today because my son is sick. So I will stay in to keep an eye on him. Hope work isn't too horrible when I go back tomorrow! :(

Did you get a chance to get out and absorb some Vitamin K this weekend? I sure hope you did!

Another little box!

Well now that I have my handy little Martha Stewart scoring tool, I have been experimenting with box patterns. This particular box pattern and flower idea came from Kay over at Creations on Paper.
I photographed the box next to my wallet so you can gauge the actual size. The box is small and is designed to hold 3 Ghirardelli chocolates. The only thing I did differently for the pattern was change the 3 11/16" to 4" on the pattern. The box was very easy to construct as well as the flower. For this flower I used regular scrapbooking paper rather than tissue paper. You have to go over and visit Kay to see her version of the flower made out of tissue paper! It is beautiful!
The belly band is just a strip of paper with the flower hot glued on. So simple, yet so sweet! I must admit, that I should not be playing around with crafts right now, as my house is a mess as well as my garage and yard. I guess there is so much to do I became overwhelmed. I am hoping for some energy to get to the chores tomorrow!!!! I am going to put away all evidence of crafts and hope for the best!

A luncheon and a product review

My sweeties mom is having a Valentines day themed luncheon tomorrow. She purchased these trays at IKEA for the luncheon. She wanted to dress them up a bit, so we added some heart shaped doilies and a few hearts. Cute, but not too much.
She is having 8 guests and was going to go to See's candy for some treats. I couldn't let her do that! I made these little boxes and filled them with Hershey nuggets.

Much cuter than See's ;) and a little less expensive. Now for my bargain buy/product review of the month!!! The crafty twins Judy and Julia clued me into this one. This is the Martha Stewart scoring tool. It fits a 12 X 12 sheet of paper and the measurements are clearly marked. There is a place to store the tool. The best part of this is that with a 50% off coupon at Michael's, this little prize cost me a total of $10.89.

And it works great!!! Perfect for all those boxes I love to make!!!

If you have ever looked into a scoring tool, you probably saw the Scor-Pal. That item cost about $40.00. I just didn't want to spend the money on it! So I am very happy with the Martha Stewart version!

Wedding Bells will be ringing-so make favors

Where to start, where to start today??? The fact that I am becoming a Stampin' Up addict! Or the stress over coming up with a wedding favor sample for a friend of a friend who is getting married.
Well, let's first start with my addiction! Like being addicted to sugar wasn't bad enough!!! Now I keep finding more and more things I just must add to my crafting collection!!! However, as Julia can confirm, I keep a wish list and get a bit at a time. And I get my moneys worth of each item I buy. You all know about my Top Note die cut mania! I share it every Holiday!!! :) I must apologize for the photo, too dark without flash, too light with flash! So here we have a crappy photo! What's a girl to do?
These are the 2 samples I was messing around with for the wedding. The wedding colors are black and pink. The darker pink box standing up is made with the Matchbox die cut from Stampin' up. The die cuts and scores, so this one is really easy to put together. It would be filled with 4 Hershey nuggets. All pieces except ribbon and tiny tags are from 1 die cut. Then I tied with pink ribbon, embellished with a little bling and the tiny tags. I just received the tiny tag punch and stamps this weekend! Yes, a Stampin' Up purchase. But don't worry, I will use these like crazy! Don't know if you can see it or not, but Mr and Mrs is stamped on the middle tag. The tiny stamp is included with a set of stamps specifically designed to fit the tiny tag! The box on the bottom, is cut and scored by hand using a pattern or template. Much more difficult. I am torn because these are more difficult, but the Hershey nuggets just seem to look better in single file. Can that be considered OCD for wanting to line the nuggets in a straight line? Addictions, OCD! Geez, I am a mess! :)
Oh, I am getting off track here. The box and cover are black paper, then a pale pink piece scalloped with a stamp that reads "A Day to Remeber, A Lifetime to Love" Perfect for a wedding! Then a ribbon with 3 tiny tags, one reading Mr. and Mrs.

Again, I apologize for the bad photo, but what do you think? Would you use these at your wedding? Any additional ideas?? Help! Coming up with an idea for the perfect wedding favor is stressing me out! :)