quick gifts

Credits
patterned paper: All My Memories; yellow ribbon, cardstock: Stampin' Up!; chipboard circle: Maya Road; metal letter: Making Memories; other: red and brown ribbon

Credits
cardstock, ribbon, string, ink: Stampin' Up!; dotted circle stamp: Close to My Heart; chipboard circle: Maya Road; metal letter: Making Memories

teacher gifts

For teacher gifts this year, I used a combination of ideas from eighteen25 and Lisa Storms.



This cute cup idea came from Lisa Storms' blog. I ended up creating my own flag, but Lisa generously offers her flags for you to download.

Here's mine:

I filled the cup with treats, a lemonade packet, and this fun iTunes gift card (sorry the photo is not very clear... I took it in less than ideal light late at night).



The cute record printable came from the eighteen25 blog... I changed the words slightly to better fit the personality of my kids.

Here's a short tutorial on how to put together a quick gift card holder like this one.


1. Seal a small gift enclosure envelope (if you don't have an envelope that size, I have a couple of templates in my shop here and here). Cut enough off the end to make the envelope approximately 3 inches in length.

2. Use a circle punch to punch a half circle notch from the top.

3. Adhere a cute label to the back side of the envelope. Insert gift card. Easy peasy!

artist party

My daughter turned 5 in March, and she decided she wanted an art party. We had so much fun planning this party. She loves rainbow colors, so we went with bright, fun colors for everything. She and all her cute, little friends had a blast. Here are some of the highlights. (I took A LOT of pictures, so this is a pretty image-heavy post.)

The invitations using my Box of Crayons Printable Card.

The traditional birthday wall (banner created with my Pennant Banner Template).

Colorful buntings hung over our "art studio" (aka our kitchen table) where the girls painted.
Bunting created with my Bunting Template v.2.

We turned our home into an art gallery before the party with our own paintings.

Party sacks, water bottles, plates, and watercolors to add to their sacks to take home.

Aprons for the girls to wear while they paint and take home when they're through.
(Less than $1 each from Oriental Trading here.)

Water bottle labels with a spot to write names.

Paintbrushes, paints, and jars (for water) all ready to go!

The birthday girl.

Some of the creations of our budding artists.

Pin the nose on the clown. (No party is complete without Pin the ____ on the ____... right?)

Rainbow cupcakes. (Recipe found on Our Best Bites here.)

Brand new set of watercolors for the girls to take home with their aprons (total party favor cost for both the watercolors and apron was less than $2 each!).

Edited to add: Artist Party Printables are now available in my store at ScrapMatters.

cd/dvd envelope template - 50% off

You can grab my cd/dvd envelope template for only $2... but get it quick because it's only on sale today!

easter baskets

I know Easter was a month ago, but I thought I would share these baskets I made anyway. I had the thought last year that a fabric Easter basket would be much more practical storage-wise than the traditional woven baskets. I made one for my youngest last year and then finished the other three this year. I found this tutorial from Michael Miller Fabrics but modified it so my baskets had one handle going across instead of the two smaller handles. They were fun to make and don't take up a lot of valuable storage space. Win, win!

new stuff + insd + blog train freebie

Happy iNSD! I have a couple of new hybrid templates out this weekend, and now's the perfect time to grab them since ScrapMatters is having a huge storewide sale. This is one of the best sales we have, so it's a great time to shop!

First, I have this fun bunting template:



I also released a BIG version of my shopping bag template:



The design team at ScrapMatters put together a great collaboration kit, Timeless, that is free with any $20 purchase through May 12. I used this kit to create two ready-to-print cards that are yours FREE as part of our iNSD blog train. You can click on the image below to take you to 4shared where you can download them.



Here's a look at the cards up close:





Thanks for stopping by. To continue on the blog train, your next stop is the ever-talented Erica Zane. Click here to take you to her blog.



If you get lost or miss any stops on the train, you can go to ScrapMatters blog for a complete list.

knowing life + a great deal + FREEBIE! + giveaway winner

Okay, drum roll please.... ha ha, just kidding. I really am excited to show you my new kit, though. This one all started with a quote. Probably one of my favorite quotes ever. A few years ago I went to an exhibit at an art museum, and I came across this quote by Vincent van Gogh: "The way to know life is to love many things." I love it. So, without further ado, the kit this quote turned into:



I loved these colors so much that I had to keep going. Here is a coordinating alphabet that you can get for free if you purchase the kit this weekend (offer expires 04.17.11). And that's on top of the kit already being 20% off this weekend! Great deal, right? Note: If you buy the kit, you don't need to add the alphabet to your cart... it will automatically be included in your download until the 17th.



I really do love these colors, so I also created an add-on mini kit, which is yours free with coupon code SJSKNOWLIFE until Sunday. Just add it to your cart, enter the code in the coupon code box, and it will take the price off! Another note: You need to be logged in for the coupon to work.



KNOWING LIFE GIVEAWAY WINNER

Thanks to all those who stopped by yesterday to enter to win. The lucky winner is:





Congratulations, abish! Click here to e-mail me so I can get you a copy of this kit!

Thanks for stopping by... come back tomorrow to see some lovely layouts made by the ScrapMatters CT using Knowing Life.

knowing life: sneak peek + giveaway

I have a new kit coming out tomorrow, and wanted to give everyone a peek:



KNOWING LIFE GIVEAWAY

To enter for your chance to win, simply leave a comment by Thursday, April 14 at 9:00 PM (MST). You can have another chance to win by posting about this giveaway on twitter and/or your blog. Just come back here and post a new comment with a link to your post.

I'll announce the winner Friday, April 15. Good luck! I will also have a fun, little freebie just for my blog readers when I debut my new kit, so check back!

boxy bag on sale!

Get my boxy bag template for half off today only!

1st Birthday

Birthday parties are one of my "things". I love to throw my kids a good birthday party. And yes, I probably spend way too much time in the preparation stages of the party, but believe me there are plenty of other things I don't do that make up for it! LOL But parties are one thing I like to do. My youngest turned 1 last month... I can't believe it! We had a family party and had so much fun. I had a lot of fun decorating for this one. I created all the printables using Little Boy papers and elements by Echo Park that were perfect for what I wanted. I created the templates for all of the items, and I'm hoping to find some time to make them shop-worthy, so stay tuned for that in the next couple of months!

Here's a collage overview of everything:



Some close-up shots:

Cupcakes, treats, and party favors

Birthday banner and cupcake table

"Sour cream" containers filled with M&M's

Party blowers (the kids loved them, the adults... not so much)

Water bottles (with a label spot for names)

Banner close-up

Birthday wall (I make a birthday wall of pictures for each of my kids' birthdays... they love it)

Baby's first cupcake :)

Yummy cupcakes

My daughter also had a birthday last month. We had an "artist" party, so I'll try to share the details of that one of these days!

new at scrapmatters

ScrapMatters has a new promotion that I'm really excited about: Mix-a-Kit! Each month the design team will all come together with a single palette to create elements, papers, etc. that you can mix and match to create your own kit.

I have these new labels out today that I created as part of the Mix-a-Kit:



Here are a couple of layouts from the SM CT using these labels:

From Fonnetta:


From Kairyn Lisa:


I also released a couple of new templates last week. These are mini envelopes that are sized to fit note cards that are 2.25" x 3.25". I love this size of card... perfect to give with a gift, attach to a plate of treats, whatever!





One last thing... For any designers our there, I now offer a professional use license for my hybrid templates. I've been asked on a few occasions if I offer a license like this, and now I do. :) This license allows you to create flattened printables using my templates and your kits to sell in your own shop.