Just for Fun...use your imagination!

The night I made the treat boxes for the boys (see below), my sister said she wanted a book marker with her name on it. I wanted to do something a little better. Awhile back Patricia had been telling me she really needs to get organized (who doesn't?). I told her just having my calendar in my purse and writing things down has always helped me so much. While searching for something else a day or so earlier, I found a 2010-2011 planner I had bought months ago with the intention of altering it. So, I altered that first and decided it needed a matching note pad and pen.



I spent less than $2 making this. The planner and note pad were each on clearance at Michael's for 50 cents when I bought them, and the pen is from a multi-pack I bought a couple of years ago. The paper was from the first RAK I ever won - a box of scrap paper that weighed over seven pounds! I was in crafty heaven! At the time I probably owned about 100 sheets of crafting paper. (How much do I have now? Uh...I don't think I'd better go there!)


After a rough work day, Patricia told me she was happy to see this on her table when she came home. It was a fun little project and it felt good that I happened to make it just when my sister needed a little lift! It just shows gifts don't have to cost a lot of money. Most people love things that come from the heart the most.

THIS IS WHERE YOUR IMAGINATION COMES IN...
I forgot to take a picture, or if I did take one, it did not get saved correctly.

I used a pretty shimmering pink paper that had thin black stripes and stripes of small flowers. The calendar was in a plastic cover. I just added my paper over the paper cover, cut out a scalloped circle, put a white letter "P" with pink stickles on it and put some white ric-rak under the monogram and put it back in the plastic. I changed the orientation from landscape to portrait. The paper pad was one that has a cover with little magnet to hold it closed. It was done to match the calendar. The pen was a Pentel. The outer case is clear plastic. The end unscrews, so I took it off and wrapped the pen itself in the same shimmering pink paper and put the end back. There you have it...a quick, easy gift to help my little sister stay organized.

I hope you were able to look in your mind's eye and see what I have described! I had everything except the description written up when I realized I did not have the picture as I thought I did! Thanks for playing along!

Just a Little Treat

My sister, Patricia, lives right behind me in my mom's old house. She has a normal life where she goes places every day! I often call on her for a quick stop at the store - usually for milk. That was the story for yesterday. She told me she would send my nephew, Nicholas, and his good friend, Levi, over with the milk. We were both starting dinner, so I told her to wait until after dinner and I would give them a little treat for delivering it.



Well, when dinner was over, I went into my pantry, that is well stocked with little treats, since I am a Costco shopper. I thought about what to give the boys as a delivery treat. Then I thought about of putting a couple of things in a brown bag and putting a fun little tag on it or something. Well, if I put it in a paper bag, I had to put more than two things, because it would look pretty empty. So, I picked out six things for each of them. Then went into my craft room to make a tag. Then I thought maybe I would find different little bags that I could decorate and make it more fun. My thinking kept growing until finally...I could make something on my Cricut with Tags, Bags, Boxes and More! I had wanted that cartridge for so long when I finally bought it, and had hardly used it (as is the case with a few of them). Quick, I sent Patricia a message, "don't send the boys over yet." Then to explain a little more, "I am making them a surprise."

Finally, I decided on that cute little popcorn box. Why put all of that work into a name tag? Make a bookmark!

About an hour and a half later...here are their surprise boxes!

And, here they are enjoying their treats!

As if seeing their smiling faces was not joy enough for me, as they were looking at their goodies, Nicholas said to Levi, "See? I told you she always comes up with something good!" I asked Levi,"Did he really say that to to you?" Levi said, "Yes. He said you always give the best treats." Now my goal in life is not to spoil my nieces and nephews with stuff. I will be honest, this comment made my heart happy and made every second of the time I spent going overboard worth it!

Surprisingly, they did seem to enjoy their bookmarks as well as the candy and goodies. Most kids seem to enjoy having anything with their names on it. This just reminded me of it!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

A Great Blog to Follow and Tim Holtz Giveaway

If you do not already follow Pinky's blog Much Ado About Nothing, then you are missing out. Pinky is a great blogger. She posts something creative almost every day. She is having a giveaway on today's post and she is trying to get to 1000 followers by Christmas. Take a look at her blog and sign up to follow, you will be glad you did!

Orange Blog Hop Winner

Thank you to everyone who participated! It was so nice to read all of the kind comments from each person. This was fun and I hope to do it again. My blog was pretty far down the list and for so many people to have made it to that point in the hop to comment is dedication to the love of crafting!

Thanks to the nice people at Random.org, I have chosen a winner for the "What A Nut" LE Fall punch from last year. Drum roll, please, for my first blog giveaway.......it is number 36... Nana Beth said, "The lace is to die for. I love lace and flowers and pretty and soft and you nailed them all!"



If you send me your address, I will send you your punch!

Welcome to the Orange Blog Hop

If you are participating in the Orange Blog Hop and came here from Betsy's blog, you are in the right place! If you just happened upon my blog, the blog hop starts at the Fiskateers Blog.

For my orange project, I chose to do a chipboard mini book. Two of my favorite things are flowers and sparkle.And, I used both! On the cover I used some white lace and tulle and sprayed it with my homemade "glimmer mist"(water, colored with food color to make orange and about 1/4 teaspoon gold Perfect Pearls). The butterfly is chipboard covered with paper. The edge is punched with Fiskars Effervescence Border Punch and is laced with green fiber.

I do wish the photographs were better. If I had finished while I still had daylight, it would have helped! I apologize for that!

Other Fiskars tools I used during this project were:

Read Between the Vine Corner and Border Punch

Sure Cut Trimmer

Extra Large Seal of Approval Squeeze Punch

Wishes All Around Clear Stamps

Compact Stamp Press

3 in 1 Corner Punch - Flowers

You can find these tools and many more at the Fiskars Web Site.

Thank you so much for coming by! This is my first-ever blog-hop and I have had fun getting this far! Leave a comment here and be entered in a random drawing for the Fiskars Fall 2009 LE "What a Nut" squeeze punch that I will send to one lucky blogger! (see post below)

Next in the bloghop is Crafy Suz blog.

Hosting My First Swap

I love snowmen! They are so cute and festive at Christmastime! Last year I bought the cutest little snowman stamp and made a few cards with it and decided I would like to make some more. So, I announced on the Fiskateer message board that I will be hosting a swap. This is something new for me and I am pretty excited to be doing it! How about you? Would you like to play along? Go here to see the post.

Big Orange Blog Hop

I will be participating in my first blog hop. The list from Debby, who is organizing the hop, showed up in my email. It is unbelievable! There will be 42 blogs to hop! The place to start is fiskateers.com. So, grab a snack, get comfortable and get ready to see some exciting projects from Fiskateers near and far! They love their orange and when this is finished you will too!



Leave a comment during the blog hop and you will be put in the drawing for this Fiskars 2009 LE "What A Nut" squeeze punch.

Win a Big Give Away from T-Bear Touch!

Trisha is celebrating her 200th follower and a new DT position. Help her celebrate! Check it out on her blog!

1000 Sheets of Paper

You can enter to win one of five really great prizes being given away on this blog.