Sweets for the Sweet

Edit: The Moda line of fabric is called Posh. The link is HERE for you to view. I don't have time to take photos of my actual fabrics cuz I'm out the door in a few minutes for a weekend full of basketball and company Christmas parties. Have a great weekend everyone!

You're in for a treat because all of the Papertrey designers have Valentine treats to show you! Check out Nichole's blog to see more goodies! I know we're still Christmas mode but Valentine's Day will roll around quicker than you think. I've already got some great ideas for gifts and it's always nice to be prepared in advance.

My treat for today is for a special someone that likes paper crafting AND sewing! I've designed a super fun, adorable kit that I've named *Material Girl*...get it? Material....like fabric. I knew you would. I'm packaging all my goodies into a Large Heart Tin with Clear Top from Papertrey. I didn't realize how much you could tuck into these adorable shaped tins. You need some for Valentine's Day gifts, trust me!Let's start first on some fun embellishments that I created. I could just gobble these up and I know you'll love them too. This month at Papertrey, Nichole is releasing a brand new set called Heart Prints. There are two sizes of hearts and guess what? They have 2 coordinating punches plus a coordinating sentiment stamp set. The designs in the various hearts are super cute, even more cute when you stamp them in fun ink colors.

Here's what I did for the embellishments. I wanted to keep with my sewing theme so I cut some pinked circles using the Spellbinder's Pinking Circles Dies with Kraft Cardstock. I then punched our circles of pattern paper. Not patterned paper, this is actual paper from a sewing pattern. See the photo above? I just cut the back of some old patterns that I found at garage sales and punched circles. All of the circles look vintage because the paper is old and discolored. And each circle has some sort of fabric measurements or little pictures of dresses, etc. So cute! I then took the smallest hearts from the Heart Print set and stamped them with Berry Sorbet and Ocean Tides ink. Then I just punched them out and adhered them the circles with pop dots. These will make adorable embellishments for Valentine cards, tags, bags, etc. I layered them all into clear top, round PTI tins. Stay tuned for projects using these embellishments come Valentine time.

I then grabbed two more tins from my Papertrey stash and filled one with colorful buttons and one with embroidery floss. I added one of my heart embellishments to the tin lids.

Of course I couldn't forget about the ribbon. I cut a couple feet from spools of Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream and some old lace. I used clothespins that I find at dollar stores to wrap the ribbon on and then secure with straight pins.

Okay, now comes the fun part....packaging up the goodies in the big heart tins. This part totally reminds me of a red Tupperware lunch box I had as a child. It was brand new (rare that we got something brand new when we were young) and it had 3-4 little containers that nestled into the lunch box just perfectly. I loved that thing, anyone have one too? Okay, I digressed but here we go with the packaging. Nestle in the two round tins that have the buttons and the heart embellishments.

Then layer in the ribbon spools that are on the wooden clothespins.

Then on the top goes the tin with the embroidery floss.

This all nestles in perfectly, with the clear heart lid letting all the goodies peek through.

Now onto the next part of my gift....fat quarters of FABRIC. Fat quarters are cuts of fabric that measure 18" x 22" and come neatly folded when you see them in the fabric stores. I picked up three fatties from a Moda(my favorite fabrics) collection that I think will be fabulous for Valentine's Day. The fabric colors are what drew my inspiration for the buttons, ribbons, etc. To package up the three fat quarters, I slid them into a Large Glassine Sack. If you cut a piece of cardstock to fit in the sack, it helps keep the sack more sturdy.

Using a long piece of Berry Sorbet Swiss Dot ribbon, I tied a bow around my fabric package. Then I added a tag using a larger Spellbinder's Pinking Circle, a lined recipe card and both sizes of hearts from Heart Prints. I inked the edges with Ranger Distress Inks to add a vintage look like the old pattern paper has. I stamped *Material Girl* with an alphabet stamp in black ink.

Then all you gotta do is present this adorable gift to a fun loving friend and you're good to go!

I think I might actually keep this first kit for myself and invite a friend over to make Valentine cards together. That will be THE perfect event in January once the holidays are over and we're all settled in for winter.

I hope you love my gift idea as much as I do. Be sure to check out all the other designers' sweet Valentine ideas as well. Check out Nichole's blog for even more fun. And don't forget to stock up on the heart tins and some of the others I've used for packaging. I think they'll be great for all those Valentine goodies.

Here's the other PTI designers:

Niki Estes
Lisa Johnson
Lauren Meader
Nichole Heady
Geny Cassady
Dawn McVey
Becky Oehlers
Melissa Phillips
Heather Nichols
Debbie Olson
Betsy Veldman

And one last thing, don't forget to join the Release Party at the Papertrey Ink Forums Sunday night. The release for December is the 15th(midnight on the 14th).