Valentine's For School 2015 - What To Do, What To Do!

Hi Friends,
One week before Valentine's Day and I haven't even thought of what I am bringing in for the work peeps. More important than that was what is Rory going to do for school.  Now that brings in a whole new question. New school, now Middle School, should I, should I not?  That was the question asked by the little one. Still young and wanting to make any occasion fun, but savvy enough to not want to appear a bit corny. Well, Nonna has the answer and here it is: "To thine own self be true, and be like all good Girl Scouts and be prepared." I suggested that we make a nice Valentine treat that would fit in her backpack.  She would be prepared and if she felt uncomfortable handing them out, well in the backpack they would stay.  No harm, No foul!  The best of both sides of a story if you ask me. Gee, I am getting wise as I push 60!  So we chose some Valentine's themed pencils from Walgreens and a Dove chocolate heart.  We chose a push pencil and Dove chocolate as perhaps they are just a bit more appealing to the "more mature audience" that we are making them for. No Monster High or Spiderman involved (It's the Dove chocolate heart that steps it up)! I really do think Middle School is on the tough side, but hey if you make it through you can most likely survive whatever life throws at you. So here are a few pics of this easy peasy favor that should please anyone. In fact I just may be making these for work as well.  After all who doesn't need a pencil?

I made the page of tags using CAP2 and we punched them out with the Stampin' Up heart punch.  I used my ZING and MTC to cut the shadow heart.  The cello bags are from Stampin' Up. The white rubber bands are Rainbow Loom.  I use those bands for all sorts of things!

Here they are in a vase by the front door until she takes them to school.  Let's hope not to many peeps stop by for a visit because who could resist saying "help yourself"!

So easy, all we did was bag up the pencil and trim the bag to about 1.5 inches above the top of the pencil. Grabbed a chocolate heart and wrapped it in a 5 inch square of white tulle and secured it to the pencil bag with a white rubber band. We punched a 1/8 inch hold in the tag and made an angle cut into the hole and stretched the rubber band to lock the tag on. They came out great. We made 16 in about 40 minutes or so.  Here is one more picture:

I hope Rory ends up passing these out but worst comes to worst we will have a few extra pencils in the house and some darn good chocolate too!
Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Valentine Monster Hugs, LOVE 'Em! and a Shout Out to Stampin' Up's Angie Juda

Hi Everyone,
Wow, look at me posting on a Monday.  I had such a great crafty weekend with team Nonna & Rory that I could not wait to get home from work today to post some pictures.  Not only was I working on my Valentine's for the work peeps I also helped Rory with her Valentine's for school.  I had showed Rory Stampin' Up Monster Hugs and she thought they were so cute that she wanted to make them.  After ordering them they arrived in no time at all and were even cuter in real life than in the picture.  Now for many reasons our public school system likes a healthier style snack in lieu of chocolate or something sweet.  They even send a list home.  Most people step outside of the list but, hey who am I to break rules at my age!  We like to use pretzels for valentines.  So we came up with an awesome way to use our Monster Hugs with a box of pretzel sticks. We had a lot to make and Rory was off on an over-night so I thought it would be best to prep all the parts for her so that she could focus on assembly when she got home on Sunday.  It worked out perfect.  Here is a picture of the kit re-make I set up for Rory:

 What I added to the SU kit was a 2 inch by 9 inch strip of crumb cake cardstock that I hand stamped tone on tone with crumb cake ink.  I cut the arrows with my KnK Zing out of Midnight Muse cardstock for the boys and Calypso Coral for the girls.  I used CAP2 to make and print the tags. I also used CAP2 to print the paper for the belly bands and small hearts for the hands.  The belly bands are 3/4 " wide by 6 1/5 inches long.
So when Rory got home we set out to complete all of her Valentine's for school as I have a super busy work week this week and I was thinking if we did not get them done it might be a problem.  Here are some pictures of Rory along the way and our completed Valentine's. Rory did an awesome job!

And the final crafty good haul:

I have to tell you that this project is a favorite of mine.  I am a huge Stampin 'Up fan and even with my little bump up this kit was cost effective and made for a wonderful experience to share with my Granddaughter.  My demonstrator is Angie Kennedy Juda and her blog link is here:
http://www.mychicnscratch.com/
She always has a fresh idea and something fun going on.  Please visit her if you are thinking of purchasing any Stampin' Up product.  I have never met her but have been a fan for years and purchase all my SU through her.  She is AWESOME!!! So SHOUT OUT to Angie, I just can't thank you enough for all your fantastic ideas! We should get together someday so I can teach you to love that Silhouette cutter you have!!
Have a great week Everyone and a Happy, Happy Valentine's Day,
Lysa

Itty Bitty Valentine Bread Tag Box

Hi Everyone,
Oh my, I am still obsessed with the bread tag shape.  I just had to make one more little treat box for Valentine's Day 2014.  I think I will make these for my February Board meeting.  They will hold two Dove hearts just perfectly.  Here is a picture of the file:

For those of you who like a pdf file you can download it from this link here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/x0xec1lcc2u7ccs/Itty%20Bitty%20Bread%20Tag%20Box%202014.pdf

and for all the MTC peeps, use this link for the file (I also posted it on the forum)
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7iu0uqqyt2qgghn/Itty%20Bitty%20Bread%20Tag%20Box%202014.mtc


I hope you like this little cutie, I even made a double sided version and will try to post the file at some point.  I made the heart paper in CA2 using Stampin Up digis. I even created the box in CA2. (It really has become my go to software) I used MTC and my ZING to cut the box.
Wishing you all a happy, crafty weekend.  And if you are watching the Superbowl tomorrow I hope your favorite team wins. Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

Snow Day Fun

Hi Everyone,
Thanks to Mother Nature we had a snow day this week.  What a fun day Rory and I had crafting some goodies for Valentine's Day.  Now I usually don't put out a lot of decorations for Valentine's or St. Pat's as we do up Halloween and Christmas so big in this house.  I am always looking for a bit of a break before Easter.  Rory has been asking to make a banner, and I thought this was a great opportunity to make one. Mostly because I was thinking if I said no, Rory might suggest we bundle up and go outside to build a snowman.  Not that I have anything against snowmen but it was about 7 degrees outside!  I decided that the banner would be all Rory's ideas.  I let her pick all the paper and shapes.  She even picked the words and did all the assemble too.  Banners are so quick and easy with a digital cutter. We used my ZING and MTC to cut all the pieces.  Rory used the Xyron for all the adhesive.  She loves the Xyron!  Here is a picture of Rory hard at work:

 Here is a picture of the banner once it was completed:

What a great job Rory did.  I keep saying "Rory, your banner is awesome"! and she keeps correcting me saying "OUR banner is awesome"  We had so much fun and just wanted to keep going so we made a few extra paper hearts for the metal Hallmark tree. Here is a picture of that:

I love when Rory comes to play in my craftroom.  I really can see it is just more than quality time with each other.  She is really learning things.  As we were making the banner we discussed color and used math skills for measuring.  We used computer software to created the digital file.  Rory did all the assembly and took time to center the layers.  I let Rory have complete control decorating the mantle so we talked about a center focal point and height balance.  We made that huge red bow out of paper twist (an old time favorite of mine) so she got to untwist the skinny paper rope into wide ribbon and use my old wood bow maker to tie the loops into a bow.  We even took leftover red candy canes and melted them into hearts (235 degree oven for 5 minutes, on parchment paper).  The living room looks very festive and we both agreed it was a job well done.  I hear more snow is on the way next week so maybe, just maybe we will be able to spend more time together getting our CRAFT ON!
Thanks for visiting and have a crafty weekend,
Lysa

Valentine's Day Bread Tag Box

Hi Everyone,
I am so happy to be back posting and I have a cute little box to share for this Valentine's Day.  I went back and forth with what kind of candy to use.  I almost feel weird using nuggets instead of hearts, but at work chocolate hearts are already all over the place.  So in my attempt to be different I went the route of my favorite Hershey Nugget!  I need to make so many of these and I started out with a 4 piece box.  Once I did the math on the price I reduced it to a 2 piece box.  Not that I am a cheapo, but I will most likely be making about 40 of these and to me a 2 piece box just seemed to be a bit more romantic.  So with that said here is a picture of the file:

Here is another picture of the favors:

Such a cutie! I bet a couple of bite size kit kats or some kisses would be perfect in there as well.   I designed this file in CAP2 and did all my cutting with my ZING using MTC.  I just love using CAP2 to design. It really is an amazing and broad software.  Remember there is a free download available at the daisytrail website if you want to check it out.
Here is a link to the PDF file on mediafire:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/koeui6s80hzgq8e/Breadtag%20Valentine%20Nugget%20Holder%20with%20Notes.pdf

For my MTC friends the file is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/1q9y46w92wxx9aw/Breadtag%20Valentine%20Nugget%20Holder%202014.mtc

I hope you all like this little Nugget holder and leave me a comment if you do.  I hope to get back to posting on a more frequent basis but as you all know life has a way of changing our plans.
Thanks for visiting
Lysa

Rory's School Valentines - Monster High!

Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Rory and I finished her Valentines for school with only a day to spare. Wow, we were going in so many directions that I am amazed that they finally came together. I was at Walgreens a few weeks back and had spotted heart shaped bubbles, YoYos and kaleidoscopes in pink and red. I bought them when I saw them so that I was sure to have them when I needed them. When it came time to make up the Valentines I asked Rory if there was a particular theme she had in mind. When all was said and done it was decided that Monster High was the way to go. So then the hunt began for graphics and ideas. Keep in mind we are not allowed to send in candy of any kind. The only food treat we can use is pretzels. Once we decided to wrap the pretzels with paper (I used a modified version of the file I made for my lip glosses)I needed to find the right paper or make the right paper. But time was running out. A google search led me to an awesome paper pack on etsy that was made by Denise at JustMeandMyDesigns. You can find Denise's Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustMeandMyDesigns Using Denise's paper instead of taking time to find or create a background paper allowed me some time to rework those bubbles, YoYos and kaleidoscopes so that they closer matched the theme. Here are some pics of how I relabeled the little toys.

 It was easy to remove the labels and replace them with free graphics I found via google images.  I printed them on sticker paper. Here is a picture of Rory working on them.  She is my crafty good buddy.

Rory wraped all the pretzel boxes and organized and bagged the toys.  I tied the bag to the box and added the custom name tag.  Here is a couple of pictures of how they came out.

Pink for the girls and blue for the boys.  I just love how they came out.  We made 33 of them and I sure am glad they are done!  I absolutely love the digi paper pack I bought from Denise, she did an awesome job creating it. Wishing everyone a Happy Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa

OMG! I Made A Video!

Hi Everyone,
I love my 2013 Valentines so much that I made a video of how to make them. Think you might want to watch it? Ok, you can watch it as long as you can put up with my scratchy voice and poor editing technique! I hope you like it and I really hope you give this quick Valentine a try.  I mentioned in the video that I saw a envelope like this from a die and I could not remember which company it was. I retraced my steps and the picture I saw was from lifestyle crafts.  Once I see a picture it is easy to create the digi cut for it. I used my MTC to weld hearts to a trapezoid to a rectangle to create the shape.  Adding the score lines is easy with MTC. Here is the Video.

 Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by, Lysa

Valentine File Share

Hi Everyone,
As promised, here are my Valentines that I am making for my work peeps.  I just can't wait to give them out!  This file was made for a little card insert (which I included in the file share) I am filling them with small AVON lip glosses that are just adorable and I know the girls will love them.  I have some guys on my list as well and don't you know they hold a Ghirardelli chocolate perfectly. Yeah, a multipurpose Valentine.  Here is a picture of a completed one:

 I had so much fun with these. You can leave them plain or add a strip of paper to decorate them.  If you need to make them really quick just use a Valentine themed pattern paper.  However you make them I know they will come out adorable.  Here is a picture of the file:

I have included the score lines but I scored by hand.  There are only 3 score lines, the 2 side lines are easy to see and the middle line is just 4 inches from the top.  Simply fold the bottom to the top, fold the hearts in to the center and use the slits in the hearts to lock in place. I just love this little cutie! For those of you who want to grab the .pdf you can find the file here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?f6bbw5u9dom0kit
The MTC file is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?aya7990f28k616f
I hope you all like this file as much as I do. I think I would like to change out the heart for other shapes like a butterfly (for this years cancer walk) or maybe even a bunny.  Let me know if you have any questions or problems.  Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.
Lysa

Valentine's For Work Peeps 2013

Hi Everyone,
Here I go again with a rambling blog post.  I am so in L-O-V-E with my 2013 Valentine's that I my brain is moving faster than my typing fingers.  This was just one of those projects that just makes me shout the phrase "Awesome Crafty Goodness!"  This was one of those projects where I bought little and produce something I really liked.  That picture above . . . was a date stamp that was in the garbage at work.  I knew I had to rescue it.  It was just waiting for me to cut it apart for some reason.  All I did was run a bit of adhesive across the block and there you have it, my little Valentine tag.  Those little tags were cut with MTC and my ZING.  I used MTC to modify my Stampin 'Up word window and modern label punch and reduced them to those little cuties. There you have it the first two parts of these little Valentines that I am love'n.  But wait, there is more, here is a picture of the graphic I used for the body of the Valentine:

Why am I so excited you ask. Well, I bought that digi download of Echo Park's "Yours Truly" last year from Jessica Sprauge and I just loved the papers from the start.  I used my CraftArtist 2 to split and flip the graphic at the right point so that the word LOVE is right side up on both the front and back of the Valentine. Other than me who would notice but hey it makes me happy. Gee, I just can't say enough how much I love my CA2!  See the black outlines.  They are there because on my Fiskars cutter the blade is exactly 1/4 inch away from the index line on the right side.  That is how they get cut so quickly and perfectly to fit.  Between CA2 and Fiskars, template making is easy peasy good! But wait, there's more! Xyron!! I love Xyron . . . check out this picture:

That's a lot of stickers! when you need an edge to edge adhesive Xyron is the go to machine.  I bought my 850 in the late 1990's and I still use it today.  It is one of my tried and true tools.  I forgot to mention I used my We R Memory Keepers corner chomper to round those corners. Need I mention that I just ordered their envelope board from Scrapbook.com.  I can't wait to get it.  Now you might think the next picture would be the finished product but no. I have to show the parts of the whole because that is my favorite thing.  I love when all the parts are prepared and waiting to become the whole. Here is the picture:

OMG! Just look at all that crafty goodness! See the little AVON lip gloss, how cute are they? and the  XO tags that I printed on some old 3 column journal paper, love them!. Those odd looking bases were designed in my KnK studio software and cut with MTC.  My Valentine's came out great and if you come back and visit on Friday, I will be posting the end result and the file share. I don't mean to be a tease, it's just that I want to finish a few more and get a pic.  Thanks for visiting and check back because I think you are going to love this file as much as I do.
Lysa

Happy Valentines Day 2013

Hi Everyone,
I have an oldie but goodie from years ago to share with you today. I am sure you have some version of it in your file stash already, but as you know we file collectors need it all!  Back in 2008 or so I had made a cute little Valentine "purse".  I made so many of them I could make them in my sleep.  I was so proud of the cut out I even uploaded it to the SCAL forum.  People liked it and it is still there today. You can find it at that forum just by searching "Rorysnonna".  So I never had made the file for MTC (which is what I use today along with my ZING) I thought I will just convert it and share it with you all.  Please, I never even added score lines back in the day. And the file was really off, meaning it wasn't quite straight or even.  It just wasn't worth sharing it without bumping it up and fixing it a bit.  I completely remade the file using MTC and the best part was mapping the score lines.  This little bag has a wider bottom, the top narrows just a bit.  Well, thanks to MTC basic shapes I was able to add a trapezoid shape, fit it into position, cut off the top, convert the rest of lines to dashed lines and there you have it, perfect score lines that you can use.  Geee, I love my MTC!!!  Here is a picture of the file:

 

I have uploaded this file to my mediafire account and if you want the PDF you can find it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?c31jf7kgqgi4x7q

And for the MTC peeps (my favorite peeps, ever!!) the link is here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i8p0lqegjdeaedi

I hope you all have use for this file.  Please feel free to re-size it to your needs. I hope you all find a bit of time in your weekend to get crafty as Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Enjoy your weekend,

Lysa

EDITED 1/20/13 at 11:30 am

Hi Everyone,

I just saw a line in the .pdf file that was incorrect.  I have made the change and reposted the file.  Thanks so much for understanding when I make an error.

Lysa

A Valentine Quickie!

Hi Everyone,
Valentine's Day is upon us, I know this because I walked into Walgreen's today and just about everything was red and pink. O.K. so my Christmas tree is still glowing in the living room.  It's all good though because this weekend I am going to do nothing but put Christmas away.  So I thought if I got my blog post done tonight I could spend the next 3 days cleaning! So this is a quick post to send this cute little Tic Tac holder for Valentine's Day file your way.  This little box will hold a Tic Tac container perfectly. You could even use it for some fun size candy bars as well.  Here is a picture of the file:

This is a quick and easy file because if you use a digital cutter you don't have to hand score.  You can download the .pdf file here:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?7xmxqk9i9u061px
And for MTC peeps the link is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?cv0ws612n012g05
I hope you like this little quickie, feel free to alter the file to suit your need.  I am sure with little effort you can remove the heart and add any shape topper you would need for any occasion.  Thanks for stopping by and please check back soon as I ordered these adorable mini Avon lip glosses that I plan to give to the work peeps for Valentine's Day.  I can't wait to get them so I can see the size and start to plan the package.
Have a great weekend (you know I will be cleaning!)
Lysa

My Valentine Favors For Work

Yeah, they are done.  And I even finished them before Friday!  I finished filling them late last night but I am still considering this my "Finish It Friday".  So here they are.....

How cute are these?  I love them, they hold 2 york peppermint patties that are heart shaped.  I followed a video from Angie Kennedy Here is the link:
http://www.chicnscratchlive.com/2012/01/scallop-valentine-box.html
I don't have the scallop square die from Stamp'in Up so I made one on my Zing. I needed my square a bit smaller so it is only a 4 inch square. I used my Echo Park download of their "Yours Truly" papers for the belly band.  I made the tag in my Serif DS2 and imported it to MTC and did a Print and Cut.  WOW, Huey and me did some crafty goodness for sure!!!  Here are a few more pics:

I can't wait to bring these into work on Valentine's Day.  I posted the file on the MTC boards so if you try to make them and need any help just give me a shout out and I will try to explain the best I can.  Have a great week end and make a Valentine for someone!
Lysa

Hello Kitty! This Year's Valentine's Treat

Hi Everyone,
Rory and I used Kris's "Finish it Friday" inspiration to complete Rory's school Valentine's.  As soon as I got home from work (and while Poppy was making awesome dinner magic)  Rory and I set our sight on finishing up her favor treats for school.  I have to say that Rory did a fantastic job gluing kitty to the background.  She did them all herself.  I gave her a ZIG 2 way glue pen instead of a glue stick.  I was amazed how much easier it was for her to use.  I think the blue color of the glue is what helped.  She seemed to really have control over the glue and no mess at all.  If I remember Elmers made a blue glue stick at one time, but I have no idea if it is still available.  I always have ZIG on hand and now I will gladly share it with Rory.

Now for a few basics ... The print and cut of kitty was of course done with the new ZING.  I have so much success with PnCs now!  I am amazed by how quick and easy they are to do.  I used MTC to make a shadow layer, a quick copy and paste made 2 shadows. I flipped and mirrored one and them welded them to make a base to sandwich the plastic bag into.  I made the tag for the front in MTC and did a PnC as well.  Rory used pop dots to attach them.  We had a great time assembling these.

I did cut all the parts prior so that they were ready to go.  We think the kids are going to like the treats inside, but more importantly Rory and I had a great time sitting together at the craft table.  She told me when she grows up she is going to own a craft store.  I 'bout fell off my chair when she said "and Nonna I'll make you the manager"!  Yup... Just what I need another JOB! Thanks again Kris for the goal setting inspiration.  I already know whats on deck for next Friday!  Have a great weekend everyone.  SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!  GO GIANTS!!!

2011 Valentine Treats

Avon had lip balms for Valentine's day on sale so I bought 2 dozen of them.  I made enough of these so that I could have treats for the girls at my job and Samantha could have enough for the girls at her job. Each little fold over has a lip balm and 2 pieces of  Dove chocolate inside. I liked this quick and easy treat fold over.  I used bazzill textured cardstock as the foundation and the patterned paper is from Targets dollar bin.  I used Sure Cuts Alot to cut these so I made them all in just a couple of hours.  I bought a digi Valentine stamp set from Stampin Up  and used Digital Scapbook Artist to print them. I cut them out with a Nestabilities die.  Super quick and easy and I can't wait to hand them out tomorrow.  Enjoy the rest of the week-end, Thanks for stopping by.
Lysa

Look At What Rory and I Made Today!

Valentine's Day is Monday so today was the day for Rory and I to finish her Valentine's for school.  Let's just hope that it does not snow on Sunday night so that there will be school on Monday!  We did a great job with these Valentine's.  This year we used pencils and this project came together quickly,  We used paper from the dollar bin at Target and modified a Cricut Hello Kitty file.  So sorry Provocraft, I love you guys but sometimes you just need to change up a file.  We also got the pencils at Target.  We had a great time making these and Rory is so excited to hand them out to her friends.  Tomorrow I will post my Valentine's that I will be bringing to work.  Thanks for visiting!
Lysa

February, Already!!

Oh my,
I am simply lost in this winter.  There is so much snow here in Jersey this year and I am just a summer girl.  I come home from work each day sit at the computer and just zone.  I tell myself I will work on Valentines, I will work on Valentines and lo and behold after three weeks of chanting it to myself I really did make them.  So to start off here is a pic from 2009.  I hope to post last year and this year over the next couple of days.  I hope you all did something crafty for the ones you hold close.

Thanks for visiting,
Lysa