Hubs and I went house hunting last weekend. I’m happy to report we found an agent we like. She’s not at all the sales-y, schmoozy type, thank goodness. She’s very forthright and honest. Now, Hubs and I are just waiting to find a place that we like for a price that we like.

Oh, before I forget, there are only six days left for Sale-A-Bration! Then, the free products will retire, never to be seen again. I’ll also share a project with you that I made a while ago. I used the Sizzix Scalloped Circle die to cut the sides of the box. Then, I cut and scored a box to fit inside to hold a set of four cards. The cards are 3″x3″ in size. Enjoy!

Yesterday, I made a Pizza Margherita, which is a pizza crust with a light brushing of tomato sauce, topped with basil and slices of mozzarella di bufala (the round mozzarella cheese stored in brine). I made an easy pizza crust recipe from scratch that called for half whole wheat and half all purpose white flour. It gave the pie a nutty, wheaty texture, definitely different than a typical pizza (recipe here). Also, I noticed that after only two thin slices, I was very full.

Speaking of dinner, the Hubs and I went over to our lovely friends’ flat for dinner on Monday. We brought over a small housewarming gift: two small bottles of white and black truffle oil. Hubs and I have a bottle of white truffle oil at home that we got as a housewarming gift last year (thanks Jen & Jo!). I loved it so much, I wanted to pay it forward. White truffle oil is incredibly delicious when drizzled over pizza or pasta. Mmm. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

Of course, a gift is not a Kelly gift without proper presentation. I made a bag to carry the little bottles. The stamp set, ribbon, and polka dot paper are all items I earned from the current Sale-A-Bration promotion.

Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Yummy stamp set (Sale-A-Bration product), card stock in bashful blue, whisper white ribbon, markers in certainly celery, bashful blue, pretty in pink, designer paper in Delicate Dots (Sale-A-Bration product), ribbon in so saffron (Sale-A-Bration product), jumbo eyelets (set with a crop-o-dile), stampin’ dimensionals

But, enough about Facebook, let’s talk crafts.

Since Sale-A-Bration is ending in a few weeks (3/31), I thought I’d post some cute projects I made using some of the free stuff I got. On Sunday, I made a candy box using the Sizzix Top Note die and the Delicate Dots designer paper (the paper is one of the Sale-A-Bration products). I cut out the top and bottom covers using the Top Note die, then made a 3.5″ x 3″ box and taped the two covers on. The stamp set is called Trendy Trees and it’s in the current catty. I like this box because it can be used to hold all kinds of cute trinkets, from candy to jewelry. Fun!

Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Trendy Trees stamp set, card stock in sahara sand, bashful blue, whisper white ribbon, 1 3/4 circle punch, 1 1/2 circle punch (EK Success), ink in certainly celery, sahara sand, designer paper in Delicate Dots (Sale-A-Bration product), Top Note Sizzix die, stampin’ dimensionals

Valentine’s Day has long since passed, but I have quite a few love-inspired projects that I’ll be posting up over the next week or so. Hopefully, you can find a way to adapt these goods for other projects.

Today, I’m sharing a chocolate heart valentine holder. If you have kids, these would be adorable to make for your youngsters to pass amongst classmates as birthday takeaways. They would even be cute as wedding favors. To make these, I bought a pack of Reeses Peanut Butter hearts. I don’t know if these are released year-round, so feel free to substitute with Dove chocolates or the like.

First, I cut a sheet of paper into 3″ x 11″ and using my Scor-Pal, I made score lines at 3″, 3.5″, 6.5″, 7″, 10″, 10.5″.

Next, I decorated the strip with flower stamps from a set called Fifth Avenue Floral.

I folded the sheet along the score lines and decorated one edge with a scallop border punch. I also decorated and taped a small square of navy blue paper on the inside of the valentine.

Then, I punched a hole large enough to fit the chocolate heart. This is the 1 3/4″ punch from SU.

Here’s what the finished inside of the valentine looked like.

I used a small strip of double sided tape to adhere the sides together.

Here’s a side view picture so you can see what the valentine looks like assembled.

Finally, I decorated the outside with ribbon and punched paper embellishments.

Once again, the inside.

And above is a shot of several different versions of the same valentine that I gave away.

Hope you enjoyed the project! I promise, it’s much easier to put together than it looks.

Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Fifth Avenue Floral, A Happy Heart stamp sets, card stock in sahara sand, not quite navy, ink in kiwi kiss, not quite navy,  SU designer label punch, SU 1″ circle punch, SU 1 3/4″ punch, scalloped border punch, kiwi kiss ribbon, adhesive, Scor-Pal, bone folder

Work has been kicking my behind this week, so I just have a quick share for you today. It’s a Ghiradelli chocolate wrapped in a pillow box. The chocolate is of the XL variety, larger than the typical Ghiradelli squares, so it fits perfectly into the box. I’ll post the pillow box template next week along with another project. I love pillow boxes! They are so useful and they make even the simplist gifts look good. To spruce a pillow box up, punch a window in it using a shaped punch, like a heart, square, or other fun shape. If the box is going to be filled with small candies, like jelly beans, tape a clear window over the holes using a small piece of a transparency sheet.

Hope you like it!

Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): En Francais background stamp, Dreams du Jour stamp set, card stock in mellow moss, very vanilla, pink pirouette, ink in mellow moss, close to cocoa, silver elastic cord (retired from Holiday mini catalog), heart to herat punch, colored pencils, stampin’ dimensionals

Valentine’s Day is almost here, and although Hubs and I don’t celebrate, I still like making little goodies to hand out to my friends and coworkers. Over the weekend, I made some adorable mini gable boxes, sized approximately 3.5″ x 3″ x 1.75″. These are perfect for holding a stash of Hershey Kisses or the like. Cute! I didn’t have time to upload the box template onto my blog, but hopefully I’ll get around to it this week.

I have a bunch of posts in queue at the moment, most have been suggested via reader comments at one point or another. I’ve been meaning to post tutorials on adhesives, watercolor techniques, resources for blog design, and much, much more. So many things to write about, so little time. I just want to say that I keep a running list of post ideas from your comments and I take each of your suggestions to heart.

Speaking of blogs, I realize that I have not subscribed to many of your blogs in my Google reader yet. Dear readers, what are your blogs? Leave me a comment… I’d love to follow your lives and stay connected!

Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Love You Much stamp set, card stock in riding hood red, pink pirouette, whisper white, ink in riding hood red, designer paper in pink pirouette, scallop edge punch, stampin’ dimensionals, pink pirouette ribbon

First off, I know that some people attempted to order the Love You Much promotion bundle yesterday, but received a message that said, “This product is temporarily unavailable. Please check again later.” Yesterday afternoon, I learned that Stampin’ Up ran out of the Candy Lane designer paper included in the bundle. Since the customer order system is not set up to take orders for out of stock items, the bundle was unavailable for purchase online.

As a demonstrator, I’m able to input orders for out of stock items through the demo order system. The products won’t ship until they are replenished, but the promotion prices will still apply. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to my blog at work, so I couldn’t update it to announce that I was taking orders for the bundle yesterday (although I did update my Twitter feed and some were able to get a hold of me that way). So, for future orders, if you want to purchase something, but the website says is unavailable, email me and I’ll be happy to place the order for you through the demonstrator order system.

Ok, onto the project. Today, I’m sharing the cookie packages that I worked on Monday night. These boxes were created by cutting out four envelopes with my Sizzix scalloped envelope die and adhering them together with adhesive. The decorative folded paper on the outside is what was once the flap of the envelope. I also cut some patterned paper with the same die to decorate the flaps. This was a super easy box to make! I just ran the paper through my Sizzix machine, folded and taped them.

Each box held six stacked Earl Grey shortbread cookies tied up a translucent baggie. I decorated all the boxes with a little embellishment that I made out of a scalloped circle punch, two nested circle punches, and a stamp from the Deer Friends hostess set.

Supplies: Kiwi kiss, bashful blue, tangarine tango card stock, chocolate chip ribbon & ink, frosty day designer paper.

Supplies: Baja breeze, real red card stock and ink, ski slope designer paper, scrap ribbon from a gift

Supplies: Riding hood red & kiwi kiss card stock, ski slope designer paper, kiwi kiss ribbon & ink

Supplies: Kiwi kiss, bashful blue, close to cocoa card stock & ink, frosty day designer paper

This last baggie was special. I was too tired to make another box at 3am, so I folded a square of paper in half, used a scallop edge punch to decorate the bottom, and stapled the bag closed. I added an extra cookie for good measure, since I felt guilty for not boxing this one.

Next up: Earl Grey shortbread cookies – the recipe!

Happy holidays, everyone! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas eve.

This weekend, I experimented with making handmade stationery sets from scratch and I really like what I came up with. I created a stationery box that holds a set of four cards and envelopes. Best of all, the raw materials cost less than $3 in paper and ribbon (not counting the ink and the stamps I already own). Someone could easily make the same project with leftover ribbon and a few sheets of patterned paper that’s on hand.

Above is a picture of the full stationery kit.

The box is made out of one sheet of 12×12 textured card stock, plus a decorative strip on the flap. In the near future, I will measure the dimensions of the box and make the pattern to post on my blog (although I can’t promise when!).

And here’s a close up. I like the bright, festive hues. These are SU’s current In Colors.

Above is the card box all closed up. There’s a tiny piece of Velcro under the scalloped circle tag that keeps the box closed. I also used two big eyelets to string the ribbon through as a purse handle.

Here are the four cards in the set.

Project Recipe (all products Stampin’ Up unless otherwise noted): Season of Joy (110384), Deer Friends (hostess set), and Cute & Curly (112966) stamp sets, card stock and ink in riding hood red, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, and whisper white, designer paper in ski slope, striped ribbon in riding hood red, double stitched ribbon in baja breeze, 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon in old olive, punches in scalloped circle (109043), 1 1/2″ circle (EK Success), 1 3/8″ circle (104401), curly label punch (112966), threading water edge punch (Fiskars), stampin’ dimensionals, Heidi Swapp clear flower

So, what do you think? Would you be happy to get a similar set as a gift? I’m planning to create several of these stationery sets, non holiday themed, so you’ll surely see a few more on this blog.

I’m thankful that both Hubs and I have jobs, though imperfect, that provide dependable paychecks, plus a roof over our heads. I’m thankful that we live within 30 minutes of both our families and we can hop in a car to see them on a whim. It sounds silly, but I’m also thankful for my craft supplies. I think everyone needs an outlet to unwind. Paper crafting is my personal downtime.

Over the weekend, I made a gift box of thank you cards for the bride of the wedding that Hubs and I attended. I remember how hard it was to get going on our wedding thank you cards, so I wanted to give our friends a head start.

I made a set of four matching cards, two in pink and two in green.

Above, is a close up of the green version. I added a coordinating stamp on the envelope.

Card Recipe: SU Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, PTI colored cardstock, ink, and ribbon, PTI patterned paper, Fiskars Threading Water scalloped punch, Nestabilities rectangle and scalloped rectangle dies.

After I finished making the cards, I wrapped them up in clear, plastic box that I purchased from Papertrey Ink (PTI for short). These boxes can fit about eight cards, but I only had time to make four.

Before I finish this post, I have to mention that I’m thankful for my Hubs, who is so supportive of my very expensive hobby. I’m also thankful for my blog readers. You guys give me an audience to share my passion for paper and a reason to continue crafting.

What are you thankful for?

My friend celebrated her 29th birthday this year. As a portion of her present, I made her a box of monogrammed stationery. Simple, personal, and yet, still affordable.

(All photos were taken by my trusty compact point and shoot, since I hadn’t received the digital Rebel yet from Hubsters yet.)

First, I stamped her initial with pale aqua ink.

Next, the circle stamp outlined the “J.”

My 1.5 inch circle punch fit perfectly around the monogram.

After matting the monograms on slightly larger colored circles, I used a simple Xyron sticker unit to make seals.

Are these adorable? They’re backed on sticker paper so they can be used as envelope seals.

Now, for the stationery. The cards were made of white paper, matching monograms, and thin strips of patterned paper and colored ribbon.

Everything was adhered together with tombo tape runner.

Next, I made some pretty as punch lined envelopes using the leftover patterned paper.

Here’s the blue set…

And now, a picture of the green one.

I packaged the cards, envelopes, and seals in a thin, clear box wrapped with more patterned paper and a decorative oval that I cut using my Cuttlebug die cutting machine.

The photo is a little washed out, but here’s the final package. What do you think? Gift worthy? Or branded to the bottom drawer?

(Supplies: Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval dies, PTI aqua mist and spring moss ink, patterned paper, and cardstock, SU define your life and frames with a flourish stamps, SU circle punch, xyron sticker machine)