Cupcake Wishes

I'm working on a couple of St. Patrick's Day cards but haven't taken photos of them yet. I made this cupcake wish card for my Grow Your Blog party winner, Deborah. I tied a little 'wish' charm to the card using bakery string. I'm mailing this to her along with a box of tea and a big bar of dark chocolate - the way I see it, it's always nice to have a square or two of chocolate with an afternoon cuppa!

I used washi tape, an old book page colored with Lindy's Stamp Gang 'Grab A Guy' gold, and Kathy Davis card stock.

 
February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within.
  William C. Bryant

 Can you believe there is only sixteen more days until we Spring Forward?

Thinking Ahead - only 312 Days!

For the mid month Challenges at My Artistic Adventures, the Design Team is thinking ahead to December. Our new Challenge starts on February 16 and has an On the Second Day Of Christmas theme. If you participate in these Challenges you will have a small stockpile of Christmas themed projects ready when the holidays roll around!

 I used Heather's Collage sheet printable called

 Vintage Mitten Candy Cane collage sheet

  for my ornament easel card.

 

The Design Team used things in 'twos' for this challenge, so I used two mittens and two candy canes from this printable. I cut a circle and an ornament from decorative card stock using my Cricut, between which I layered a white doily.

 The Mittens are mounted on foam dots and have tinsel string along the cuffs. I crossed the glittered candy canes and added the number twenty five. There is a Idea-ology Pearl Bauble

hanging from the bow.

 To coordinate with the tan in the mittens, I added a tan Tim Holtz clock die cut to the back of the easel card - you can see it peeking up behind the white bow. This card folds flat for mailing. Click HERE

to see other easel cards I've made using this clock die cut.

Check out Heather's blog for Challenge details, video tutorials and crafty inspiration. You can also see the projects the rest of the Design Team made!

entering this challenge:
Craft Hoarders Anonymous 

Grow Your Blog Give Away Winner

Thank you to Two Bags Full  for hosting their 

Grow Your Blog event. It was fun to discover old and new blogs, meet new people and gain a few new followers! 

 

 I used an online random number generator to select a winner for my hand made card and tea give-away, and the winner is Deborah Montgomery. Deborah, please email me so I can get your mailing address: micupoftea@aol dot com. I am delighted to have new readers and so happy to have discovered lots of wonderful blogs!

Hugs and Kisses

  

It's Friday - that's a good thing - and it's Valentine's Day, which makes it even better. We keep it pretty low key with simple hand made cards and inexpensive gifts.

I made postcard style teapot Valentines 

  

 We may go out to eat for breakfast or lunch. But we are not fans of crowds, waiting to be seated or overpriced dinners. 

 

 

Handyman is thoughtful all year long which is sweet and much more meaningful to me than a once-a-year bouquet and fancy dinner. 

 

Knitted Valentine banner from my darling friend in Mississippi- Love it!

College Girl and I bake heart shaped iced Anise cookies every February. This year we also decided to decorate a Valentine's Day gingerbread house! 

The Valentine House smells so good! A fox and gorilla waiting to go to their new homes for Valentine's Day~

 Here's an idea - pick up a discounted gingerbread house kit after Christmas (Wilton Kits can be found at Target, Walmart and craft stores), purchase some Valentine candy and spend a wintery February afternoon creating your own Love Shack!

Deer standing in the snow

 Tomorrow I will announce the winner of my 'Grow Your Blog' card give-away. 

Meanwhile, I hope your day is full of extra hugs!

sharing with:

Share Your Cup 

Show and Tell Friday

Pink Saturday

Pockets of Love

Glazed porcelain cup by WAYONE

It's the little things, right? Using a cheery red cup and saucer a few days before Valentine's Day puts a smile on my face. 

So does getting surprises in the mail. My friend Linda  sent me a charming red paper teacup Valentine, Ghirardelli chocolate and a Bigelow White Chocolate teabag. My friend  Patty  sent a bar of dark chocolate, scrapbooking goodies, a package of festive heart napkins, and even a couple of pairs of Mickey & Minnie socks - one for me and one for College Girl!   

“I've always felt there is something sacred in a piece of paper that travels the earth from hand to hand, head to head, heart to heart.”  

R.M.Pyle

 With Valentine's Day in mind I created a couple of paper envelopes based on a Make and Take I made at CHA: their version was a pencil holder. Here is what mine looks like

I ran with this idea and created an envelope for chopsticks and another for knitting needles!

You can alter the length depending on what you are going to put inside. I included an insert of coordinating card stock to which I added a punched-out oval folded in half and glued to the end. This insert slides behind the pencils.

 

I think these would be fun to make ahead for a Chinese Take-Out dinner, especially if you had friends or family joining you!

 These paper pockets, or envelopes, can be as simple or elegant as you like them to be. 

 

On the one for the knitting needles I added vintage lace, a pink satin ruffle, charms, a flower and a button.

 

 What else could you put in these pockets? I'm not a coffee drinker but I've heard Starbucks carries coffee in narrow packages that would fit inside one of these easy-to-make pockets.

I can picture customizing them and including eye liner, candy canes, Pixie Sticks, pens, crochet hooks, and honey straws.

 

sharing this post with:

Martha's Favorites 

Artful Affirmations 

You're Going To Love It 

Clever Chicks 

Share Your Cup 

Time Travel Thursday 

Favorite Things 

entering this challenge:
Craft Hoarders Anonymous 

Found Relatives

In January I had the opportunity to go to the Craft and Hobby Association with Treasured Times Rubber Stamps. While there I saw Tim Holtz. He was doing a demo and talking about how he got his start in the paper crafting industry. 

As he was telling us about one of his newest products Dee Gruenig walked up!

One of the best things about attending CHA 2014  was seeing and trying new products. Tim mentioned his Cabinet Card Frames and Vintage Portraits 

which can be used for collage or mixed media projects. He told us that when he first proposed the idea for selling vintage portraits somebody asked why anyone would want to use photos of dead people, to which he replied that he thought of them as found relatives!  At the Idea-ology booth I had fun doing a make and take using  Tim's mini metal corners, ephemera, a heart charm and a Cabinet Card Frame.

I started with a blank Cabinet Card Frame, inserted a photo and used Vintage Photo Ink to color the edges.

 

 Here is the back of the Cabinet Card Frame.

The mini metal corners were easy to attach to the frame - I simply pinched them closed with pliers.

It was fun adding a variety of ephemera pieces like the ticket and small bird image.

Isn't the heart charm cute?

I think it would be wonderful to create one of the Cabinet Card Frames and include an actual relative! If you are fortunate to have vintage heritage family photos you could personalize this project and include it in a scrapbook or mini album. But if you are like me and ancestral photos are rare, why not craft one of these frames using a found relative, as Tim likes to call them?

sharing this post with:
Sunday's Best 
Craftberry Bush

Anything But Wishy Washi!

 I have two cards to share today, as well as an easy technique for you to try!

  On both cards I used washi tape. What is washi tape? Well, it originates from Japan, is made of natural fibers, is usually acid-free, comes in an array of colors and widths and has so many uses! Just check out Pinterest for ideas, but I bet you can think of a few yourself. How about using it when wrapping a gift or your kids' lunches? It's great for paper crafting, of course. On the card above, I simply placed a strip of washi tape across a blank white card and tucked a feather underneath. Then I stamped Merci  above the washi tape strip. I finished the card off by punching the corners and placing colored pearls on the butterflies. On this next card I used washi tape in two ways ~

First I used Prima's 6" x 6" Crackle stencil to make a distressed design on the white background. I stitched around the perimeter to create a visual border. Next I made two washi tape feathers.

Unroll some washi tape and place a thick piece of string down the center.

Leave a couple of inches hanging off the washi tape. You can always trim it shorter afterwards.

After you fold the tape back over itself and the string, use scissors to angle the top and bottom ends.

Back to my second card - I made two washi tape feathers and positioned them on the left side of the white stitched cardstock. I matted this with polka dotted kraft paper, then placed a different strip of washi tape across the feather 'quills.' Lastly, I stamped thank you and adhered a bias ribbon bow to the front.

 

I decorated the envelope and the interior of the card with washi tape too! Give washi tape a try, and let me know if you make some feathers.

Entering the Challenge at:
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes 

Craft-Dee BowZ Anything Goes

Sharing with:
Pretty Wednesday 
Share Your Cup
Time Travel Thursday
Favorite Things
You're Going To Love It
What To Do Weekends 
Sunday's Best 

You're My Cup Of Tea Valentine

 

I started with a plain fry box and a collage sheet from  

My Artistic Adventures

 

  called Shabby Vintage Retro Valentine's Day Cute Tags and created two decorative containers for February 14th!

  

The first one I made is primarily red and has dyed ribbon roses down each side.

That adorable teacup duo makes me smile every time I see it! I mounted the image on checkered foam, added flowers, a button and some bakery string.

 

 There is room in the fry box for a variety of 'happies'. Can you guess what I put inside?

 A doily, some paper shreds and...

Aha! I knew you'd get it. Tea! And how about some Sweetheart motto candies?

Home-made Lavender Sachets would also be nice inside.

Heather at My Artistic Adventures is having a Challenge which begins today, February 2, and runs through February 15. It's an Anything Goes challenge, so come play along!

 My second project using Heather's etsy printable is this blue fry box with a painted wooden teacup under the Retro image. I fussy cut the teacup duo twice and placed foam dots between them for dimension. Next, I added a bit of glitter around the heart and gold metallic paint on the teacup edge.

Heather has made it easy for you to make your own fry boxes with her variety of colored etsy collage sheets. There are so many things you can put in these cute containers:

• bubbles, crayons, cards
• candy, gum, snacks, mints
• gift cards
• hand sanitizer, lotion, nail polish
• beauty products,lip balm, hair accessories
• lottery tickets, event tickets
• jewelry

These french fry boxes could be decorated seasonally, for birthdays, Mother's & Father's Day, and for party favors.

Hope to see you at 

My Artistic Adventures

How would you like to try the collage sheets that Heather created  to make a Valentine banner for FREE? Make sure to see her February 1 blog post!

Sharing this post with
 Cottage Style Party

Pretty Wednesday
You're Going To Love It 
What To Do Weekends 
Craftberry Bush 



entering this Challenge:

Vintage Tea Party at LunaGirl Moonbeams
Craft Hoarders Anonymous