Looking at things differently | TGIF Challenge #159

It's been a while since I've played with the Jar of Love stamp set but when I saw this sketch for this weeks TGIF Challenge I was immediately inspired. 

However once I sat down to start creating I  just couldn't get it to work and eventually "Mum duties" called so my project was set aside until later in the day. It was when I returned to my desk that I knew how to fix it....turn it upside down!!! What do you think? 

I'm absolutely loving the Wood Textures DSP stack from Stampin' Up! at the moment so you can imagine how happy I was when I found out that it is still available in the new 2018-2019 Annual Catalogue. 

These Delicate White Doilies, however, are retiring so if you are going to miss them as much as I am, you'll need make sure you order a packet or three as they are only available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. That means don’t wait! Once they are gone, they're gone. 

Thanks for poping by today. Make sure you pop over to the TGIF Challenge Blog to see what the TGIF Design team have done with this sketch.

- Tan xx

Picture Perfect Gift Wrapping

Hello and welcome back. 

As you may have already guessed, I enjoy making beautiful cards for my family and friends, however the perfectionist in me can't help but create beautiful gift wrapping to go with the card. Often I will make a box or decorate a gift bag but my go-to gift wrapping supplies are a huge roll of plain white wrapping paper, Stampin' Up! stamps, ink and some Designer Series Paper. And these designs from Picture Perfect Party DSP are perfect for gift packaging. 

Lucky for me these gifts are books for my nephew and nieces so they were super easy to wrap and were a great blank canvas to decorate.

The only draw back to gift wrapping with the Picture Perfect Party DSP stack is that the pages are only 6 x 6 inches so creating a belly band is rather difficult for most sized gifts however for this gift I used my snail and short strips of different patterns to create a bricked effect belly band to go around the gift. 

This candle image is my absolute favourite design from this stack and really only needs some subtle background stamping and a few simple embellishments.

When completing this last design I CASEd the layout of card I had created in the past. Casing one of your past project is always a great way to get the creative juices flowing when you are stuck for ideas. 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope I've inspired you to get more out if your crafting supplies by multi-purposing them for gift packaging. 

- Tan xx

Lil' lunch notes | Let's Get Hopping #9

Welcome to another Let's Get Hopping Blog Hop. You may have just arrived here from my amazingly talented friend Susan Wong, didn't you just love her projects? If you are starting here please make sure you hit the next button at the bottom of this post and hop all the way around

This month's task was to complete a set of cards and I'm really excited to share my creations with you. 

My biggest boy (age 11) has been having a little bit if a rough time at school of late, just the standard school yard bickering but it's got him down just the same. So as a bit of a "pick-me-up" I decided to create some little lunch box note cards that I can write an uplifting message in and pop in his lunchbox. Since most of the problems are occurring during snack and lunch times my hope was that when he opens his lunch box he'll find my handmade note and that will lift his mood before he heads out to play. 

The bright and colourful designs from the Tutti Fruitti DSP stack were the obvious choice for me when I was deciding on my designs and I just couldn't resist adding a piece of coordinating DSP to decorate the envelopes. When it came to adding the sentiments I was spoilt for choice, Stampin' Up! includes so many wonderful sentiments in their stamp sets that I had a hard time narrowing the sentiments down to just 6! 

Here's a close up of each of the cards. 

Thank you for hopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my post. Next up in the hop is the super talented Sherry Espinoza, I can't wait to see what set of cards she is sharing.  

 - Tan xx