First Day of School - Made Easy!

Here in NY, it's back to school time.  In fact, today is my daughter's first day back.  I started last year, getting her a little 'something' to start off the school year.  A treat just for her...now to most it may not be a big deal, but she loves all sorts of yummy smelling goodies, so I got her a thing or two to take to school, and some for use at home...see how I packaged them up to mark this special day.

The Shop Around Pretty Packaging Template from My Time Made Easy made this a perfect gift to give to my daughter tomorrow...don't you think??  I love how this ' house' or 'shop' can really be so many different things!  

I decided, as you can see, to make this into a little school house.  Now -- I had a last minute idea...SO last minute, in fact, that it's not in the peek photo that I sent Lauren -- can anyone guess???  THE FENCE!!!  I felt like the bottom was too dark and heavy, so I stamped the fence repeatedly, and cut it out.  I put the white side out though...  You'll notice in the peak up top, is the apple from the Well Preserved stamp set.  The digital paper is also from My Time Made Easy.  It is in the School Ruled Collection.  I used the paper with the printed writing, and started by removing the color in PSE.  Then I inverted the image, making the background black, and the writing gray.  I "replaced" the color - selecting the letters, and then made them a bit lighter so hey stood out more against the background....and TA-DAH!  a completely different look!  See how easy that was?? ;).  And I once again made use of those handy Construction Materials papers for the walls and the roof of my school house.

I really can't get over the possibilities... and this template can hold a GOOD amount of stuff too!!  As you can see here -- there's a FULL sized body gel (for home), a travel hand sanitizer with holder (for her backpack) and a lip balm (also for her bag)...the only thing that doesn't fit in the box is the book -- she loves Junie B. Jones, and what first grader, who is entering her first FULL day year, wouldn't love to have an essenshul (lol) guide to school??


Here's a card to go along with her package:

I repeated the paper and apples from the template, and added this GREAT sentiment from the On Display set.  

I think it's a pretty good way to start off the year, don't you?? ;)


Here's a quick pic of my little first grader from a little walk we took this weekend:

Thanks SO much for stopping by!!!

The September My Time Made Easy Release is Here!!!

Today is the September My Time Made Easy ™ LLC Release, and to celebrate we have a BLOG HOP with some hidden treasure!

Each design team member is featuring a different themed house/Shoppe! You won't want to miss anyone!!

 ·  Lauren Meader

·  Katie Cotton

·  Lesa Rapp

·  Lisa Kind

·  Pam Imholz

·  Silke Ledlow

·  Stephanie Kraft

·  Tracey Cuccia - that's me! ;)

·  Tammy Hershberger

 and Dawn Easton

 Be sure you leave a comment on each design team member's blog today because TWO of the design team members are going to be picked to have someone from their blog comments WIN a $50 Gift Certificate to My Time Made Easy ™ LLC!

 NO ONE knows which two designers are hiding the treasure, so don't forget to stop by each design team members blog and leave a little love there. Include your email address-so you can be contacted if YOU are one of the lucky winners!

 Winners will be drawn September 3rd, and announced on Lauren Meader's Blog .

 My Shop that I am sharing with you today is for one of my FAVORITE things, and since I had some technical difficulties, and am posting late, it will be my BEST FRIEND at work tomorrow...can anyone guess???  You got it.  COFFEE.  My friend Paulette started the ball rolling a few years ago talking about her Keurig machine, and let me tell you, Keurig should have been paying this gal a commission, as I can't even begin to tell you how many machines were bought because of her, lol.

Anyway -- onto my project.  This will be sent to a dear friend of mine -- who also has a Keurig, and I'll be packing it with chocolate and some K-cups...I know I'd be thrilled to get it...I hope she will too.  Here's the front view:

NOW - I'll tell you, I used the Home Improvement, Shoppe Window, and On Display digital images for this project as well.  The stamp of the door was a little small for my project, so I went into PSE and made it a bit larger, to make it fit more with my store front.  Now, do you see on the side there?  That window and the awning??  Well, the awning was also a digital image, I made that a wee bit larger, so when I used my stylus on the back and 'poofed' it out (yes, that's really a term, go ahead, look it up ;) ) it would still overhang the window frame a bit...here's a closer look:

Now, do you see those SUPER cute little treats in the window???  Yep, you guessed it.  MORE digi images.  The 'counter' the coffes and cupcakes are on is from the Home Improvement set, and the coffees and cupcakes are from On Display...I shrunk them to teensy-weensy size for a peek inside the coffee shop.  Up even closer:

To give dimension -- the 'counter' was mounted with dimensionals, and the window panel was adhered with 2 layers of dimensionals, to really make them POP.

I also have a card to share with you today -- and yes, it matches this cute little box...

I kept it a little more simple, left off the awning, I think it would have taken up too much room on the card front, don't you? (say yes...thank you ;) ).  Isn't that a SUPER CUTE sentiment???  It's from the On Display set --  Thanks for dropping by today -- be sure to make the rest of the stops, you never know WHO has the hidden treasure!!

Don't miss viewing all our NEW! Release items 

Stop by and view our NEW Gallery too!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Home Improvement (Digi and clear), Sign It, On Display (digi and clear)
Ink: Memento rich cocoa, new leaf, dark chocolate, stazon White
Paper: Naturals White, whisper white (SU!), Dark Chocolate (PTI), MTME digital patterned paper (Construction Materials and Seawater collection) acrylic sheets
Accessories:Shop Around Template,  new leaf ribbon, mini paper roses, dimensionals

My Time Made Easy September Peek!!

Good Morning!!

I'm SO excited to share my first project with you for this release!  My Time Made Easy is releasing SUCH a cool package of things this month.  When I first saw the Shop Around template and accessories and the coordinating stamps - I couldn't WAIT to get started.  I had the idea in my head for this house...it's my 'someday' house.  I would absolutely LOVE a house like this someday.  I will use this one to put my change away -- pennies make nickels, nickels make dimes, etc...so maybe some day, I WILL have this house - lol.

Anyway on with the project!!

Sara Williams has made some GREAT papers this month to go along with the release.  Construction materials to really give you TONS of options for your houses/shops!!  I used the stone paper for the bottom half of my house, and a roofing paper for the top.  It's very hard to see in my photos, but I've scored  lines into the sides of the house to make it look like siding.  I did try to use the soffit accessory (intended for the roof) to try and make a little peak over the front door, but I couldn't get it to look right...and now my front looks a little naked *blush* but the possibilities are endless...I'm seeing a whole Christmas village -- all out of cardstock -- aaahhhh.

And aren't these accessories GREAT??  the 3-D flower box, and the window frames...um, LOVE IT!  I've given a little vision into my future home, complete with pretty blue curtains and a sweet little puppy in the window...Lauren has really included TONS of things for you to customize and make this for your own needs.  Brilliant.  Super easy construction too.

Imagine, Dream, Believe...such a GREAT, versatile sentiment...think about it, for a new house, a new business venture, a new life together...the possibilities are SO many...for me it will be my 'someday' house, although I think I'd be ok staying right where I am too...I've already got all I need and then some...how lucky am I??  VERY.

Be sure to stop by Lauren's as well as Pam's blogs today, just in case you haven't already, no doubt they have some AMAZING things to share with you today!!

A Waltzingmouse Blog Hop!

Good Morning!!


I'm here to share another quickie post with you today.  It's the 17th of the month, so that of course, means it is time for another Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz!  This is my second month playing along.  This month's challenge was to make something vintage/shabby chic.  This is a TOUGH style for me.  I think in general, I'm a fairly CAS stamper, so to go with distressing, and vintage, definitely not my usual.  I did find that Victorian Frippery helped though.

 

I used the fabulous border image from the set to make the large panel on the card front -- I think it looks kind of like old wallpaper, no?  I added some sweet blush and tea dye to the edges of the panel, added some faux stitching, and trimmed it with a bit of lace trim, and made a fun ruffled ribbon treatment, just pinching as I stuck it down to some scor-tape, on the front of my card.

Finished it with the Merci sentiment, and I'm good to go...perhaps not the fanciest, or shabbiest, but all in all, I think for being out of my comfort zone, not so bad!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all have a great day!!





Supplies:
Stamps: Victorian Fripperie (WMS)
Ink: Brilliance Chocolate, Sweet Blush (PTI) vintage touch ink (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Shimmery White
Accessories: lace trim, sweet blush satin ribbon, piercer

WHERE does the time go???

The weeks seem to be just FLYING by, and I can't keep up - ha ha ha.

Just thought I'd pop in quick and share a little digi scrapbook layout I made with a new kit from Misty Cato.  It's called "You Can Be My Cowgirl" and it's SO great.  It will be perfect to (eventually) scrapbook all of the pics from vacation.

I did put together this page - with one of my favorite photos of my girls that I took on vacation.

The 'RHR' on the heart is for the place we stayed, it's called Rocking Horse Ranch, and they have the letters like that on the sign in their lobby, I thought it would be fun to add that in like that.

I need to get off to bed, I've been staying up too late - and will (hopefully) have a busy, productive day tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by -- hope it's a great one!

Shop 'Til You Drop! - Group Post Day!!

Mornin' Peeps! *giggle*

Ahhhhh, it's been a good weekend thus far -- spent some time with my girls yesterday, first at Build-A-Bear at a birthday party, then did a little shopping...funny how a little shopping can make your day a little brighter (well, that is if your two children aren't nagging you and walking off in opposite directions, while you are lugging 2 Build A Bear boxes and your overloaded purse, not that that happened or anything...)

All kidding aside, I'm here to share the last of my projects for the August Release at My Time Made Easy.  It's the Shop 'Til You Drop template.  This fabulous shopping cart template is SUPER easy to assemble, and just SO fun!

I decided I'd make my shopping cart with Clear Acetate instead of cardstock -- so that when I added the decorative layers, you could see what was in the cart from the sides.  To do this, I printed the template on a sheet of paper, taped it over a sheet of acetate onto my craft mat, and then cut with my craft knife.  I did cheat, and cut the decorative layers with my Cricut -- that would be a LOT of little holes! lol.  For the wheels, I thought it would be fun to offset the circles a little bit, gives it a little more whimsy, don't you think??

It worked out quite nicely that where I had my adhesive on the base fell exactly under the decorative layer on the outside, so no messy looking connections :).

I made a tag that you could use some re-positionable adhesive on the back, and stick your gift card to, to keep in the basket with the chocolate...  THAT'S where I made my mistake...I'm sure my shopping trip would have gone easier if we had chocolate ;).

The tag uses images from Money Well Spent, So Sentimental (the flourishes) and Just for You (the circle sentiment around the dollar amount).  I colored the border on the frame with a gold spica glitter pen, for a little sparkle.

Be sure to hop around to the rest of the team's blogs, we've all got a little something to share with you today!!

• 
  

  Dawn Easton

• Geny Cassady
• Katie Cotton
• Kristin Bueter
• Lauren Meader
• Lesa Rapp
• Pam Imholz
• Silke Ledlow
• Stephanie Kraft

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Money Well Spent, So Sentimental, Just For You (MTME)
Ink: Memento Black, Raspberry Fizz
Paper: Clear Acetate Sheets, Raspberry Fizz, Shimmery White
Accessories: Filigree brads (SU!), Shop Til You Drop Template 

Tote-ally CUTE!

Happy Saturday!!


So, what do you think of all of the new goodies released by My Time Made Easy this month???  I've chosen to share the Tote-All Pretty Packaging Template with you today --  I will apologize ahead of time -- I had very poor lighting and my light box just wasn't quite big enough to accommodate this one!

My daughter has a birthday party to go to today, and I needed something to put some of the little gifts she picked out in it.  This tote is PERFECT!  I enlarged the original template in Sure Cuts A Lot, making the height of the template 11.25" -- it MAXED out to almost a full sheet of 12x12 -- this is a GOOD sized bag people! lol.

My daughter's friend isn't all that pink and purply girly, so I chose to do some blues and greens for this one.  I lined the inside of the bag with some confetti stars paper from the Taylor's Teeth collection of digi papers released this month, and used that for the rest of my colors.  I will say, the yellow I used is a bit brighter in my photos than it looked at my craft table (I think I need a better light! lol)  It's the new Daffodil color from SU! I'll have to remember that it's brighter than I think!

On the front of the bag, I stamped the large fairy image from Lost My Tooth in a few places, and added 'trails' behind them using Fanciful Flourishes (no DOUBT my most used set of all time!) that I outlined in stickles.  The stars were adhered to the bag with dimensionals, and each of them feature that fun star trail image from the set, I stamped it randomly all over to make it into a background.  The sentiment on the large green star is from Money Well Spent.

I used the same colors, and some of the same images to make a coordinating card, pictured here

Please be sure to stop by Lauren's blog, if you haven't already done so, my jaw ALWAYS drops to the floor with that girl's creativity...thanks for making a little time to stop by and see me today!!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for the last group post for the August My Time Made Easy Release!  See you then!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lost My Tooth, Fanciful Flourishes, Money Well Spent
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzaz, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, brilliance chocolate
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzaz, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, one sheet wonder 
Accessories: Pear Pizzaz twill ribbon (SU!), Stickles, Star punch, star nestabilities, EK Success big scallop punch