Simple Christmas Cards

Hello there!  Hard to believe we are just a little over a week away from Christmas.  Are you ready?
I am getting pretty close.  I think I am actually done with my shopping and non profit projects.
I look forward to baking and making goodies next weekend.

I hadn't sent any Christmas cards out for the last few years, however this year I got it together and made these simple yet elegant cards.  I am finding that I love the embossed look on cardstock and rarely make any cards without it anymore.  I used the polka dot folder and vintage wallpaper folders for these.  I also love the glitter paper and used it for these.  Not much else to put these two together.
Oh and did I mention I love the Cherry Cobbler bakers twine? :)

I do hope you are having some time to relax and savor the holiday season.
I am reminded of the reason for the season and continue to count my blessings everyday!
Merry Christmas!

Be inspired to create!
Tina

Getting my craft on for Christmas!

 Hello There!  I sure hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
 In addition to a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, I also had a week off with my husband.  We went to Monterey for a few days and then we did some Christmas shopping and this n that.  It was a wonderful week!  I am sad that I have to go back to work tomorrow! :(

In addition to our little getaway I have also been getting a start on my Christmas creations for giving!
I used the Stampin' Up fancy favor bigz die cut to start these little boxes off.   With some texture added to the card stock, punches, die cuts, and a couple of stamps I came up with these! 
They will be filled with Churro Chex Mix (a recipe I found on Pinterest). 
I want to fill a big basket with lots of goodies packed into my Stampin' Up creations to take to the party.

I love Christmas!  Keeping in mind the reason for the season, I also love all of the decorations and all the craftiness and baking and candy making I get to do!
Do you have a favorite item or treat that you make for Christmas?

Have a great day!  Stay dry my Northern California friends!  The rain has been crazy this morning!  Waiting for a break in the weather so I can go to the grocery store.

Be inspired to create!
Tina

Simple Thanksgiving Favors

 Hello there!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I don't know about you, but as I get older, each year seems to pass by faster.  It is downright scary how quickly time flies by!
I just can't believe that Thanksgiving is only a few days away!!!
Although I don't have Thanksgiving at my house, I have started a little tradition of making favors to put at every place setting.  This will be my 3rd year with this new tradition.
I made these very simple open top boxes for 12 people and will fill them with mints and candy.

To make these simple and cute little boxes I used the following Stampin' Up supplies:
Fancy Favor Bigz XL die cut
Labels Collection Framelits
Champagne Glimmer Paper
Early Espresso Card Stock
Linen Thread
Early Espresso Ink
(sorry the stamp is retired)
Crumb Cake Scalloped Tulle Ribbon
Dimensionals
(I also used a hot glue gun)

What are your traditons?  Do you have new ones and old ones?

 

Be inspired to create!

Tina

Halloween Candy Bags for the team!

Hello there!  Haven't been posting much, but I have been crafting! 
My daughter coaches a junior varsity girls volleyball team and I wanted to make her girls a little something for Halloween.
I started with cute little bags purchased 3 for $1.00 at Hobby Lobby.  (Love these little bags, need to go back and stock up for Christmas)
Got my Stampin' Up supplies together. (Black cardstock, white cardstock, designer series paper, spider web folder, Lucky Limeade bakers twine, stamps, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, black stamp pad and adhesive and lime green tissue paper).  Came up with this cute little bag!  Filled them with candy and topped off with a little square of tissue paper and sent them off with my daughter today.

I have been only doing posts on projects lately, but I have to throw in a little bit of personal stuff today.  Please humor me. :)

First I have to say how proud I am of my adult daughter, She is a college graduate working 2 jobs.
One of her jobs is coaching the Salinas High School junior varsity volleyball team. She is a coach and a role model to these girls and that is just one of the things that makes me so proud of her!
 
Second good thing to post is that my husband and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on October 9th. We had a wonderful little getaway and look forward to many more anniversaries and "little getaways".

I hope you have had a nice weekend and have a wonderful week!
Be inspired to create
Tina

Gift tags for a friend

 Hi there!  Hope you have had a good week and have enjoyed the cooler weather!  I sure have!
As a crafter there is nothing that makes me happier than when someone loves what I have made them, or someone asks me for help with a project.
These gift tags were made for a friend who had some thank you packages to put together.  She text me a picture of her gift bags and coordinating tissue and the sentiment she wanted.
I came up with these.  She really liked them!  That makes me happy!

Be inpsired to create!
Tina

Halloween Banner - Happy Fall!!!!

Even though Fall officially began last week, I had already decorated the inside of our house for Fall/Halloween on September 1st.
I didn't do any outside decorating until this weekend.  I didn't want to embarrass my son, who thought I was crazy decorating on September 1st.  Guess he just doesn't quite understand how much I love fall and Halloween! :)
I digress, I actually am writing this post to share with you a cute little banner I made for the mantle.
Of course I used all of my handy Stampin' Up tools for this project and I think it came out really cute!

Here is what I used:
Morning Post Alphabet Stamps
2-3/8" scallop circle punch
1-1/4" circle punch
Spider Web embossing folder
Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die Cut
Calypso Coral Bakers Twine
1/2" scallops dots ribbon Basic Black
Howlstooth and Scaringbone Designer Series Paper
(adhesive - dimensionals)

I love banners! Making this one was fun! 
If you want more info, want me to make one for you or teach you how to make your own, please leave a comment with the best way to contact you or send me an email.

Have a great week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Super Simple Embellishment!

 Yes folks, you can embellish a box a bag a card, just about anything with these circle flowers!
They are quick and easy to put together! Thanks to Nikki Toll for showing me how to make them at her flower class last month.
As you see in the photo, all I needed was a glue gun, a scoring tool and a silicone craft sheet.  You will also need 2 strips of scrap paper 12" long, and 1/2" to however thick you want to create these.  The flowers in this photo were made with 1 1/2" strips.
You then take these strips of paper and score at 1/4" to or 1/2" intervals the entire length of the strip.
I tried 1/4" and 1/2" and I prefer 1/2".
Heat up your glue gun, fold your strip of paper at each score over lap and secure each of the ends of the strips so you end up with a big circle.  Lay the circle down on the silicone craft sheet and hold into the shape of the tight circle.  Put hot glue in the middle and hold until it tries, and then peel off the silicone sheet flip over and put a little hot glue in the center of the flower on the other side.  Now you can glue a button or whatever else you would like to finish off the middle and there you have it! All done!
Soooo easy!  I must also say that this new silicone craft sheet is wonderful!  Your hot glue will peel right off when dried!
 (Scoring tool and Silicone Craft pad are Stampin Up tools-which you can earn for free by hosting a workshop! Contact me for details)

Hope you have had a great week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Tri Fold Cards for the ladies

We are going to see Johns Aunt Lois today for her birthday.  John had on file a photo of her when she was a little girl, she is now 72. I think she will be pleasantly surprised to see this photo on her birthday card! I don't know about you but I love those old photos of family!
I also had my 2 favorite crafty twins birthday cards to make.  Since I am loving the framelits and tri fold cards I made 2 more of them for these 2 great ladies.
I used 4 of my favorite elements on these cards: 1.Tri Fold technique 2.Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder 3. Antique Faceted Buttons 4. Framelits

 

Since my daughter is on a rare visit, I made her this card letting her know how glad I am to see her and how special she is.

I am loving these tri fold cards so much that I may never go back to 2 sided cards :)
If you want to try one, use a piece of card stock measuring 5 1/2" by 12" and score at 4" and 8" on the long 12" side.  Fold and do your thing!

I hope you are having a lovely weekend!
And as always please contact me if you would like to learn how to make your own lovely cards and gifts!

Be inspired to create!
Tina

Upcycled Wine Bottle for Fall

I am focused on Fall and Halloween!  This recycled wine bottle has a small circle drilled in the back for the short string of lights.  I then used mod podge to glue fall leaf napins to the wine bottle.  I let it dry for a day.  Then I took a string of 20 tiny lights and put them into the wine bottle through the drilled hole so that the plug was at the bottom of the bottle.  Tied raffia around the bottle neck and finished off with a Stampin' Up antigue brad on the center of the bow.

(supplies for this project, an empty wine bottle, a handy man who can drill circles into glass :), paper napkins or you could also use pretty printed tissue paper, a string of 20 tiny lights from Hobby Lobby, mod podge, raffia, hot glue gun, and a Stampin' Up antique brad.)
 I used my fingers to work with the mod podge, but I am still peeling glue off of my rings!  Next time I am going to try to use a sponge brush, I will let you know how that works out.

Have a great week
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Cute little Goodie Boxes for Halloween!

I am getting ready for Halloween!  I know it is too early to decorate the house, but not to early to start making lots of cool cards and boxes!
These are open top boxes made with a 5 1/2" X 10" piece of heavy card stock and then decorated with ribbon, designer series paper & stamps.   I am not kidding when I tell you that these boxes are very easy to put together!  So easy that I will be making these for Thanksgiving, Christmas and ........ well you get the idea.
You can get the easy directions here. 

 Be inspired to create!
Tina

A tri fold card for my mother in law

 A big thank you to Nikki Toll for teaching the tri fold card at her class last week.  Although we made a Christmas themed tri fold card, I couldn't wait to try some other options!
And as luck would have it today is my mother-in-law Pat's birthday and my husband John had some photos of her from now and then that he wanted to incorporate into her card.

So I took those photos, grabbed some Twitterpated designer series paper and my new framelits and off I went.   I love these new framelits I am sure I will be using them alot.  I am really pleased with how this little card came out!  I hope she likes it and enjoys the photos!

 I goofed and the card came out too thick, so it would not stay shut.  So I improvised and held it closed with a tiny clothespin embellished with a sweet little button.  "Improvise" and don't get upset when you goof up!  A very valuable lesson, very hard to learn! :)

Be inspired to create!
Tina

Embellishing to make a frame "POP"

Sometimes just a little touch of bling or a little embellishment can make that special gift just a little bit more special.  These pretty antique brads did just that for a birthday gift.

 Cut the backs off of the brads with wire snips, heat up your handy glue gun, and you can take a frame from ordinary to extraordinary in seconds!

This photo and frame was a birthday gift for my mother in law.  She and her twin sister are featured in this news article.  She was thrilled when she opened this gift!  Such a great memory for her!

Be inspired to create!
Tina

Framed Scrapbook page for my dad

I must confess that I have never been a fan of the scrapbooking pages.  I have so many photos that I become overwhelmed at the thought of putting just a few photos per page.  Way too much work for me!!

 At Patty Bennett's quarterly meeting in June we made this scrapbook page.  I liked the elements but I just brought it home and tucked it away.  Then I saw that my friend Julia used hers to showcase some very special photos of a relative.  Very good idea!  Still didn't catch on.

Then in an effort to cheer up my dad who has been under the weather I grabbed a few photos of his family from the 1940's! and put them onto the scrapbook page.  I found an 8 X 8 shadowbox at Walmart, framed it and voila! a very sentimental gift!

So you see my friends scrapbook pages aren't for photo books only! They make very special gifts!

 Contact me if you would like information on putting this page together.

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Fall yummies and their packages

I am getting my easy goody recipes together for a little event I am planning next month. (Sunday Sept 23rd to be exact--so mark your calenders!)  I have printed these recipes from my Pinterest board  (yummy recipes to try).  Cinnamon sugar pretzels, Cinnamon Churro Chex, and Homemade payday bars.  I will also make butter cookies so I can try out my new Stampin' Up cookie stamps.
Then of course, I need to make some creative packaging to show my guests!
Here is a sneak peak of my recycled packing paper cookie or candy bag.  The brown paper you see in the photo above is recycled from a package I received at work.  I got the idea from Monika's blog. 
I love ideas that can be modified for any occasion or holiday! This little bag is one of those!
I started with the square scallop bigz die for this easy project! So simple! 

Have a wonderful week!

Be inspired to create!

Tina

Getting Ready for Fall!!!!

Even though it has been over 100 degrees for several days now, my mind is on Fall!
Maybe because it is cooler then!
I purchased a double set of these cute stamps while I was at the Stampin' Up convention last month.

A set for myself and a set to give away.  I used my set to make cute little tags to wrap them up with.

I am planning a Halloween/Fall candy & cookie sampling next month. Just in the planning stages now.  But this is my idea thus far.  Invite people over to taste some of the candy and cookie recipes I have collected on Pinterest.  To show some cute and easy candy/cookie packaging ideas using my Stampin' Up tools. The cute little stamps will be prizes for my guests!

More info to come as soon as I get all the details taken care of.

I hope you are having a nice weekend!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

I actually do try some of my Pinterest recipes :)

Hi there! Happy Saturday!  I hope you have had a good week!
I saw one of those funny e-cards the other day and it made me laugh hysterically!
I am going to clean it up a little bit, but it goes like this:
A photo of a little girl eating a sandwich and it reads "My mom has 237 recipes pinned in Pinterest, so why am I eating a stupid bologna sandwich!".
I have 182 recipes pinned.  However, thus far I have tried maybe 5 to 10. Not bad, because some of them are seasonal, like Christmas candy and what not.
And not that the little e-card shamed me into it,  I already had a couple of recipes I wanted to try for dinner last week. (I swear that's the truth)
I am sharing with you the one that was a hit with my husband and a picky teenager. (1 out of 3 teenagers isn't bad, my two teenage boys wouldn't even look at it!)
I tried the Taco Casserole and it was very easy and very tasty!
If you want the recipe go here and give it a try! 

Have a wonderful weekend!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Halloween in August?

 I have two cool things to blog about tonight.
The first ties into the 2nd so please bear with me.
I love Halloween!!! I love to bake for it, I love to create for it, I love the colors and I love costumes!
Recently,  my 23 year old daughter Valerie has developed a love of baking.  She gets recipes for different cupcakes and makes them for her roommates.  She text me last night and asked for my lemon bar recipe because she wants to try to turn those into cupcakes.  This makes me very happy!!!
I love that a little bit of my love for baking has rubbed off on her!  It is good therapy!
Well to tie in her love of baking with crafting she is going to start Stampin' Up so she can create packaging for all those cupcakes she is making!!!! She was home this weekend and we went out to my craft table in the garage and looked at my Halloween stamps and talked about working on some Halloween baking packaging.
Which leads me to my 2nd cool thing to announce!
When you sign up to be a demonstrator in the month of August you get this cool Halloween shadow box kit!!! And I get one too!  So yippee for Val and I!!!!
The cost is $99, no shipping! You get to choose $125 worth of Stampin' Up products for $99!
A great deal! Contact me if you are interested in the details.

Hope you are having a wonderful week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Baby shower in a box?

Hi there!  Here is a little sampling of what I made for a baby shower yesterday.  I think this should be called "Baby Shower in a Box".  What do you think?

Big tissue paper flowers, and pink and white streamers to put it all together.  

        A basket filed with 3 different party favors.

Potted pinwheels to go on the tables.  I used the baby shower napkins and modge podge to decorate the terracotta pots.  There was also an "It's a Girl" banner to match (sorry forgot to photograph that!) and lots and lots of little paper butterflies on the tables.

It was a fun to decorate for the baby shower! 

(I used the Stampin' Up elegant butterfly punch, scallop envelope die cut and the petal cone die cut for these projects)  Nothing was difficult!

  Do you need a "Baby Shower in a Box", or would you like to learn how to make your own?

 Contact me and I can show you how!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Be inspired to create!

Tina

(Halloween is around the corner, I have some exciting news to come as well as some simple projects)

A bright Birthday Card for Dawn

Monday was my craft buddy Dawn's birthday.  I made her this fun little card with nice bright colors and two of my favorite elements, pennants and polka dot embossing!  (inspiration came from a card I saw at convention)
I was also able to use one of the new free stamps I got at convention for the sentiment on the inside.
This sentiment describes my friend to a tee! Those darling little dahlias were also a giveaway from convention! Yea! Gotta love the giveaways!

Hope your are having a great week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Stampin' up 2012 Convention--AWESOME!

I am having a hard time trying to determine what the best part of my little Salt Lake City getaway was:

1. Good times with my good friends who share my love of Stampin' up
(from left to right me, Judy, Dawn, Julia)

2. The wonderful speakers, demonstrations and workshops

3. The oodles of ideas that I was able to photograph

4.  All the great stamp sets and other goodies I brought home

5. Coming home to a wonderful husband who had this sitting on the counter for me.

I just don't know, I can't decide, because they were all so great!
In addition we were able to visit Temple City and see Katherine Jenkins sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (amazing!) and tour the Temple City grounds, had a fabulous 3 course meal at Christopher's,  had Margaritas and delicious Mexican food at the Blue Iguana and shopped at the new City Creek Center. What a beautiful place!

I had such a wonderful time!  I laughed til I cried with my friends, I learned valuable lessons for business as well as life, and I was inspired!  It was amazing and I can't wait to go again next year!!!

Be inspired to create
Tina

How to make a gift bag POP!!!

I am so happy to say that I am on vacation this week!  YEA!!!
I took the week off because I am heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow for the Stampin' Up convention with my crafty friends Julia, Judy and Dawn.  Can't wait!!!
But for fun today, I took the kids to the Galt Flea Market.  They had a lot of fun buying bargains!
I had a lot of fun buying some crafty supplies!
I bought several different patterns of tissue paper, gift bags and cellophane bags.
Here is an example of what you can do with a bag and tissue paper.
I cut a long strip of tissue paper just a little wider than the Stampin' Up 2 3/8" scallop punch and folded it up several times to make several layers.  Then cut that with the scallop punch, punch a small hole in the center of the layers and put an antique brad through it to hold the layers together.  Then separate and scrunch every layer of tissue paper to make a pretty flower! Pop that right onto your bag and put matching tissue paper in the bag and there you have a darling gift bag! Very cute to use for bridesmaids gifts, or bridal shower game prizes or just a gift for a friend! 

Be back soon with details of the Stampin' Convention!
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Be inspired to create!
Tina

Happy 4th of July!

I could not get to my 4th of July decorations yesterday, there was too much other stuff all around it and I chose not to dig out the container!
However, I needed a banner for the fireplace!  Couldn't be without one!
So I grabbed the patriotic cocktail napkins from a few years ago, some modge podge (nearly used a whole bottle of this stuff in the last couple of days!) a small hole punch, red and white bakers twine, the  Stampin' Up Perfect Pennants Bigz L die cute, cardstock and adhesive and off I went.
Came up with this adorable banner!  It was very easy to do! (I did modge podge the napkin to cardstock and let that dry before I ran it through the die cut machine.)

Happy 4th of July!
Have fun and be safe!
Tina
(please contact me if you would like to make your own banners, or favors, I can show you how!)

4th of July Craft Fever!

 I got quite a late start on my 4th of July craft fever.  Note to self: start on Halloween projects soon!
It all started with these cool patriotic napkins that I had leftover from a project a few years ago.
I also had several small terra cotta pots leftover from a previous project.  Add some modge podge and you have the cutest little planters.  You also need floral foam, wood skewers, Stampin' Up real red and night of navy cardsock, brights designer buttons and red and white bakers twine to finish these off.  They will look very nice on the 4th of July BBQ table!

The next project starts with 1 recycled wine bottle.  A small circle has been cut out in back for a small string of clear lights.  I modge podged the same napkins onto the wine bottle.  Wrapped a little red and white bakers twine around the neck. Made a flower with the Stampin' Up 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, real red, night of navy and whisper white card stock.  Held the 3 scallops circles together with an antique brad.  Now there is a cool little patriotic nightlight to put in the backyard on the 4th!

Lastly we have a soup can turned vase with real red, night of navy cardstock and white ribbon. For a little interest I used the stripes embossing folder on the night of navy paper and the perfect polka dot embossing folder on the real red paper.  I also used the scallop trim border punch on both edges of the real red cardsock.  Glued a piece of floral foam in the can, used a wood skewer to attach a 4" pinwheel to.  Lastly, added a red button with red and white bakers twine and finished this last project.

I hope you have a Fabulous Fourth!

Be inspired to create!

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information on these projects .

Tina