Gotta Love Those Gift Bags

So, I think I am hooked on making gift bags and matching cards. I almost, notice I said ALMOST, don't care about what is inside just as long as I can come up with a fun outside.

This was for the last of the April birthdays in our "foster family" group of friends. She is a great cook and loves anything kitchen, cooking related. So I made a few aprons for her and found a fun cookbook with lots of yummy pictures. Don't you just love looking at the pictures in a cookbook?

This is just a straight 1/2 apron that is reversible. The other side is the same fabrics in reverse.

Since the gift was kitchen themed I thought I would splash the bag with the same.

This is a 12x16 bag.
Nifty 50's cart:
Background splash:

9.5 in - Motel Phrase, Layer 3 (Bobunny Dots)
            Motel Phrase, Shadow (solid pink card stock)
White gel pen stitching

Bag Elements:
3 in. - Apron (scraps of paper?)
          Oven Mitt
Glossy Accents on the buttons

From My Kitchen cart:
Bag Elements:
4 in. - Oven
          Muffin Tin
          Mixer
          Recipe Card
5 in. - cake
Clear star gel pen highlights and stitching on the muffin tin
White puff paint, and stickles on the cake and cake stand
Nate's ABC's cart:
0.6 and 1.2 in. Letters for "Cookin' up some fun"

Card/Tag:
From My Kitchen:
4 in. - recipe card
        - decorative layer
2.5 in. - saying (can't remember the cart)

Well, I am off to scrapbook for the whole day with some friends, one of which owns a scrapbooking store.

"Happy National Scrapbooking Day!"

Happy Easter!

It is Easter morning and I am having a blast reliving childhood memories today. My paternal grandmother's family is from the Azores, Portugal. Many of my memories of this side of the family gather around family, parties, and food. Definitely FOOD. My Great Grandma, Grandma Domingos, was a wonderful cook. On Easter that always included Portuguese Sweet Bread and Liguicia, a spicy Portuguese sausage.

We are off to gather with friends this afternoon, for brunch. I am in charge of sausage...so I thought I would pull out Grandma D's recipes and make it a true memory day.

Portuguese Sweet Bread (think Hawaiian Sweet Bread you buy in the store as a reference) is a sweet, egg bread. The recipe I have from my family includes 14 eggs, 1 cup of butter, 2+ cups of sugar, and 5 5+ lbs of flour to start with. Needless to say it doesn't make a small batch of bread. We laugh that you only make this when you know you are feeding the whole neighborhood. Because it is such a big recipe, it requires a big bowl. I think every kitchen in our family has one of these huge crockery bowls.


My bread bowl with a one-cup pyrex measuring cup for reference.
The bowl will hold at least 2 gallons.


Here is the dough resting and rising.

Told you I need a big bowl. By the time it is finished rising the first time it will fill the bowl completely. We usually make some loaves but most of it is formed into rolls in muffin tins.

While these are rising and baking, Grandma used to make Palilis. I have know idea how to spell this but it is basically fried strips of the dough. We would slather these with butter and munch while waiting for the rolls to bake.

Then there is the yummy smell of Linguicia cooking in a pan. I like to slice mine and start the cooking process in red wine.

My house sure smelled a lot like Grandma D's today as I prepped for Easter Brunch. I hope your Easter is full of fun, yummy memories this year too.



Checkbook Cover, pt. 2

I posted a few quilted or stitched items a few weeks ago. I asked for some ideas and comments and promised to give away a quilted checkbook cover to one commenter. Well, L.B., won her own personalized checkbook cover. She said she liked purple, blue, green, and polka dots. I also knew that LB was a Cricut Circle member. Using all of that info, this is the cover I came up with for her.


Checkbook Cover Front, with button/elastic closure.

Back, with pen holder.



Inside pockets - one for register; one for checks, complete with plastic spacer
to write on without messing with the duplicate check below.

 I waited to post these picture until I knew LB had received it. Did not want to ruin the surprise. I am working on perfecting the pattern for this project. Then I might be willing to sell a few. Stay tuned for more news on that idea later.
Thank you LB for posting comments on your blog.

Final Winner....

With only 2 comments I guess I could have flipped a coin, but the final winner is L.B. I will be contacting you about the paper albums, and your other winnings.

Thanks again to everyone who came to visit during my birthday week.

Springtime Thank Yous

The gals in our office are always very sweet at birthday time. They always find a vase of flowers, a balloon, or in my case a basket of plants that make the day special. This year it was a beautiful mixture of green plants, and tiny, non-sneeze inducing flowers.

They also chipped in to get me a gift card for Cheesecake Factory. Yum! Can't wait to use that one. I wanted to make thank you cards that were just as special. I found some sheets of Graphic 45 paper I had picked up that were spring-y and kind of festive that I thought might do the trick. They are all from the Once Upon a Springtime Collection.

I really did not do a lot to put these together. The centers of the frames actually came out to be used as embellishments. I chose to mix and match with other frames and then raise the centers off of the card with foam tape squares. I inked edges with CM's brown chalk ink and added a Bo Bunny Tutu dots paper rectangle with the sentiment stamped to finish them off.

As quick and simple as these were to put together, I really like the look of them.

And The Winners Are...

The numbers have been entered and the "names" pulled for 4 of 5 give aways. Since some had only a few comments, I chose to double or triple that number when using the random number generator, so it would go around a few times. Think roulette wheel.

April 11: There were 14 comments, so I entered 42 (3x14) into random.org and the number 19 was picked ...which means that L.B. wins the Disney Vacation and Adventures with Pooh paper packs.

April 12: There were 10 comments on Tuesday. I entered 30 (3x10) and random.org came back with 4...so that would mean that Donna Gravel wins the 8x8 album and Serenity paper pack.

April 13: A total of 17 comments were left on the two posts that day. 51 (3x17) came back with ....42. Therefore, Liz W will be receiving the See's Candy certificate and surprise goodies.

April 14/15: 12 comments left (3x12) 36 in the generator gives me 17. Melissa wins the 8x8 album, paper pack, and Mickey watch.

Congratulations to each of you. I will be contacting each of you to find out the best way to get these to you. Thank you to everyone who commented on my projects. I had a great time working on these.

Thank Ewe All

With any good birthday there are bound to be at least a few gifts. And if their are gifts, Thank You cards should soon be following, according to Miss Manners anyway.

This morning I am sharing a set of Thank You cards I made to give to the six brave parents who went on a field trip with my class last Friday. Since part of what we saw was a real working farm and vegetable garden I thought the Thank Ewe Card from "Just Because Cards" Cart would work perfectly. I had bought a few sheets of paper with farm animals to use on the scrapbook pages that would surely be done with all my pictures from the day. So I took some of that paper, some leftover Reflections blank cards and had a blast making the cards.

The oval is cut at 1.8"
The sheep is cut at 2"

I swirled white puffy paint on the white top layer to give it a woolly feel. Gotta love finding things from other crafts that work well with cards and scrapbooks.

Then I added just a few 1.5 or 2 " squares to the inside to pull it all together.

Now the last of the Blog Candy or Give Aways.... 2 CM 7 x 7 paper album kits Wishes and Dreams, and With Love. I opened the With Love kit to show you all that comes in it (Paper Album, printed paper, photo mats, stickers, embellishments, and envelop.

As always, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post before 10 pm Sunday, April 17th to be eligible.

Off to make my Birthday Thank You's now. I will post winners from the first 3 days of give aways later this afternoon.

Puzzled Gift Bag & Card

Earlier this week I shared a gift bag and card styled after a Scrabble game. Today, I am moving on to another of our favorite passtimes at gatherings, Jigsaw Puzzles. These were fun to make and could be easily adopted to any specific theme.

I started with a few greeting cards sporting pictures that fit the occassion. In this case, a Thomas Kincade painting of the castle at Disneyland, my friend loves his work, and Disneyland. I also picked a second card that was in my stash of old stationary from the 45 anniversary of Disneyland. I measured the front of the cards to determine my next steps.

In my Gypsy, on a new 12 x 12 mat I enlarged the Window Card cut on Don Juan to make the window slightly smaller than the front of the greeting card I chose to cut up. I hid the card outline itself, making just the puzzle pieces that make up the window the size of my card front.

I cut the card front away from the rest of the card and placed it on my mat to match the Gypsy file.

Here is the card artwork after I cut it.

I layered the front of a 8x10 kraft gift bag with coordinating card stock, and added a large sheer, teal ribbon to the last layer before attaching it to the bag. My "puzzle" was partially reassembled with some of the pieces adheared with popdots to give it some texture and dimention.

The saying in the corner was hand written, to try to tie together the idea of the puzzles and a gift she is surprised to get.

The card base is an ivory 5 x 6.5 card by Reflections. To this I added several layers of paper again, along with a sentiment I printed out on scraps of paper.

This morning's Blog Candy is a bit like my birthday...I spend at least part of the day at Disneyland on my day, and I always get a new watch. So, today I am giving away an 8x8 Red CM album, a pack of pages, and CM Primary Paper album kit (printed papers, stickers, and photo mats) AND a Mickey Watch.

All you need to do to be eligible to win, is comment on this post before midnight(pdst) on Saturday, April 16th.

Disneyland and new projects

We had a great day at Disneyland today.My husband and I have annual passes. We usually go over for a few hours at a time, a meal or snack, one ride or an event/show...Today we arrived just before the gates opened at 9 am and got home (10 minute drive) about 8:30 tonight. Basically a whole day. Wow! I know my nose and sholders are a bit red, toes are tired, but we had a blast wandering around.

Hubby said I looked like the true tourist today with bags, straps, camera, maps... What do you think? Funny we had a 78-80 degree sunny day at this end of the state, while all of my friends in my hometown (other end of CA) got snow yesterday. Gotta love all the choices of weather in one state.

I have started on a birthday gift bag and card project that will take most of tomorrow to finish. Here is one of the cuts to keep you thinking.

I will be posting the blog candy and more project info later this morning.

It's My Birthday Wk. Blog Candy Recap

Here is a of It's My Birthday Week Blog Candy Give Aways in case you missed one of my posts.

1. April 11 - Triple Score Birthday
              - CM's Disney Vacation Designer Print paper
              - CM's Adventures of Poo Album Kit (Papers and Stickers)
          Closes: April 15th 10 pm

2. April 12 - Silly Birthday Card
              - CM 8 x 8 album, 1 pack of pages
              - Serenity Album Kit
           Closes: April 15th 10 pm

3. April 13 - A Bit of Birthday Indulgence
             - See's Candy Gift Certificate
             - Surprise Goodie
           Closes: April 15th 12 Midnight

I will have 2 more days of Blog Candy Give Aways...so keep coming back.

Today's post will be delayed by a trip to Disneyland. I promise you, will like the give away. Until then, enjoy the day.

Damask Birthday Wishes

I found a box on my front porch today with a few cartridges I just ordered. Kind of like an early birthday present! I ordered Father's Day, Everyday Pop-Up Cards, and Damask Decor. Naturally I had to play with at least one cart, so I chose the Damask cart. At first I just thought they were beautiful scroll work. Then I discovered that the centers of the last 10 designs had an "icon" of different sorts. I found a cupcake among the mix, which of course fits perfectly with my Birthday Week.

I was not quite sure how to put these together, as the example project was for a card cut, not the layers. So, I just cut one of everything to try setting them out several ways and see what works.

I discovered that the main cut and the cut + shift fit nicely together. Each of the layer cuts and their shift cuts also fit nicely as a shadows for each other. However, the + shift cuts for the layers do not work as well with the main cut and shift cut.

With the help of a color wheel, starting with the red paper. I chose the Triad color combo (orange triangle in center).

The card base is an ivory 5 x 6.5 inch card. The mat is a piece of printed card stock from an old mat stack. I trimmed the length by 1/4 inch and then inked the edges in a dark green.

The Damask Cupcake cut was at 4.5 inches. I used a bunch of scraps to make this. the candle, cupcake top and "wrapper" are highlighted in Clear Star Gellyroll pen. The pearl drop bling was left over from an some embellishments I bought for a wedding album. It fit perfectly over the teardrop shaped cut in this design.

Then I tried the "Card" cut at 4.5 inches too.

I have to say that I really like all of the cuts I have looked at in this cartridge. It has a lot of potential as a background, an accent and as a main cut for a card or layout.

Don't forget to comment on the posts this week. I have lots of fun things to give away.

A Bit of Birthday Indulgence

Since it is Spring Break and my birthday week, I get to indulge in a few things to spoil myself this week, that would normally be put off on a busy weekend, or not done at all.

This morning I am enjoying a yummy Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and cup of coffee at Panera. Love this place, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Lot's of tasty choices.

Then I am off to See's Candies to get a small bag of all my favorites----

And then a relaxing hour or more for a pedicure. I don't do these as often as I would like but I think doing them so seldom makes them a bit more indulgent. I really feel like I am spoiling myself when I climb into Sofia's chair and put my toes in nice warm, bubbly water. Ahhhhh! My toes are are already looking forward to the experience.

After spoiling myself, I will HAVE to stop at a favorite quilt shop and the Joann's that is on my route home. Can't pass by them. Maybe I will have to buy myself a birthday present.

Since I am indulging myself in a few of my favorite things, I thought I would spoil my followers with a bit of something too. This morning I will be giving you the chance to win a Gift Certificate from See's (good for one pound of your favorites), and a little something else, but that part is a surprise.

All you need to do to be in the running for this prize is make a comment on this post by April 15th midnight (pst).

Silly Birthday Card

This next birthday card I want to share with you is kind of silly. As I said in my last post, our friends are all very young at heart. We are also big Disney fans and can quote just about any animated movie.So, when one of the older "children," a 20-something son celebrated his birthday, I knew I had to have some fun making his card.



I started with a pre-printed 5-1/2 inch square card.

   Guido #2 at 4-1/2 inches from the Pixar Cars cartridge

   Cupcake at 3 inches (might have been 3-1/2) from the From My Kitchen cartridge

To make the cupcake stay on the lift I glued it to the stack of tires and then trimmed off the excess tire so they would not show from the front. The whole shape was raised above the card with pop dots.

Now for Give Away #2:

   CM 8x8 album, 1 set of pages, and a Serenity Album Kit (papers, stickers, and embellishments)

Again, all I ask is that you comment on this post, by 10 pm April 15th.

If you are one of my followers, your name will also be added to an end of the week drawing just for followers.

Triple Score Birthday

We have a wonderful group of friends that we love to hang out with. We are now entering the time of year where celebrating seems almost non-stop, a bazzilion birthdays, several anniversaries, and all of the spring/summer holidays, and even a few bbq's "just because." The best part is that the adults are just as silly and fun loving as the kids. Sometimes even worse than the kids. Besides all of the food, we love to play games. Lawn games, board games, card games...you name it we have a great time with it. About sun down a Scrabble Board usually comes out on to a table.

There are some pretty serious players in the group, which usually means a few disagreements as facts are checked...Then there may be a second board for those of us much less likely to take the game seriously. At this game you will find some interesting, if not quite valid words. But if you can make a sentence with the word, and give a definition - it is yours.

The card and bag I share with you has been made for one of our fun loving friends - a serious Scrabbler - for their birthday. (I won't say anymore or they might figure out it is for them)

First, for the card

The card base is 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 inch card stock.

I cut Letter Tiles from Printing 101 Cart:

   1 inch Tiles + shift (brown linen stripe paper -old CM paper pack)

   1 inch Shadow Tile (black card stock)

   Highlight edges with Copic Sketch pen # E71 Champagne

   Emphasis the cut lines on side of tile with an old CM brown pen)

The colored double/triple letter squares were cut from Pack Your Bags Cart

   1.2 inch Beach ball Stamp + shift

The H, Y in Happy and the R in Birth are adhered with pop dots

The bag:

I set some of the letters on a Kraft colored bag and a white bag so that I could chose one.

I chose the white 12" x 16" bag for this gift.

I marked the bag into 1-3/4 inch squares, first in pencil and then in colored pens - I chose to use the bright Close to My Heart "island" color set for the lines. I did not complete all of the lines to give it the illusion that the game board was sliding off the bag.

The letter tiles on this one are cut from Printing 101

   1-1/2 inch Tiles + shift (brown linen stripe paper -old CM paper pack)

   1-1/2 inch Shadow Tile (black card stock)
   Highlight edges with Copic Sketch pen # E71 Champagne
   Emphasis the cut lines on side of tile with an old CM brown pen)





The colored double/triple letter squares were cut from Pack Your Bags Cart
   1.7 inch Beachball Stamp + shift
The black start is a small CM punch.
All of the letter tiles were adhered with pop dots.
Here is one more close up of the letter tiles so that you can see what I did with the pens.

I loved making this gift set, and I can not wait to make another. But in the meantime, I have my first prize to give away.

CM's Disney Vacation Designer Prints (16 sheets); CM's Adventures of Pooh Album Kit (Printed papers, stickers and an idea book.

I will use random.com to pick the winner.Here's what you need to do:

   Leave a comment in this post by Friday, April 15th, at 10 pm (Pacific DS Time).