Oceans Apart, But On The Same Page!

Hi Everyone,
Today I have a lovely story and an awesome little box to share.  I received a note from Lynne Armstrong from the MTC forum.  I am here in the States in Jersey and Lynne is over in Australia.  WOW! We are oceans apart.  But no way, no how, is a bit of water and geography going to stand between two crafty girls like us! You can see what Lynne is up to on her blog here:
http://www.doodlebuglynne.blogspot.com/
What happened was, Lynne told me Hershey nuggets are just not readily available in her area.  I come to find out that Rocher and Lindt chocolates are easier to obtain. Well after a bit of discussion we decided to increase the depth of the original nugget tag box that I had posted earlier this month so that it would hold Rocher instead of the Hershey Nuggets.  The original box for the nuggets can be found here by using the download link in this post:
http://www.lysaandhueyink.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-favorite-nugget-box.html
Now please know when it comes to candy. . . In my book if 1 piece is good, 2 pieces is great and(by the size of my pants!) 3 pieces is well. . . AWESOME! so here is a picture of the reworked nugget box that now holds 3 Rocher candies:

 

 I used a plain top on this box but I have the file available with or without the original tag. You can download the files from my mediafire site. Here is a picture of what the file with the plain top looks like.

 Simple and easy, you can make a lot in a short amount of time. Here are the links for the files. The .pdf is here:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?s4vw9jjd3cmp1jw

And MTC fans will want this one for the plain top box:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?12v2jh4vcb6floc

and this one for the one with the tag top:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?uxj6hffr71gndh8

Now the story goes on, So crafty Lynne doesn't have any Rocher candies at hand but what see did have was some Lindt chocolates.  So she takes the file and reduces it to hold 2 Lindts.  I love it and here is a picture of what she made:

This box was made by Lynne Armstong - She's Crafty Good!

Is that not awesome crafty goodness? I love it! Great job Lynne! Lynne will be making these for a special holiday dinner that she will tell you about over at her blog. I want to say the best part of these boxes isn't the paper or the candy, It's not the ink or the rubber stamp. The best part of this box is 2 crafty good girls from opposite sides of the world sharing a crafty good thought. I had a great time making this box and an even better time making a new friend. I am off to start the Thanksgiving countdown. Once again Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Lysa

Edited to add Lynne's link 

Here is the link to download Lynne's two piece box that she posted on the MTC forum. The file is available as a .mtc file:

http://forum.make-the-cut.com/discussion/28771/nugget-box-rework-now-holds-rocher-and-lindts#latest

And So This Is Christmas. . .

Hi Everyone,
Truth be told it is not even Thanksgiving!  Oh poor Tom Turkey just doesn't get a fair shake! I am in total Christmas mode already.  Yet again all my fall linen and turkeys, crows and ceramic non - jack'd pumpkins won't see the light of day. Need I mention the lovely turkey salt and pepper shakers that once adorned my Thanksgiving table.  It is sad I know.  It seems I just go from Halloween black and orange right to the green and red.  I think it is because my time is so limited with working and general life.  I guess I have just come around to what works for me.  With that said, I wanted to post this file for my double sided carrier tote. Now please know that this tote was once 2 Stampin 'Up boxes that were glued back to back.  But being digi minded I knew there was a better way.  I had made this box for a wedding project in white embossed paper.  It held 6 small bottles of bubbles (3 on each side).  It was just beautiful.  The carrier was on each table so that there were bubbles all night long through the reception.  This little box can hold a lot.  Here it is holding 9 pieces of candy (6 nuggets & 3 Ghirardelli chocolates).  That's a whole lot of candy!
Here is a picture of what the file looks like:

I have the .pdf of the file posted here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4r2o7y9s8j7kj28
The .mtc file is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?hhtz2hmnhs17op7

I hope you will try to make this carrier, I think it would make a great snowman soup holder.  If you need it to be smaller you can reduce the size as long as you maintain the aspect ratio.  If you need any tips on assembly just give me a shout out and I will do my best to explain.
I want to send out my best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving and many blessing to you all for a joyous and safe holiday.  I know how busy I get over the next 2 months so posting may be spotty but I will check in to answer any questions you may have.
Thanks as always for visiting,
Lysa

Digi Halloween, Last Year - This Year . . .

Hi Everyone,
I still don't have the Halloween buckets back up in the attic! Hello, its November 11th! Why you may wonder. I have to say every 10 minutes while trying to pack it all up, I would run back to my Huey computer to play with my CraftArtist 2 software and Halloween pictures.  I am sure by the end of today I will be looking at a cleaned house and will be ready to go full force with Christmas crafting.  I have to tell you all that I absolutely love CA2!  The new color palette creator is the bomb! I make all my digi page 8.5 X 11.  I have a large format printer but for some reason I just like the size of a standard page.  I think it is the rectangular shape.  I really need to make a few 12 X 12 pages, just to create a new comfort zone if not for any other reason. Here are last years and this years Halloween digi pages. It is great to see the little one changing from just pretending to be a doll to becoming  a doll!  The one thing that doesn't change is her beautiful smile.

I hope you will take time to play with the pictures you take.  We all seem to take picture after picture (I have thousands) and never play with them.  Pictures are an awesome good craft supply! There are so many great software packages for photos now.  Serif software offers a free download that is not a trial but a scaled down version.  Why not give it a try and get your DigiPic mojo on.  The full version of the software has some great templates for cards, boxes and such.  I hope everyone has a great Sunday, I am off to finish packing up Halloween.  Thanks for visiting,
Lysa

So Cute Snowman ... So Not My Idea!

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick Friday post and check in as this weekend is "TAKE DOWN HALLOWEEN!" OK, so I am a week behind.  Due to Hurricane Sandy, Halloween was postponed and there was no way I was going to take down the decorations until after I saw all the little trick or treaters. So as I sat at the kitchen table with my ipad waiting for my doorbell to ring in hopes of passing out candy I came across the most adorable snowman tea light on a Stampin 'Up web site. Becky Roberts of Inking Idaho (who has an awesome blog) that you can view here:
http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/
She had this snowman made out of tea lights!  I had to make them right away.  Now if I could I would buy the entire Stampin 'Up catalog, but sadly I have to pick and choose what I can buy. Thanks to my Zing and MTC I can use what I have to create all the awesome crafty goodness I see online.  Here is my snowman that I saw on Becky's site along with my file I used to create the snowman.  I can't wait to make these in a large number.  I plan to hang these off of all the gifts I give this year. Here is the picture and the file links for this project

Here is the link to the .pdf file for the snowman's hat:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?39i57rh03hsixp2
and the MTC file is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wi0jucjazyho451
 Please don't thank me for this cutie as it is all Stampin 'Up! I used the SU snowflake folder to emboss mine but I am sure any pattern will work just as well.  I used some black gem bling for my "coal" but if you only have clear just color it with a black Sharpie marker. I used my Tombow glue for the "coal" on that one but next time round I think I will try Crazy Glue.  I used a handle from a gift bag for the scarf but on my next one I am going to try something different like fabric.  Enjoy and please make some of these because they are even more adorable in person!!  Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

My Favorite Bakery Box

Hi Everyone,
I am a bit early posting this week as I am off for Election Day.  I got to the Polls early so that left me with some time to get crafty.  I have the TV on to the local news and all they are talking about is the expected snowstorm for tomorrow.  This can't be, a snowstorm 1 week after a hurricane! Of course I have to work a double tomorrow! I am trying to keep a good thought but I am getting to the end of my rope. With that said, we had Halloween yesterday on November 5th.  I was happy that the kids got to go Trick or Treating but it was so cold and so dark. I felt bad for the kids and the Mom's and Dad's too! Rory went with a few friends with her Dad and Poppy in tow.  I have a feeling all will be sneezing by the weekend. OK, thanks for letting me vent for a moment, Now for the crafty goodness.  Here is my all time, most favorite, awesome crafty good bakery box!  I love this box and as you can see from the picture (and previous blog posts) that I use it all the time. Here is the picture of the file:

It surly looks like a silly pattern but I gotta tell you it is a great box.  Super easy to re-size as long as you maintain the aspect ratio. You can make as big as you need.  I love making it out of Staples index cardstock because it looks so much like a bakery box.  It has no tab closure so you need to tie, ribbon or belly band it closed.  I hope you love it as much as I do.  Here is the link to the .pdf file:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?k51nonltjhtfn93
And for my MTC fans (who I love dearly) here is the file:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yg9d75uh6bpuby6
Enjoy this file everyone and if you use it I would love to see a picture.  Please continue to keep us all here in the Northeast in your thoughts and prayers.  So many lost their homes and so many still with no power. I can't say enough how horrible the last week has been for so many.  I will say the kindness of people has been awesome. Blessing to you all and thanks for visiting,
Lysa

My Favorite Cocoa Packet Holder

Hi Everyone,
A few years back I wanted to make cocoa packets as favors for my work peeps.  I always thought packets items like cocoa, tea or soup was just adorable for a hand out item. I just didn't know how I wanted to package them.  I even bought a pattern for a paper mug. I made it and just did not like how the cocoa packet fit into it. It was flopping back and forth, the mug was to just to big to hold the packet I was using.  So I decided to use my pattern for a hanging pillow box.  The packet just fit so nicely in it.  I made the door knob opening smaller and created a little snowflake "charm" to hang in the center.  Now this is a two part story as I had purchased 2 - 24 pack boxes of Starbuck's cocoa, seeing the brown color scheme of the packet I knew I wanted to use one of my all time favorite papers (early espresso from Stampin 'Up) to make the holder. But I had a bit of a mishap with my Christmas cards that I had purchased. In my haste to print and get them into the mail I had made a typo in the sentiment. I didn't catch the typo prior to going to print! Well it all worked out as I recycled the front of the card as a belly band around the base box.  I found a picture of the first color scheme using the SU paper. It was sitting in the background of another picture. On this one I made a little spinning snowflake charm. The belly band was from a K&Co. paper stack. It's not the best picture but here it is:

I needed to use the cards that I had ruined.  They were so pretty and there was no way I was going to throw away the cards.  Here is a picture of a few of them:

Aren't the snowmen cute? I hand stamped the snowflakes on the lavender blueish paper with Tsukineko Brilliance Dew Drop in lavender and cut the fronts of the cards off to create the belly band around the box. I used my DSA2 and my Stampin 'Up tag punches to make the tags. They were a big hit. These were personalized tags for work. I also had a basket of them at the house by the door for anyone that stopped by.
Here is a picture of the file:

Just a note about the snowflake, I used my Martha Stewart punch on mine, but I added a basic snowflake to the file for ease.
Here is a link to download the .pdf file:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4rn5v70nfg1bjmj
and for all fans of MTC here is that file:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ba39bv61cvdyssn
I hope you find use for this cute holder, Just think of what you can stuff into it.  You can change it up and do away with the snowflake. Make the circle cutout bigger and hang it on a door knob.  I am thinking this may just make a great holder for this years Reindeer food!  Let me know if you have any questions. Hope you all are thinking about Christmas as it is just around the corner! Have a great weekend.
Lysa

The Storm Named Sandy

Hi Everyone,
 I want to send prayers out to all who have been devastated by hurricane Sandy.  We made it through the storm thanks to the Hubs and the good graces of the Lord.  Power was back for us within 2 days. Though our community still has many areas without power, all are helping out.  Our water front area was hit hard and people have lost everything. Gas is an issue, but the grocery stores have food. We are safe and warm.  For those who have lost their homes, I have no words, only prayers. Today my family and I count our blessings and wish everyone from the Jersey shore and through out the eastern coast and tri-state area a speedy restoration from this horrible hurricane. Blessing to All,
Lysa