Happy Anniversary to our Favorite Couple

My daughter and son in law celebrated their third anniversary last month...and yup, I made another sliding box card. I was already embarrassingly late with my card before I even started, and this was the quickest "nice" card I could come up with at the time so I just went with it, this time changing the window to a heart shaped one.

On the inside, I used a cute boy and girl paper piecing file called "Kissing Booth" from SVG Cutting Files.

Since the original cutting file on this only included the top half of their bodies, I used one of the Paper Dolls Add-Ons (also from SVG Cutting Files) to weld on the bottom half of their bodies and their legs in MTC (Make the Cut).

I always find it fun to add a few little subtle details to bring back memories of their wedding whenever I make my daughter and son in law's anniversary card. Though they probably didn't recognize it, the pretty patterned paper (retired, from Basic Grey) I used on the outside is one of the papers I had originally used to create one of their wedding invitation samples three years ago. And in keeping with the lovebirds theme they had for their wedding, I added a bird held banner for the Happy Anniversary sentiment. Birds are from the Cricut 3 Birds On Parade cartridge, and banner is a from a internet image search rendered into a cut file with MTC.

I used paper blossoms from All Natural Accents glittered with Stickles together with foliage from a Nellie Snellen punch on the bottom corners of the box, and a corner flourish die from LaLa Land embellished with flatback pearls and jewels on the remaining corners. And finally I added a scalloped heart frame embellished with more pearls for the window.

Views from the top of the box show the glittery Best Creation Inc sakura paper from the Kimono line used on the inside of the box and where the couple is attached to the sliding mechanism.
LOL, I think just about everyone on my cardmaking list has at least one (or maybe even two) of this sliding box style cards already. Guess it's about time to start looking for another style card to have fun with....

For a FAN-tastic Friend

Had another go at my favorite sliding box type card...this time as a birthday card for my sweet and super talented friend Lorna. 

Changed the window for this one to a rounded rectangle shape and put together paper pieced kokeshi Aoki and Panda images from Annelore Parot to peek out from the window.

Cutting files for kokeshi Aoki and Panda were created in MTC (Make the Cut) and I had them hold fans cut from Cricut's Pagoda cartridge. Digitized washi paper was used for Aoki's kimono and printed origami paper for the fans. Patterned paper for the base card comes from My Little Shoebox Cherry Delight collection.

Added my sentiment onto a freebie label svg designed and generously shared by Heather M. on her blog, Images By Heather M. 

Enlarged the same label and put it on the back of the box card for additional sentiments. Font used is Gaze Condensed ttf.

Here's the view from the top...where you can peek in to see kokeshi Aoki and Panda attached to the sliding element inside the box and the pretty patterned fan paper from Best Creation Inc.'s Kimono collection used for the background.

And here's what the card looks like when it's flattened to fit into a envelope. This sliding box card continues to be a favorite for me; still having fun coming up with different ways to decorate and embellish this! If you'd like to give this card a try, I have a mini tutorial for the basic sliding box card posted here. Have fun!

Happy Hoppy Easter!

Here are the Easter basket treat boxes I put together for sharing with friends and family this year. The design for these boxes was totally inspired by some cute Ghiradelli candy boxes I spied while browsing the Easter aisle at the store. I thought the box design was so cool and went home to try to create a template cutting file for something similar in MTC (Make the Cut). Once I got the trapezoid shaped box on the inside figured out, the rest wasn't too hard. I created a basket shaped "cover" for the trapezoid box to sit in and tied the handles together with a tulle bow.

After all fifteen baskets were finally cut and assembled, it was time for some fun decorating! Martha Stewart Layered Arches edge punch was used for a lacey border and Die-namics Grassy Edges die for the grass. Eggs were cut using a cutfile from My Scrap Chick, butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and I used a mini punch from Punch Bunch for the tiny flowers.

Sweet little lop eared bunny is from one of my favorite cutting files, "Fluffy Bear and Bunny" from My Scrap Chick.

I glued the trapezoid box to just the back side of the basket shaped "cover" so the front side of the cover would fall open once the bow was untied. This made it easier to open the top of the box to get to the rice krispies cookies inside and also gave me a place to add a sentiment. Got the recipe for the cookies online here...a good one to try if you like crunchy buttery cookies.
Had so much fun putting these baskets together! Maybe a little challenging in the beginning to create the template on my own, but definitely a lot more satisfying in the end!

Can't leave without sharing the fabulous goodies I received too! 

We always look forward to Heather's kawaii cooky creations at Easter...hers are definitely the most YUMMI-LICIOUS decorated cookies ever! But they're so darned cute that I almost hate to eat them!

Double CUTE-NESS ALERT!!!! This pair of adorable Easter baskets filled with chocolates comes from sweet Lorna. TWO too cute, especially adorned with stamped and colored images from Dandelion Designs!

And finally...our Easter Greeting to you...(starring a very patient Latte!)

Happy Easter!

To My Favorite Peeps...

From Some Bunny Who Thinks You're Special!

More Year of the Sheep Treats

Slowly but surely I'm finally catching up with my late blog posts. Sharing the last of my Year of the Ram goodies today. This fancy little hanging lantern decoration was given to me by none other than my uber talented friend, Lorna to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Lorna created this beautiful hanging lantern by joining several Chinese red envelopes (li see, lai see, or hongbao) together at their corners...so COOL, eh? Awww...and isn't that tiny little ram bell charm hanging from it the CUTEST thing ever?

The lantern ornament hangs from a hook made from a heavy gauge jewelry wire which extends from a "stand", filled with a fortune cookie and other sweet treats. So clever! The adorable little rams on the front is also a red envelope which Lorna adhered to the stand. Another amazing and creative original from my sweet friend!

Here's yet another Year of the Sheep inspired gift I received...from none other than my dear mom! Even while laid up in bed after her knee surgery, she spent her time stitching away in between physical therapy sessions. LOL, there's no stopping a crafter!

Totally LOVE my new plastic canvas sheep tissue holder! Each of the colorful blossoms on this were individually stitched and sewn on separately for dimension, and she even stitched the year on the top!

And finally, these are the calendar magnets I put together at the very last minute when I realized I had run short of the easel calendars I made earlier. I purchased the calendars for these from Impress Rubber Stamps because their shipping costs were more reasonable than other places. The size of their small and medium calendars are different than the ones from Vippies, but no problem. I actually felt the quality of these were much better.

Using the "2015" cutfile I used previously for my easel calendars and the cute ram image (from daikonko) cutfile I used to decorate my New Years treat bottles, together with a lot of helpful advice from my friend Karen of Have A Scrap Happy Day blog, I was able to put a dozen of these together and in the mail pretty quickly...whew, glad that's all done!
Yay! I think I'm pretty much caught up on the posting of my holiday projects...at least for now!

Cuteness Overload!

Still trying to catch up! St, Patrick's Day was Tuesday, and though I didn't wear green, I got really lucky... My dear friend Kris surprised me with this super adorable bag of goodies!

Aww...isn't this little leprechaun mouse the CUTEST ever?!!! Kris has an amazing talent with paper piecing these little critters, always making them look so irresistibly cute!

Oh, oh...more CUTENESS! This darling card from sweet Patti of Creations by Patti had me squealing with delight! Is that my little Latte on the card? This was a Make and Take ard offered by Avery Elle Stamps at the recent CHA trade show which Patti put together and sent my way 'cause it reminded her of my furbaby. How sweet is that!

 One thing's for certain...I MUST have this stamp!

Lucky,lucky me, to have such very special friends!

Sweet Surprises!

I'm afraid I'm quite behind on my blog postings...but late as this may be, I really wanted to share these sweet surprises I received from my very talented crafty friends for Valentines Day and Girls Day this year. First up...Lorna's super cute Valentines Day packets filled with chocolates.

She used Sister Stamps Miyako stamp, colored with Copics and holding up a washi paper pieced heart to embellish her packet closed with a bow. So adorable!

This beautiful card in a box creation came in the mail from my dear friend, Patti of Creations By Patti blog. Wow, I love how this card in a box looks like it's just bursting open with so many hearts! Even the flaps on the box are heart shaped! Patti chose perfectly coordinating papers and a cutting file from SVG Cuts to make this a very special Valentine.

Then on Girls Day (March 3rd), Lorna blew me away with these incredible kokeshi doll treats! 

Lorna used the Kokeshi Doll Heads stamps to make these doll displays...and  if you look carefully, you can see the packets of wasabi iso peanuts draped with pretty washi paper she used to create their bodies. Yes, this girl is just out of this world creative!

And tucked underneath each of the display stands were these yummy mochi candies...

And finallly, this "OMG SO KAWAII!!!" kimono Hello Kitty packet of treats comes from my dear friend Kris. She embossed her packet with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and paper pieced this adorable Hello Kitty. Love, love all the tiny little details from the pretty bow and flowers in her hair to the little pair of geta on feet.
I'm so blessed to have such wonderfully talented and crafty friends who always spoil me with their amazing creations! Okay, please bear with me as I still have a few more Chinese New Year projects to share on my next post and hopefully I'll be caught up and ready for...Easter!

Girls Day Sakura Petal Boxes

Uh, oh! It's only March, and already I'm slipping behind on all my projects and blog posts...YIKES! I suppose part of the reason is that Valentines Day, Chinese New Year and Girls Day were all less than a week apart this year. That, and me not being able to come up with any creative ideas...I was especially stumped on what to do for Girls Day this year. Then I remembered some cute petal boxes I had seen a while back and recalled wanting to try them as sakura petal boxes. Searching online, I came across a few usable templates, but they were all four petal (square), six petal (hexagon) or eight petal (octogon) boxes. For a sakura, I needed a FIVE petal (pentagon) box. Desperate and running out of time, I finally came to the realization that I'd have to come up with my own template...UGH!

Tracing the template I found for a six petal box into MTC, I removed one of the panels to make it a five sided box, then created a pentagon shape for the box bottom. Ta-Da...it worked!

The individual petals of the sakura were also created in MTC by doing some pixel editing to separate the petals on a sakura image I had previously saved.

Various sized sakura and flower center punches were used to decorate the sides of the box...

and paper pieced kokeshi was created in MTC using a kokeshi head image found online and pairing it with the kokeshi body from Jin's (Under A Cherry Tree blog) freebie Kyoto Kuties cutting file.

Here's what the box looks like when it's open. I was able to finish ten of these just in the nick of time, and filled them with Japanese mochi candies.

Finished them off by bagging in cellophane...

And adding a fun topper.

Girls Day (March 3rd) isn't a major holiday but I always enjoy making a little something to share with friends. Brings back lots of warm memories of my daughter growing up and even of my own childhood.