Parisian Themed Gift and Stamped Gift Bag

Hey everyone...it's Sonya from Sonya's Paper Trail.  I've been saving up this post for a special day and today seems like a special day to me! 

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to a 50th birthday party for someone I used to work with.  She was a wonderful friend and mentor and I really hoped to make it to the party.  Our schedule is usually pretty packed this time of year, but we checked the date...and it was OPEN!  It was a sign that we just had to go to the party!  

My friend visited Paris a couple of years ago and fell in love with the city.  Paris is very special to me, too.  I've had the pleasure of spending quite a bit of time there over the years, so I decided that I wanted to get her a gift that had a touch of Paris to it.  My local bead boutique does custom work, so I picked out some beads and let the owner do her magic.  

This gorgeous necklace was the result:

 

Isn't it stunning?  

The shop owner refers to them as "drops".  They can be interchangeable if you have other drops made.

 

I couldn't resist stamping her a tiny gift bag.  This is a muslin bag that I got from CTMH.  Stamps and ink work so well on them!

 

I added a matching tag and a tiny bit of twine and decided it was perfect.

The lovely hostess decided that she'd not tell anyone that my husband and I were going to attend.  It was so much fun to surprise everyone when we walked up to the door.  I hadn't seen some of my former coworkers for probably 5 years or more.  The party was wonderful, seeing friends from my past was very special, and being able to share in someone's milestone birthday was pretty  awesome, too.  I'm so glad we made the trip!   Oh, and she loved the necklace!!

Have a super day! 

Santa's Sleigh - A Gift

Hey peoples - how is everyone.  It's Karon here, from Karon's Krafty Korner - to share some last little bit of Christmas inspiration here at She's a Sassy Lady.

I have been seeing these lovely sleighs with a box incorporated all over blog land - but I have yet (notice the yet!) to get hold of a Cameo - Father Christmas do you hear the little hint!

I decided to do it the old fashion way and this is what I came up with.

I used the Circut Cartridge Winter Woodland for the sleigh (page 53) cut at 3" (actual size is 3" high by 5.25" wide),  I cut the sleigh out twice normal and then flipped the image and cut out twice again.  Here is the screen shot.

The reason that I cut four sleighs, was to glue two together to give it that extra bit of strength - I don't have the deep cut blade to be able to use thicker materials.

After gluing two sleighs together, I then glued on the sleigh layer and then I ran this through my Cuttlebug with the Divine Swirls folder; only embossing the top part of the sleigh.

Now came my awkward part - making the box to attach to the sleigh.

First you will need (for this size sleigh - any bigger and you will have to work out the size of your box) a piece of card stock that is 7.5" by 6.5".

You will score the longest side at 2" and 5.5".

Next score lines on the shorter side, score at 2" and 4.5".

Now we need to shape the box.  So we are going to measure 5/8" up from the 2"/4.5" score line as below and mark with a little dot, then draw a line as below - please note the orientation and that you are making these lines on the longer edge.

Next you are going to cut off these pieces.

The next piece to cut is as below - again 5/8".

Next to cut your flaps ready to form your box.

And now we can make up the box by securing the flaps and there you have it.  A nice shaped box to attach your sleighs.

I used silver card to make up my box - all you need to do is then secure your sleighs to your box.

I then made a small box to go inside the sleigh - it measures 3" by 2" by 3" high.  I filled this with lovely chocolates and added a lovely bit of ribbon.  The holly was cut at 1" .

And that is it, all done and a lovely gift to share.

Thanks Sheila for having me visit each and every month.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas season and see you all again in the New Year.

Happy crafting.

Christmas is coming!

Hi all, its Karon here, from Karons's Krafty Korner.

I attend a Wednesday coffee morning and it will be my turn to host at the beginning of December.  I thought I would make up some little gift baskets for each of my friends to take home. It would also make a nice little teachers gift.

I found this tutorial on Split Coast Stampers, however, I do not own any cutting dies.  So of course I turned to my Cricut.

I also made my basket a little bigger - I will show you the measurements for a 10" scallop circle.  The only difficulty I found, was finding a symmetrical one, but I eventually found one on the Art Philosophy cartridge, page 41, circle 3.

I am using the 10" circle as I wanted a slightly bigger basket. Use a 12" by 12" piece of card stock and don't throw away the excess, cut off a 12" by 0.75" piece, this will be the handle for your basket.

You will need to start off by placing the valley of a scallop at the 5.5" mark on your score board and make sure that you have a valley at the bottom on the same score line.

Here is a close up of the top of the circle.  For ease of positioning on the score board, I used the 5.5" mark on the scoreboard (I also drew a small pencil mark on my scoreboard in the score line to help with lining up) as my starting point, you need to score 1.75" either side of this.  So score at the 3.75" mark and the 7.25" mark.

Next rotate you circle a quarter turn so that you have the centre of a mountain of the scallop at the top at the 5.5" score mark and the same at the bottom.

Again you will score at the 3.75" mark and the 7.25" mark as below.

Ok, now we are going to cut into the first score lines that you made, up to the centre square - as follows.

If you actually cut either side of the embossed line - you will get a better fit for your basket.  You just need to  use the embossed line as your cutting guide, and just cut the width of the the embossed line only.  As below.

Fold all you score lines, nice and crisp.  Time to put it together.  Place tape as shown to form the first sides of the box.

Then pull two sides together and put more tape for the final two sides.

Turn up your final two sides and that's your box complete.  Now its time to decorate.

Firstly, the easy part - the handle.  Take the 12" by 0.75" piece you saved from earlier, I put a strip that was 12" by 0.5" down the middle of my handle, and another piece on top 12" by 0.25".

To secure your handle pick two brads of your choice. And secure as below.

The rest of your box can be decorated how you wish.  Here's mine :-)

The embellishments were all from the Winter Woodland Cartridge.  The Let it Snow (page 62) was cut at 3" width.  The outer snowflakes (page 35) were cut at 1.5" and 1".

The finished box is 3.5" square by 3.25" deep.  Perfect for a little gift at Christmas.

You will not believe what I cut the silver snowflakes from.  It is called "peel & stick" Faux Metal adhesive Covering.

It cuts in the Cricut like butter. I used the same settings I use for Vinyl; 3,3,3.  I paid $9.99 Canadian, at Lowes for this 20" by 48" roll, so really economical.  It was in the the kitchen area where they keep the stuff you put on shelves.   It's self adhesive and comes with a backing sheet with squares on it (just like the vinyl) so makes it easy to measure.

I hope you have enjoyed my visit today.

Thanks Sheila, for putting up with me again this month ;-)

Happy crafting everyone.

Digital Scrapping....and a gift!

Hi, all! This is Jeannie from Nonnasscraps. I am thrilled to be back with you here at Sassy Lady! Thanks for letting me share!

For my son's birthday I decided to give him "scrapbook" of his two children. He is, however, not into bulky books or fluff. I saw a stand at Michael's that held 8x8" scrapbook pages and allowed the pages to be used as art. A 50% off coupon and it was mine. But here is what is his:

The title page says, "A Child is the Greatest Joy, the Ultimate Blessing." It is so true of these two babies. The stand holds multiple pages, so it can grow over time. Pages can be used back and front and flip over the rings to the back (so the art can change!) Here are two more pages:

I Scrapbook for MacBook Pro

(digital scrapbooking software)

Photos of choice

Digital papers of choice

Digital Elements of Choice

Photo/Scrapbook Stand (Michael's)

mat photo paper

Home printer

1. Assemble each page in the software.
2. Print at 8x8" size.
3. Trim to size.
4. Embellish if desired.
5. Add to sleeve of stand.
6. Display.

I can think of numerous ways to use a stand like this. Celebrate a wedding, new baby or anniversary. How about displaying a favored trip? What can you think of?