Quick & Easy Tags

Hello friends.  It's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Papertrey Ink.  Today the Design Team is will be showing how quick and easy tags can dress up a holiday gift.

Sometimes you luck out and find a gift that has a friend's name written all over it.  Literally.  Take this jar for instance.  I won't give it away totally, but this gift could be for person named Pine...or perhaps a person named Mason.  ;)  I love this jar as a gift all by itself.  What's not to love about a cool jar with an old zinc lid?

So to keep my gift simple, I opted to just add a simple tag embellishment to the jar.  Using 2010 Holiday Tags, I stamped the mistletoe image onto a die cut Kraft cardstock circle.  I then adhered my circle image to a die cut and stamped tag from the new Fillable Frames #9.  The green cardstock is the new Pinefeather green. Such a deep, pretty color for the holidays.

For the red rhinestones, I used an R59 Copic Sketch marker to color them.  With just one color of the Clear Rhinestones, you can create endless colors with your Copic markers.  I love this!  Nichole's been using this method a lot on her blog lately too.  Such a clever girl.

To finish off my tag, I combined some of my new Papertrey goodies with items from my vintage stage.  A simple snippet of vintage lace creates another softer layer to my tags, along with some new Pinefeather ribbon, a mini clothespin and vintage looking jingle bell.  So simple.  So easy.

For an additional gift, I created three more of the same tags and paired them up with Brown Paper Sacks.  You can never have enough little gifty sacks on hand during the holiday season.  These can be used for cards, candies, CD's, flat quarters of fabric, etc.  

I rolled the sacks up and tucked them into the jar along with the three tags.  I love that the sacks fit into the pint jars.  I placed my jar and another jar filled with candy canes into this wire basket container that holds two pint jars.  I got mine at Wal Mart in the canning section for less than $5.  Such a cute little display.

So remember.....keep it simple and keep it quick.  Take that extra time to enjoy your family and friends this holiday season.

Be sure to check out the other Design Team members to see all their lovely creations:

• Nichole Heady
• Heather Nichols
• Lisa Johnson
• Betsy Veldman
• Debbie Olson
• Dawn McVey
• Kim Hughes
• Niki Estes
• Melissa Phillips
• Erin Lincoln
• Maile Belles

Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers

After much anticipation I am happy to announce that Papertrey will be releasing a Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers stamp set on the 15th of this month.  Woohoo, friends!  Today I'd like to share a fun holiday project with you using the sugar cookie stars and the original jar image from Friendship Jar.

I have lots of photos to share today so let's get started.  First, I die cut jar images using the coordinating Jar & Lid die.  I then stamped the jar outline image and the star sugar cookies.  Using my handy dandy Copic markers, I colored the jar image with the BG colors and the cookie outline with the E00 color.  I also die cut the label image and stamped the dotty border from Friendship Jar Fall Fillers.  The wonderful Distressed Dots patterned paper will also be released on the 15th of this month.  I great basic to add to your paper stash.

Next, I colored the cookie frosting with the Copic markers shown below, choosing a light and dark version that closely matched my patterned paper.  Tip:  I color the lightest color first, then outline with the darker color...then blend with the lighter color again.  Presto.

Next, I add some blingity bling to my sugar cookies to make them look a little dimensional.  I used a white gel pen to color in some of the sprinkles and then some glittery Stickles for some puffy areas.

To finish up my jar tags, I tied them with Red Baker's Twine and a coordinating color of Vintage Buttons.  The jars were then attached to Tag Sale #2 dies, cut with PTI's Shimmer Cardstock.  I used Pink, White and Gold for my tags.  Soooo pretty.  And shimmery..imagine that!

Next up, I thought it would be fun to share the most delicious sugar cookie recipe in the world this holiday season.  So I printed off the recipes onto White Cardstock (font is Little Days) and adhered them to coordinating shimmery die cut Library Card Tags.

The frosting recipe was adhered to the back of the big tag.  I used the same light marker to highlight the recipe titles.  I love doing that.  It reminds me of all those days of studying and highlighting definitions....but no studying is involved. Only fun markers and yummy recipes.

And here are three completed tags made up in green, pink and yellow.  So fun and cheery for the holiday season.

Along the bottom of my recipe card, I stitched coordinating buttons to XL cut Rick Rack Border felt in white.  I love the candy cane stripe of the Red Baker's Twine.  I tied the two tags together using coordinating colored PTI ribbon.  These can be tied to a cookie plate during a fun holiday cookie exchange.  Afterwards, the recipe can be separated and kept in a recipe box or book, the size is just right.

Now let's party.  Doesn't the idea of holiday cookie exchange sound like so much fun?  Everyone brings cookies and you go home with all kinds of goodies.  Something like that, right?  The cookies that I would bring are called Sour Cream Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Heavenly.  Sinful.  All in one.  I found the recipe on Sherelle Christensen's blog and have been giddy ever since.  I searched far and wide for cookies that resembled the Loft House cookies from my grocery store.  These are it, baybee.  Come to mama.  They bake up so nice and are a little crunchy....but the magic happens after you frost the cookies and let them sit a while.  Back to that heavenly and sinful thing.  Seriously, as Josey would say.

So after you've eaten like 2 or 3 or 10 cookies, you save some for the actual cookie trays.  For my cookie exchange party I would totally use these adorable aluminum serving baskets and trays that I've been collecting.  So cute!

Don't worry about using traditional holiday colors.  If you want to use pink, use pink.  I used some vintage fabric and a pretty place mat for my table setting so it would match my pink cookies.  I think one of those pipe cleaner trees would be adorable with this setting too.  And vintage pink tree ornaments scattered around.

For my guests, I would have lots of the recipe card tags clipped to my favorite cookie jar that is filled with candy canes.

Guests could fill their little trays with cookies and taste as they go along.  Little sprinkles in silver dishes would make great decorations.

And as the evening wound down, each guest would fill their little tray...and take a recipe tag of their liking.  I think some take out boxes of some sort would be a great way to package up the chosen cookies.

Sooo fun to dream up this little cookie exchange party.  I might just have to plan a real one this holiday season, how 'bout you?  :)  Hope you enjoy.....and if you're like me, this post will totally get you into the holiday spirit.  Be sure to check Nichole's blog for even more countdown fun!!

Quick & Easy Gifts

This month's Papertrey group post is all about quick and easy gifts.  You're sure to find lots of inspiration to kick off your holiday gift making season.  The Papertrey Design Team is using Tiny Treats: Christmas, a big fan favorite now featuring holiday images and sentiments.  This set along with all the new goodies this month will be available at Papertrey on October 15th.

Today I have this year's version of my holiday planners to show you.  These fun notepads are a such a useful gift and very much anticipated by all my friends and family.  I like to hand them about early in November so that everyone can get a head start on their holiday lists.  They're perfect for jotting down wish lists, decorating ideas, holiday projects, menus and more.  They tuck perfectly into a work bag or purse.....and they're just so cute.  What's not to love?

To see of my holiday planners and embellished notebooks in general, click on the *notebooks* label at the bottom of this post.  All of my previous posts with my notebooks will show up.

For this year's holiday planner, the Tiny Treats: Christmas set is soooo perfect for the main embellishment.  The images and sentiments fit right into Papertrey's Limitless Layers Die Collection which includes a 1.75" circle die and other decorative edged dies.  You can also use a 1.75" circle punch to punch out the stamped images.  To color the bell image, I used red Copic marker and a B000 marker to outline the bell image.  The bell itself was colored in with a white colored pencil.  For my notebooks, I used Pure Poppy Felt with a decorative die and it worked like a charm.  The dotted circle image is from Take Note.

For the Holiday Planner strip on my notebook, I used Take Note again along with a strip of snowflake paper cut from Pine's new Christmas Prints patterned paper collection.  Vintage Buttons tied with Pure Poppy Baker's Twine were added to the strip with small sticky dots.

And here's my best tip when making the holiday planners:  Use the patterned paper sheets from the Christmas Prints collection which has rows of horizontal patterns.  It makes your notepads look like you've layered on lots of different papers, but it's so quick and easy.  Love!

And for final finishing touch, here's a simple gift wrap for your notepads.  Simply slip a finished notepad into a Large Glassine Sack and fold the excess around the notepad.  Tie a piece of Fresh Snow Satin Luxe ribbon around the sack.  I added some more Pure Poppy Baker's Twine along with a vintage jingle bell to tie in with the Tiny Treats image on my holiday planner cover.  So cute and so easy.

And if that wasn't enough inspiration, Nichole is providing each designer with a *receipt* which shows how inexpensively you can recreate each of the Design Team members' projects.  How awesome is that!?  Here's my breakdown costs for my project today:

And remember, if you break each part of the project down into little steps, you will be able to mass produce the holiday planners so easily.  You can finish a pile of notebooks all at once....or do a few steps   at different stamping sessions.  Either way, you're off to a great start on your holiday projects!

Enjoy!  And be sure to check out the other Design Team blogs to see their quick and easy gift ideas:

• Nichole Heady
• Heather Nichols
• Lisa Johnson
• Betsy Veldman
• Debbie Olson
• Dawn McVey
• Kim Hughes
• Niki Estes
• Melissa Phillips
• Erin Lincoln
• Maile Belles

SALE on Wrinkle Ribbon Bundle

Save $3.00 on this Wrinkle Ribbon Bundle featured in my Etsy shop.  Gotta make room for NEW Christmas and holiday items coming soon!!  The first of my new items will up in the shop tomorrow.

Big fluffy couch cards...

Edit:  In the second photo down, that is a Crate Paper sticker under the pink chair, no stamps or dies used.  

Hi guys, hope your week is off to a great start.  Eric and I feel like we need a weekend to recover from our weekend.  Jordan celebrated with 6 friends and Josey for her birthday party and it was a great time.  Man it takes a lot of effort to put on a party.  And these kids eat and eat and eat!  I think my cupboards are left with rice and spaghetti noodles.  Great times and many great memories.  I'll share some fun photos soon.

Today I have some cards to show you that I made when my friend Carmen came over to stamp.  I used Lisa Johnson's On My Couch and On My Couch Additions for the images and sentiments.  For my patterned papers and cardstock stickers, I used Crate Paper's Restoration Collection.


I particularly love the sentiments in the On My Couch sets.  Perfect for those *just because* type cards.  The ribbon on this card below is Satin Luxe in Ripe Avocado.  The chair image was die cut with coordinating dies, making the stamp images sooooo easy to cut out.

On the cards below, I used Medium Manila Parcel Tags, die cut sofa images and Wrinkle Ribbon from my Etsy shop.

It's so handy to have a few of these types of cards in my stash.  What projects have you been working on?  I'm about wrapped up with Halloween projects and will be moving on to Christmas projects soon.  Can you believe it's only a few month's away!??

Autumn Blessing Card

Hey there, today I have a Fall themed card to show you using a Karen Lockhart stamp called Basket of Leaves.

Sometimes it's just nice to sit down with my Copic Sketch markers and color up an image.  Picking out all the colors for each little detail...taking the time to make a special card. Background papers are all October Afternoon and can be found here.  

The pretty little ribbon is my silk Kraft ribbon found here.

Hope you're enjoying this Friday afternoon.  Looking forward to an evening with my family at home.  So nice to be able to just hang out at home.

Etsy shop happenings....

Hi everyone, just a few updates today and then I'll have a new post later on today.

In my community:  A few weeks ago, 3 high school students from our community died in a terrible car accident.  Last night, a high school friend of mine also lost her life a in a car wreck.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the families that are grieving their loved ones.  Very sad times.  Please remember to wear your seat belt, drive carefully....and put away the phones while driving....and preach this to your kids and family.  You can never say it enough.

Etsy shop happenings:  I will be gearing up for the holiday season with lots of new kits and products.  Stay tuned.  I have piles of goodies just waiting to be made into magical, holiday cards and packaging items.   :)

The bloggo:  Look for a new feature to be popping up on my blog this month.  Lots of new ideas to help you make your own gifts and save $$.

Ording from my Etsy shop:  I would like to thank you all for supporting my little Etsy shop.  Due to the large amount of orders I receive now, I am not able to compare mailing addresses from your PayPal payment address to your Etsy order address and send out emails to confirm.  From now on, I will be mailing all orders to the address that I receive with your PayPal payment information.  To avoid confusion when ordering Etsy items, please double check your addresses before submitting orders.  I'd hate for your order to get lost in the mail.

Okay, enough shop talk.  I'm preparing for Jordan's slumber party tomorrow and am also trying to can up some end of the season garden goodies.  I'll be back soon.  :)

Facebook Fan Page

Okay guys,  a little change here.  I added a FaceBook Fan Page to the link at the left....instead of just a personal friend request.  So if I have added you as a friend in the past, you will need to click on the link at the left and LIKE my Fan Page.  That way I can keep my business FaceBook separately from my personal FaceBook.  Thanks so much...you gotta love all this technology.

Thanks to my friend Jenn for helping me out.  She's so good at this stuff!