Salsa gifts

There's an unwritten policy at my DH's work and that is that you have to buy a Christmas present for your boss(es) and employee(s). Ugh. He spent as much on his bosses and employees as he did on me. As you can tell, I'm less than pleased with the dent this made in our Christmas budget.

Anyway, enough of my complaining. My DH is known for his salsa. It's good but it's hot. And I don't mean a little bit hot. I mean A LOT hot. Like, make-you-cry-and-sweat hot. Too much for me even though I beg him each year to make a batch that's milder. He tries. He really does. But I think his taste buds are all burned off and he can't tell what's mild anymore. So, along with a Target gift card, all his work recipients got a jar of "medium hot" salsa. And he asked me to fancy them up a bit.



I punched a 2" circle from Pure Poppy, stamped it with some old Christmas stamps (don't recall the mfr but the designer is Danielle something - helpful, aren't I?). Tied a bow of black and white plaid ribbon around the neck of the Mason jar, cut a small length of leaf ribbon, a Tiny Tag die cut, and a bell that I had previously spray painted. I bought a bag of bells at Michael's and they were bright gold so I just spray painted them white. It took quite a while for them to dry.

Used a glue dot to stick the snowman gift card to the top and voila! A cute gift left on many desks at DH's work.

Supplies:
Stamps: Tiny Tags (PTI)
Other: plaid ribbon (Michael's), bell (Michael's), leaf ribbon and white twine (PTI)

Christmas Thank Yous

Here's the quick and easy cards I whipped up for my kids to send their thank yous.



I stamped off once with the circles from Grunge Me so that they would be lighter and fade more into the background. Added a felt star and "thanks" and all done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. :)



My DD11 followed this same design but made them herself using a less traditional and much more girly color palette: pink circles and turquoise felt star. It works and they're done. Can't ask for much more than that.

Supplies:
Stamps: Grunge Me (PTI)
Other: Pure Poppy felt (PTI)
Ink: Basil and Slate (Fresh Ink), Corner Chomper

2011 Christmas card + letter

Last year I went easy on myself and did our annual Christmas card from Shutterfly. It was done in early October and was one less thing I stressed about as the season neared. This year, however, I decided to go back to making a card and including a letter.



I used the Front and Center die from Papertrey Ink to create a pocket in which I placed my letter. I just scored the die cut a couple inches from the bottom, folded it, and sewed up each side to create the pocket.

I am so thankful for wonderful online friends Deb and Jennifer who sent me die cuts and a die so that I could make my vision for this card come to life. PTI happened to be out of stock of the "merry" die and they came to my aid. So thankful for them!

"Christmas" was embossed with white embossing powder to really make it pop against the red. The holly die cuts were stamped with a rubber stamp that I've had for ages. It gives a nice textured look to the dies. They were just so plain without it.

And you can't tell from these pictures but this particular card I die cut "merry" from some sparkle paper I picked up at Michael's. It was even already self-adhesive so it made assembly a breeze.

Three dots of red glitter Stickles for the berries and it's all done.

And here's the card with the letter inserted in it.



I hope you all had a merry and blessed Christmas. I'll be back in a few days to post the thank you cards I made for my kids to send out their thank yous.

Supplies:
Stamps: Wonderful Words: Holiday (PTI), Country Burlap (JRL Design)
Paper: Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse (PTI), white sparkle self-adhesive paper (Michael's)
Other: Front and Center Die, Wonderful Words: Holiday die, Holly Jolly die, Christmas Red Stickles

Wedding card

Here's a card I made for DH's cousin who married this fall. I CASE'd it from the delightful Melissa Phillips (sorry, I can't seem to find a link for her card.) I have such a hard time combining pattern paper and "fancifying" my cards but following Melissa's lead really helped. I just love how it turned out - such soft creams and whites mixed with greens and a touch of pink.



And here's a close-up of the embossed heart.



Supplies:
Stamps: Celtic Heritage (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Cardstock: White and Ripe Avacado (PTI)
PP: green floral (MME), green polka dot (PTI), peach floral (MME)
Other: embossing folder (Provo Craft), Labels 4 (Spellbinders), lace (American Crafts), vintage cream ribbon (PTI), corner rounder (corner chomper)

Pocketfull of posies

A very long time ago I purchased a pocket-themed stamp set from CTMH. I love the concept and haven't dared to part with the set even though I haven't used it all that frequently. I made this card for my mom's birthday back in September. Hope you like it!



The pocket is one I cut out of my son's infant-sized jeans. Every time he outgrew a pair I cut out the back pockets and have saved them ever since (he's now 7!) I always new I'd want to use it on a project - just didn't know what or when. lol

The card is a little bigger than an A2 but I don't recall the exact size - it's since been mailed and I didn't write it down. I do know, however, that it fits into a 5x7 envelope.

Here's a close-up of the flowers.




Supplies:
Stamps: CTMH, Beautiful Blooms (PTI), Fancy Flourishes (PTI)
Paper: Fine Linen, Vintage Cream, Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy polka dot (all PTI), pink gingham (Amuse), vintage text from old book
Ink: Pure Poppy, Hibiscus Burst, Sweet Blush (PTI)
Other: Beautiful Blooms dies (PTI), pearls, jeans pocket, heart punch (SU!), pop dots, impression plate (SU!)

Warm Wishes

I used a couple different PTI sets on this one: Four-of-a-Kind (2010 CHA set) and Tiny Tags. I don't have the Tiny Tags dies (next order!) so just fussy cut it. Didn't turn out too bad in a pinch. I think the paper is MME?

Words

Here's another layout share of my sweet little boy when he was just five and learning to write. I am so tickled that I kept his original notepaper that he used to practice writing his words. All too often these things get buried under other paper, lost, and forgotten. But not that day. Woohoo for me! lol