Beauty "Advent Calendars"

My collection of small beauty samples treasures is out of control, and I found the perfect way to share these items with my sister and my bestie. While stuck in the vortex called Youtube, I stumbled upon multiple videos made by beauty gurus showing fabulous advent calendars manufactured by cosmetic companies filled with their products.  The store bought beauty advent calendars are popular in the UK, but harder to come across in the US.

When I thought of the idea to give my beauty samples away, my mind went first to the packaging.  I thought about assembling a proper advent calendar kit --- *blush* I actually have two in my stash waiting for me to put together and decorate.  However, the samples I wanted to include in the calendars are just too large for those kits.  So I went another route.  I wrapped some of the larger products in tissue paper, and others I tucked into boxes and bags created using the We R Memory Keepers Punch Boards.

Some of the samples I received free with cosmetic purchases (from places like Sephora), others came in a purchased subscription box (like Epsy and Fortune Cookie Soap), and the remaining items were bought individually (like the Zoya nail products).

When it came to numbering all of the boxes I created a quick Power Point file with standard circle designs in a size to fit my 1 1/2 inch punch...THEN I saw this stamp set from Stampin Up! and took another direction.  I'm thankful Stampin Up is so quick to ship!  I tucked all of the wrapped goodies in descending order into an open top gift box I found at a local Home Goods.  I made a little gift tag with the instructions "Begin December 1st with gift number 1.  Each day, open a new treat".   Not sure I could be so patient and wait to open 25 gifts!

Harvest Thanksgiving Card

Fall is here!  We live is such a beautiful state for the season.  The trees have changed color and the leaves are just beginning to fall.  The temperature is still warm enough not to need a coat.

This is the card we will be sending out for Thanksgiving.  I have to admit that I stole got inspiration from a thank you card I recently received.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Classic Kraft (Papertrey Ink), Rustic Cream (Papertrey Ink), Recollections Solids (Michaels) 
Stamps:  Fall Elegance (Papertrey Ink), Fancy Flourishes (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Canyon Clay (Papertrey Ink) Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink) 

What A Magical Day!

 A good day is when you meet someone from "the crafting world" and get a photo of the meeting.  The BEST day EVER (in my eyes) is when you are seated at the same dinner table with Tim Holtz, and discover he is pretty darn awesome to talk to....all while in the Happiest Place on Earth!  Tonight was that night for me.  I'm star struck. <<mic drop>> That's all for now.  :)

Wishing You The Happiest of Holidays

Our 2014 Christmas Cards are now COMPLETE!  As I mentioned in my previous post, I was able to knock them out while on 'vacation' in Ocean City, Maryland.  It's difficult to tell by the photo, but I used a clear glitter pen over the embossed snowflakes, which added a touch of sparkle to the cards without the mess of actual glitter.  I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out!

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink), Real Red (SU!)
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes (SU!), Think Big Favorites #20 (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Real Red (SU!)
Other:   Real Red 1/8" Ribbon (SU!), Red Bakers Twine (Papertrey Ink), Clear Glitter Pen (Wink of Stella), Snowflake Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

Christmas Cards with a side of Canine Crisis

Our annual beach vacation to Ocean City, Maryland brought on way too much excitement and heartache for this crafter.  Four hours after we arrived at our pet friendly timeshare on Friday, our 9 year old Yorkshire Terrier was attacked by a much larger dog (an unprovoked Weimaraner).  Thankfully, my husband was there to save Piper (and did NOT get hurt in the process).  Since the event occurred after regular business hours, we rushed him to a Pet ER 30 miles away.  Our little guy required surgery to fix his multiple wounds.  Thankfully, he made it through and we were able to get him from the ER the next morning.  Piper was heavily sedated and required constant care - we were basically on lock-down at the beach condo until we could revisit the same vet on Tuesday.  We passed the time by watching Netflix movies and I started our Christmas cards!

A few years back I decided to make our cards each year versus purchasing them, and always found myself pressed for time to get them completed.  I knew I didn't want to rush this year, so I made a card kit for myself just in case we had a rain day and were stuck inside while at the beach...little did I realize.

I set myself up on the coffee table in the living room of the condo right beside Piper and knocked them out between medication doses, hand feeding and general tending.  Made good progress!

Tuesday we took Piper back to the ER for a checkup and have his wound drain removed.  They gave us the green light to head out of town.  We ALL were ready to leave and get back home.  Thursday we took him to our regular vet for a check up.  He's on the mend though he still has over a week before his staples can be removed.  This pup is tough and his caregivers are so very thankful!

Shaker Cards

I finally received my Make It Market Kit: Shakers + Sprinkles from PTI a few weeks ago.  This kit was very difficult to order - their web site couldn't handle the high demand for this product and as soon as it was released, the site crashed.  The product sold out before some could even order, so PTI created a wait list for those of us who were not able to order.  After two months, mine finally arrived, and boy am I very happy with the kit.  I've tried to make a few shaker cards in the past (here) and found this kit makes it fool proof!

All of the paper used on these cards are from PTI.  (sorry about the glare)

Organization - Die Storage

My die collection seems to be growing in leaps and bounds.  I found a binder storage solution a few years back to house my wafer thin dies, but it's time to expand to something more flexible.

The picture on the left shows my current setup.  The photo box on the bottom left houses my embossing folders; nothing will change with that system (maybe I'll update the label on the front of the box).  The CD box on the top left houses four CD cases containing my Nestibilies (seems like a large box for four CD cases).  The two binders on the right measure 5 1/2  x 8 1/2 inches and I use those for my thin dies.  These two binders are stuffed to the gills and I needed to come up with a solution but didn't want to expand into another section of my Expedit.

Here are some shots of the way my binders were organized.  I purchased the binders from Staples (Martha Stewart) as well as the three different formats of page protectors.  The first picture below shows how I stored individual dies and smaller sets.  There are four pockets per page and I cut magnet sheets to fit into each pocket.  This controlled the placement of the dies and also gave the pocket some structure.  The next two pictures show a version of the pockets that have two per page.  The last picture with the book on the right shows a full sheet page protector, these are great for favor or border dies.

 

I've decided to take all the smaller dies out of these binders and use a system I recently saw on Jennifer McGuire's blog.  She uses CD sleeves and labels the sleeve with a P-touch label maker.  I cut white card stock to give the sleeve structure.  I also used the same method Jennifer did when it came to making dividers; I cut poly file folders (5 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches) and rounded the corners.  Since I already had a CD box housing my Nestibilies crying to be used, it's just a little switch-a-roo, and also not expanding outside the current footprint in my Expedit.  This will free up one of the binders for new favor and border dies (with just a purchase of new protectors).