Fairytale Tag Time

It's PTI anniversary time and Nichole has offered up a new contest - to make a card with one of the tags from a free PTI download! Now how fun and easy is that?!?! Although it's Super Bowl Sunday I couldn't resist a quick go at this one.

Here's my tag close up. I thought this might be a great anniversary card for my daughter!! Or, of course, it could be a sweet valentine. Either way, I loved the sentiment.

Here's the card

And here's the inside - stamped one of the Heart Prints. I did not stamp an inside senti until I decide if this will be a valentine or an anniversary card.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great afternoon!
Hugs n Smiles,

Valentine's Gift Set for JUGS!

It's a Just Us Girls template challenge today ladies and gents. Your assignment is easy - just create a Valentine's container and show us what you made. You can choose any template/box/gift set of your choice - then gussy it up for that loving holiday that's around the bend...

I chose to work with one of Lauren's templates called The Flapper from My Time Made Easy. Honestly, when I need a gift box I always start with MTME.  :-) This box has a super cute design and is a good size. I added some Nestie hearts on top.

I used some digital paper from GinaK Designs called I Love Hearts - it's SO cute and I loved the color combo on this one of inks and browns. I cut the template with my Cricut and added the DP layers. Added a few finishing touches - pearls, Prima roses and some SU ribbon - I was done - super quick but a real eye catcher I hope. Here's a side view.

And since this template is generously sized I was able to fit TWO of these mini flower pots (from Target) inside. I chose some mini roses and some Forget-Me-Nots.

Hope you'll join us and play along. It's the perfect excuse to get one of your Valentine gifts ready to go.

Be sure to stop by our Featured Designer Carla Suto and the rest of the JUGS DT (sidebar ->) to see what they've cooked up for you.

Have a great week.
Hugs n Smiles.

Welcome... You've Got Mail!

*Tee Hee* Did any of you hear the AOL voice when you read that title? I've had an AOL account for about a hundred years (I was one of the original AOLrs LOL) and I STILL hear that voice that was so exciting - You've Got Mail - I say exciting because we ALL love to get mail right? Well Lauren Meader has come up with yet another fun and fantastic template for My Time Made Easy and it's called.... You've Got Mail! It is unlike anything else out there - a mailbox designed after a US Postal blue mail box that we all know and love. With Valentine's Day just around the corner I chose to dress mine up for that occasion but it's SO versatile you can make this template in any color/theme/feel that you want. Shabby chic? Fresh and fun? Traditional? It's your choice!

I am in love with the Pretty Printable digital papers from My Time Made Easy - designed by the very talented Kristin Bueter. I chose the Candied Hearts paper from A Loving Heart paper pack but paired it and printed it double sided with the SilentNight gingham from GaGa for Gingham. I cut my template with my Cricut and then assembled per instructions. Before I adhered my base to my main mailbox I ran a ribbon in between the layers. For my decorative mat layer I used the adorable new Snail Mail paper from the Cute Critters paper pack. You can see it here on the side of my mailbox.

I had fun making and decorating a hanging tag for the right side of the mailbox - I added a heart bauble I had for a 3D accent. The writing for the recipient is on the back.

I love the fact that Lauren is making coordinating sets of papers, templates and stamps. Here I used the new Pretty Impressions acrylic stamps called ... You've Got Mail. There are 38 images in the set - now THAT's a bargain. I've only begun to scratch the surface of all the options for this stamp!

What good would a template be if it didn't open? Well this You've Got Mail does just that - simply pull up and out on the tab at the top and your mailbox opens to reveal your treasure inside :-)

You can see the double sided paper here and how it dresses up the inside of the gift box - plus you can also see that there is a nice amount of space in here :-)

Are you still with me? Well the matching card that goes with this little set was created using a new Pretty Pieces cut file called Love Notes. The larger heart makes a little envelope into which you can slip a smaller heart shaped note card. I also added scalloped heart mat layers behind the card then I enlarged the scalloped heart and made a mat layer for the love note envelope. You get all of those components in this great little cut file format that will have you creating heart shaped pocket envies for all your special Valentine's...

I added a small snippet of red and white striped ribbon to the inner heart so that the recipient can easily pull out the little love note. Isn't it cute how it opens up? I stamped the inside with the Critters With Heart mouse and sentiment stamps then accented with the heart from You've Got Mail stamp set.

I hope you have enjoyed this little gift set - remember it can be decorated for any occasion where you want to "send" a little or a lot of love :-) Pop over to the rest of the Design Team and see what they have for you on Day 2 of the February release and be SURE you stop by My Time Made Easy and see what's "in store" now!

♥♥♥♥♥

My Time Made Easy Design Team:

Lauren Meader

Catherine Doucette 

Katie Shawger Cotton

Kristin Bueter

Mona Pendelton

Tracey Cuccia

Supplies:

Pretty Packaging© Templates: You've Got Mail

Pretty Impressions© Acrylic and Digital Stamps: You've Got Mail, Critters With Heart

Pretty Printables© Digital paper: A Loving Heart, GaGa for Gingham, Cute Critters 

Pretty Pieces© Cut File Accents: Love Notes

Thanks for stopping by.  Hugs n smiles.

Just Us Girls #18 WILD CARD

First off - THANK YOU ♥ to everyone who played along with last week's template challenge - it was SO great to have Lauren as our sponsor and to see your great projects!! Ok girls, let's get WILD today! It's the fifth Saturday of the month and on those rare occasions we get to do a WILD CARD challenge! SO... are you ready for this one? Dana is the Just Us Girls hostess this week and she has a fabulous challenge for us all. This week you are to make a pennant banner!

If you don't know what we're talking about then check out this tutorial from SCS.  I've never done one of these myself so I downloaded the tutorial and it's easy to follow. Your banner does not have to be for any special theme but I think Dana is giving bonus "points" for a Valentine/Love theme (although the points don't really get you anything LOL)

Here's my banner hanging from our mantle.

I did keep to the "love" theme - I used some of my fun SU designer paper with XOs in a favorite color combo of pink and brown. I was SUPER excited that I was able to cut out 90% of this with my Cricut. The only parts I cut with my paper cutter were the triangles. My over all design is super simple - I didn't have any lace on hand (I must go get some!) or frilly accents so it's pretty straight forward. I just had fun with stripes and hearts and pompoms and layers. I had a little trouble holding it all together and folded a strip of paper for the top edge but it made my pennant not as flowing as some - but hanging from the mantle in my living room with some candles - it was pretty cute overall! Even my DH likes it.

There's a close up of one of the pennants - I was proud of myself for figuring out how to cut a letter and then a shadowed letter so I could mat them :-)

NOW - come show us your stuff - we can't wait to have you play along with Just Us Girls - our following has really grown and we have noticed some "regulars" and couldn't be more excited about that. We hope we bring you some crafting inspiration and enough variety to challenge everyone just a little to try something new. The Just Us Girls Design Team have some great pennants for you - check them out in my right hand sidebar ----->

Finally - a HUGE thank you goes out to our first ever Featured Designer - Gabby Arriaza! She has brought a fresh, fun look to JUGS challenges and done an outstanding job.  Please keep her in your prayers - she's got some heavy life stuff going on right now. Blessings to her for helping us out this month and prayers to her and her family through this struggle.

Now get crafting then come post your projects on the Mr. Linky on JUGS site. We'll be excited to see what you come up with. Have a fantastic Saturday!
Hugs n smiles.

Mojo Monday and CTD

Hi everyone - a super quick post tonight with a card for two of my favorite challenges. Mojo Monday and Color Throwdown  - even though I'm up to my eyes in "stuff" I'm doing I had to play along with these two challenges.

I finally stepped out of the "" box and moved towards the NEXT special occasion - Valentines Day.

Here's the card I made. 

 Here's a close up so you can see the paper piercing, the 3D butterfly and the tiny charm.

Did some embossing with CB folder, stamped and embossed in white, BG is stamped in Versamark with Fancy Flourishes. Added a 3D butterfly and a hanging heart charm to my set for a touch of whimsy.

Papers: Pretty in Pink, Soft Sky, Cranberry Tart (I don't know what Red Riding Hood red IS - it looked sort of cranberryish) and Wild Wasabi. Stamps are from PTI - Heart Prints and Heart PRint sentiments. Ribbon is SU Soft Sky. This was fun and sort of moved me down the holiday line towards February!! Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful weekend!!

Kevin's Valentine

Whew I finally finished my son's valentine - I have been loving the red, black and white and then I found this really cool button in my button jar - so he got a button too! Someday I hope to get Heart Prints from PTI so I have more choices and options for Valentines and anniversary cards. I also want the heart shaped nesties too but for now - it's all PTI new releases :-)

Valentines for my girls

I just realized that I need to get a couple of valentines into the mail - YIKES. So here are the two valentines I made for my daughters. 

The pink one was sparked by my girlfriend who put hearts on top of stems to make the heart flowers. I just HAD to use my new Raspberry Fizz paper and ribbon for something! Thank goodness I can use PINK! :-)

The black and white one is a variation of the one I made for my husband. I can't wait for the new PTI buttons!

CPS Challenge

Ok so today, Nichole from Papertrey Ink announced her new button line! OMG how exciting. THEN she pointed us to this CPS sketch challenge. I have only participated in 2 sketch challenges ever and so I'm still very literal when it comes to interpreting what we're "supposed" to do.

The only thing I knew as I got started was that I wanted to feature some buttons because I'm so excited about the new PTI buttons and I wanted to use some of the new PTI black and white patterned paper. So this is the card I came up with for my husband, as you can see from the inside of the card. :-)


I am loving all the new word options I have with my PTI stamp sets. I was able to combine words and images from several sets to create this simple inside sentiment - straight from the heart.
Thanks to CPS for the challenge - I'll have to give this a try more often - I do love how it gets me thinking and creating in all different ways.

This was the sketch: