All That Shimmers Is Gold.... 26

Hi Girls! Happy First Day of Winter :) Hope you are all staying warm & safe where ever you may live. While the days to Christmas Day are dwindling down, I was able to create another special gift set for a dear friend of mine :) I would love to know what sort of weather conditions you experienced on the 1st Day of Winter 2009? Here in Phoenix, AZ it was about 65 degrees or so & sort of overcast. Be Sweet!

Here is my gift set:I wanted to make a custom gift box to pack those little Hershey Nuggets in, so I used the NEW My Time Made Easy "In A Pinch" Pretty Packages template © Lauren Meader. I cut this using my Cricut Expressions machine. Once assembled the final template measures 6 3/4" H x 3" W X 2" D. (Both panels for this size template fit perfectly on a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock).Perfect to accommodate my bag of treats :) Prior to assembling, I sewed all 4 multi-layered paper panels on. The Spellbinders Poinsettia's are layered x2, embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile EF & distressed with Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo ink. I tied it up with a BIG bow :)

(Note: you can rotate this image 360 degrees by doing the following... Within the photo, click and drag your mouse pointer to the left or right to spin the box! You can also use the left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the left and right arrows icons. You can also zoom in or out to get a better view of the box by using the (+) and (-) icons. Lastly, you can simply press the Play icon (circular arrow) to rotate the box automatically. Give it a try!)



The "In A Pinch" © MTME is such a versatile template that can be used for any occasion gift packaging year round & so much fun to accessorize!
I was so drawn to the color palette chosen by Jules this week at The Play Date Cafe. Jules describes these colors as "...more of a heavenly/angelic Christmas color scheme!" I think this color combo is so rich & elegant looking.
For some fun sketch inspiration, I played along with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #52, MTSC52. For more inspiration, please be sure to visit both The Play Date Cafe & the Lord Have Mercy site!With a close up view, you can see the beautiful gold shimmer on the K&Company DP.

Ingredients Used:

My Time Made Easy "In A Pinch" Pretty Packaging template © Lauren Meader

Stamps: SU All Holidays, To You & Yours, PTI Vintage Ornaments & Fancy Flouishes Paper: K&Company DP, Bazzill Kraft, Admiral, SU Really Rust, Very Vanilla Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo, SU Not Quite Navy, VersaMark Sprinkles: Making Memories hardware, Cuttlebug EF, Spellbinders Oval, Scalloped Oval, Poinsettia & Labels 4 nesties, EK Success border punch, buttons from stash, generic gold embossing powder & cord, Offray ribbon,

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Just Us Girls Color Challenge......JUGS12 38

Hi Everyone! Thanks to all of you got their hands dusty & played along with the Chalkboard technique challenge! This week Tracey is our lovely Hostess for the Just Us Girls Color Challenge!
Here is my LOVELY :) Flower Garden card that I made using this YUMMY color combo:I was at my local craft store the other day, browsing around & I found this cute BE MY VALENTINE stamp made by Stampabilities! How Swwweeeet is that? :) To make my card I inked up my new LOVELY stamp with VersaMark ink & embossed with white embossing powder. I repeated this with a SU heart image stamp for my background.

This is my LOVELY :) Flower Garden gift set surely to please my SWEETHEART :)I made a coordinating gift box using the FREE My Time Made Easy Cutesy Cover Pretty Packaging template available NOW for download at the My Time Made Easy store. Since the MTME templates are available in multiple cutting formats, I was able to use my Cricut Expressions to cut 2 various sizes of the MTME Cutesy Cover boxes. The larger of the 2 measures 3 3/4" W x 5" H & the smaller one measures 2" W x 2.5" H. These boxes make a perfect sized box for any ocassion!(Note: you can rotate this image 360 degrees by doing the following... Within the photo, click and drag your mouse pointer to the left or right to spin the box! You can also use the left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the left and right arrows icons. You can also zoom in or out to get a better view of the box by using the (+) and (-) icons. Lastly, you can simply press the Play icon (circular arrow) to rotate the box automatically. Give it a try!)



I love the multi-platform cutting format files available for the MTME templates because you can size the template to fit your needs with just a few clicks of a button on your personal electric cutting machine! TOTALLY CUSTOMIZABLE! This flower garden is bloomin' with LOVE! :) To make all these hearts, I used several tools: Fiskars Scalloped punch, Spellbinders Scalloped Heart & Heart dies & Cuttlebug heart dies. For little accents pieces, I sewed on several buttons.
For sketch inspiration, I played along with this week's MOJO Monday Sketch Challenge #117, MOJO117. If you haven't already, you should visit the MOJO girls & see what samples of inspiration they have to offer!

I hope you can color your palette with the BRILLIANT colors that Tracey has selected & join along in the fun this week with Just Us Girls :) For complete details, please visit the Just Us Girls challenge site & be sure to visit ALL the DT girls blogs to see how they created their project! Thanks for looking! We look forward to seeing what you make with these colors!

Once you have your creation photographed, be sure to go to the Just Us Girls website and post a direct link to your project on our Mr. Linky. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by! Be Sweet!

Ingredients Used: Stamps: Stampabilities Be My Valentine, PTI Everyday Button Bits, SU heart Paper: PTI Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, Bazzill Guacamole, SU Whisper White Ink: SU Wild Wasabi, Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo, VersaMark Sprinkles: Fiskars Scalloped punch, Spellbinders Scalloped Heart & Circle, Heart & Circle dies, Cuttlebug heart dies & Swiss Dots EF, PTI Pure Poppy ribbon & buttons, EK Success Scalloped border punch

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My BIG News! 62

Hi Everyone! This is going to be a LONG post, so please bare with me as I have a lot to share! The time has come when I can share my BIG news with you!!!! You all know by now that I LOVE creating with Lauren Meader's Templates. First, to bring you up to date, Lauren is the AMAZINGLY talented designer behind ALL the Papertrey Ink My Timeless Templates. Lauren has spread her wings & has started her OWN company called My Time Made Easy LLC, www.mytimemadeeasy.com. My Time Made Easy products will allow you, the paper crafter, the ability to create your own coordinating creative gift packaging, cards & tags using MTME Pretty Packaging templates, digital Pretty Printables paper, and Pretty Impressions acrylic stamps!

So you ask, what is the BIG news? Well, Lauren has given ME this once in a life time opportunity to be a member on her MTME Design Team along with a group of several other INCREDIBLY TALENTED paper crafters!!!! :) PLEASE be sure to visit Lauren's blog to see who the other members of the My Time Made Easy DT are! :)

The My Time Made Easy webstore is OPEN NOW at http://www.mytimemadeeasy.com & has some REALLY awesome products available TODAY! Please be sure to visit the store for COMPLETE details & to see what is available at the moment. Remember to keep in mind there is SO MUCH MORE to come in the days ahead! The official MTME Release Date is tentatively January 3rd! While you are at the MTME store, be sure to sign up for the newsletter. The newsletter will keep you up to speed with all the current happenings at MTME & will allow you to receive SPECIALS :)

For the unveiling of The My Time Made Easy DT we all created using the MTME "In a Pinch" Pretty Packaging template.

(Note: you can rotate this image 360 degrees by doing the following... Within the photo, click and drag your mouse pointer to the left or right to spin the box! You can also use the left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the left and right arrows icons. You can also zoom in or out to get a better view of the box by using the (+) and (-) icons. Lastly, you can simply press the Play icon (circular arrow) to rotate the box automatically. Give it a try!)



One of the AWESOME features of the MTME Pretty Packaging templates is that they are NOW available in MANY formats - .PDF, .SVG, .GSD, and .DXF! For those of you not familiar with this "alphabet soup", these are all types of file formats which allows the MTME Pretty Packaging Templates available for cutting using a personal electrical cutting machine with the proper software! Making the MTME templates TOTALLY customizable to fit your needs! Something for everyone!

The In A Pinch template pictured above was cut using my Cricut Expressions & the final size measures 3" W x 6 3/4" H. For accent panels on all 4 sides, I used the beautiful FREE Lavender MTME 12 Days of Snowflakes digital Pretty Printables paper. I found when I printed this paper from my printer, the Lavender file coordinates wonderfully with SU Pale Plum & Perfect Plum cs.

Of course I had to make a coordinating Gift set featuring several different items ALL using the FREE MTME 12 Days of Snowflakes digital Pretty Printables paper! Yes, FREE! You can head on over to the MTME store & not only download the 12 Days of Snowflakes digital paper but there is also several other freebies including MORE paper & templates!

In the photo above you will notice there are TWO various sizes of the MTME In a Pinch box. The smaller one's final size measures 2 1/2" W x 5 3/4" H.

I used the MTME 12 Days of Snowflakes paper as my background paper. All I did was sponge a tad of Ranger Tim Holtz Tea dye ink around the entire perimeter for a vintagey look!

This is a closeup of the gift tag cut from the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cart. I stamped some various coordinating paper & sewed strips on to the tag. Using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch, I punched the snowflakes, inked the edges & layered them x2.

Thank you so much for sharing this exciting NEWS with me! I hope you all head over to BOTH Lauren's blog & to The My Time Made Easy store! I am looking forward to seeing what all of you create using the MTME product line & I hope I can serve as an inspiration! Be Sweet!

Ingredients Used:
My Time Made Easy In a Pinch Pretty Packaging template
Paper: My Time Made Easy Pretty Printables 12 Days of Snowflakes digital paper
Stamps: SU Snow Swirled
Ink: VersaMark, Ranger Tim Holtz Tea Dye
Sprinkles: Cricut Expressions, Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cart, Martha Stewart Snowflake punch, Making Memories crystal brads & hardware, Spellbinders Oval & Scalloped Oval nesties, SU Curly Label punch & silver cord, Offray ribbon, buttons & silver embossing powder from stash

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Thank You Cathy & Bill 20

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing well :) I had the day off today from work so I went Christmas shopping with my son & out to lunch :) After catching up with things at home, I sat down & made this card for our friends Cathy & Bill. As a birthday present for my DH, they treated us to a fabulous lunch at a local Golf Resort. The day flew by & I missed the deadline for Dawn McVey's color challenge, RSCC20, but I used the color combo regardless. Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist is my favorite color, it is the closest color match that I am able to find similar to Stampin' Up's retired Soft Sky. For sketch inspiration, I played along with this week's fun sketch from Laura at 2 Sketches 4 You, 2S4Y41. I hope you have a great day & Thanks for stopping by! Be Sweet!


Here is my Thank You card:
The Thank You stamp is one solid image. It is from the retired SU Block Party set. I think it is really fun to stamp with because you can either use the image in its entirety or cut it a smaller desired size.


The flower embellies are made by punching 2 flowers using an EK Success flower punch, crinkling them up, running them through the Sizzix Big Shot Express, embossing with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. The butterfly embellie was made the same way except is was cut using the Spellbinder's butterfly die.This was a pretty simple card to make because the background paper speaks for itself! It is a piece of My Mind's Eye DP that is embossed & glittery. I gave the lil' butterfly embellie antenaee using a piece of twine :)Ingredients Used: Stamps: SU Block Party Paper: My Mind's Eye DP, SU Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, PTI Aqua Mist, Kraft Ink: Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Photo, SU Chocolate Chip Sprinkles: Spellbinders Butterfly die, EK Success border & flower punches, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, PTI ribbon & buttons, twine from stash

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