Gift Sets | Catered Crop

I am at the moment deaf in the ears,
hoarse in the throat, red in the nose,
green in the gills, damp in the eyes,
twitchy in the joints and fractious in temper
from a most intolerable and oppressive cold.
~ Charles Dickens

I hope no one I know needs this anytime soon, but I'm prepared! Using the new Pure Innocence Under the Weather stamp set and a bunch of goodies I'm all set – Nurse Linda To the Rescue.

And my super power – this freakin' big, stinkin' cute get well kit full of goodies . . .

and an adorable tag-shaped card.

I kind of went a little overboard. I covered just about anything anyone might need when they're feeling down. Including Chocolate! Always!

I made a little Tissue Coozie to hold pocket-size tissues. The Coozie needed a cute little tag, of course, which I made with the Mix and Match Banner Die-Namics.

Now, knowing my luck, I'll be the first one to need this little kit. Yes, that's why I added Chocolate. Always!

You all have been so, so amazing with all your encouraging comments throughout the month's Teaser Times. Thank you for all your sweet comments. And now, it's time for the big finale – the New Product Tour.

All the designers are highlighting each of the new sets and Die-namics NOW. And, even better still, all the new sets, inks and Die-namics have been corralled into the Brand Spankin' New Boutique – no more teasing.

I'm a huge, huge fan of the Pure Innocence illustrations, so I jumped at the chance to highlight this new set, Under the Weather.

Tips & Techniques

As soon as I saw this adorable Under the Weather set I knew I wanted to put together a Get Well Kit. Here are some ideas I came up with – and yes, I had to restrain myself a little. My favorite places to shop for these things are Bath and Body Works, Target and World Market; oh yeah, and a Pharmacy is a great place to start, too.

Comfort with foods like gourmet soup mixes and crackers or trail mix (heart-healthy nuts, roasted sunflower seeds and Reese's Pieces).
Encourage fluids with flavored tea and honey or bottled water and fresh lemon.
Smash boredom with a good page-turner novel, puzzle books, magazines, DVDs, or an iTunes gift card.
Pamper with lotion, soft socks, tissue packets, lip gloss, manicure kit, hair accessories, and body spray.
Take away the ache with hot water bottles or rice heating pads.
Smash the coooties with antimicrobial products, tissues and novelty band-aides.
Throw in some scented candles – just because I like candles.
Duh! It bears repeating. Chocolate! Always!

Here are the markers I used and the other My Favorite Things toys I used to make this kit.

InLinkz.com

Other ingredients: Fabric is Bistro by Deb Strain for moda; Stampin' Up! Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Up! Jumbo Eyelets, Memento Tuxedo Black Dye Ink, My Mind's Eye On The Bright Side 6" x 6" Designer Paper Pad. I used Deconstructed Sketch No. 92.

My Kit Contents.

From World Market: Toblerone Chocolate Bar, Ernest Hemingway Highland Select Tea, Burt's Bees Lip Balm, Clear Basket Bag, White Crinkle, Red Malamine Batter Bowl.
From Target: Method Hand Sanitizer, Up & Up Ibuprofen, & Kleenex Pocket Pack Facial Tissues.
From Container Store: Ouch novelty bandages.

Stay healthy out there!

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March 11, 2013 | Filed Under: Card Gallery, Get Well, Gift Sets, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence, Teaser Time | 65 Comments

Hey, Hey, Good Lookin', whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me.
~ Hank Williams, 1951

If you've followed me for very long (God love ya!) you know I love to make things to go along with my cards . . . what I call "ensembles." When I saw this new Bon Appétit Die-namics and Stamp Set, I was all over it like white on rice, or as we Texans might say, like sauce on ribs.

Grab an apron – it's gonna get hot in this kitchen.

I started with the Pure Innocence set, "Fresh from the Oven," colored it with Copics, and combined it with Kaiser Craft paper (Nan's Favorite). I love the vintage script in this Bon Appétit set, and there are SO many phrases and kitchen images and die cuts. Oh darlins' – there's just a whole buffet of things you can make with this little tag and it's accoutrements.

If this card looks familiar, it's because it's a companion to this card. I love making matching sets of cards.

How about a lunch date?

Is that just stinkin' cute?! The ingredients for the lunch bag are, of course, a brown paper bag, some kitchen string to tie it closed, some torn gingham fabric and linen thread, the new Decorative Oval Doily folded over the top, a clothes pin decorated with some paper and Modge Podge, and, of course, the Die-Namics and Stamps from the Bon Appétit set. Oh, yeah, and a cute little dinner bell. I used the Jumbo Scallop Die to trim the top of the bag.

How about dessert?

Yummy (fat free) licorice with a tag that says "You're the sweetest." All I did was add some Baker's Twine and a little button to the die and stamp from the Bon Appétit set.

How serendipitous that the vintage feel of this set works so well with these retro recipe cards just released by my daughter's company, Feb10 Design. Of course, I had to add them to the mix.

Easy as pie – I just sewed the Decorate Oval Doily across the top of the glassine bag, added the tag and accoutrements from Bon Appétit, and tied it all up with some Baker's Twine.

It's Day 4 of the My Favorite Things Teasers. I just sit on pins and needles waiting to see all the amazing creations by the design team. If you'd like to see all the teasers for today and the Design Team's creations, click on over to Kim's blog. Be sure to leave comments as you go for a chance to win one of two $10 vouchers being given away daily, just for leaving a comment.

The My Favorite Things release is on October 4 at 10:00 PM EST. You can join the release party from 8:00 to 10:00 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available October 4 at 10:00 PM EST.

Stampers! The guest designer contest is ON! Check out the forum for details on how you can win over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the design team for a month. This month's contest has something to do with a Perfect Package. I'm not eligible this month, but you know I love this theme. I'm on this like sausage gravy on biscuits.

Okay, stampers . . . there's to much heat in this kitchen – time for me to get out of it.

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September 30, 2011 | Filed Under: All Occasions, Gift Sets, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence Tagged With: Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence | 53 Comments

A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist.
~ Franklin P. Jones

Saturday my daughter, Caitlin, and I went on a Road Trip for, well, junk, the "another man's treasure" part of the old saw.

We went to Canton, Texas, for First Monday Trade Days. Oh honey, this is not your Mama's flea market. But then maybe it is – it's been operating since the 1850s. One weekend a month Canton goes from a teeny town of 5,100 to a metropolis of over 300,000, making it the largest and oldest flea market in the world. Rumor has it the residents of Canton didn't pay property tax until just recently (2006) because of the income the city received from operating the facility. Ah man! I could live in a town who makes its living off of a big flea market! (We don't even have a good Farmer's Market in Waco.)

First Monday Trade Days operates on over 100 acres with places for 6,000 vendors. Yeah, we didn't get to all of them. Instead, we made a run for the back, "unreserved" areas where we thought we could find some of the unexpected, buried treasures.

We found lots of great vintage luggage, more old canning jars and crates than we could lug home, tchotchkes, kitsch, and these . . .

It was such a fun day, I thought I would commemorate it with a card.

It's a crazy hectic card, but I like it that way because "clean and simple" just would not capture the look and feel of First Monday Trade Days. It's a sensory overload of colors, sounds, great people watching, and junque!

I wanted the layers of paper on the bottom half of the card to look like fabric being perused through on the vendor tables. I painted them with ModgePodge, sewed the edges and then rolled them up in toothpicks so they'd dry curled. Cute, right?

Going along with the "Rip and Roll" theme at the My Favorite Things Challenge this weekend, I used one of my favorite embellishments – ripped gingham. I also ripped some papers and rolled them around some Roll-Ohs. Get it? Rolos? Yeah, I kind of perverted the theme.

And, finally (are you still with me?) I wanted to use some of those great canning jars we found with, yep, more Rolos.

Gracious. I've almost got a one-man flea market. Well, certainly not as big as Canton's.

Catered Crop Recipe

We're headed on yet another road trip tomorrow to catch a Round Rock Express baseball game, so I'm posting this a tad early . . .

Have you checked out the Ribbon Carousel Challenges yet? Well, if not, now's the perfect time. The theme starting Tuesday is Anything Goes! Perfect for a flea market card like mine, because just about everything came and went at that flea market.

Just remember that you need to make sure you include ribbon, bakers twine, jute twine, lace, thread or basically anything that comes on a spool. Oh, and darling Bargain Hunters, The Ribbon Carousel has started offering Ribbon Club Kits. The inaugural kit, September's, is $9.95 and includes ten different ribbons and twine for a total of 20 yards. I adore that orange and black web ribbon, perfect for adding another layer, like here.

Here's the rest of the recipe.

Pattern Paper – Crate Paper Farmhouse 6 x 6 pad and stickers*
Cardstock– Stampin' Up! and Neenah
Stamps – My Favorite Things Cart Full of Friends and Notched Tag
Color Mediums – Copics, Stampin' Up! Stampin' Pastels, Memento
Fibers – May Arts ribbon, Ripped gingham, RicRac, Stampin' Up! linen thread (as a bow and for the rope of the wagon), Benzie felt
Embellishments – Red bead (at the end of the wagon rope), Foof-a-la and Maya Road buttons, KaiserCraft Rhinestones, vintage jingle bells
Tools – My Favorite Things You Move Me, Mini Rolled Roses, and Notched Tag Die-namics,
Challenges –Cardabilities #38 sketch, My Favorite Things Guest Designer Challenge Rip and Roll

*I usually don't like using stickers, but there were these adorable bunting stickers that called my name. I sewed them across the top and dusted the back with powder so the could be puffed up with dimensional tape.

Shew . . . I hope this big blog post didn't bust your computer. But, hey, if it did, I know where you can find a bargain.

Thanks for hanging out with me!

September 5, 2011 | Filed Under: Autumn, Copic Markers, Gift Sets, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things Tagged With: Copic Markers, Heather Ellis, My Favorite Things | 18 Comments