I Carrot For You - March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hi everyone!  Welcome to the March Stamp of the Month blog hop.  If you're here from Georgia's blog, you've come to the right place.  We have over 50 consultants participating this month, and plenty of opportunities for scraplifting your favorite projects.  This month's stamp set, Sensational Season, contains 10 stamps that can be used to create projects from fun & playful to extremely elegant.  For this project, I chose to go with fun & playful!

First, I stamped my images on white CS using Brown Staz-on ink.  Then I colored them with assorted colors of CTMH markers, using a waterbrush for some blending.  I used my micro-tip scissors to cut out my images right at the outlines.

To make my "carrot", I used my Cricut Expression with Make The Cut software.  The design is actually from a Valentine Treat Cone SVG set I bought at Lettering Delights.  I cut it from Sunset CS, scored it, folded it, and distressed all the edges with my Sunset ink pad.  I attached a looped ribbon for a hanger to one of the flaps, and adhered the flaps closed, all using Glue Dots.

Next I used some white crepe paper streamer and colored it by rubbing it with a Pear ink pad.  Once it was dry, I fringe cut it, put a line of Liquid Glass near the  uncut edge, and rolled it around the ribbon.  Finally, I attached the bunny image and 2 eggs directly to the "carrot", the final egg to the garden image, and I adhered the garden image using foam adhesive tape.

Now it's all set to be hung from an Easter tree!  I hope to find time to make these for all of the "little" kids who participate in the Easter egg hunt at my parents' house this year.

Here's a closer view of my colored images.  Using the Staz-on ink makes it so easy to color them in with our markers.  And the sketched details on these images makes them super easy to color; no shading needed!!  Although, I did do a little shading of the lettuce and ground, just for some added depth.

Finally, here's a closeup of the carrot top with its crepe paper fringe.

I hope you enjoyed my project today!  If you like what you see, please consider following me and checking out my other projects.  Once I hit 500 followers, I'll be posting another blog candy giveaway.

Now, when you're ready to hop on down the bunny trail, head on over to Annette's Creative Journey and see what she has in store for us this month.

Heart 2 Heart

I am a challenge sponsor for the month of March on the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog.  If you haven't visited before, click on the link to head over and check them out.  They do require use of Close To My Heart products, and if you don't have any, I would be honored to have you as my customer!  Shopping is quick, easy, and 24/7 on my website.

If you're visiting here from Heart 2 Heart, please take a look around.  I would love to count you in my group of followers.  You will see that I don't exclusively use CTMH products, but I love to share how I combine them with other products as well.  (I really love how easy it is to coordinate CTMH colors and products with other companies' products.)

This month, I will be providing a fabulous prize package for the H2H blog to give away.

 Included are a Key To My Heart paper pack, Primavera rub-ons, Miracle chipboard Irresistibles, Around the Block stamp set, Egg Hunt stamp set, and a petite perks stamp set.  Good luck to everyone!  I look forward to sending this great prize out to someone!

In addition, I will be a guest Design Team member during the week of March 21st.  Hope to see you there!

Be sure to stop back late tonight or tomorrow for the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.  We'll have over 50 consultants sharing their projects to inspire you, so you're sure to find something you want to scraplift.

St. Pat's Banner - Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge

February's Circle Challenge is all about banners.  Here's what the Circle Blog says:

"Banners are everywhere! We love their versatility and the way they can be customized for any occasion. For this challenge, we want you to create a banner with any theme you would like... Project must be newly created for this challenge.
This challenge is open to Cricut Circle Members only. Your entry must include 3 or more Cricut Cuts and meet the requirements above in order for your name to be entered into a random drawing for the PRIZE."

So, we live in a VERY Irish town, they even have their own Irish Fest every year.  I decided I should have some kind of Irish decor for the month of March, so I decided on a banner for our front door.

To create my Irish "flag" banners, I cut 4 white, 2 green, and 2 orange banners from the Sports Mania cartridge at 7 inches.  I cut the green and orange with my paper trimmer 2.5" wide, then layered them on the white.  Next, I cut the shamrocks on the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge at 4" from green American Crafts glitter cardstock.  (I use my deep cut blade and multi-cut this twice.)  Finally, I cut the St. Pat's silhouettes from the A Child's Year cartridge at 3.5" from some shiny black Bazzill cardstock.

My ribbon was from a set of towels I recently bought.  I just used my Pebbles Inc. ribbon iron to straighten it out, then tied each set together with a bow, and added a bow to each end.  For now, I have it attached to the door with Glue Dots - we'll see if it holds up to the cold.  It appears as though the kids have taken off with my 3M Command Adhesive mini hooks, so until I find them I'm hoping the Glue Dots hold up!

Sympathy Card

I unfortunately find myself in need of a sympathy card again.  It's for one of my mother's best friends, who just lost her husband to a recurrence of cancer.  This woman babysat me some and I still remember one of her sons playing Hi-Ho Cherrio with me when I was little.  She has had more than her share of loss in her life, and I'm very sad for her right now.  That said, I thought this card turned out beautifully, so I wanted to share it with you.

I used the discontinued Veranda paper pack from Close To My Heart.  I found a pattern I liked in the Wishes card pattern book, and pulled out some stamps and coordinating inks.  I get tired of using the same sympathy stamps all the time, so I am always on the lookout for new ones.  I found the lovely sentiment on the front of the card on clearance, but you may still be able to find it on the internet.  It's from the "Favorite Calligraphies" stamp set from Clearly Inspired.  The other stamps used on the front are from the discontinued "Follow Your Heart" stamp set from CTMH.  The flowers are from a package of Paper Blooms and a Pewter Filigree Charm, also from CTMH.

Inside the card, I used an additional sentiment.  This is from yet another discontinued CTMH stamp set, Comforting Thoughts.  I know, I'm really not being very helpful here, am I?  This is why I am always scouting for more Sympathy stamps.

Lastly, I stamped a little image on the card back.  This one is actually from a current stamp set (I know, unbelievable) from CTMH, called Made With Love.

I hope that, despite all of the discontinued items, I've given you an idea or inspiration today.  I enjoyed sharing with you.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

So, last week I was in Archiver's and was looking at this package of Tattered Angels Crepe Ribbon.  I had used some last Summer at CHA and thought I'd pick some up.  But then, sticker shock!  And I decided right then to try my hand at making my own.  (I'm a big DIY girl!)  I bought a roll of white crepe paper streamer for about $1 and brought it home.

To get started, I already had on hand the other things I needed.  I pulled out a stamp set, black Staz-on ink, and some Glimmer Mist.  If you're interested, the stamp set I used is the February stamp of the month from Close To My Heart, Friendship.

Using my Staz-on ink, I stamped one of the images repeatedly along the crepe streamer.  So easy, it took less than 5 minutes! Then I sprayed it with various colors of Glimmer Mist.  Once it was dry, I was ready to use it on a card.

The colors don't show well in the photo, but they blend together well.  The colors I used are form the Heritage set at Archiver's.  I attached it to my card front using Glue Lines because they were handy, but Scor-tape would also work.  I layered ribbon along the center of the crepe streamer to tie in with one of the colors of Glimmer Mist.  I stamped a sentiment on matching cardstock and matted it with black.  The patterned paper is the "back" side of one of the papers from the Sweetheart paper pack I used in yesterday's layout.  The little metal embellishment in the corner is from the Mini-Medley Accents Antiqued Copper Collection.

I'd love to see what you do with this!  If you decide to do a little DIY, please post a link here in the comments so I can come take a look!

Animal Magnetism - Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge #21

This must be a record for me, 3 posts in a single day!  But I had to play along with the Weekly Challenge at the Cricut Circle Blog.  Here are the details for this week:

"This week we have been paying tribute to the critters in our lives and now we want you to do the same! For this challenge your project must include something related to an animal. You can create your project for or about an animal, include an animal cut, use animal print, etc. Project must also contain atleast 2 Cricut image cuts to qualify.

This challenge is open to Cricut Circle members only."

And here's what I came up with:

I haven't used my Imagine nearly as much as I could since I got it.  I think because I didn't shell out the cash for it, it's not always at the top of my mind.  Plus, I have so much paper in my stash that I just love to use with my Expression.  But, I've been wanting to do more with the Imagine More cartridge that came with my machine, and this cow fit the theme for the week perfectly!  The background paper is also from that cartridge.  I used the pre-loaded shapes on the I for the squares and the clouds, using the color palette from Imagine More to color them in.  (It was SO nice to whip out a card in ten minutes without worrying about matching things.)

I cut the squares in both blue and green, then tore off a piece of the green and layered it on the blue.  The cow head is popped up with adhesive foam.  And my sentiment is stamped with a phrase from the More Punny-licious set from My Pink Stamper in Chocolate ink from Close To My Heart.

Mark Your Calendars!

I just received this email late last night from Lettering Delights... SVG lovers rejoice!  They make my favorite images, and they are having a big sale.  Be sure to click over, create an account, and sign up for their emails to be notified of future sales as well.

Coming soon! Three alphabets, 7 deluxe alphabets and 100 SVG sets (over 1,400 SVG images total), all for just $100!

It's our biggest super bundle ever and you won't want to miss it! Save your pennies, bookmark this page, tell your friends and come back on Wednesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 3. You won't want to miss it!

*SVGs are the new standard in web-delivered images. Cuttable, printable and scaleable, they can be used in a variety of applications. Third-party software required.

We now resume our regularly scheduled programming...

Yes, I have been MIA for a while.  I really have no idea what's been going on around here, but I have gotten nothing done the last 2 weeks.  I blame it on illness (not me - the hubs & 2 of 3 kids) and school holidays.  And I think I MAY have had a milder form of the illness as I have been completely exhausted, but that could have been hormonal, lol.

Anyway, I finally managed to finish a layout I started a couple of days ago.  I love working with pictures of my kids when they were younger - these days they just drive me crazy with their clothes everywhere and food crumbs dropped wherever.  So I like to remember the "good old days", like these:

 

That title probably doesn't say what you think it does.  The hubs has told me many times that I sound like an English teacher, and I like a good play on words.  Therefor, "sibling revelry" instead of "sibling rivalry".  And yes, I AM a dork; I like it!

I actually have a few tips & techniques to go along with this layout today. First, the layout itself is from the Magic sketch pattern book.  This pattern contains directions for making a sliding photo, including how to cut the sheet protector.  I thought it was a fun little addition to my layout.  Now, for my paper I wanted to add a little bling, so I turned one of my patterns into glitter paper.  I started with papers from the Sweetheart paper pack, plus some Gypsy cardstock.  Using some Glitz glitter glue (similar to Stickles), I traced the lines on the paper.  I have to say, I got a little heavy handed this time; I was in a hurry to finish as school pick-up time was nearing so I went a little overboard.  Usually when I do this, it turns out looking as good or better than bought glitter paper.  At any rate, I still think it looks pretty good!

For my floral embellishments, I thought it would be neat if they matched the flowers in the paper with the heart shaped petals.  Of course, I don't have any that look like that, but I found some that I could alter a little to work.  I used the Just Blooms paper flowers, and cut between every other petal.  Then I rounded off those corners so they would look more like hearts, and I added some button centers.

My other embellishments include self-adhesive gems in pink, red, & purple, and the Sweetheart MyStickease.  My title was made using the Opposites Attract Cricut cartridge, welded on my Gypsy, and the Irresistibles Lots of Dots alphabet sponged with black ink.

That's it for today - hope I gave you a few helpful tips!

Free Chore Chart

This has been a ridiculously busy week, so I haven't had a chance to post any projects.  I'll definitely have one on Tuesday.  In the meantime, I found a great freebie from Lettering Delights.  For anyone with kids, or chores, or both, they're offering a free Chore Chart until Sunday night.  So make sure you get yours quick!

Cricky Across The 50 WINNER

I hope everyone enjoyed this weekend's blog hop!  I know I sure did; I found so many new blogs to follow.  Now, on to the reason I know you're all here: the blog candy winner announcement!

(Drumroll please...) According to random.org, our winner is... #15 GiGi, who said, "I'm in WI and we venture to Illinois every other year or so to go to Great America. I LOVE your layout! The details and those cute crochet flowers are adorable! I am now a follower and thanks for the great blog candy!"

So now I'm off to contact GiGi about her prize.  Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop hosted by K Andrew of Getting Cricky! If you are here from Brenda Haskin of Simply Bren is Having too much fun then you are in the right spot. If you just arrived here and would like to start from the beginning please go to KAndrew's Getting Cricky. For this blog hop,  K Andrew is celebrating her big move across the country with a big road trip, and of course this hop across the 50 states.  She has asked us all to post a little bit about the state we are representing, and then to post our Favorite Craft Project. I am representing the great state of Illinois!

 

When you say Illinois, most people immediately think of Chicago, or maybe even the "Land of Lincoln", but there is so much more to this beautiful (but currently stinkin' cold & snow-covered) agricultural state.   Illinois is generally 2nd in corn production (right behind Iowa, of course), with a single county in Central Illinois (McLean County, where we used to live) producing more than most other states.  There are plenty of places to visit outside of Chicago as well, if you like a little different type of attraction.  There's Bishop Hill, an early Swedish settlement, which I always found interesting, probably because I'm partly Swedish.  Also, there is Dickson Mounds, a major on-site archaeological museum where you can study 12,000 years of life in the Illinois River Valley.  And one of my personal favorites, Starved Rock State Park (photo above).  

According to the legend, a band of Illiniwek, under attack by a band of Potawatomi (allies of the Ottawa), sought refuge atop a 125-foot sandstone butte. The Ottawa and Potawatomi surrounded the bluff and held their ground until the hapless Illiniwek died of starvation- giving rise to the name "Starved Rock."  But the reason most people go is for the hiking trails, canyons, and waterfalls.  Bet you didn't know we had those in Illinois!

Now, on to the project! (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

My favorite project is generally whatever I have just finished, so that's what I've decided to share today.  I just love these pictures of my now not-so-little girls!  When they were little they did EVERYTHING together, so I included journaling to that effect.  I used a sketch pattern from the Magic interactive layout pattern book (it includes directions for various ways to make your layouts really MOVE!)  I used papers from the new Sweetheart paper pack, and added some Gypsy and Baby Pink cardstock to match.  For my main title, I used my Cricut and Gypsy with the included Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  I cut off a decorative element by hand because I liked it better plain, then I sponged the white CS cut with Baby Pink ink.  My subtitle is some Irresistibles Lots of Dots letter stickers sponged with Black ink.  I added some pink ribbon from my stash, and some groupings of embellishments.  They include White Daisy mini-medley, pink & purple brads, heart shaped brads, and some glitter brads.  One quick tip to note:  this sketch called for a 5x5 main photo, but the quality of my photo just wasn't there (this was from film), so I just cropped my 4x6 photo to 4x5, and filled the remaining area with the embellishments.

Finally, time for some blog candy!

I have some great blog candy for you this weekend!  Items include a Perfect Day Level 1 scrapbook kit, a Miracle limited edition kit (complete with pattern sketches), and a You've Got Flair stamp set (which can go from funky to fancy).  Total retail value is over $50!  The rules to win are simple:

• You must be a follower
• Leave a comment by midnight (Central time) on Sunday, February 13.
• THAT'S IT!  I'll have random.org pick a winner on Monday.

Good luck to all!

Please make sure to leave comments on all of the blogs for a chance to win a ton of different Grand Prizes on Getting Cricky's blog, from these great companies:Scrap N Tote, Scrap N Easel, Cri-Kits, Creative Charms, Memory Miser, Scrappy Chic Cafe, Loralie Designs, My Pink Stamper, Peachy Keen Stamps, Cricut Town, The Scrappin' Table, Piktails, and Pink by Design

Please make sure to visit ALL the blogs, as EVERY single blog will have fabulous giveaways (cricut cartridges, paper packs, copic markers, yourstory bundle, clear stamp sets, and tons more). Each blogger was extremely generous with their own personal giveaways

Next stop on the hop is Angela Urell of Creative Crafting.

Beautiful Blue

So, I belong to my local Woman's Club (which my oldest brother, bless his heart, says I'm too young for).  Each club year, we host a reciprocity meeting, which is when we invite members of other clubs to join us.  This year, the chair has asked me to make our invitations, so I made up a sample.  It's based on what she told me her decorations will be.  This may or may not be the exact final product, depending on feedback, but this is what I came up with.

Believe it or not, it took me several hours to come up with the final result.  I kind of knew what I wanted to do, but kept getting creative block.  So I'd stop & work on something else for a while, then search for an SVG, then find the right color of ribbon in my massive stash, you get the picture.  The easiest part was choosing the stamps.  I had it in my head before I even got off the phone.  Total time was really only about 20 minutes, my brain just didn't want to cooperate!  Making the remainder will take no time at all, now that I know what I'm doing...

I started by stamping the cup from the A Sip stamp set in White Daisy pigment ink on some Moonstruck CS.  After heat embossing with white powder, I cut out the cup.  Next, I stamped a group of flowers from the Flower Pot stamp set in White Daisy pigment ink on White Daisy CS.  I then colored in the image using markers in Sunflower, Cotton Candy, and Topiary and cut it out.

After wasting time hunting through my Cricut cartridges, I discovered I didn't have anything with the shape I wanted to cut out without making it myself.  So I opened up my trusty Make The Cut software and searched the gallery.  I found the pretty scalloped circle shape with the cut outs, which was exactly what I wanted.  I sized it on my virtual mat, making sure that the  inner area would be large enough for my image plus a little.  After cutting it from Moonstruck paper, I pulled in a circle from the Basic Shapes and sized it to fit inside the scalloped circle.  I cut that from Baby Blue paper.

I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder from Cuttlebug for the front of my card, using a technique I got from Lisa Stenz, another CTMH consultant.  You just emboss the upper portion, then turn it around and emboss the bottom portion, leaving a width plain for your sentiment.  Using my Scor-Pal, I scored a line at the top & bottom of this strip.  I stamped my sentiment from the discontinued Simple Invites stamp set in Moonstruck.  I adhered my circles to the front of the card, then adhered my cut out stamped images using foam adhesive tape.  I pulled some bright pink ribbon from my stash, and adhered it around the inner front edge of the card to finish it off.

Quick Birthday Thanks

The Boy turned 6 last month.  So we had a few friends to Chuck E. Cheese's and had a blast blowing through tokens.  Now it's time to get the thank you cards sent out!  So I sat down yesterday and cranked some out.

I decided to keep these simple since they're going to kids.  They're likely to get thrown out right away anyway.  Pennants & banners are super hot right now, and nothing says birthday more.  So, I sat down with my Make The Cut software and downloaded the Pennants SVGs from Lettering Delights.  Granted, you could probably make this particular design on your own, but the file is only $2, and you get 7 different designs to have fun with.  I imported one image into MTC and sized it to my desired size.  Then I used the duplicate feature to make all the pennants I needed.

After cutting, I folded the pennants on the score lines, then inked the edges on the front.  Using some alphabet stamps, I stamped "thanks" on the pennants.  Next, I put the pennants on a length of hemp cord (I really wanted to use jute, but couldn't find my stash) and tied little bows at each end.   I attached the banner to the card, then stamped a little birdy and the sun from a set of American Crafts clear stamps.  And, done!  As soon as I help The Boy write his notes, they're off in the mail!

Sweet & Simple Valentine - sketch challenge

I'm joining the fun in February at the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog.  The first challenge this month is a sketch challenge.  As always, the rules are to use Close To My Heart products.  I came up with a sweet & simple Valentine card using the sketch provided.  Here's the sketch:

I chose to use the sketch as is, on a 5x7 card (my favorite size).  Here's the finished card:

I just love the way this turned out!  I started with some Grey Wool cardstock (gray is the new black!), and stamped with Grey Wool ink using the February stamp of the month set, Friendship.  I also sponged all of the edges with the same ink.

Next, I cut a 2 1/2x4 1/2 panel from one of the patterns in the Sweetheart paper pack, and sponged the edges with Smoothie ink.  I matted the panel with black cut to 2 5/8 x 4 5/8 and adhered it to the card, centered vertically.

I punched three 1 1/2 inch circles from Smoothie cardstock and sponged the edges in the same color.  Using the Connections stamp set, I stamped the larger circle design in Smoothie ink and the smaller design in White Daisy pigment ink, which I embossed with white embossing powder.  I didn't worry about perfect placement of the circles for this design since the overall feel is a little more playful.

Finally, after adhering my circles, I pulled out the package of MyStickease from the Sweetheart line.  I used three identical round elements and popped them up with foam adhesive tape.  I chose a sentiment from the MyStickease, sponged the edges with Smoothie and Grey Wool ink, and adhered it with foam adhesive tape as well.

Here's a shot of the dimension:

If you've got some CTMH supplies, head on over to H2H and play along with the challenges.  If you don't have CTMH supplies, why not?!  Shop online anytime, and play along with any challenge for the entire month.

Submitting this to Tip Junkie's  Tip Me Tuesday handmade projects.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Today's the day to announce all of the winners from my long weekend of giveaways!  So here we go:

The winner for day 1 wins this great little assortment of goodies:

And random.org tells me our winner is:   rooibos0727, who said "Hey Lori --Lisa from Frugal here. I'm obviously not at CHA either. It's called lack of money. I am so enjoying the stuff I picked up from Close to Heart. I think I might just have to run over and check out the wings setup. Great layout. Have an awesome day."

The winner for day 2 will receive the Nursery Rhymes Cricut cartridge and a $10 gift certificate to Lettering Delights.  And random.org tells me our winner is:  Laney, who said "Your card is just darling, thanks for sharing your talents. Love your blog, thanks for a chance to win and awesome giveaway! Keep up the GREAT work looking forward to seeing more."

The day 3 winner(s) will receive a paper pack and this cute stamp set:

And random.org tells me our winner is Heidi, who said "Hmmm...I'm already a follower so I don't remember "how" I found you! LOL. I am mainly a scrapbooker of my kids but also within the last year have started making some cards for the holidays...birthdays, get well, thank you etc. I'm pretty new to stamping in general and am finding the new clear stamps are WONDERFUL...I hated the old wooden ones as I could ever get it straight. Thanks so much for sharing your cute layout. My hubby used to own a pink shirt and he said you have to be a "real" man to pull off pink! LOL."  Since Heidi doesn't know who referred her, I'll be saving that extra prize for another giveaway coming soon!

Finally, our day 4 winner will receive this great assortment of goodies:

And random.org tells me our winner is JustYolie, who said "I love layouts with multiple pics. Yours turned out great! Thanks for the chance to win."

I will try to contact all of my winners ASAP, likely late tonight or tomorrow.  I'm headed out with my 2nd grader for new gym shoes, and have to work tonight.  It will probably be Friday before I get all of these prizes in the mail; I'm afraid this week's entire paycheck was eaten up by the credit card bill!

Vintage Paper Scraps Valentine

My maternal grandmother was born in the first decade of the 20th century.  Thankfully, she saved all kinds of interesting things, including some wonderful paper ephemera such as calling cards and "scraps".  These scraps were some of the original items placed in the scrapbooks of yesteryear, although my grandmother had her bits & pieces in a special box.

Last Summer at CHA, I found a very special company.  Paper Dreams Factory still creates paper scraps "made in Germany using art and processes created over 100 years ago."  Just browsing their online catalog, I can tell some of the images are the exact ones in my grandmother's box.  There are of course many newer images, including several from the 1950's and a whole herd of Smurfs!  Andreas Hamm, the President of the company was kind enough to give me a sheet of angel images, but for some reason I just hadn't gotten around to using them - until now.

 I know, angels are really more of a Christmas thing, but this one seemed almost Cupid-like to me so I NEEDED to make a Valentine with it!  Look at those embossed details on that image; these are just so pretty in person.  There are several other designs on their website I want; I will say that their online catalog is not to easiest to navigate, but if you're just browsing around it's fine.  My particular sheet of angels can be found here.  You do need to create an account to see prices, but they are very reasonable.  This sheet is $1.99, with discounts for bulk purchases.  I'm not sure of their shipping fees yet, as I haven't had a chance to browse around enough to complete an order.  They are distributed from Rhode Island, so for we Americans I anticipate reasonable shipping prices too.


The patterned paper is from my stash - I think it was in the Target $1 spot last year or two years ago.  The cardstock colors are Hollyhock and Vineyard Berry (CTMH).  I just added a few self-adhesive pearls (CTMH) and some ribbon from my stash.

Very Vintage Valentine and Project Declutter Continues

I have a Valentine posted on the Cutters Creek blog today.  Head on over and check out the details!

 

Also, an FYI for those of you following my clutter busting quest.  Earlier today I was inspired by a couple o other bloggers and I cleaned out not one, not two, but THREE junk drawers!!  I now have my "pencil drawer" restored to order, as well as hubby's "household tool" drawer (which mysteriously had about 50 Allen wrenches in it) and the mish-mash drawer somewhat purged of junk.  I can probably now find birthday candles, a screwdriver, grocery list envelopes, and scotch tape without a 30-minute hunt!  Still haven't hit that pantry yet, but the kids are off school with snow days, so I'm guessing it may be a bit before I get to that.  On the bright side, I have scheduled the hubs to drop off that broken TV this Saturday morning, and I have several bags ready to go to Goodwill once I'm able to get through the snow!

Look Beyond the Obvious

When debating whether to buy a set of SVGs, remember to look beyond the obvious!  I purchased the set of Valentine Cone Boxes from Lettering Delights, and they have SO much potential beyond Valentine's Day.  (Only one of the boxes even has a heart on it!)  I thought this cone I made would be perfect for a May basket or a sweet Mother's Day gift.  Change the papers and decorations, and they're perfect for birthday parties, wedding favors, and more!

This cone has cute scalloped flaps, which I chose to fold down in the open position.  Before adhering them down, I sponged the edges with Baby Pink and Chocolate stamping inks.  I used my Crop-a-dile to add large eyelets on either side, and strung ribbon through as a doorknob hanger.  Then I created some paper flowers to decorate the front.

The paper flowers are easy to make.  Using Make The Cut, I imported the swirl from Basic Shapes.  I sized one at about 4 inches or so, and the other two between 2 - 2.5 inches.  I didn't worry about exact sizes.  Once cut, I hand cut the end of the swirl over to meet the next cut - no need to be perfect as this will be hidden in the middle.  I then inserted the outside end into a quilling tool (or use small tweezers) and rolled a few rounds up tightly.  After that, I removed the tool and rolled the swirl up the rest of the way, added a Glue Dot to the center circle and pushed the rolled up flowers down into it.  For larger sized flowers, you won't be able to roll it all up at once; you'll want to add Glue Dots along the way to keep it held together.

Once the flowers were rolled, I used some Liquid Glass between & on the rolls.  This is both to help it hold together better, and to add some bling.  I dipped mine in both micro beads and Prisma Glitter, then set them aside to dry.

For the leaves, I found the perfect file in the MTC gallery.  (Go to File > Import > From MTC Gallery.  This file is called Large Leaf - I deleted the circle and sized the leaves down to random sizes.  Once cut, I used my embossing stylus to add veins to my leaves, then sponged on some matching ink.  Finally, I added everything to the front of the cone using Glue Dots.

For those of you waiting for winner announcements, I'll be announcing them all at once when the last deadline has passed!