Candy Candy Everywhere!

Disclaimer: I lost my camera a couple of months ago, and am borrowing one that I don't know how to use as well, so my photos are blurry and not as good as I would like.


This week's challenge from Lauren is to use one of the my timeless templates to create a package for candy.



I decided to use the Milk Made template (small version) to package up some Jelly Bellies. A couple of weeks ago, Deron and I took a road trip to Chicago, and on the way, we stopped at a Jelly Belly warehouse



We bought 3 bags of Belly Flops that we had planned to repackage and give as gifts to friends.

Here is what I made.






I used kraft cardstock and stamped the images from Little Pieces (SU) in bright colours.

Then I used stickles and liquid pearls to add some dimension to the box.



I love the people that can make very elaborate and multi layered cards and gifts, but that is just not me. I like the quick and simple projects that can easily be re-produced. This fits in that category.

Please visit the rest of the design team, and play along with our candy gift box challenge.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Adventure Basket

I love the weeks when Lauren's My Time design team has template challenges. It's such a great excuse to use one of the amazing templates that Lauren has designed for PTI. They are super easy to use, and always make amazing projects.



This is what I came up with using the mini version of the Pack a Picnic template. Lauren provided us all with this image, and although I didn't use all of the colours in the image, I did gain inspiration from it. The woven placemat provided the inspiration for me to weave the basket.



If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.

I used cream, soft sky, and river rock as my colours, but did not use any grey at all in my project.



I printed the template on both cream and river rock cardstock, then cut both templates into 1/2 inch strips.



It was a very time consuming process, but I am really happy with the end result.



Unfortunately, I was so focused on the weaving, that as I folded the top flap down, I did it backwards, and my score lines ended up on the outside of my basket.

In order to mask my error I covered the edges with White Opal liquid pearls.



The river rock edge was cut with decorative scissors, and the sky blue piece was also trimmed then added under the edge to create another layer. I really like the pop of colour it adds.



The medallion was created using my new Labels dies from spellbinders, and stamped with a pre-inked stamp from JustRite that I got from the dollar spot before they were sold out.

The foam flower is from American Crafts, and has a liquid pearl centre the same as the edges of the basket.

Take a look at these amazing peeks provided by the rest of the design team, and leave them some love as you visit their blogs.

If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.



Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

SOA is LIVE!!

It's finally here! Stamping out Alzheimer's pay to play is live as of today! You can join and be a part of this fabulous community with a chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes and get some free downloads with a minimum $5.00 donation. (see the blinkie under my photo) ------>

Kristin and I are even hosting one of the challenges, and we would love to have you join us.



Here is my sample for the challenge.



Join the forum to see what it's all about, and for your chance to win some free stamp sets, gift certificates and more!!!

Also, see my post below for your chance to win one of Lauren's My Timeless Templates.

Gift in shades of purple

It's time for another FABULOUS Saturday Challenge with the Amazing Lauren Meader.

This week, to celebrate the newest PTI/Lauren template releases, all of the members of the team were to use one of Lauren's templates to create a birthday gift. We also had to use either butterflies, or the colour purple (or both) as these are two of Lauren's favourite things.

Here are the amazing peeks at everyone's creations.



And here is what I made with the For Keep{sake} template.



I printed the template on to kraft cardstock, and cut the windows on either side with my nestabilities, then I sponged purple ink around the cutouts, and along all of the folded edges of the box.



After the edges were all sponged, I used barely banana ink to stamp my French Script bacgrounder stamp on the panels to add an aged look to the gift. It's hard to tell, but you can kind of see the script in the photo below.



I filled the bottom of the box with purple paper that had been run through my crimper, cut in thin strips, then crumpled up to make some nice filler.



The actual gift is a few packages of flower seeds that are attached to each other, and the ribbon, with glue dots. When you take off the lid, the packages of seeds also get taken out of the box.

The flowers were stamped using PTI's Floral Frenzy and my very brand new Twinlking H2O's from Luminarte. I got sucked in by their going out of business sale, and ordered 4 packages of 24 mini pots. They just arrived a few days ago, and I couldn't wait to use them. I pulled out 5 different purple colours, and painted them right onto the stamps before stamping the images on to the carstock. I don't know if you can really tell in the photos, but they have some great shimmer IRL.



Please join us in using one of Lauren's templates to create a birthday gift. You do not have to purchase a template to play along, you can always use one of the free templates. Stocking Stuffer or Recipe Wrap Up.

Be sure to check out the rest of the amazing design team and see what they have created to inspire you.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Templates to the rescue!

Grab a coffee, because this is a long post, with lots of photos.

One of my best friends from high school recently had her first child, a baby boy.
I wanted to make something special for her, and her son William.



I bought a plain wooden frame at Michael's thinking I would somehow paint it or "scrapbook" it for him.


I knew that the colours in his room were chocolate brown, orange, and light green. I went to my LSS and found the PERFECT paper to use as the background.



I pulled the colours from the paper and painted the frame chocolate brown and lime green. Then the paper was cut to size, and the centre square was cut out. I used the same green paint to dry brush an area that would "frame" the name that was cut out using my Big Shot, and the Sunset font from Sizzix.



I added some extra dimension by using some of the paper that was cut out for the centre frame, and continuing the pattern. I also used my star punch to add some stars to the corner of the frame, and some fabulous buttons to fill in some of the circles on the paper.





This is the first time I have done anything "scrappy", and I am really happy with how it all turned out.



I also wanted to make something special for Chris (the mom) because I know she will need some time to herself to relax as well. Lauren's From the Desk of template to the rescue!



I made two of the From the Desk of templates, and then secured them back to back to create a carrying case for the goodies. I used the tip Lauren shared here to add the side panels to the doubled template. They fit perfectly!






I cut out a little handle using my circle punch from SU, and punching 3 times to make enough room to carry it.

Inside the gift was a bottle of liquid honey, two boxes of cookes, and an assortment of teas.



I made a small box for the teas, and wrapped the cookies in coordinating paper, so that when it was all packaged up, it looked like an actual gift basket.

Saturday COLOUR Challenge!

You might be surprised that I am not doing a sketch challenge with Lauren this week, but that's because she changed up the sketch team, and the way we will be doing challenges. Read here for all the details.

So, this week we had a colour challenge using this fantastic bag from Clutterbags.



Instead of making one card using all of those colours, I chose to make one Project using all of the colours. (I substituted Real Red for Pure Poppy, Cool Caribean for Spring Rain, and Basic Grey for Smokey Shadow).




This is a mail sorter using Lauren's Filed with Flair template from PTI.

It does not stand for To Be Determined (although with mail that could be the case), but instead it is for Tamara, Bills (yuck), and Deron (my partner).

The front is somewhat plain, but I added more details to the sides.



The second layer on the sides was printed on cardstock weight velum and cut out. Then I inked my texture plates with the corresponding ink and ran them through my Big Shot.



I also added some ribbon and ric-rac, the ric-rac was MUCH easier to get around those corners, and finished off the top of my box with a couple of Prima flowers.

I wanted to keep it kind of plain so that if it gets ripped or something due to daily use with the mail I won't be too upset about it because I can easily make another folder to fit into the tray.

Please check out the rest of the COLOUR challenge team this week!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra

When uploading to any public galleries or forums, please use the code MTTC01 so we can find your AWESOME creations.

Stocking Stuffer

This week Lauren challenged us to use her Stocking Stuffer Template from the PTI My Timeless Templates collection. This is a FREE download, so there is no excuse not to try this and join in.

I downloaded Lauren's template as soon as it was available, but this is the first time I have actually used it. I guess sometimes it takes a challenge to get my butt in gear.



This is the gift package I made with the template. I decided to use more traditional colours so I pulled out my retired Cranberry Crisp and Truely Thyme and got to work. I printed the template out on each colour, so now I can go back and make another stocking that is the same, but with the opposite colours for the body, and the toe, heel, and top.



The top "cuff" is fuzzy because I used my two way glue pen, and added some fun flock. I love how you can still kind of see the red coming through the fun flock.

I also used my scor-pal to create the faux quilting so that it would have a more traditional feel to the stocking.

I adhered my "box" between the stockings right at the top, so that the goodies could be well seen. Unfortunately, that caused the gift to be top heavy, and it kept trying to fall over. I solved that by creating two braces out of some of the excess paper.



Now my stocking is super secure.

I knew I wanted to sew the toe and heel pieces on to my stocking,

but I also wanted the stitching to be evenly spaced, and I didn't want it to be impossible to sew through two layers of card stock.

So I first pierced the paper using this great plastic canvas piercing guide that Alli sent me when I bought some of her old stamps. Thanks Alli!



I made this all up last night while I was watching TV, so these templates are really easy to use. Please take a look at what the others on the sketch team have done, then download your own template, and share your creation with us!

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/