No Time To Stamp?

I finally got back to my Sue’s Kitchen projects! And I had help on this one from Martha. I purchased a Martha Stewart Bag Set, but decided it needed a little spicing up (sorry, Martha). The set was on a 1/2 price sale at Michael’s the last time I was there (about 2 weeks ago) and it consisted of 15 of the square bottom cello bags with heavy DP inserts, pre-scored to fit (as you see in the bags), and narrow white grosgrain ribbon. Cute to throw together quickly — sure! But I KNEW we could do better!!! Here’s my finished product:

Aren’t they fun! And those are supposed to be delicious homemade cookies wrapped up in the tissue. I, of course, had no such thing on hand, but I know Sue will!!! Sue loves to make up gift bags of treats, so I made these especially with her in mind - not that I’m making up the entire set for her — oh NO — but I’m giving her the remainder so she can make them up herself, using these as inspiration and guidance. I hope she likes them!!!

The bottom of Martha’s bag was plain, so I personalized it with my JustRite font sets and Spellbinders Double Ended Tags die. I also added the lace doily, cutting it down a bit to fit in the bag perfectly. And the top of Martha’s bag was rather plain, too, so I added the scalloped white lacy border, using one of Martha’s lace border punches. I think it adds a lot! And, of course, I thought my 1.5″ May Arts Gingham Ribbon was a huge improvement over Martha’s narrow white grosgrain - LOL!!! And now that I’ve been a bit tough on Martha, let me say that I KNOW she would have had beautifully baked cookies in her bags, whereas I merely have mason jar rings wrapped in tissue under the pretense of being cookies — LOL!!! Seriously, these ARE cute little bag sets to pick upand personalize for your own needs, and I’m sure that was Martha’s intent all along!!!

From Sues Kitchen was done on the smaller of the Harmony Rectangle Stampers with Times New Roman Font, both Uppercase and Lowercase (in 25 point), except the S that was done with Special Occasions Font. I LOVE mixing up the font sets for an interesting look! The Times New Roman LowercaseFont is available from JustRite on 4/10, but you can get those sooner if you like. Check out this post on the JustRite Blog for a list of both brick and mortar and online stores.

Stamps: Times New Roman Lowercase, Times New Roman Uppercase, Special Occasions Font, Harmony Rectangle Stamper, all by JustRite.

Paper: White, Martha Stewart Bag Set from Michaels (bags and scored DP)

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: 1.5″ Gingham May Arts Ribbon from My Ribbon Saleabove my Blog banner, Double Ended Tags by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, Doilies, Brads, 1/4″ Hole Punch, Glue Glider.

Super Simple Ribbon Treatment

I’d like to take a minute here today and show you how to do this type of bow. I get a lot of questions about bow tying. Many of you feel you aren’t able totie a decent bow. Well, this is the perfect ribbon treatment for bow challenged stampers!!! I know many of you are very familiar with this treatment, but for those who aren’t, here we go:

Punch holes in your card top. As I knew I wanted to use a 1.5″ wide ribbon today, I used a 1/4″ hole punch. The ribbon runs through each hole twice, so this is a perfect size hole for this ribbon treatment when using such wide ribbon. Cut your ribbon long enough that you have room to trim your ends when done. Cutboth ribbon ends at sharp angles tomake it easy to run them through the holes.

Run the ribbon through the holes to the card back, as shown. With both ribbon tails on the back side, now take one, cross it over, and run it through the hole to the front, as shown.

Now take the 2nd ribbon tail and cross it over and run it through the other hole to the card front. The 2nd photo shows what the card front now looks like.

Merely trim your ribbon ends in whatever fashion you like, and you are done!!! This ribbon treatment can have different looks depending on how far apart you punch the holes. You’ll note the pre-punched holes in my Martha bag were farther apart, giving one look, whereas I punched my holes closer on this sample, giving more the look of a standard bow. This is a perfect ribbon treatment for those who feel they can’t tie a decent bow!!! It comes out perfect, every time!!!

Thanks for stopping in again! Hope you are having a good weekend. We really got dumped on with a heavy, wet snow again. I just wish spring would come, and STAY!!! Leaving you with warm spring wishes!!!

My friend, Sue, is having a birthday soon, and to say that she likes to bake would be a gross understatement! Everywhere she goes, her arms are heavily laden with baked goods, particularly cakes, cupcakes and cookies. So when I saw the darling new Recipe Borders and Centers Set from JustRite, I KNEW it was perfect to make a little gift for Sue. Here’s what I made:

Though these may bear a resemblance in style to a recipe card, they are not. These measure just 3″ x 4.25″ and are gift tags for Sue to attach to the top of her bakery boxes when she brings them as gifts. A little adhesive on the back, attach it to her box, and she’s all set!!! The message is clear — a gift, baked with love, from Sue’s kitchen! Fun!!!

The new Recipe Borders and Centers Set has 9 different borders andcenters, giving youtons of ways to mix and match. I love their small size, and they are used on the new 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper - it’s so tiny and cute — totally fun to play with!!! These are both new product available from JustRite on 4/10; however, if you need them sooner, I can tell you how to get them. Please scroll to the end of this post for links under Shopping.

From Sue’s Kitchen was done on the smaller of the Harmony Rectangle Stampers with Times New Roman Font, both Uppercase and Lowercase (in 25 point), except the S — that was done with Special Occasions Font. I LOVE mixing up the font sets for an interesting look! The Times New Roman Lowercase Font is also available from JustRite on 4/10, but you can get those sooner too if you like. Again, scroll to the bottom and lookfor links under Shopping.

The pretty striped ribbon used is 3/8″ by May Arts, available in a numbr of colors at My Ribbon Sale. It coordinates perfectly with the Celery and Bashful Blue SU Prints DP I’ve used here.

And I just wanted to show you what JustRite productI used. See the new Recipe Borders and Centers Set? Anyone who likes to do recipe projects will love this!!! The borders and centers snap into the 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper shown. This new size is just PERFECT for recipe cards and little projects like I’ve done today. And the Harmony Rectangle Stampers are perfect for creating your own sentiments with ease. There are 2 stampers in each box, large and small. I’ve used the small one today, shown above.

Stamps: All by JustRite: Recipe Borders and Centers Set; used with the 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper; Times New Roman Uppercase Font; Times New Roman Lowercase Font; Special Occasions Font; used on the Harmony Rectangle Stamper.

Paper: Black, White, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, SU Prints DP.

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black

Accessories: May Arts Ribbon, Kaiser Pearls, Circle Nestabilities and Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Martha Stewart Lace Punch, SU Corner Rounder, Glue Glider, Glue Dots.

SHOPPING:

New JustRite Product - The Recipe Borders and Centers Set, 1 3/16″ Wood Stamper, and Times New Roman Lowercase Font are all available at the JustRite Site for shipment on 4/10. If you need this product sooner, brick and mortar stores and on line sites will have product available for consumers to purchase 30 days before merchandise will be shipped fromthe JustRitewebsite, so that means the beginning of this coming week!!! ThisJustRite Blog Post gives you the names and locations of brick and mortar stores as well as links to online stores where you’ll be able to get new product THIS WEEK!!!

Spellbinder Nestabilites, Kaiser Pearls and the Glue Glider are from Joan’s Garden.

Versa Fine Ink isfrom Stampers Dream.

May Arts Striped Ribbon is available at My Ribbon Sale (TAB above my blog header).

And now that Ive got these tags made, Im wondering if perhaps I need to make a few more things to coordinate with them? Well, perhaps I will well see what tomorrow brings!!! Thanks for stopping in today, hope your weekend is going well, and hope to see you back real soon!!! Thanks much!!!

Welcome to Day11 of Stamp Simply Celebrates! If you are new here, check out Party Central for a full rundown of our 12 day schedule. Feel free to jump in anytime at all!!!

Anyone can play ANY of the challenges by ANY of the hostesses during our 12 days of Stamp Simply Celebrates!!!You DO NOTneed to have a Blog to play uploading your project to SCS (Splitcoaststampers.com) is not only permissible, but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. When doing so, use the KEYWORD SSC08. Thanks!

AJ Otto - The Willow Garden - Are you wrapping gifts yet? Probably! Ill bet you need some pretty tags to dress thosepackages up well, be sure to check in on AJs Featured Project today to see all her Gift Tags. And then play AJs Challenge so you, too, can have some nice gift tags on hand!!! Be sure to stop in at AJs today!

You can see more tag samples by checking out the Blogs of: Heather, Janine, LeAnne, Jerri and Sharon (that’s me, just scroll down).

Jerri Jimenez - A Touch of Grace - Today Jerri will grace us with her Featured Project which is abeautiful 6 x 6 Scrapbook she made, which is certain to be a real treat for the eyes. Jerri also has BLOG CANDY to offer today (think scrapbooking made easy), so be sure to stop in to see Jerri!!!

Other scrapbook samples can be seen by checking out: Barb, Jennifer.

Deb Saaranen - Dream in Color - Deb has an offering of BLOG CANDY for us today!

Jerri Jimenez - A Touch of Grace - Jerri also has BLOG CANDY to offer today so be sure to stop in to see Jerri!

Today I wanted to play along with AJ’s Challenge to create some gift tags. Well, I really went simple — LOL!!! Take a look:

We have friends who own a sugar bush** (see below) and we always like to have some gifts of syrup on hand, all wrapped and ready to go for those times when you need just a little something you may not have counted on. I got 3 bottles ready today with my cute, and simple, little tags. I first wrapped each bottle in clear cellophane wrap. I love that stuff and try to always have many rolls on hand. It can make even a simple gift look festive at any time of year. And can you see the top of the cellophane — it is cut flat. Rather than leave all the peaks the paper naturally forms when you pull it all up, I like to give it a haircut. I just bunch it all up together nice and tight in my hands and then clip across it with my scissors so I get a nice flat top. I just like that look on my syrup bottles.

Editing to add: So many are asking me what a *sugar bush* is — gee, makes me chuckle. A sugar bush is that area of the woods that a person owns with hard maple trees that are tapped for sap to boil into syrup. The sap is then boiled in the *sugar shack*. I asked my DH if these terms were slang to this area — he thought not — I didn’t really think so either. ARE these common terms to most of you??? LOL!!!

Here’s a closer look at the tag. The maple leaf is from First Fruits by Papertrey Ink, stamped with Kaleidacolor Cappuccino Delight, then overstamped with a sentiment from SU’s Star Studded Christmas in Versa Fine Onyx Black. It is cut and embossed with my Petite Circle Nesties by Spellbinders. The matting is with myunknown Bronze Brushed Metallic paper from my stash and I used Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware by SU for my hanger. The ribbon is May Arts white satin, so soft, in two difference widths.

Here’s a look at the back of the tag. Just cut another circle with the Nesties, stamped on the To/From and adhered it to the back of the tag. SO simple to make, yet I think they look a little fancy or special because of the Kaleidacolor ink, the Bronze Metallic paper and the hardware. Fun!!!

And here I just wanted to show you my To/From block. I put this together a month or so ago and will leave it in tact until all my holiday gift wrapping in finished. I have created 2 To/From sentiments on this one block — one a little larger than the other, so I have a size to suite whatever I need it for. Sure comes in handy during the holidays!!! The smaller green sentiment is done in Brayton Font and the bit larger sentiment is done in Times New Roman Font. There are 3 sizes of font in each font box purchased. And the block they are on is the smaller of the 2 rectangle stampers that come in the Rectangle Stamper Set.

And again that wraps it up for tonight!!! Thanks again so much for stopping in. We have one more dayof Stamp Simply Celebrates! and I do want to point out that tomorrow I will have 2 posts up, so be sure to check them both out. One will be for my last Blog Candy offering and the other will be our regular Friday Stamp Simply Challenge — and it’s really a fun one this week that I think will give you a ton of layout ideas for simple cards — so try to come back if you can!!! Thanks so much!!!

Welcome to Day7 of Stamp Simply Celebrates! If you are new here, check out Party Central for a full rundown of our 12 day schedule. Feel free to jump in anytime at all!!!

Anyone can play ANY of the challenges by ANY of the hostesses during our 12 days of Stamp Simply Celebrates!!!You DO NOTneed to have a Blog to play uploading your project to SCS (Splitcoaststampers.com) is not only permissible, but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. When doing so, use the KEYWORD SSC08. Thanks!

Susan Roberts - Rainy Day Creations - How often do we give Gift Card Holders? Well, if youre like me, probably a lot!!! Susans Featured Project today shows us a quick gift card holder to make and she Challenges us to make our own, using her template or your own. Susan also has a BLOG CANDY offering today. You wont want to miss this, so be sure to visit Susan today!

You can see some more wonderful samples of gift card holders from Susan’s designers by checking out these blogs: Janine, Jennifer, Darlene, and AJ

Dee Jackson- Stampin cuz I Luv 2 -For her Featured Project today, Dee puts together some gorgeous Packaging for YourFood Items how fun!!! Her Challenge today provides many beautiful samples for you to see and to be inspired by so you can prepare your own packaged delectables for those on your gift list. Be sure to stop in at Dees today to see the sweet treats she and her designers have prepared for you!!!

You can see more beautifully packaged food gift items by checking out Dee’s designers at these blogs: CAT, Jennifer, Darlene, Heather and Barb. I have a packaged food item as well, and you can just scroll down to see that!

Susan Roberts - Rainy Day Creations has a blog candy offering today in addition to her challenge listed above.

Sharon Johnson - No Time to Stamp? - Thats me with more BLOG CANDY think specialty papers and just keep looking, because here it is:

Today’s Blog Candy was graciously donated by Marco’s Paper. From reading past comments I realize many of you are familiar with Marco’s Paper, but I wasn’t until a few months ago and, oh my goodness, what a store!!! Totally filled with paper and supplies for any paper crafter!!! Today we have from Marco’s Paper15 sheetsof the Accordion Cardstock that I used on this post the other day. It is 5.5″ x 25″ and makes doing accordion projects so easy. We also have a pack of 1/2 sheets of the Mirri Reflective Card that I’ve been using so much lately - OH, do I LOVE this paper. If you’ve never used it, you’ll be in for a treat! It is highly reflective — truly a mirrored surface — and it works up SO nicely into pretty, elegant cards. It adds such a richness and class — I just love it!!! It comes in a large variety of colors and this pack has samplings of them all. I did open my pack and have it spread out so you can see the colors. And you can also see in the photo how highly reflective it truly is! Also we have a package of 50 White Announcement Envelopes in A-2 size. THANK YOU MARCO’S PAPER!!!! MUCH APPRECIATED!!! And in doing these links, I just noticed their announcement on the home page about FREE shipping with a $50 purchase through Dec 15 — that’s Monday!!! Just letting you know!

To be entered for this Blog Candy drawing, all you need to do is comment below and tell me what type of paper you usemost often OTHER THAN standard cardstock. Nice and simple!!! This post will be closed for Blog Candy entries at 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 12, 2008. Shortly thereafter a random winner will be selected by random.org. The winner will be posted both on this thread and at Party Central. OK, now on to my project:

I played in Dee’s challenge today to come up with ways to attractively package gifts of food. Food gifts are SO totally practical and I think always appreciated, so it’ll be fun to see what everyone comes up with! My project today is SO simple. I took an already pretty bag of Ghirardelli Chocolate Peppermint Coffee. It was done in candy cane stripes of red and white which, much to my glee, was the EXACT same color as the red Mirri Card that I wanted to use today!!! AllI did was wrap with ribbon, attach my Merry Christmas sentiment medallion, hang on a tag, make a simple card to match, and DONE!!! It turned a lovely, but simple, bag of coffee into a WOW gift item!!!

The sentiment medallion is made with the Christmas Ensemble by JustRite, using the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper III, which happens to be my favorite size. And JustRite is having a sale now, until the 19th. Check it out here. I am disappointed in my photos of this project. The Merry Christmas is embossed in a mixture of SU Gold Detail Embossing Powder and Dazzling Diamonds. It is SO GORGEOUS IRL, and in these photos it just looks like I’ve stamped it with brown ink and didn’t even get a good image — so NOT true!!! I apologize for that, but my photo abilities are quite limited!!! Anyway, just believe me, it is a soft gold with a bit of Dazzling Diamond sparkle!!! Very eye-catching!!! That is layered onto a circle of the gold Mirri Card, then onto a layer of candy canes which is a border in the Christmas Ensemble, then finally onto the scalloped layer made with the Red Mirri Card!!! It’s SO pretty!!! All the cutting and embossing was done with my Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders in the Cuttlebug. This Mirri Card, though heavy, cut like butter!!!

The For You ornament tag on top probably took a minute or less!!! And HOW pretty!!! I used my coordinating ornament die and embossing Folder for the Cuttlebug. I first cut the ornament with the die, then inserted it into the folder and ran it through. Made with this gold Mirri Card it looks JUST like a real ornament! Again, the Mirri Card ran through with the Cuttlebug die and folder with no problems. It has the heavy weight I love and still works like a charm with all my tools!

Here’s the card I made to coordinate. To make my candy cane border, I colored the border stamp from the Christmas Ensemblewith my SU markers in red and black, stamped it, then colored in the flowers with my Spica Glitter Pens by Copic, using Gold, Red, and Olive. And on the card I added this strip of ribbed Mirri Card. Another quick dress-me-up idea that is so effortless. Here’s how I did it.

My strip is 1.5″ wide. This was just a scrap left over. Using my Scor-It, I quickly and easily embossed it (scored it) every 1/4 “. So easy to do with the well-marked ruler on top. Just score and keep moving it over 1/4″ at a time. LOVE the rich look it adds. And again, this Mirri Card is quite heavy, but my Scor-It scoring tool glided over it making a perfect score with no effort at all. When you do this, be sure to start with a longer piece of paper than you need. Remember, as you score, it eats up length and you end up with a shorter piece. Start long enough, then cut off what you don’t need when all is said and done!

And that takes care of today’s project!!! Hope you liked it — it WAS so super fun, simple and quick!!! It would be great to do up a few of these just to keep on hand for those surprise visitors or extra gifts we so often need at the last minute!!! Sure to please!!! Thanks so much for stopping in again.I truly DO appreciate it — more than you know!!! Hope to see you again tomorrow as the fun continues throughout next week!!!

And the winner selected by random.org is #24, who is Michelle!!! Congrats, Michelle! Here’s what she had to say:

Michelle

That mirror paper is incredible! I love what youve done with it, Sharon!

Dec 7, 1:31 AM

Thank you so much, everyone, for playing along — much appreciated!!!

Hi everyone!!! So glad you are stopping in — we have SO much lined up over the next 12 days. The schedule is full and we welcome you all to take a peek. Thecomplete schedule which we are calling PARTY CENTRAL is located at the TAB above my BLOG BANNER — look way UP — click there and you will see our full schedule of events for the next 12 days. You can refer there at any time. Right now all links lead to the Blog URL’s — but as the scheduled posts go live daily, the links will be changed appropriately.Once at Party Central,please take a moment to read about our KEYWORD for SCS uploads(SSC08) and our Rules of Blog Candy Netiquette. Thanks so much!

Anyone can play ANY of the challenges by ANY of the hostesses during our 12 days of Stamp Simply Celebrates!!! You DO NOT have to have a Blog to play — uploading your project to SCS (Splitcoaststampers.com) is not only permissible, but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED. When doing so, use the KEYWORD SSC08. Thanks!

The main attraction today to get us started is over at Janine’s Blog, 2bKrafty. Janine’s creativity on this one was way over the top — be sure to check it out — it involvesher lovely Featured Project, a Challenge, AND Blog Candy!!!

In addition to Janine, above, the following girls have some GREAT Cookies, recipes and packaging to share with you: Jennifer, Darlene, Deb, AJ, Barb, Jerri, LeAnne.

And I have some Blog Candy today, too!!! The Blog Candy I am offering was very generously donated by JustRite. Here it is:

The winner of today’s Blog Candy will receive, direct from JustRite, the Curlz FontEnsemble which contains 3 different sizes of font in handy stackable storage trays, plus the Harmony Rectangle Stampers. They come 2 in a box, one large and one small, as shown in the photo above. To be eligible to win, merely leave a comment on this post telling me what it is about the JustRite product that MOST appeals to you — for example, the ability to do monograms, the snap in grids, the comfortable to hold wood stampers, the variety of font available, etc., etc. Inquiring minds like to know — LOL!!! This Blog Candy post is closed for entries at 6:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec 6. Shortly after 6:00 a winner will be selected by random.org. The winner will be posted both on this thread and at PARTY CENTRAL.

OK, now on to my project for today. In keeping with the spirit of Janine’s Cookie Recipe Exchange Challenge (see details here), I wanted to play. I made some cookies, that I’ll show you in a bit, but first here is the little treat bag I made to put them in. This bag is fairly small measuring 2″ x 3.5″ with an overall height of 4.5″; however, the part that holds the cookies is only about 2.5″ high — you’ll see when I show more pics, but here’s the first:

I made this bag easily with my Scor-It, using SU Holiday Treasures DP, the Baking Ensemble by JustRite for the heart shaped focal image, Curlz Font by JustRite for my name tag, and some 1.5″ wide ribbon and some baby rick rack. I used my Petite Circle Nestabilities to cut, emboss and frame the focal image and a Tags die, also by Spellbinders, for the name tag. A SU 1 1/4″ punch was used on the bag to form the handle. A tiny gold safety pin holds the tag on the ribbon. SU Riding Hood Red ink was used.

Here’s a side view of the bag. 4 of my cookies, shown below, fit perfectly in this little bag. I think this bag would be just perfect for a little gift of cookies, or anything that fits in it for that matter. It would be lovely to give to a teacher or friend, and many of these filled with goodies on a table would make perfect table favors and/or place cards for the table. Fun for everyone!!! And now, here are my cookies to go inside:

These cookies are called Bon Bons, and I never made them before. But I wanted to include them here as I remember these cookies so well from my childhood. My Mom made them every Christmas, with a cherry in the center and pink frosting. I will say my Mom’s were perfectly round and much prettier than my first attempt, but the taste is absolutely the same — just yummy!!! I had to get the recipe from my Mom, so she just gave me the old cookbook they were in. It appears to be a promotional book put out by Gold Medal. It says this recipe was from Mrs. Joseph J. Wallace, high in her Rocky Mountain home near Whitehall, Montana. Delicious cookies!!! Here’s the recipe:

BON BON COOKIES

From: Sharon Johnson Original Recipe by: Mrs. Joseph J. Wallace, Whitehall, Montana

Mix thoroughly: cup soft butter; cup sifted confectioners sugar; 1 Tbs. vanilla; Food coloring (if desired)

By hand, mix in: 1 cups sifted Gold Medal flour; 1/8 tsp. salt

If dough is dry, add 1 2 Tbs. cream. Wrap level Tbs. of dough around filling. Place 1 apart on ungreased baking sheet and bake until set, but not brown in a 350 degree oven (12 15 min).

Dip tops of warm cookies in icing.

Filling possibilities: Well-drained maraschino cherries, pitted dates, gumdrops, or tsp. mixture of 1 sq. unsweetened chocolate, melted, and cup shredded coconut.

Icing: 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar, 2 Tbs. cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, food coloring, if desired.

As for the HOW TO on this box/bag, it is made with one full 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper. Using the Scor-It, score 2.5″ in along the 11″ sides, and score 4.5″ in along the 8.5″ sides. It’ll look like this:

On this box/bag there is NO cutting or slitting to make tabs. It is all just in the way it is folded. I got this template from the 3-D Design Challenge Blog. This project was called the One Sheet Box Challenge and here’s the link to their One Sheet Box Folding Video. Please check these links as it’ll make it clear. It’s a bit confusing at first, but once you see it and do it, it’s as easy as pie and makes total sense.

That’s it from me for Day 1. Be sure to run over to Janine’s if you haven’t been there yet — she’ll have a ton of links for you to check out many great Cookie Recipe Exchange projects!!! Thanks so much for coming!!! Hope to see you all again tomorrow!!!

The winner selected by random.org is Sara, #122. Congrats! Sara!!! Here’s what Sara had to say:

Sara - Congrats on all of the hits!! Those cookies look so YUMMY!!

I think its cool that they have the larger size fonts, most stamps are the smaller sizes but sometimes you just really need the bigger sizes.

Dec 1, 9:09 AM

Thank you ALL so much for playing — MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

It is certainly that time of year when our baskets are filled to overflowing with garden veggies, whether we grow them ourselves or purchase them. I LOVE the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies at this time of year. And although we do grow some, we are also given a lot. It seems every time someone stops in, their arms are heavily laden with bags of produce — I love it!!! I gathered a few things from my counter last evening, arranged them in a basket and hung on the tag I just made, a tag that I will use when we go bearing gifts!!!

Above is a full view of the tag as well as a close-up of the pineapple image. Gee, am I loving this set — more and more each time I use it. I used the wheat yesterday, now the pineapple, and the acornand pinecone will be for tomorrow’s project!!! I need to properly break this set in — LOL!!! Here’s a little info on what I did:

• The chocolate tag base is cut 6.5 x 4. Used a corner rounder on bottom, a deco corner punch on top.

• The loop hanger through which you run ribbon to tie onto the basket handle is cut 1.5 x 5.5, scored in the center, tab ends corner rounded and attached to tag with brads.

• I used regular SU inks on my pineapple, first covering the pineapple in More Mustard, then carefully apply Really Rust around the perimeter, direct torubber from the pad. The top leaves were done the same way, with first Certainly Celery and then Old Olive. And on the close-up you can see how I used a Chocolate Chip SU marker (fine point) and made tiny dots in the little white dots — just thought it looked like it needed it!

I think the rest is rather self-explanatory. LOVE that little leafy stamp I used for the background!

• Stamps: First Fruits by Papertrey

• Paper: PTI White. SU Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Really Rust. DP from Fall Harvest pack by K & Co. from Michaels.

• Ink: Above plus Old Olive.

• Accessories: PetiteOval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, SU Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Corner Rounder, Deco Corner Punch, Mounting Squares, Wide Wired Ribbon.

Have you checked out the Teapot Tuesday Challenge over at Mothermark’s Blog? It’s a fun one — I love this challenge idea and though I didn’t get a card made yet, I WILL get one done, if not this week, then next!!! Fun challenge!!!

Now, off to do something with the acorns or pineconesfrom this set for tomorrow’s post!!! I’m going for a more masculinelook, not that these first 2 attempts have been particularly feminine!!! Truly beautiful weather here today — hope you are all enjoying the same!!! Thanks so much for stopping in!!!

I got to play with new stamps today - how fun!!! And for as long as I’ve been stamping I’ve only had odds and ends of stamps for autumn, never a full coordinatedset. The moment I saw Papertrey’s new fall set, First Fruits, I knew it was just what I was wishing for — beautiful, yet simple, images along with a fabulous combination of words to take me through the fall and Thanksgiving season. I don’t have the designer paper that so beautifully coordinates with this set, but I found a small Fall Harvest pad by K & Co. in Michaels that I think works well. Here’s my first project with First Fruits:

I made a simple card using Petite Oval Nestabilities to frame the sheaf of grain as well asalabel attached to a band running around the bottle of Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette. I also stamped an envelope to match as well as the inside of the card.

This really was quite the easy project. The Blessings sentiment is cut and embossed using a label die, also by Spellbinders. My ribbon is an old scrap, and my original plan was to make more pieces to this little gift, but I ran out of this ribbon, sothis is it!!! I’m sure I’ll be making many more little gift type items with this set, so I’ll be sure I have enough ribbon next time before I start — LOL!!!

• Stamps: First Fruits by Papertrey Ink
• Paper: SU Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Morning Marigold, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive. Fall Harvest Mat Pad by K & Co.
• Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black, Morning Marigold, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive.
• Accessories: Ribbon, Petite Circle, Petite Oval and Labels Trio all by Spellbinders, Mounting Tape, Glue Dots.

And today is Monday, so you know what THAT means — it’s the Every Monday Sale over at Joan’s Garden — check it out — I think she has Scor-It’s this week — both full sized and Mini!!!! I’ll have to pop on over and see what else she has, too!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in!!! I do so appreciate it!!! Hope you enjoy your week –it sounds like good weather for us — and today it IS beautiful!!! Hope to see you soon — thank you so much!!!