Polka Dotted Teacher Gifts...

Don't forget the teacher's this holiday season! You may remember last year that I had a few of these made for my girl's teacher's. This year I decided to make them myself due to being overseas and limited resources for these types of cups. I was able to find these little gems at the local exchange and they're approx. 20 oz. or so...can we say LOTS of coffee?! I like to think that chocolate is the 'new black' and it goes with just about any BRIGHT colors...hence the pink and neon green I chose!

Filled with Crystal Lite Lemonade packets!  I added the shredded kraft paper to keep the packets from sliding around.  I didn't photograph the back, but there is a special note slipped in from the girls.  I gave them each the prompt 'I'm thankful for my teacher because...' and I'm so proud that each chose to write their own individual, yet special messages for their teachers.

It's A Girl Banner + Tips...

I've been working like a 'busy bee' these last few weeks before Christmas! So since I have a few new creations and some helpful tips to share, I'll be brief because I plan on posting several tonight...squeezing it all in before the New Year!   First up is this festive and girly, shower banner!

I had originally started out with an argyle pattern, and even after I stamped all 10 banner cards in argyle, I decided it just wasn't working for me!  I went back to my 'stamping board' and came up with this little number...POLKA DOTS!  If you've followed my blog for even a short period, you'll find me using polka dots A LOT!  They're so versatile and stripes are also a great compliment to polka dots!  For the top border I 'scrunched' up some crate paper(party streamer paper!) and glued it down with a 1 inch strip of certainly celery cs.  On top of the cs, I used a chocolate circle border and strategically cut it just so...evenly spaced out for room to add a few rhinestones!

For the lettering, I tried something NEW!  Normally on my banners I use regular old cs for the lettering...not today!  I knew I had some espresso chocolate vinyl in my stash so I thought I'd give it a whirl!  I have to say, I may start using this a whole lot more than cs now!  It goes on smooth and I don't have to double matte the letters like I normally would with regular cs.  If you're not comfortable sticking the vinyl on 'blindly', you can use line contact paper like I did below with the 'G'.  Letters with a lot of curve can sometimes be tricky to get on straight and I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-cut letters!  Go with the contact paper...especially with extra curvy fonts.

Sweet little embossed star!

A quick tip!  When you're punching holes in the banner cards, simply put 2 cards 'back-to-back' and  you'll get evenly lined up holes for every card.  Once you have 2 cards punched, use 1 as a guide for the next card and so on and so forth!

Camo-themed Baby Shower...

There is a FIRST for everything...including camo for a baby shower! I wasn't sure where on this island I would even find anything 'camo-themed'!  Luckily with a little ingenuity and a great printer, I was able to make my very own camo paper! Sure I could have ordered some, but this custom request needed a quick turn around and it everything came together wonderfully in a very short amount time!

Detail shot of the banner.  I used my Cricut to cut the letters and a star embossing folder on the bashful blue cardstock.  Letters are raised with foam tape and coated with Crystal Effects for a glossy shine...we've talked about this in a prior post where I use 'obscene' amounts of Crystal Effects...LOL!

Simple and clean design for the diaper cake!  Had the oppurtunity to try out my new chevron embossing folder too.  Crystal Effects on the monogram as well.

First time for candy bar wrappers too!  I printed these wrappers on vintage creme cardstock and score on the 4 edges.  The cardstock provided a nice wrapper 'casing' that is very sturdy, more so than traditional, thin wrappers.  What an exciting way to celebrate a baby on the way!  Congrats to Melissa & Christopher.

Festive Joy Banner...

Tah-da!!! I know, I'm a little late posting 'as promised', but I've been busy with life in general, and my sis-in-law is in from Tokyo so we are playing with babies and catching up! With out further ado, I finally have a few minutes to post my new Joy banner! I love these rosettes and they are really easy and simple to make! This is the first vertical banner I've made and it's a nice change from always doing my traditional horizontal banners! Gotta switch it up every now and then, right?!

This door is so 'sterile'...especially with no window!  I think I'm going to dress her up often!  The angle of the pic also makes the banner appear smaller than it really is.  Each rosette is approx. 8 in. in diameter.

If you've been following along on FB with the 'sneak peeks', this is where I felt something was missing and added the gold doilies behind the always artichoke card stock.  The doilies added just the right amount of depth to the letter circles without being overbearing.

Thought I'd share this quick tip on how to line up your rosettes on the ribbon! I used my self-healing mat that I've used for sewing.  It's a larger mat so it allows you to turn either way and works great for longer banners.  I'm going to try this design again, either for a Valentine banner or maybe even a Spring theme!  Happy Crafting!