{Friendship Blooms Milk Carton}

This last week we made two milk cartons, a very FUN twist on the standard box. The template is quite easy, just a few extra diagonal creases to make this unique top.

This one uses the Soft Subtles colour range and two of the Saleabration sets, Freindship Blooms and Lots of Thoughts, both of which can be earned for FREE with a qualifying order.

The great thing about this flower is that it's so easy to cut out. I've added some accents with a white gel pen and one of the flowers from the Spring Bouquet punch.

Lots of Thoughts is really versatile because you can use your Stampin Up! markers to use just portions of each stamp, as shown in this sample. Hurry! These are only available until the end of February!

{Sweet Chocolate Chip}

I love this set!! So cute and versatile, and I love the quick use of the circle punches for fast and easy projects. I created the multi-coloured image with this set by using our Stamin Up! Markers. When used with our Whisper White card, it's easy to achieve a perfect image.

And isn't that white gel pen great?

In my head, the original design was to use just the real red grosgrain, but when I put it on, it was so crooked, I had to add the chocolate chip to even it out!!

The background is done with the Little Pieces set, another little winner for all sorts of accents.

{My Valentine's Day}

I got such nice feedback from some of my ladies about the reaction of the recipients of their altered heart boxes! It's those kinds of things that make all our time ane efforts worth it.

I made mine to give to Tui, my dear friend and a special member of my Stampin Up! team. She gives of her time and talents to everyone around her so cheerfully. We all love her so much.

I made this box with her in mind, that's why mine was a bit more girly. We filled it with some of her favorite things - pumpkin seeds, butterscotch chips, cranberries, cashew, yogurt covered raisns, and my special Christmas cookies (that are carefully rationed and a top secret recipe. Only clever ones can figure it out with the first bite. If you join my team, I'll make you some. :) I also added two ghiradelli chocolates that were sent over from my friend, Melinda, as a gift to me for Christmas. I decided she woudn't mind if I shared a couple with Tui!

I had my three daughters make Tui some cards, as you can see. Madeleine fussed and fiddled, as is her style and it took her several hours to put her creation together. Kjirsti whipped hers up and stuck a "Tui" bird from the Loves Me papers on the front. Sofie carefully wrote out a special message with a lift-up flap inside her card. Can you read what she wrote?? Under the flap she's written "I love you" in the tiniest of letters.

I got a 90 minute massage as a gift, so I was happy about that!

{Altered Heart Box}

Oh, I love these papers! With such a good mix, you can get either bold and fun or fun and chocolately . . .

We altered these cool heart boxes without much fiddling - it was easier than it looks - this week. We've used the Loves Me papers from the Summer Mini Catalogue, and even altered them a bit. The stamp set is called Love Matters, which is a gorgous set, particularly this Friends one on the top of my sample. It's designed for lots of embellishment possibilities. This is a huge set of 12 for 63.95 - only 5.33 per stamp!! Loves Me Designer Series paper is a set of 12 double sided scrapbooking papers for only 19.95 - also a very good value.

I must ethically note that the heart brad used here is not Stampin Up!, but a non-brand of eyelet that I have lots of in my stash. I thought they were perfect for this project and now they are nearly used up, so mission accomplished!

Now I was so surprised the ladies didn't make more pink boxes, but then realized quickly that was because they were making them for guys! Here are some photos of what the Monday class came up with. I'm curious to hear about how they were received and what treasures they put inside. . . .

I made mine more girly and put Friends on top because I made this box for someone in particular (not my husband - for some reason he's not particularly thrilled to get class leftovers).

{Sweet on You Double Bag}

Great pattern for a great stamp set! These double pocket bags are quick to put together and a fun twist on the ordinary. My dear friend Rachael gave some of these to my three daughters for Christmas, and we fell in love with them. A notebook and pen tucked in one side, and a bag of nuts in the other.

I've done this up with our designer series papers, Loves Me, which are only available through March. You can see how the double sided paper makes a richer bag with a printed inside, just like an expensive coat. Or cool jeans.

All images are from Sweet on You, one of the stamp sets in the Summer Mini Catalogue. These set is perfect for Valentine's, but definately not limited to Valentine's! Can you see how I've chopped and changed the images to make the stamps more versatile?

{Olive You}

This little set is often looked over, but I really like it. I love how the stamp and font are designed to stamp; if you could see this up close you'd see what I mean. It sort of looks printed on and has a cool visual texture to it.

I decided our second Valentine project would be more kid-oriented since we already do so much for our girly-friends and lots of florals year round. However, these images certainly don't need to be limited to children; I think they are adorable myself! And also not limited to Valentine's Day, either! We should say olive you more than we do. In fact, I don't think I've ever said it. . .

I've copied an old, old card pattern and just updated the colors and the images on it. This Valentine folds up and flips open when it's pulled out of the envelope. It's very adorable and with a dash of glitter, perfect for a fun-loving person of any age.

{Munch Love}

I've been giving myself personal challenges lately, and this one was to do a masculine valentine AND use Bold Brights. Which are great, but just not my usual style. It's good to branch out and try and work with something a little different.

And, my goodness, this one took lots of throwing away and starting over! But the end result is fun and passed my husband's test of "Is this okay to give to a guy?"

Treat Yourself is a great stamp set! We've made some really fun stuff with this one - all the elements piece together to make coffee/hot chocolate mugs, jelly bean containers, peanuts, easter egg basket, shopping bag, and so on! I've even seen the popcorn bag turned upside down and made to look like hair! Great value for such a big and versatile set.

We did a fair bit of embossing on this one to get those white accents to really pop out. And what fun the popcorn was! Some of us like lots of butter and some of us made a more healthy version with just a dab. And some of us don't get butter at all . . . . ever . . . . .

I have just one kit leftover from the classes and the email class, so let me know asap if you want it! $6 with postage and includes the popcorn. Or the kit is free when you order the set (which also gets you nearly to a FREE Sale-a-bration set as well!)