Candles make wonderful gifts

Good morning - by the time you are reading this it will be Christmas Eve for many of us. JUGS has a challenge for you again - Kathryn is our hostess and she wants you to make candle sleeves for pillar candles.

Now candle sleeves are quick and easy BUT I was running short on time like everyone else so I'm showing you a candle GIFT IDEA instead! One of my crafty friends, Kathy, is making altered candles as gifts for her friends - based on their interests! This set is for a friend who vacations at the beach every year. Isn't this wonderful???

She started with simple plain pillar candles, adhered some blue and green (sea colored) tissue paper with beeswax then used more beeswax to adhere the fun "stuff" to the pillars. She then melted additional beeswax to drip down the candles. Of course you could easily design a candle this with holiday trimmings as well.

Sorry I didn't have a holiday "sleeve" for you but I hope it will inspire you to get three dimensional this week and try something new! Please join us at JUGS this week.

♥♥ Just Us Girls Design Team  ♥♥

Andrea

Dana

Elise

Kathryn

Lisa

Lynn

Maria

Vicki

♥♥ Be sure to stop and visit our Featured Designer for the month ♥♥

Lenet Mos

Wishing you a blessed and warm holiday season!
Hugs and smiles,

What's Your Angle - MTME

Ready for another fabulous template from My Time Made Easy? This one is spectacular and you are going to love it.  It's called What's Your Angle - it's super roomy and it's fun to make!!

I started out with Cranberry Tart CS from Gina K then I worked in some of Kristin's fabulous new digital papers this month called Cheerful Chirps.  I used the Abra-Bow-Dabra cut file to make a paper bow on top but then I also tucked in a ribbon bow and prima to finish it off. I also used one of my favorite new cut files called Cornice Trimmed Oval on the box and card. I LOVE this cut file - it makes such a beautiful label.  The stamps are from the new Keep Strong set - it's filled with wonderfully encouraging sentiments!

Here's a side view of the box.

A view from the top - you can see I nestled a bow and prima in with the paper bow from Abra-Bow-Dabra.

A peek inside the box. There is a large bag of potpourri inside here :-)

 

Gorgeous new stamp set called Keep Strong - I LOVE this sentiment called Friend.

Here's the card I made to go with the template.  Used the same digital papers and the same stamp set Keep Strong - different sentiment this time.

Don't you love this sentiment? I will be using this a lot I'm sure :-)

A final look at the gift set. I think the recipient is going to love it.

Be sure to stop by and see what Lauren, Monique and our guest designer Kathryn have for you today!

Thank you for stopping by - your sweet comments and words of encouragement make my day!!
Hugs n smiles,

It's BBQ time - Made Easy

Have you been loving this month's release with My Time Made Easy? I am always amazed that our very talented Lauren keeps coming up with new, fresh ideas month after month after month! WOWeee! SO - here's my BBQ gift set for today.... this will be just a little house warming goodie for a friend.

For this gift set I went back to the Fancy a Cuppa template (nice and roomy) and made a couple of minor modifications to make up this yummy set... When I cut the front piece I just cut straight across instead of cutting down the two cutouts. This is a photo of the unaltered template.

I used the delightful and versatile new Monograms Defined stamp set to create the front label for this set.  - How cute is that?

And I changed up the back piece by adding this reinforced triple circle topper to the front and the back. I didn't want anyone to try to pick this up by the "handle" at the top.  The same stamps again were perfect for creating a "medallion" for my gift box.

I constructed this from Gina K's base weight CS since I wanted it extra strong. I did add the inner divider since I was going to package up two bottles of BBQ sauce. I also added another layer of heavy duty CS to the inside BEFORE I put in the divider in to make this box stronger.

Then I tucked in some tissue paper

And some BBQ goodies - two bottles of BBQ sauce from Oklahoma (this is really yummy sauce!), a basting brush, a package of skewers and a package of Grill Mates seasoning to finish off the gift set.

I whipped up a quick coordinating card - used the same paper,  Fall Foilage and a simple layout.  I used sentiments from TWO sets to make my custom sentiment. "We wish you a" came from Secret Santa and "Home Sweet Home" came from Sugar and Spice!!!

I made a fun, fussy floral accent starting with a cork flower as my base then added some fun green fiber and topped it off with a crocheted flower (from my friend Hanne!!).

I hope this shows just how versatile Lauren's templates and stamps can be. I'm pretty sure this little set will be a winner!

♥♥♥♥♥

My Time Made Easy Design Team Showcasing today:

Lauren Meader (owner)

Monique Hansen

Supplies from My Time Made Easy LLC:

Pretty Packaging Templates:   Fancy a Cuppa

Pretty Impressions © Stamps: Monograms Defined, Secret Santa, Sugar and Spice

Pretty Printable © Digital Paper: Fall Foilage 

Hugs n Smiles,

Monogram Gift Set - MTME February Release

Hey blogland folks,
It's Feb 1 and time for Lauren's newest release for My Time Made Easy! Lauren has a new template and 3 new stamp sets this month, along with cut files and some gorgeous digital papers. Here's what I've cooked up for today.

I love the new Monograms Defined stamp set and decided to make a set of notes for my boss. He is SO good about jotting notes to people in our work system but I know that sometimes he'd like to jot a really short note! :-) so I made him a set of mini cards....  (3x3) - they are not big enough to mail but they are PERFECT to tuck onto a keyboard on someone's desk :-)

I used the black and white papers from the new Serenity collection. These printed up beautifully.  I then stamped "from the desk of" onto the top edge (love the dots in the center of the O's") from the Monograms Defined set - then stamped his first initial into the center of the card. I wanted a "framed look" without extra matting so I cut some frames using my cricut. That gave some dimension AND a framed effect. Here's what my mat looked like when I took out the frames after cutting...

The Monograms Defined set includes a "handmade by" stamp which I used on the back to personalize my cards.

And I added the "Just a Note" to the back of the envelope flaps...

And finally I packaged it all up in the WONDERFUL new mini Card Candy template! This held my 6 note cards perfectly!!!

Here is the box opened up...

I tied up my notes with a slip of ribbon since they wanted to pop open on me for my photograph.  :-)

Now - when I put the box together I realized I forgot to adhere my ribbon before I glued on the inside cover layer. OH OH - new plan - Since this was a masculine set I decided to make the closure more masculine as well and used two large silver brads instead. He just needs to wraps the snippet of silver twine around the two brads to keep the box closed.

FINALLY - I made him a birthday card to go with the set. I used the frame stamp from Framed Elegance set - popped in a sentiment from So Sentimental and the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same set under the frame. 

On the inside I added a strip of the B-W striped paper and one more sentiment from the same set...

I think he'll love it. I tried to make it classy - like him - and striking!

Thanks for scrolling though all my photos - time to go check out the rest of the team!!!

♥♥♥♥♥

My Time Made Easy Design Team:

Lauren Meader (owner)

Kristin Bueter

Catherine Doucette

Katie Shawger Cotton

Lisa Kind

Tangii Crain

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Monique Hansen

Naomi our Guest Designer this month

Supplies from My Time Made Easy LLC:

Pretty Packaging Templates:   Card Candy mini template

Pretty Impressions © Stamps: Monograms Defined, Framed Elegance, So Sentimental

Pretty Printable © Digital Paper: Serenity

Hugs n Smiles,

Sweet Christmas Treat box

Greetings to all My Time Made Easy fans! It's December first and the MTME team is showcasing Lauren's fabulous new template called Wonderfully Wrapped. It's just adorable and SO versatile.

I have a friend who loves peppermint candies so I made this sweet little gift box filled with them for her.

 I assembled the Wonderfully Wrapped template using red and white card stock. Then I cut out the decorative layers and stamped them with the peppermint candy images from Sugar and Spice stamp set. Here's the back and sides of the box. I added red buttons and white twine to the ends. This template is SO easy!!

Here's a close up of the label/focal image I did for the front.

I used Killer Curves stamp set in combination with Sugar and Spice. I also used the Killer Curves cut file to make a perfect mat for the label.

I finished up the ensemble with a sweet little tag. The sleigh is from the adorable Secret Santa stamp set. A few ribbons and some Baker's Twine and I had my little peppermint gift set completed.

I hope you will stop over at the My Time Made Easy Gallery and see lots and lots of wonderful inspiration. Then hop over to the store and pick up some goodies to make YOUR time easy, too!

Supplies from My Time Made Easy LLC:

Pretty Packaging Templates:   Wonderfully Wrapped

Pretty Impressions © Stamps: Sugar and Spice, Killer Curves, Secret Santa

Pretty Pieces © Cut Files: Killer Curves

Check out all of the Design Team Member's below for some fantastic ideas!!!

Hugs n Smiles,

Another CAS Hostess Gift Set

Here is my CAS hostess gift set #2 - it's based on the same sketch as this post but uses different colors and I used a different set of flowers for this one - but same overall idea. I also added a variety of scoring to these cards and I packaged them up in a clear box instead of making a template.

Stamps are from Sensational Stems by My Time Made Easy - I LOVE this stamp set - it's SO versatile!!! Colors are Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores and TerraCotta Tile. I didn't do this for anybody's color challenge - I just pulled colors together that I liked. I made 8 cards but only photographed 4 of them as a group.

Here's a close up showing one of the scoring patterns I used.

Matching envelope - just makes the set so much more complete don't you think?

Here's the set all boxed up in a clear card box (from Gina K I think). 

Add a fun bow and tag and you're done!

My primas weren't the exact colors I wanted so Copics to the rescue - I also colored one of the strips on my ribbon that didn't quite match my color scheme :-)

That's all for today - have a blessed Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with laughter, joy, hugs and turkey :-)

Hug the ones you love,

CAS Hostess Gift

Before I get started, please stop over at Catherine Doucette's blog for a chance to win a fabulous stamp set! You're going to love it!!

Here's a look at a quick clean and simple card set I made as a hostess gift for the upcoming holidays. We have several parties to attend and I like to have sets of gift cards on hand to take with us. This one was inspired by the Clean and Simple FTL114 sketch and the Color Cue from WPlus9 (sorry I didn't have any WP9 stamps to use for this).

I used plum, creamy caramel and ruby red inks on white CS. The images are from the Sensational Stems stamp set by MTME and So Sentimental also by MTME. Quick to mass produce - fun to make and with matching envelopes makes for some quick holiday thank you notes for a fabulous hostess.

I packaged these up with the Slip Cover template from My Time Made Easy. I LOVE this template for card sets - it's super easy to assemble and so versatile.

Here's Slip cover with the top off.

And here's the whole set of cards.

I'll be back soon with another set but that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. I'm grateful to all of my faithful and loyal followers! 

Hug the ones you love and have a blessed Thanksgiving.