Skeleton Bone Pretzels

Tutorial: Halloween Treat Bags

Wedding Favors

I'm still alive!

I'm finally finished with my summer semester of classes - phew!  It was my last semester of classes in my graduate program, just six weeks long, two classes, and two huge research papers.  It was absolutely the toughest semester of grad school - and I'm PROUD to say that worked really hard, and just found our yesterday that I received a 4.0 for the semester!

Now I have three and a half weeks to recuperate and reenergize before I start my thesis - and as long as all goes well I'll be a MASTER in December!  Woot woot!

As you can imagine - crafting time has not been in the schedule lately - but I did want to share with you the wedding favors that we worked on last week (see posts here and here) in action...

I love the triangular theme that carries through the table -- the favors, photo centerpieces, and napkin folds.

Now that I have some time off I'll not only be designating plenty of time for crafting and blogging, but taking some time to enjoy what's left of summer as well.

There are so many of you whose blogs I love to read and just haven't had the chance to visit lately - I'm so sorry!  You can be sure that I'll be doing so, and catching up with e-mails, over the next few weeks.

Happy end of summer! 

Anatomy of 150 Wedding Favors: Part 2

Much progress has been made on the 150 wedding favors Heather and I were commissioned to make.  We scored and folded all of the boxes, attached the sentiments, and threaded ribbon through...

I just adore this paper and the range of blues.  So pretty! 

Now all that's left to do is to put chocolates inside, close the boxes and thread and tie the ribbons, and they're done!

I can't wait to see these favors on the wedding tables, set at each place.  I hope that the bride and groom, and guests, enjoy them!

Anatomy of 150 Wedding Favors: Part 1

As I mentioned before, I'm working on 150 wedding favors for an August wedding.  Supplies came in yesterday from Stampin' Up! and Heather and I got started.  We knocked out all of the prep-work in one afternoon which was a great start!

150 circles of Very Vanilla cardstock stamped with sentiments and tiny blue hearts (wedding colors are sky blue, white and black)...

150 Scallop circles punched from Pacific Point cardstock... (LOVE this color!)

150 pieces of Very Vanilla ribbon cut...

150 pieces of Blueberry Crisp Designer Series Paper (can we say GORGEOUS?!) cut and folded...

Now we're ready to move on to scoring and hole-punching.  Stay tuned for "Anatomy of 150 Wedding Favors:  Part 2" coming soon!

Works in Progress

It's one of those weeks where I have a whole host of projects in the pipeline and not a ton to share.  One of the things I'm diligently working on (had hoped to get them finished yesterday - oops!) is a set of thank you cards for my friend Meg who just had a baby.  Although I knew the colors I wanted to work with, it took me ages to come up with a design I liked (perfectionist, much?) but I'm finally there.

I've used the new "Baby Bundle" set in clear mount from Stampin' Up!  I knew I had to buy this set as soon as it comes out because I'm inundated with babies in my life right now - lots of blessings for family and friends!

I had a lot of fun stamping the background of these cards.  I combined several of the small images on one clear block and stamped them in Chocolate Chip ink onto the Pretty in Pink cardstock.  The background it my favorite part of the card!

I'm also getting everything in order for a wedding project.  165 wedding favors!  The bride has asked for the triangle boxes (remember I made these for a workshop recently?) in SU's "Blueberry Crisp" designer series paper (below right)

I'm going to use Very Vanilla ribbon, a shade of blue cardstock for the scallop circle, and find a cute "love" sentiment to stamp on for the greeting.  I'm very excited to put these together - can't wait to show you!

I'm also working on a "Back to School Crafts" piece for Babble.com, and a guest post project for the darling Caroline over at Salsa Pie, so those are keeping me busy as well!

I've been absolutely terrible about stopping over to people's blogs lately - who knew summertime could be so busy?  I promise I'll make time to head over and see what you've all be up to in the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading Ready, Set, Craft!

xoxo
Joanne

It's all in the details...

Earlier in the week I shared a few photos from my latest SU get together - my new catalog release party.  I really wanted to share with you some of the simple details that made a huge impact!

Goody Bags:

I bought plain brown gift bags in bulk from JoAnn Fabrics and stamped the fronts of them using Soft Suede ink and the I (Heart) Hearts stamp set.  I used scraps of Pretty in Pink and Whisper White ribbon in various textures and widths around the handle - four pieces on each bag simply tied in knots.  These were quick to make en masse, and you could switch up the colors and stamp sets to custom make gift bags for any occasion!

Water Bottles:  These were so simple to do - but looked so festive!  I purchased mini sized water bottles and removed the labels.  I measured and cut some of our designer series paper in the size of the water bottle labels and attached them using snail adhesive.  So fun!

 Cupcake Picks:  It's not a Joanne party without cupcakes, right?  Heather and I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes with fresh strawberry frosting.  To make the picks, I stamped our new a la carte stamp, Homemade, in Pretty in Pink ink onto Whisper White cardstock.  I cut out the center of the stamp with an XL circle punch, and cut out an XL scallop from Pretty in Pink cardstock.  I adhered the two together and attached to a toothpick.  To finish them off I added a bow of Pretty in Pink ribbon.  Beautiful!

All three of these simple ideas can be custom designed for any event you may be having!  So what are you waiting for?  Throw a party already!  : )

Meg's Baby Shower

This weekend I had the pleasure and honor of helping to throw a baby shower for my dear friend Meg.  You'll remember the baby bibs I was working on last week?  I made a set of four of them as part of her gift...

As for the shower itself, I was in charge of cupcakes - of course!  12 dozen minis, in carrot, lemon, chocolate and vanilla - all topped with vanilla frosting and a fondant flower...

Here's a shot of a couple of the tables...

I picked out a variety of gerber potted daisies (Meg's favorite flower) in different shades of pink, and hand wrapped them with pink craft paper, tying them with brown satin ribbon.

For the favors, Meg's aunt had picked up some little garden-themed sticky note pads, so I made a flower pen to go with each on (45 in all!) and tied the two together with pink and brown satin ribbon, finished with a flower tag punched from cardstock.

It was a lovely shower, with many beautiful and generous gifts for Meg and baby girl.  Here's a shot of me with my Mum and Meg - the mom to be!

And one of Meg and I...

Thanks so much to Meg and her wonderful family for allowing me to help make Meg's shower extra special!

Las Vegas - 1 Week To Go!

I'm posting this late, I actually mailed these out last week, but wanted to share my final "Vegas gift" that I sent to our siblings and friends... 

(In case you missed it, I'm heading to Vegas for the first time for a long weekend with the hubby, two best friends, and our two brothers.  I'm sending out some little "anticipation gifts" in the weeks leading up to our trip)

I took this pocket map and cut a one inch wide strip of white cardstock to wrap round it, secured with monoadhesive....

I then slid these little 3x3 cards over the "band" I created with the white cardstock...

And of course no Vegas package is complete without a little confetti... I stuffed the envelopes full of it!

So exciting!  Have YOU been to Vegas?  Tell me about your adventures, and what you recommend seeing/eating/doing!