Mugs & Kisses

A few weeks ago, I ordered a special stamp to make a Valentine's Day card for my niece.  In keeping with the chocolate overload theme of her gift, I went for a warm & cozy, creamy non-traditional card.   I also was bound and determined to use a very masculine chocolate stripe, to create a soft, feminine card.

Details: (all PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper:  Fine Linen, Sweet Symphony print, metallic stripe (from my stash), Solar White (Neenah)
Stamp:  Cocoa Emma (C.C. Designs)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), Tea Dye Duo
Other:  Medium Scallop die, Labels 14 (Spellbinders), satin ribbon (Offray), Crystal Effects (SU), Copics




I realized while cropping & editing this photo that I forgot to make and add a sentiment tag saying "Mugs & Kisses."  I'm not sure if I even need it.  What do you think?  Maybe, I'll just put it on the inside or on the gift tag.  Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for visiting again and I hope your Valentine's Day is happy. {hugs}

Valentine Gift Sets

After weeks of planning and hours of baking, my Valentine treats were finally done.  Each of the sets were what everyone wants for the big day.  Chocolate.  Sugar.  And a special card telling you just how special you are.  My absolute favorite part of a homemade brownie is the crunchy edges. So, when I found a silicone baking pan that makes 1" square brownies, I did a happy dance. Especially since I was at Michael's and had a 45% off coupon.

Inside each of the gift bags were glassine bags of brownies and heart shaped sugar cookies, cello bags of jelly beans, and packets of white, vanilla bean, and traditional hot chocolate from one of my favorite coffee shops, Second Cup. Like Starbucks, but purely Canadian.  And home of the best white hot chocolate in the world.  Seriously, it's worth every single calorie.

Thanks for coming by for a peek at my handicrafts.  Do drop by tomorrow as I have saved my best and favorite Valentine's Day card for the big day. 

Hope you all had a blessed weekend.   


Details:
Paper:  crumb cake, journal print (SU), solar white (Neenah), coloured cardstock (various)
Stamps:  Love Songs (PTI), Silly Valentine (LawnFawn), Love Monkey (Verve)
Ink:  tuxedo black (Memento)
Other:  Limitless Layers, Double Ended banner, Tag Sale 1 (PTI), Copics, baker's twine

Friendship Swap

Oh.  My.  Dear.  Was I ever totally spoiled me.  After a bleah day at work and the "worst blizzard of the century's coming your way" reports we've been getting all day, finding my giftie in the mailbox was a treat.  Fortunately, my camera was charged and ready to capture every wonderful thing inside.  So, settle in and prepare to have your jaw drop a little further with each passing pic:

First, I opened a standard USPS mailing box to see this:

Love the heartsy tissue paper. 

Which revealed a treasure trove of all things sweet and pink:

An altered paint tin of Hershey Nuggets. 

 

A cupcake notepad, custom cover, and matching pen.



A cutesy pot-holder (which is truly too cute to use) and ...

A beautiful, handmade card and note inside.

Audrey, thank you so much for everything.  This totally made my day.  I'm humbled by the time, effort, and thought you put into making this gift so special.  Pink.  Cupcakes.  Tiny Treats.  It's got your signature all over it.  I love it!!  You are an amazing crafter & a great online friend.  {{hugs}}

Blessings!

January Blog Hop

New Year's Resolution

With the new year comes a clean slate along with many resolutions. This month's blog hop challenge involves you challenging yourself to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust! Go through your stash and see what little used treasure it might hold. 2011 is the year where what's old is new again!

This month's challenge was a bit of a challenge because I didn't know which set to use.  Yes, I have lots of sets that need to be inked up.  Saturday was a glorious snow day so I made two cards for this month's hop.  I think a personal challenge for the year will be to ink them all before ordering more.  HA!  That should last until 11:59 PM Feb. 14th.  Then all willpower seems to go straight out the window. 

First Set:  All Star

 

I needed a card for my teenaged nephew and I just know that cutesy Tiny Treats or heartsy everything else would not work for him.  So, I zeroed in on one of his great loves, soccer.  Even though this Valentine doesn't say I love him, he knows that I really am one of his biggest fans.

Second Set:  Little Bitty Bird

Can I just say that Audrey was absolutely right.  She told me I'd love this set and oh how I do.  In fact, I've got another idea rattling around in my head just dying to get out.  Hopefully I won't forget before I find time to hide out in my craft room. 

This year, I'm aiming to participate in all 12 Blog Hop's.  Wish me luck!!  Thanks for stopping by.  Follow along if you like what you see, and hopefully I'll see you next month, if not sooner. 

Happy Hopping!!

tiny treats valentine

Just a quick little Valentine's day post.  I love mini cards and decided to keep this simple.  The base is a 4.25" square, so that it will still fit into a standard A2 envelope.  I'm still trying to get all of my Valentine's Day cards and gifts together before the big day.  So far, so good.  Only a few more cards to go and I'm all set. 

Hopefully, I'll have some of my gifties put together soon to share.  I would love to get them done soon, but, I'm planning to make & bake some tasty treats from Our Best Bites.  If you haven't checked this blog out yet, WHAT are you waiting for?  Getting going. 

Well, I am off.  Thanks for swinging by for a visit. And don't forget that tomorrow is Papertrey's Blog Hop. I can't wait to share what's up my sleeve with you all!  

Supplies:  All PTI unless otherwise noted

Cardstock:  spring rain, solar white (Neenah)

Specialty Paper:  cork (unknown)

Stamps:  Tiny Treats Valentine

Nestabilities:  Labels Three (Spellbinders)

Other:  Copics, baker's twine, pure poppy button

Who loves you?

In my feeble attempts to challenge myself, I am trying to use a wider variety of sizes for my card bases.  This tall & slim creation uses a lot of PTI products.  In fact, I think it's almost all PTI.  I have to confess, I am hard pressed to break up with SU Crumb Cake. 



To dress up the interior, I used a little Crystal Effects from SU on the heart balloons.  WOW.  In real life, they have so much shine and dimension that they look like really expensive embellies.  Crystal Effects also makes the pink ink look so incredibly rich.

Thanks for visiting today. 

See you all soon!

Suzanne

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted)

Paper:  crumb cake (SU), stampers select white, dark chocolate, happy spots (printed)

Stamps:  Tiny Treats Valentine, Love Songs

Ink:  rose bud, tuxedo black, rich cocoa (Memento)

Other:  Take Three die, Limitless Layers

vintage valentine

Happy Wednesday, Friends.  I'm trying to get a jump on all of my holiday crafting for 2011, so I'm starting Valentine's Day early.  I was in Michael's on the weekend and found this gorgeous print that I literally fell in love with in the store.  I mean, I bought three 12 x 12 pieces of this.  I have been dying to ink up & create with Love Birds, so I was just messing around in my craft room last night (instead of marking book reports LOL).  This is what I came up with:

Hope you are having a great time.  And for my PTI forum buds, I hope you're working on your Holiday Central goals.  I've got big plans that I'm hoping will come to fruition over the next few weeks.  You may want to follow my blog so you'll know when I start to post my Valentine treat sets.  They're going to be great.

Have a great day!!
Supplies: 
Paper:  white (Neenah), red (Bazzill), print (Anna Griffin)
Stamps:  Love Birds
Ink:  Cranberry (ColorBox), Tuxedo Black, Chamomile Tea Dye
Other:  Large Circle & Petite Scalloped Circle dies (Spellbinders)