Patriotic Gratitude

I was asked to make a card which could be included in care packages being sent to some of the troops in Afghanistan.  I was very honored, and even a little nervous!  It's an amazing thing all of the soldiers are doing over there, and I wasn't really sure I could do it justice, but this is what I came up with...

I measured the stars from the Verve stamp set, and then set about making a grid pattern on white with my paper cutter and scoring blade.  I used a color palette of Stampin' Up colors, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy and Whisper White.  I then added a pennant for the sentiment, and a floral embellishment using the Daisy Big Shot die.  This was the "feminine" version, there was also a similar card using a stacked star embellishment for the guys.

Gift Box Portfolio

I'm super excited to show you this one!  As some of you already know ; ), I purchased an insane amount of test tubes for a cute Halloween project.  I purchased these test tubes and it was super fast shipping!   Well, I knew I would still have quite a few left, so I started to think about other ways to use them.  This is what I came up with!

I love how it turned out!  I really love the color combo of  this particular one.  Yes, there are other versions you will probably be seeing in the future!  This box uses dies and stamps from Papertrey, but the papers, inks and ribbon are Stampin' Up!  Even the inside is cute, and this is where the test tubes come in to play:

How cute is that?!! Little baby marshmallows and hot cocoa!  Swiss Miss sells cocoa called "Marshmallow Lover's" and it worked perfectly for what I wanted to achieve.  I have this pattern for sale at the top of my blog under Tutorials.  The tutorial has step by step instructions with photos, and also includes pictures of a couple of others I've made, plus a bunch of other ideas to get your creativity flowing!  I would love to see what you create with the pattern, please leave a link in the comment section!
Ingredients:  Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo & Whisper White paper, Island Indigo & Basic Black Ink from SU! From Papertrey Ink: Warm Happiness set, Fillable Frames #10, & Mat Stack 4.

Happy Birthday Robert!

Last Sunday was my brother Robert's 40th Birthday!  I can't believe he's that old!  Of course the reason I say that, is it just makes me older ; ).  I wanted to do something a little different for him, because let's face it, this is a big one!  So, he is a lover of Jack Daniels, so I devised this "wrapping" for a really large bottle of Jack!  I also made Jack & Diet cupcakes, and I must say, they were a huge hit at the party!

Sweet Little Tag

I have to say I really LOVE tags!  They are a miniature work of art, and there are so many possibilites of things you can do with them.  They can be added to a card front, a scrapbook page, the top of a gift, heck, they can even be the gift!  This is a tag made with Papertrey products and a little ribbon from Stampin' Up. The flower is cut from pink tissue paper using the Beautiful Blooms #1 dies, so fun!