Happy Easter!

Easter is another of those holidays that I have always loved for all the fun things there are to make and share. Got the idea for these candy bouquets from a catalog I got in the mail last year just before Halloween. The catalog showed very cute but very pricey bouquets of Halloween candies and I thought to myself, "I wanna try making one like that!" The sweet little lambies on the pails are from the Paper Dolls cart, their bodies were embossed with the cuttlebug swirls template to look like fleece and details on legs and face were chalked. Grass is from the Zooballo cart and tiny paper flowers are from Photocraft's All Natural Accents line. Easter goodies were taped onto bamboo barbeque sticks and arranged in styrofoam. One mailed to dd, one for my sweet niece, and one for dh to share at work.

Found the idea for these 9-square baskets at the cricut website. The pattern for these was shared on the message board by a super talented lady, Sue Nelson. She has a extensive gallery full of inspiration of all her beautiful cards and creations at Heart Prints. Used 9x9" chipboard covered with patterned paper to make these. Very quick and easy! Filled these with silly Easter goodies and mailed them off to dd and her bf.

Used the George cart and my new Doodlecharms cart to cut bunnies, baskets and eggs to make tags for my Easter baskets and candy bouquets.

Finally got a chance to try making these pull card pouches that I first saw a sample of at Photocraft back in January. I think the pull mechanism on this is the neatest thing...so simple, and yet it makes you wonder, "How the heck does it work?" Filled the pouches with bags of my favorite Cadbury Mini Eggs and an adorable little Lindt chocolate lambie. Peeking bunny from Doodlecharms & George carts, flower is a sizzlit die, and "Happy Easter" is Mickey Font welded with the help of Design Studio. Made several of these to share with special friends.

And WhooHoo!!!! Take a look at these Easter goodies! Aren't they just precious? These darling mini decorated cookies were from a very special lady at dh's workplace. She always does an amazing job making everything she bakes into works of art. It must take an incredible amount of patience and time to make so many different colors of icing and to decorate all these little babies with such detail! Thank you so much! The Betty Crocker-Martha Stewart award goes to you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another go at my paper dolls cart, this time with a dancin' leprechaun for St. Paddy's Day! Pot of gold & shamrocks also from paper dolls cart, clouds from paper pups, and the rainbow & leprechaun's "dancing legs" created with design studio. First time ever for me to make or even send a St Patrick's Day card...thought it might be fun to try to make and at the same time send a smile across the miles to dd & her bf!

You GO GURL!

Having mucho fun playing with my Paperdolls cart and the design studio! Made this card for dd who was

getting ready for college interviews last week...she was so nervous, and since we couldn't be there in person for hugs and moral support, I sent her this card to let her know we were rooting for her! And since dd was a cheerleader in highschool, I figured she might get a kick out this. Used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the front together with qk daisies & leaves, qk cooky cutter scallop circle, Sizzlits Wingo Zingo font, & Family Treasures photo corner punch.

Happy Girl's Day!

A card sent to dd to celebrate Girls Day. Can't believe I actually went digging through my stash of old rubberstamps to make this card! The hina ningyo stamp is from Mari & Me. I used two sakura stamps from Stamps 'n Such to heat emboss the right panel of this Joy fold card.

Hina ningyo image was stamped, cut out, and colored with Prismacolor & Copic pens. A second

image was stamped onto glossy Currency Gold cardstock, heat embossed and cut out. The first ningyo image was then pop dotted onto the gold screen for dimension. All panels were edged with a Krylon gold leafing pen. Layered 3 sizes of sakura punch for front closure, doodles with a Gelly Roll Glaze pen. Sentiment is computer generated. Holy Moly! Now that is what I call some heavy duty stampin'. Haven't done one like this in years! Good thing I made more than one like this because don't think I'll be doing anything like this again for awhile.

This pillow box was cut using a coluzzle box template. To make it Japanese, I tried to decorate it to look like an obi on a kimono. Used Bazzill Bling edged with a gold leafing pen for the obi and decorated with sakura. Added a pink organza ribbon tied into a knot for a sash.
Inside, are tucked a pair of earrings and other small goodies which were sent to dd.
Inspiration credits for the Joy fold card and for making me dig thru my stamp stash go to Jen and Teri; and the idea of layering the sakura punches to Norice at Creations Unlimited.

Busted out my Paper Dolls Dressup cart for the very first time together with some welding on Design Studio to do the kimono and hair on my Japanese doll on this gift bag. This was kinda fun and I really would have liked to do more in terms of details on the kimono and such, but I was so pressed for time that I had to be satisfied with just this.

A New Card Idea from New Friends

Another fast & simple one. A card for grandpa.Used Paper Pups cart for the doggie and Beyond Birthdays for the sentiment inside. Really like the fold on this card, kind of like a card in a card. And I like how the front of the card is held closed with the little flower! First saw this type of card on the Pieces of Me blog by Jen. She's a new found friend and a super creative and talented lady! Whenever I'm in a creative slump, I visit her blog for fresh & creative ideas. Found more samples of this card at BIG ideas from a little girl blog by Teri, yet another uber creative gal and new found friend! Learned from Teri's blog that this card has a name...the Joy fold card, named after the girl who first came up with the idea. I thought that was pretty amusing... kind of like it was an invention or some sort of earth shattering discovery! But then again, maybe to some of us it is!