Winner winner tomato dinner!

Big thanks to everyone who participated in the Muir Glen and Paper Smooches giveaways!

I am happy to announce the winners today!!!!  I chose randomly through all of the comments and Rafflecopter participants, so without further ado. . . . 

Isha Gupta won the Vegtastic Paper Smooches stamp set. 

and Angie Hagist won the Muir Glen goodies! 

Ladies, please get me your contact information and you'll have fabulous belated Christmas gifts heading your ways!

Big thanks to Muir Glen, and Paper Smooches Stamps for offering up such wonderful prizes to give away!  After Christmas, I have another non-crafty giveaway coming up, so keep on stopping by - you  never know what I might have to share!

I expect this will probably be my last blog post until after Christmas (unless I get my act together and schedule some posts while we are traveling between Christmas and New Years - but let's be honest, at this point, those chances are pretty slim! HA!)

Hugs to each and every one of you!!!! See you in the NEW YEAR!!! 

xoxox

last minute christmas cards

Scroll down to enter the Paper Smooches Vegtastic, and Muir Glen tomatoes giveaway 

(Giveaway ends on Saturday!)

Although our family doesn't send out Christmas cards to a long list of family and friends each year, I do like to have some cards on hand for Eric's coworkers, our neighbors, and to attach to gifts.  

A few days ago, I took a break from the 27,853 items on my to-do list, and just made some cards - because I WANTED to.  I collected up a pile of October Afternoon paper. A few of the sheets are from  one of their holiday collections, but some of them are not - and I love that! I also had one sheet of OA Christmas stickers, and my new Christmas stamp set from Paper Smooches, that I was super excited to ink up!! (Kim's sentiment stamps are just SO FUN fun to play with!) 

So here's what I came up with.  I put together about 8 cards that night, and felt like I accomplished a lot! I love putting together patterned papers and using up some serious stash!  If you still have a few cards you need to throw together, I hope this will inspire you! All of these cards follow the same basic formula.  I just adjusted each one depending on the sentiment I wanted to use, and how it coordinated with the patterned paper.  (For instance, on darker or busier patterned papers, I matted and mounted my sentiment on a separate block of cardstock.)

 So get busy - take a few minutes, and make something fun!!! And if you are totally sick of Christmas cards, use the same formula and grab some birthday stamps - get a head start on next year's special occasions!  Thank so much for stopping by, my friends!!!! And don't forget, if you haven't entered my Paper Smooches Vegtastic, and Muir Glen tomatoes giveaway, scroll on down and give it a shot!!! (Giveaway ends on Saturday!)

Merry Christmas!!!! xoxo

We Must Ketchup!

If you've followed my blog for a while, you may remember this card.  When Kim Hughes came out with the Vegtastic stamp set at Paper Smooches, I knew I *HAD* to have it because I have a major thing for tomatoes.  Seriously.

You see, my maiden name sounded just like tomato, and there's something about school-age nicknames. . .they STICK, don't they? Eventually along the way, I grew to embrace my inner tomato and I just became Laura Tomato, Tomato, or 'Mato, (because every nickname needs it's own nickname.)

My friends gave me all sorts of tomato gifts each year - tomato candles, tomato dish towels, ceramic tomatoes - my dad even found me a tomato license plate for my first little red car!  Even my email address is still TomatoL - it was my first email address, and it's been my only email address.

Okay - so back to present day, you see why I NEEDED this stamp set.  I had to have that tomato.  A few weeks ago, I received an email from the folks at Muir Glen (you know, the organic tomato people?) They contacted me because they came across this card, from the original blog post, and wanted to share it. Of course, I said SURE!!  They've even agreed to share some Muir Glen goodies with us! And once Kim, at Paper Smooches, heard about the fun, she decided to offer up her Vegtastic stamp set!

SO - it's your lucky day. A chance to win a fabulous prize pack from Muir Glen, (a tote bag, dish towel, and even some delicious Muir Glen tomato products!) as well as a Vegtastic clear stamp set.  Two winners will be picked - one for each of these great giveaways!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks so much for stopping by today!!! If this was your first visit, I hope you'll come hang out with me again! Also feel free to find me on Pinterest.  You can find Paper Smooches on Pinterest, as well as Muir Glen!  Have a sweet tomato day!!! xoxo

Matchbook gift card holders

This is the my latest published tutorial at A Cherry On Top.  I hope you enjoy it!!!! Stop by the ACOT Shop for all the goods to make this project happen!!! 

Some people think gift cards are a cop-out during the gift-giving season . . .but I for one LOVE to receive a gift card! Come on, free money for guilt-free shopping expeditions!? It's the gift that keeps on giving! Jazzing up a gift card in fun packaging can give the gift card some added zip and personality. It's the perfect finishing touch.

These matchbook gift card holders can be whipped up in just a few minutes, using whatever supplies you have on hand.  

In addition to my everyday tools and supplies, here's what else I used:

Bo Bunny Snow Day collection: patterned papers - Pajamas, and Journal, plus Bo Bunny Snow Day cardstock stickers

Cappuchino Brown Bakers Twine 

Canvas Corp Mini Flat Bags

Scor-Pal (The Scor-Pal makes quick work of the scored lines on this project, but a ruler and folding by hand will get the job done as well.)

First, we'll construct the matchbook base.  

Trim patterned paper (or cardstock) strip to 9.25x3 inches.  Score strip at 4, 4.25, and 8.5.

Fold in and sand edges.

Staple the small flap near the very bottom.  This will keep the large flap secure when you tuck it in.  

(Before you staple, fold the large flap in, so you know how low to add the staple.)  

To prepare the pocket, use a small flat bag (like Canvas Corp's Mini Bag) and punch a half circle from the top front.  

Adhere pocket to inside of matchbook.  Now comes the fun part. . .decorating!

I created two different coordinating gift card holders, simply playing around with the Bo Bunny Snow Day cardstock stickers, and journaling paper.  I added some twine to finish off the projects and then all that's left is to add the gift card of your choice.  

  

I decorated the front of each, plus the inside flap, using a journaling tag to add a "to/from" and a little note. 

And the bonus . . .

With just the two sheets of patterned paper, plus coordinating stickers I had enough leftover product to create three quick cards with the addition of just some cardstock in my stash!  I like to make up cards when I have coordinating product already out. That way, I can use up scraps while the mess is already spread out, and then I have a few spare cards to give away.

Remember that the matchbook gift card holder can be easily transitioned from a winter theme to any holiday or celebration you can think of.  Follow the same instructions and substitute any themed product you'd like!

Suggested Products:

        

TSOL love

The {Stamps} of Life is all about LOVE this month. Hearts2diefor and Love2diefor work perfectly together to create Valentines and LOVE cards, but they work fabulously along with all of Stephanie's other stamp sets, to create any kind of card you'd like. 

Also just released is YouAre2Square, which creates super cute small square cards, fits perfectly on a 4.25x5.5 card, as well as coordinates with the Sizzix square Flip-It's dies

These are a few of my favorite cards that I created with this months stamps. . .

 This last card is one of the Flip-It's cards.  In these two images you can see the front and the inside.

I am spending the (entire) day uploading the (entire) year of 2012's family photos.  So far, there are 742 of them. And that isn't counting our professional family photos, nor is it counting the husband's 2 week trip to Israel and Egypt. 

(Oh help me.)

I must find a better system. This just isn't working for me! I am out of space to store photo albums, but I am just not ready to keep them all digital, and NOT print out photos.  So do I put them all in boxes? Ugh - that just doesn't sound nice.

Family photos are stressing me out!!!!

If I find a brilliant solution, I'll let you know.

xoxo

S'more Bonus!

I have a few cards that match the S'more Love kits that I shared a few days ago.  Just thought I would pop in and share them!

I'm plowing through my to-do list today, and knocking items off bit by bit. Feels so good! I just finished and ordered the family calendars for next year. I do a 6x6 calendar every year, featuring family pictures from the previous year.  Want a sneak peek? This is my favorite page, with our fabulous family pics we had taken earlier this year:

Each page follows the same format, (thanks to my fabulous aunt who helps with the calendar png files) A few years ago, when I started this project, each family got a 6x6 spiral stand-up flip book (from Close To My Heart), and now I just give them new calendar pages each year. 

And thanks to Persnickety Prints, my order was printed and ready for shipping within TWO HOURS of my ordering this morning. Can you believe that!?

Check that baby off the list!

xoxo