My Thoughts Exactly December release: Holiday Tags

It's My Thoughts Exactly December Release!! :-D This month, with the Holidays fast approaching, My Thoughts Exactly is releasing 2 sets geared toward Christmas and Holidays... and we are bringing them to you a few days earlier than usual to give you more time... ;-)

The 1st one Holly Jolly Tags is, you guessed it ;-), a set of tags... ;-) As you'll see with my project, it lends himself to more than just Winter Holidays! :-) (for those of you who use an electronic die cutting machine, some svgs are in the work that will match those tags... ;-))

The 2nd one, Holly Jolly Phrases, will be perfect for cards and scrapbook pages, but will also work well with the previous tags.
Actually, they go so well hand in hand that My Thoughts Exactly is also selling them as a bundle! One set is $15 (shipping included) and the bundle is $25 (shipping included also). And we are happy to announce that MTE now ships worldwide! (for an additional fee, calculated at checkout, depending on the destination). Keeping in mind that those ship in an envelope, international shipping should stay reasonable... :-)

So, for my project today I decided to NOT do a Winter Holiday project!... ;-)

I made a trio of Thanksgiving favors to give to my autistic son's teachers...
I started with some adorable 2X2 Mini Kraft Boxes from Annie's Paper Boutique, and stamped all over them with a Martha Stewart stamps set in Fall colors.
I then wrapped some Orange Truffle Trendy Twine all around them and added my tags.

I used the Holly Jolly Tags set, and  filled my tags with the Many Thanks set, which I thought was just perfect for the occasion. As you can see those tags are perfect for many projects, not just Christmas-y ones! :-)

I decorated the top with 2 buttons on top of each other and yet another snippet of twine...

Those 2X2 little boxes are the perfect size to fit 6 Ghirardelli Squares, one of my favorite little favor to gift... I was so thrilled when I discovered this!!... :-D (Please don't ask why there are no props... ;-D ) I brought those to school with some Holiday coffee packs... :-)

Now I kept the best for last! My Thoughts Exactly is giving away a $5 gift card to celebrate this new release! :-) Go follow My Thoughts Exactly blog or like their Facebook page, let me know in the comments' section what you did, and I will pick a random winner on December 1st. :-)

Oh and one last thing, you still have till the 30th to apply to be a part of MTE's design team!! Check out the details here!! :-D Come on, don't be shy, we are looking for all kinds of crafters, and your enthusiasm is more important than your experience... Good luck! :-D

Trendy Twine Tuesday: Baby Carriage

It's Trendy Twine Tuesday and this week it's my turn to share a project with you. :-)
The color we are showcasing this month is Chocolate Truffle, a beautiful mix of dark brown, caramel and white... :-)
For my project I decided to do a gift-card holder for friends who just welcomed their 6th boy!... :-)

It all started because of this cute little bear giftcard I found at Target and I instantly thought about the awesome little baby carriage Mary designed for SVGCuts.com. I was right because it was the perfect size, and they are quite a smashing duo I think... ;-)

I used some Chocolate Truffle Twine to make a little criss-cross pattern on the hood of the carriage, and also added some little bows on the sides.

Then I used some of the Sky Trendy Twine to make a little stitching on the sides too. It's hard to see in my pic but the cardstock is actually ivory colored and the twine is cream and pale blue colored. It has this soft vintage feel that makes it perfect for baby projects. :-)

If I had more time I would have added a line braided twine handle to mimic the carriage handlebar, but unfortunately time was of the essence... :-( This definitely was a fun project though and I love the result! :-)

My Thoughts Exactly Thursday and my 1st step card...

It's My Thoughts Exactly Thursday! Today it's my turn and my evil twin Bee's turn to show you our projects.
So I made a step card! Believe it or not in 4 years of papercrafting I have never made a step card. They are really simple to make and they are a lot of fun. :-)

I used a svg file from SVGCuts.com for my card base, but if you like step cards go visit Alyssa's blog, she has an easy video tutorial on how to make them, plus lots of cool step cards of her own... :-)
The clam, seaweeds, starfishes, and crab, are svgs from Lettering Delights. And my sentiment is from the  Under the Sea stamps set.

I'm sending this card to my niece who's recovering from pneumonia, I'm sure this will cheer her up. :-)

Trendy Twine Tuesday: Thanksgiving Centerpiece

For this Trendy Twine Tuesday I made a Centerpiece for Thanksgiving. :-)

I had to take a TON of pictures, and do it again because they were blurry... I think I am suffering from the mental fog of Halloween Candy hangover... So settle down comfortably because there will be a lot... ;-)
My cat absolutely wanted to be part of the photo shoot and I didn't have time to fight him over this, so he is on all the pics... ;-) He was even nibbling at my project!!... >.<

I started with a little wreath from Michaels, then added some fall leaves that I bought on the side with a hot glue gun. Then I took popsicle sticks that I wrapped in Chocolate Truffle Trendy Twine (after putting some double sided tape on both sides of them for extra hold) to make my little posts, and I also used some Orange Truffle Trendy twine to make little "rings" to attach around my centerpiece...

I actually used toilet paper rolls as my base for those. I think I might have to make napkin rings now to match my project!! ;-)

Then I added little Fall details on my poles. I am grateful as a papercrafter to have so many options to get cool svgs so I used some of my favorite companies and put them all together in a happy circle!...
The Give Thanks caption was a freebie from SVGCuts.com.

On the other side I used this gratitude caption, also a freebie from SVG Cuts. :-)

The stunning sunflower is part of the 3D flowers collections at SVGCuts also.

The apple is from Lettering Delights.

The Fall caption and leaves are also from Lettering Delights. (I used Nestabilities for my base)

The Acorn is also from Lettering Delights.

And last but not least, my pumpkin is a tag from the Halloween collection at SVGs by Bee. I added a tiny bow of Twisted Lime Trendy Twine.

I cut every shape (but the Thanks/gratitude tag) twice using a mirror effect so that I could glue them on both sides of the sticks and make it look good from every angle. I used glue at the base of my stick to hold to the shape and then pop dots between the front and back of the shape to accommodate for the added bulk of the stick and give a tad of dimension.

I hope you liked my project today and will be inspired to make some Thanksgiving decorations on your own. If you do feel free to link them into the comments section.

For more Trendy Twine inspiration visit the design team members' blogs:
* Kimberly
* Alyssa

(This is my second post of the day, so if you are looking for the My Thoughts Exactly release post, just scroll down. :-))

My Thoughts Exactly November release: Merci!

It's the 1st of the month, which means it's My Thoughts Exactly November release! This month the new stamps set is called Many Thanks and it is shock full of options as usual... :-)

Of course I HAD to use Merci to go with my Eiffel Tower... ;-) But the piece of book page is in english because I couldn't seriously consider ripping a french book, LOL... I used 2 different types of ribbons and of course some Trendy Twine... ;-)
Now those colors are a little out of my comfort zone, but I actually really liked the cream and black with a little pop of rouge and will have to do it again... :-) (Cardstock is from Recollection)
The tiny little bow is a sneak peek from the December stamps set... ;-)

Don't forget to check the rest of the design team's projects today:

* Alyssa
* Belinda
* Jennifer
* Jessica
* Lenae
* Thienly

(Today is also Trendy Twine Tuesday so check my other post to come... :-))