A Moment in Time

Introducing...... Coffee and Tea!

WOW, can  you believe it is APRIL!! You wouldn't know it by looking around here though! We got another dump of snow, the only bright side I can see to this is that I can delay my spring cleaning a little bit longer.

Since it is April first I suppose that means I should reveal some Stamp sets!!!  You may have caught the teaser on Keri Lee's blog for this first set I am revealing, Coffee and Tea.  I am in love with the thousands of options this set has to offer.  It is divided into two for coffee lovers and tea lovers. Then, to make this set even MORE versatile, there is an add-on set which extends it even further by adding a cocoa sentiment and marshmallows!!

For my first project I made this sweet little tea gift set. I found that cute little white teapot for $1 at the local dollar store!! It's perfect for two cups of tea.

I also found that cute little tea infuser at IKEA for a steal of a deal to complete the set.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

 

For the tea, I purchased loose tea in bulk and put them into our square french glass bottles and labeled them with my rectangle nestability dies. I modified a template I had to fit 2 bottles perfectly. Just print out this template on the wrong side of your cardstock and assemble! I lined it with the gorgeos vellum from SU!.

Download Square bottle caddy box 

If you like the little curly accents under the main focal point and on the cardfront and tops of the jar labels you may* want to keep an eye out for the May stamp set release *hint hint*

I acheived that variation in the color on the tiny cups by stamping the image in the lighter blue color first and then sponging on some cocoa colored ink onto the edges. I also put them inside the scribble circle from the pampered package set and punched them out and put them on the caps of the bottles.

I used the "Enjoy" sentiment from RBD's Pampered Package set as well.

To make this teapot (don't you just LOVE that teapot!?) I simply used the same technique on the teapot as I did for the cup image above. Stamping it in the lighter color first and then sponging the darker color around the edges. I pierced a few little designs in the corners for some interest and used the secret stamp as a border behind the focal image (that stamp is from a set to be released in May).

I tied one of my favorite types of bows here, it's a little tricky to get the hang of it at first but basically, what you do is when you are looping your ribbon around your rabbit ear instead of going around clockwise, go around counter-clockwise and you'll end up with one loop on top and the other loop and two "tails" on the bottom. It takes a bit of practice but once you get it you've got it for life! hahah I love how it makes the bottom of the bow a bit heavier allowing me to stick in two pearl pins for balance on top.  

Have a great Wednesday everyone!!!

I will have a few more posts in the next little bit using this set to show you some other ideas to put it to good use!!

Favor box template!

Hello everyone, here I am as promised with a quick little template which goes hand in hand with Friday's post, but would also be a great idea for inexpensive wedding favors!!   They are so easy to put together and you can fill them with anything you'd like!

**Please note if you are putting baking or goodies directly into them you may want to print out the template onto a transparent adhesive film and then stick that to your paper or cardstock, on the back side, to protect the outside packaging from grease spots.

Download Favor box 

Stamp your sentiment on the inside flap for a little bit of personalization. Here I used the stamp set Cupid's Arrow. I also used this set for the subtle pattern on the outside. The ribbon is Jadefrom our Taffeta Edge Satin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter weddings

 As the lavender rose gains popularity as the choice of wedding flower I thought it would be fun to work it into a theme for an entire wedding.  The lavender rose primarily stands for enchantment, majesty and love at first sight making it the perfect choice in the bride's bouquet. I began playing with the color theme of lavender and after some research found that the plant lavender goes hand-in-hand with the meaning of the roses. The plant is believed to have been taken from the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. However, the powerful perfume came later. According to legend, the clothing of baby Jesus bestowed the scent when Mother Mary laid them upon a bush to dry. This may explain why the plant is also regarded as a holy safeguard against evil. In many Christian houses, a cross of lavender was hung over the door for protection.Its holy reputation may have increased during the Great Plague in London in the 17th century, when it was suggested that a bunch of lavender fastened to each wrist would protect the wearer against the deadly disease.

Lavender and love are an ancient match. In an apocryphal book of the Bible, we again hear of the use of lavender. Here the story tells us that Judith anointed herself with perfumes including lavender before seducing Holofernes, the enemy commander. This allowed her to murder him and thus save the City of Jerusalem. The overwhelming power of this seductive scent was also used by Cleopatra to seduce Julius Cesaer and Mark Antony. The Queen of Sheba offered spikenard with frankincense and myrrh to King Solomon

By Tudor times, lavender brew was being sipped by maidens on St. Lukes day to divine the identity of their true loves. They'd chant, "St. Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me. In my dreams, let me my true love see." Lavender in the pillows of alpine girls brought hope of romance, while lavender under the bed of newlyweds ensured passion. Finally, a famous nursery rhyme called "Lavender Blue, Dilly Dilly" was written in 1680 and talks of "Whilst you and I, diddle, diddle…keep the bed warm." Lavender-inspired loving strikes again!

Here are some of the supplies I'll be using to make some favors for the wedding guests. Test tubes Which we sell for $4 for 4, a great deal for all the possibilities they hold. An embossing buddy (or dryer sheet), silver cord, white palette ink, and our thistle satin ribbon.  

 

I've decided to make two options. One filled with lavender, and another filled with sweets.

The first one was made by trimming the taffeta edge satin ribbon ends to look forked.  I then stamped the sentiment from Cupid's Arrow "to love is to have a heart, to be in love is to make it beat" in new canvas palette ink and heat set. I filled the test tube with dried lavender buds (can usually be purchased bulk) and layed the ribbon across the opening and then corked the tube.  I then lightly mod podged the ribbon to the tube along the side to keep it flat.  Another little tidbit of info about lavender is that it comes from the mint family and is entirely edible.  I've included a recipe for lavender sugar which is a special treat for anyone! I added it to my tea the other night and   I must say it added the most wonderful taste. I honestly believe that the essence of lavender also added a bit of a calming, soothing effect to the tea.  Note* you can also put this recipe into the food processor (buds and all!) and and make it into powdered sugar to make icing with or sprinkle on baking. MMMM!So here is the pdf file you can download and print these yourself! 

 

 Download Lavender sugar pdf

 

   Here is my second take on these favors if you aren't sure about the lavender.  Here I've used my embossing buddy to first remove all the static from the test tube.  I then mounted my image to be stamped on the smallest acrylic block I had.  I inked the stamp and then CAREFULLY rolled the stamp around the test tube. This can take a bit of practice because the glass is slippery but once you get the hang of it it's not so bad.  Because the ink stays damp on the glass for quite a while it is possible to emboss on it!  That's another great thing about our test tubes. They are made out of borosilicate (Pyrex) glass and can handle the heat of embossing!  Once the EP is on over the images you can use a small paint brush to dust off any unruly powder (hopefully there's not much if you've used your embossing buddy or dryer sheet).  Use the heat gun to melt the EP and effectively heat set the ink!  Careful the glass gets HOT!!! I held the cork. I added the candy inside (note* wait until the test tube cools completely!!!! or your candy will stick to the sides!  ask me how I know! ) I stamped the same image again and punched out with a 3/4" circle punch.  I stamped another of the sentiments from Cupid's Arrow stamp set and created a little tag which I attached with silver cord. I added a little ribbon with a one loop bow (I think they look sooo cute!) in the Thistle dot printed satin ribbon. Who wouldn't want to take home one of these darling things! Just picture how cute they'd look in a basket by the door!  You could also monogram the tags or the top with the bride and grooms initial.

Now what about a matching place card?  I just took  a bit of 19 guage wire from the craft store and wrapped it around a small object and then a larger one, and the smaller one again to create this clip. I created a matching place card template which you can print off here

 Download Matching place cards 

and I stamped it with the foliage image from the Wedding Wordsstamp set from RBD. I then added a guest's last name using the simple Occidental alphabet set.

 

 

 

  A very quick yet crowd-pleasing and sentimental option.  You could also add some handmade lavender soaps or other items to complete the theme. There are many uses for lavender and in place of the sugar you could suggest a warm bath sprinkled with healing lavender! The possibilities are endless.

10 bag Tea holder

Here is a little gift I threw together to hold approx 10 tea bags.  I got the idea from a regular sized box of tea I purchased and decided to modify it to a 10 tea bag size. I've included the template I ended up with, you need two pieces of 8.5 x 11 cardstock.

Download tea_holder_page_1.pdf

Download teaholder_page_2.pdf

I started with a piece of brown cardstock and took the leaf image from Pampered Package and stamped in New Canvas Palette Ink in a random pattern.  I then took the words "Relax" and "Unwind"  from the Pampered Package set and lined them up on the block. I stamped them in dark brown ink. I then took the ampersand (&) and stamped it in Haystack Palette Ink. I finished off by making a border with the dashed circle image in Chartreuse Ink with a little dab of Haystack to mute it.

I then punched it out with a 1 3/8" circle punch. punched a hole and tied it around the box with a piece of our taffeta edge satin ribbon in Hint of Lime. I added a little fibre from my collection to add some interest, popped in a few co-ordinating tea bags (these are Vanilla Nut Creme from Stash) and Voila!  A quick little gift to have on hand.

Stamps: Pampered Package,

Ink: New Canvas, Haystack, Chartreuse, Burnt Umber Palette Ink