{A card A month} Take a Closer Look

My Mystery Mini Gift was a set of 12 cards all using the Pair-a-Phrase stamp set. They are perfect to send to a loved one each month of the 2012 year!

This stamp set was perfect for celebrating each month~

Mystery Mini Gifts Revealed

At my Christmas Card Exchange we also held a Mystery Mini Gift Exchange. Participants created a hand made gift and brought it packaged in a plain brown bag. I attached a small puff ball in different colors to each bag and then we drew a matching puff ball from a bowl. Here is what some of the gifts were.

My dear friend Nanette makes her own fruit preserves. This year she made a triple berry preserve. Look how cute her little tag turned out and the preserves were delicious too!

Janet makes our tissues look so pretty!

Pat decorated this little box with some Believe papers. Wait 'til you see what's inside...

... Look at all those tiny tags!!!

29 tiny tags to be exact. She was having a good time playing with her Cricut AP cartridge.

I did not snap a picture, but my friend Tommie decorated a little box similar to Pat's and filled it with her "famous" peanut clusters!

Here is the project I made~

I created a set of cards called "A card A month". There were a total of 12 standard cards in the set, perfect for sending to that special someone each month for an entire year! Each one was made using the Pair-a-Phrase stamp set.

Here is a pic of all of them, but I will post each card individually later on.

Trail Mix Buffet

What does every kid need before a long hike up the mountain? Their own trail mix of course!

I'm always saving these Crystal Light containers. I had just enough to create these little trail mix containers for all of our Happy Campers! I used some older B&T papers, Spellbinders die for the labels, an alphabet stamp and the FREE Pair-a-Phrase stamp set available this month.

For the compass, I glittered the outer edge in copper to give it a little flair!

The kids munched on their goodies as we hiked up to the most beautiful lake high in the Tahoe mountains. I noticed some of the little treats left behind on the trail, but the squirrels were quick to clean up after them!

My nephew was super prepared for the hike! How cute is he?

Our trail mix goodies included:

Honey roasted peanuts, M&M's {plain & peanut}, gummy bears, sour worms, pretzels, mini marshmallows, teddy grahams {honey & chocolate}, almond joy pieces and rainbow goldfish crackers.

C.A.S.E. Challenge at H2H

Who did I C.A.S.E. {copy and share everything} on the Heart 2 Heart blog this week? Pamela O'Connor's card caught my eye. She says her "style" is a reflection of her love for color, stamping and distressing. I can't agree more!

I took her circle card design and made it square. I stayed in a similar color family. I tend to pull colors from the Autumn palette quite often. It is my favorite season after all! I created with lots of distressing. My techniques include sanding, edge distressing and inking. I also love that several of Close To My Heart papers already come with a distressed look. My customers are shocked if I ever do a project that does not include some form of distressing!! Finally, last but not least, the stamping! I love our open and closed images, but especially the open because I get to feel more like an artist when I pull out my water brush and color in the image.




The stamped image I chose is from the new Pair-a-Phrase stamp set that you can get for free in celebration of National Stamping Month. Please see the right side bar for more details.