Happy Halloween

It has been months since I've been inspired to write a blog post here on My Little Slice of Bliss. Rest assured, all is well here in my little corner of the world--I've just been so busy with work and family that papercrafting and blogging have taken a definite back seat. Autumn has been a whirlwind, and here we are on the last day of October already. Happy Halloween!

My kids are in 6th grade and 10th grade this year. My sixth grader is excited to go trick-or-treating tonight. After masquerading as an Apple iPhone for the past two years, we decided it was time for a new costume for him. I picked up an awesome hand-crocheted beard from Etsy, and we put together a great lumberjack costume for him from items we already had around the house: hiking boots, jeans, one of Dad's old plaid flannel shirts, an ear flap cap, and a non-lethal axe we constructed from cardboard, a paper tube, and aluminum foil. At least he'll be cozy and warm tonight! Sorry, no photos yet!!


Last year my daughter decided that as a high school freshman, she was too old for trick-or-treating. She's opting to stay in again this year to hand out treats to the visiting neighborhood goblins. Because that means she'll miss out on all that yummy loot (and little brother might not be in the mood to share), I put together a little Halloween treat for her, which I'll share once her lil' bro heads out to haunt tonight. The gift bag is a pattern from DeNami Design, and it's the perfect size for two Reese's Pumpkins. Love those!

And speaking of my daughter, she got crafty yesterday and used my DeNami stamps (and my patterned paper and dies . . .) to decorate packets of hot cocoa mix to hand out to our trick-or-treaters tonight. Aren't these adorable? I think she did an awesome job :D.

Well, I hope that you and yours have a fun Halloween. Thanks for dropping by!

Happy Haunting!
Emily

Hope you had a Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter here at our house! It was a quiet one (just the four of us), but the weather was beautiful, Easter worship at our church was lovely, and we enjoyed some time together just hanging out. I wanted to share a few photos of our day.

We started with a light Easter breakfast before church. I thought we'd be crunched for time, so we decided to delay Easter baskets and egg hunt until after church. To help ease the "sting" of having to wait, I set a "fancy" breakfast table with pretty paper Easter napkins and my pretty apple blossom glass plates, with a fun strawberry-patterned cake stand elevating our triple berry muffins. That's a bowl of cut fresh pineapple in the foreground and a bowl of colored hard-boiled eggs at the far end of the table.

My daughter's extensive collection of handmade pompom chickies served as our festive centerpiece.

Here's a peek at my daughter's Easter basket, complete with handmade {by me} Easter cookie pops. I was tired of going the store-bought route for Easter treats!

The white bunny head pops are double-stuffed chocolate sandwich cookies {I'd say "Oreos" except they aren't; I went with the more economical store brand ;) } dipped in melted vanilla-flavored white candy melts. I cut pink jelly beans in half for the noses and used some leftover chocolate frosting to pipe tiny eyes. I made the ears from large marshmallows, snipped on an angle and dipped in pink decorating sugar. I made the ears in advance so I could press them into the bunny pops before the white coating set up. I'd seen several different versions of bunny Oreo pops on various blogs and combined the aspects of each that I liked best to create these. They were so much fun to make!

Can you tell that the darker cookie pops are supposed to be the hind ends of bunnies? (Or "Oh, look--bunny butts!" as my daughter put it!!) For these, I dipped Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies in milk chocolate candy melts. The bunny tails and feet are miniature marshmallows (for the feet I snipped a marshmallow in half and pinched the top to form a more longish jack-rabbit's foot shape). For the fluffy tails, I actually snipped off the tops of the marshmallows and dipped the sticky end in white sugar, but it is way too fine to actually see. I tinted a tiny bit of frosting pink and piped on pink paw pads. I came across the idea for decorating these on Pinterest, but the chocolate-dipped peanut butter sandwich cookie idea was all mine. And it's delicious!!!

That's it for my Easter photos. Thanks for indulging me! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for dropping by for a little slice of bliss with me today! I'll be back on Wednesday with a DeNami Product Spotlight. Can't wait to show you!
Emily

Embossed Elements: BASKET WEAVE + a Giveaway!

Happy Monday to you, DeNami fans! I'm here today with the March edition of my monthly Embossed Elements feature for the DeNami Design blog. Today I'm sharing with you two different projects featuring the oh-so-appropriate-for-Easter Basket Weave Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. Shall we take a peek at a few fun ways to use it?

First, I couldn't wait to try adding some realistic basket-weave texture to DeNami's Large Spring Basket stamp!

For this project, I stamped the basket on Iridescent Aquamarine cardstock in Jet Black Staz-On ink. After trimming out the basket, I embossed it with the Basket Weave embossing folder. When I glued down the basket to my card, I was careful to leave the scalloped top edge of the basket free of glue so I could easily slip in some brightly colored Easter eggs (trimmed from the Solid Egg Border stamped in Pearlescent Orchid Brilliance ink, Pearlescent Purple Brilliance ink, and Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance ink) and a {yummy!} little chocolate bunny (a trimmed-out, white-embossed version of the bunny from the Cuddly Pals stamp set). I rounded out this card with the beautifully scripted Small Happy Easter sentiment.

For my second project, I used the Basket Weave Embossing Folder as my background.

In this project, I used the debossed side of my cheery yellow panel. Don't you just love how richly detailed the weave pattern is? I know I do! With that basket-weave pattern and the Easter-Peeps-bright pinks, yellows, and purples, it's obvious that this card celebrates Easter! Here are the DeNami stamps that I used for this creation: Whimsical Garden Set, Summer Flowers Set, and Easter Blessings. I also used some gorgeous lavender cardstock and added those sweetly bright pearl accents with Crystal Lacquer pearl pens (I used this set and this set).

Once I got thinking about ways to use this lovely Basket Weave Embossing Folder, I just couldn't turn off the ideas! Wouldn't Easter Chickie or Chickie Easter Basket look marvelous with this embossing folder? Or how about "Hoppy" Easter Chickies? And just to show that basket weave isn't just for Easter, why not try pairing it with the gorgeous Apple Basket for autumn or hot-air Chickie in Balloon for summer? I think there are just so many possibilities :D.

Well, I hope that I've given you some useful ideas for embossing with this installment of Embossed Elements!

How would you like the chance to win this gorgeous Basket Weave Embossing Folder? I have one up for grabs in an Embossed Elements giveaway! Want to be in the running? Just leave me a comment on this post using the word "SPRING." There's no need to be a follower of my blog to enter, but if you are a follower (or become a new follower!), you can have a second entry in the drawing--just leave me a second comment telling me that you are a follower and how you follow. :)

I'll leave commenting open until 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 26, 2014, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, March 27, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

Thanks for joining me today!
Emily

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day! I'd really hoped to write up this post yesterday (at the latest) and schedule it to go live much earlier today, but between having a husband home sick for two days this week and another Nor'easter winter storm that cancelled school yesterday, I didn't have much alone time to finish my top-secret Valentine's Day projects or get them photographed for a blog post. So, finally, everything is pretty much back to normal at my house, and I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on some Valentines and gifts for my family. It will be fun to surprise everyone at suppertime tonight!

I know that some folks pan Valentine's Day as an overly romantic, Hallmark-fueled holiday, but I really and truly love it! It gives me an event-kind-of-something to look forward to in the otherwise dreary, cold, and frozen month of February. The pretty colors (reds! pinks! lavenders!) are such bright spots in the colorless winter landscape, and the fun shapes/motifs (hearts! cupids! doilies! arrows!) and loving sentiments are true pick-me-ups. And how can you go wrong with a holiday that is rooted largely in chocolate? I say bring it on!!

I love giving Valentines! I give them to my husband and kids, but also send them to my parents, sister's family, in-laws, aunts and uncles, and friends all over the country. For me, Valentines are just such a fun way of sending a little love and letting the folks I care about know that I've been thinking of them. I spent a large chunk of my day on Monday getting my Valentines ready to mail: signing, stuffing and sealing envelopes, addressing, weighing and attaching proper postage, and then heading off to the post office to get them in the mail system before the end of the day. My fingers are crossed that everything will be delivered in time! Yes, it is a labor of love, but it makes me feel good, and I hope that a little something that I took the time to make and send will brighten the day of those I care about.

Over the years I've collected a number of small empty heart-shaped candy boxes, and I decided that instead of buying treats to give for Valentine's Day, I'd upcycle a few of my heart-shaped boxes and fill them with some homemade chocolate candies. Here are the boxes I decorated:

For my dad:

From DeNami Design: Dad stamp, Elegant Oval Frame stamp, heart from Whimsical Valentine stamp set, Chevron embossing folder, and Black Chevron washi tape

What's inside? Some hand-dipped Dark Chocolate Vanilla Creams!

I based these on this recipe from Land O Lakes.

For my mom:

From DeNami Design: Small Valentines Script stamp, Solid Rose Accents stamp set, and Red Heart Lace washi tape.

Wanna peek at what she'll be biting into? Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls!

I based these on this recipe from Parents Magazine (February 2011).

I have a punch art penguin-themed box for my hubby:
 

From DeNami Design: Square Word Bubble stamp, Love Sentiments stamp set, and heart from Whimsical Valentine stamp set.

a punch art owl-themed box for my 15YO daughter (to go with this card for her):

From DeNami Design: Square Word Bubble stamp

and a Despicable Me minion-themed box for my 11YO son:

The patterned paper is from Target's One Spot, and I printed the sentiment with my computer.

to go with the minion Valentine I made for him (I was inspired by this minion Valentine):

From DeNami Design: Small Valentines Script stamp, Love Sentiments stamp set, Small Heart Outline stamp, Small Scallop Heart stamp, chevron border from Modern Borders Set, and two white Boutique Buttons.

I can't wait to see everyone's reactions!!

Thanks for bearing with me through this long and photo-heavy post :D! I hope that you have a lovely day today.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Emily

My Sweet Friend + a WINNER!

Hello and Happy Friday to you! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We certainly did, and now we're having a lovely time just being home together. That's the best!

I have a little DeNami project to share with you today. This was part of one of the last gifts I put together this year. It was for a dear friend of mine whom I was thrilled to see for a while on Christmas Eve.

Now, here's the story:  my husband and I both grew up in Ohio, the Buckeye State. We both remember our families making these partially chocolate-dipped peanut butter candies at Christmas time when we were growing up. They are called Buckeyes for their resemblance to the nut of the Ohio Buckeye tree (the state tree of Ohio, of course!). Here's a photo for comparison:

Can you kind of see the resemblance?

Anyway, a few years ago my friend discovered a boxed candy mix from Betty Crocker for Peanut Butter BonBons. She bought the mix to make up for a party we were both attending, and the entire platter disappeared within 10 minutes!! When I gave one to my husband to try, he remarked about how similar the Betty Crocker BonBons were to the Buckeyes we ate as kids.

I made up a big batch of Buckeyes this year as a surprise treat for my family on Christmas Day, and as I was packing them up to keep them out of sight, I remembered how much my friend had liked the BC BonBons. So I whipped up a special little box to package a quartet of Buckeyes to include in her present. I really hope she was surprised and pleased (and "got" the connection!!)

I decorated a DeNami 3x3 Boutique Box using Staz-On inks (Jet Black and Cotton White) to stamp on a Leafy Vine Wreath and an Arched Sweet Friend sentiment. I glued on a few red sequins to decorate my wreath and sealed up the box with some White/Red Dots washi tape. So quick and cute!

And now it's time to announce the winner of my washi tape giveaway! I used Random.org to select a winner. It was lucky number 18, which was

 Sue D! 

Congratulations, Sue! I've emailed you.

Well, thanks so much for dropping by today. Enjoy your last weekend of 2013!!

Hope your day is filled with bliss,
Emily

More Holiday Treats

Today I'm continuing to share some of the projects that I've made as a member of the Purple Onion Designs 2013 Holiday Design Team. This December I'm making lots of holiday treats to give as gifts to teachers, friends, and neighbors. You've already seen my packaging for my homemade caramel corn and chocolate peanut clusters. Today I'm showing off more holiday treats. Let's start with some peppermint bark!

This is another super easy candy to make at home! And the results look (and taste!) so impressive. Once I've made my peppermint bark, I package it in small cellophane treat bags and slip it into one of these sweet little gift bags. I made it using a downloadable template for sale from DeNami Design. Simply print onto the back of a piece of patterned paper, cut, fold, and adhere. Done! I dressed up the tote with a fun tag I made with Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps: label from Vintage Journaling Set, Holiday Treats Logo, and Treat Word Set. Have I told you how much I love my Treat Words??? I've used them to label lots of candies and treats, but this set is perfect for cookies, too, with words like "linzer," "sugar," "gingerbread," "snickerdoodle," "thumbprint," and "shortbread." YUM!! So perfect for holiday baking!!!

I'm also making chocolate-dipped pretzel logs as edible gifts this year. Here's a peek at how I'm packaging them.

I'm using my beloved Treat Word Set again, of course! I also used the Homemade Treats Logo and the largest label from the Plain Jane Labels set.

How is your holiday goodie making coming along? We did the bulk of our baking last weekend, making our traditional stash of Christmas cookies that we'll keep for our own munching. We made (and decorated!) cut-out sugar cookies, holiday chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter blossoms, and satin-glazed date cookies. Everything is so delicious! I just love having a variety of cookies to indulge in :). You know, it's funny, we always do a ton of baking in December but do tend to keep it to ourselves. It just seems more practical to give candies and treats as gifts instead of cookies--I always feel like they are less likely to go stale than cookies (and who wants to receive a stale cookie as a gift???). And I'm not going to lie:  candy & treat making (or at least the ones I tend to make) require fewer ingredients and a bit less effort than cookie baking. And when you are mass producing for gift-giving, that really seems to pay off!!

I hope your day is going just swimmingly today! Thanks so much for dropping by for a little slice of bliss,
Emily

P.S. Just in case you are interested, here is my recipe for peppermint bark.

Peppermint Bark

1 14-ounce bag of Make 'n Mold White Vanilla Flavored Candy Wafers
7 candy canes, crushed

Simply melt the vanilla candy wafers in the microwave according to the package directions and then stir in the crushed candy canes. Pour onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and spread out out into a "puddle" of uniform thickness. Allow chocolate to harden at room temperature and then break into bite-sized pieces. No need to refrigerate!

For a different size bag of candy melts, simply use 1 candy cane for every 2 ounces of candy melts. So for a 12-ounce bag of candy melts, use 6 candy canes; or for a 16-ounce bag, use 8 candy canes.

Holiday Treats

Today I'm continuing to bring you ideas for holiday gift-giving using Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps as part of the 2013 Holiday Design Team! Today the team is focusing on holiday food gifts, and I have a couple to share.

My high school freshman daughter loves to give her teachers a little something at the holidays to say thanks for all of their hard work! She has 8 different teachers this year, so we had to come up with something that has a low cost but a big impact. We decided to go with small bags of homemade caramel corn this year, and here's our design for the packaging:

I decorated a small white paper bag by stamping POD's Candy Cane Background in red, topping the bag with a punched red border, and then centering an embossed label stamped with the awesome Celebrate the Season Noteblock over top of the whole design. So festive!

The tag I tied onto the bag of caramel corn was so easy to make! All I needed were the ever-useful Holiday Treats Logo stamp and accompanying Treat Word Set. I stamped the logo in red on white cardstock and then had fun stamping the "caramel" and "crunch" words to complete the package :).

Now, the last time I shared photos of my family's "famous" caramel corn, I had comments from readers asking how to make it. So I figured it's high time that I shared the recipe! Here it is:

Oven-Baked Caramel Corn

4 quarts popped popcorn (we usually use our air popper to pop about 1/2 cup unpopped corn)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Place popped corn in large ungreased roasting pan (I use our black enamel turkey roaster! Or divide popped corn between 2 rectangular 9" x 13" cake pans.) Heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in saucepan, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around the edges. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in baking soda until foamy. Pour over popped corn, stirring until corn is well coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

**********

We also like to give gifts of homemade candies to family and neighbors. My aunt particularly loves our chocolate peanut clusters, so she'll be getting a batch in the mail in a few weeks. Here is the packaging I designed with Purple Onion Designs stamps to dress up them up.

The plastic clamshell container is repurposed packaging from a dozen mini cupcakes I picked up at our grocery store's bakery recently. It's perfect for holding mounded peanut clusters! After whipping up a batch of peanut clusters to nestle inside, all I needed to do was decorate the package lid. I used these Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps: Homemade Treats Logo, Treat Words Set, the larger label from the Deluxe Labels Set, and the Happy Holidays border from the Holiday Border Tape Set.

Making these yummy chocolate peanut clusters is even simpler than the caramel corn! Here's my super-easy recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

1 14-ounce bag of Make 'n Mold Milk Chocolate Flavored Candy Wafers
2 1/4 cups salted peanuts (not dry-roasted)

Simply melt the chocolate candy wafers in the microwave according to the package directions and then stir in the peanuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Allow chocolate to harden at room temperature and then store in a covered container. No need to refrigerate!

**********

That's all I have to share for today! I hope I haven't made you *too* hungry ;). Don't forget about the Purple Onion Designs Christmas sale that's going on now:

Oh, and be sure to swing by the Purple Onion Designs blog today for lots more ideas for food from the POD Holiday Design Team! 

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Still crankin' out the Easter cards . . .

Easter cards are so much fun for me to create! I just love the colors, the themes, the flowers, and . . . well, the candy {sheepish grin}. Making these cards was a blast!

I can't decide which design I like better--so tell me which one is your favorite!

That pink subway-art style panel is the Easter Noteblock from Purple Onion Designs. I just LOVE their noteblocks and recently acquired a stack. I think I'll have every holiday/season covered now! I just noticed that Purple Onion has a spring sale going on right now--20% off stamps ordered through March 31. That's a great deal!

That adorable cottontail rabbit is from Repeat Impressions and has been in my stash for quite a while now. I embossed him in bronze on chocolate chip cardstock. I was hoping that he would turn out looking like a chocolate Easter rabbit. I don't know--did I succeed?

The yummy jelly beans are from a long-retired Mason jar stamp set from the now-defunct Angel Company.

The daisy patterned paper is from the SEI Vanilla Sunshine collection and the plaid paper is from an old DCWV butterflies stack I found in my stash. I just realized that both background papers are glittered, so there is all kinds of texture going on in these two cards!

I'm playing along with these challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter/Spring
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #213: Grab Some Thread (if you look closely, you'll see that I added machine stitching around the edges of both cards.)

The rest of my week is going to be super busy! We have dentist appointments today, orthodontist appointments tomorrow (plus lots of errands for me), after-school activities on Thursday (plus a lunch date with friends for me), an early release day for the kids on Friday (we've re-scheduled the outing-with-friends for a free IMAX movie at the Museum of Science in Boston; the one we had to cancel because of snow at the beginning of the month), plus Holy Week services. I'm not sure when I'll be able to catch my breath next!!! But it's all good :)

Thanks for stopping by to share a little slice of bliss with me!
Emily

Christmas Treat Boxes

A few days ago I mailed off a trio of treats as a Christmas gift to my aunt and uncle.

Just click on the photo for a larger version

I dressed up three 1/2-pound treat boxes from Make'n Mold with some fun patterned paper from Graphic 45's Nutcracker Sweet collection. The treat labels are stamps from Unity's Home Baked stamp kit by Samantha Walker.

Want a peek at what I packed inside?

Homemade peanut clusters

Homemade peppermint bark

Homemade chocolate fudge

Mouth watering? Sorry 'bout that ;). I have a feeling that this will be a well-received gift :D.

Today I am linking up to:

• Unity's Friends With Flair. Hello, my FWF friends! It's been far too long since I've been able to join you all, but I'm thrilled to be here today.
• Unity Stamp Company Challenge: use non-traditional Christmas colors
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Merry Christmas

Today is the last day of school in the calendar year for my kids. They can hardly wait to start celebrating!

Thanks so much for checking out my little slice of bliss today,
Emily 

Happy Whooooo-lidays Treats

Yesterday I shared the owl gift sets that my 13YO daughter made as Christmas gifts for her friends. Today I'm sharing the Santa owl treat boxes (filled with holiday M&Ms--yum!!) that I made for her to give along with her owl gift sets. Ready?

I used the little girl owl from DeNami Designs' Owls stamp set and DeNami's Double Circle stamp. I "borrowed" the Santa hat from Santa Chickie ;) . The clear boxes also come from the DeNami Design store. The sentiment was computer-generated. I sealed the boxes with a little bit o' washi tape (taped all the way around the box) and dressed up the scalloped circle with a bit of glitter glue. Here's a close-up, you know--just in case ;).

I'm playing along in the new Lawnscaping Challenge, Make It Shine! My shine for this project comes from glittery Stickles.

I'm also entering these in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which has a "What's Your Favorite?" theme this week. I'd say that punches are my favorite tools--and I used a bunch (OK, well, three) to make these little treat boxes!

Thanks so much checking out my little slice of bliss today!
Emily

R U ready for a Challenge?

Are you ready for a challenge? Today is the first day of the DeNami Design October challenge, and this month it's a color challenge!

Here's the direction I took these colors.

It's a matchbox-style box perfect for filling with Hershey's Nuggets chocolates {*wink*}.

I just love creating packaging for treats for family and friends! All of my supplies for this project come from the DeNami Design store. Can you spot all three DeNami stamps that I used? If you said the Small Jack O'Lantern, Polka Dot Background, and Everyday Greetings stamp set, then you are bang on!

Are you ready to take on this fun color challenge? All you need to do is use this lovely fall color combo and at least one DeNami Design stamp, and you are golden! Be sure to check out today's post on the DeNami blog for more inspiration for this color challenge from the design team and for all the details about this month's challenge.

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope your day is filled with bliss!
Emily

PS Want to make your own Nugget box? You can find templates and directions for all sizes of boxes like these right here.

The Twinery/DeNami Design Blog Hop

A hearty "Happy Friday" to you and WELCOME to The Twinery and DeNami Design Blog Hop: showcasing the BEST in twine and rubber stamps! Today the design teams of both of these fabulous companies are sharing projects that show how well DeNami Design and The Twinery products complement one another, and I'm tickled pink to be a part of it all as a DeNami designer.

If you are hopping along (and you should: there's a PRIZE involved!), you should have arrived here from the blog of the talented Monika Wright. If not, you can start the blog hop from the beginning at The Twinery blog.

I know you have lots of stops to make on today's hop, so I'll get right down to business. When DeNami Design first started carrying baker's twine from The Twinery earlier this year, I was so impressed with how well the twine colors coordinate with DeNami cardstock colors. That was my jumping-off point for today's project! To show off that fantastic color coordination, I designed a small petal box that I could decorate elegantly with DeNami stamps and tie up perfectly with The Twinery's baker's twine.

 

Just look at how well DeNami's Magenta cardstock matches The Twinery's Pink Sorbet baker's twine! DeNami's Iridescent Aquamarine cardstock (so shimmery!) is a dead ringer for The Twinery's Caribbean baker's twine, and DeNami's Petal Pink cardstock harmonizes perfectly with The Twinery's Blossom baker's twine.  

I knew I wanted to use a variety of cardstock colors for this collection of petal boxes, so I stamped the oh-so-chic DeNami Elegant Floral Vine in black on each petal to maintain a cohesive look. The beautiful Ornamental Vine stamp was perfect for some subtle background stamping on each tag, and the sentiments--like this "for you"--in the Everyday Greetings stamp set are the ideal size for tags.

These elegant little petal boxes are just the right size (2" square at the base) for filling with a truffle or other sweet treat (like the Ferrero Rocher chocolate I tucked inside mine). And wouldn't they make perfect favors for a wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, or Mother's Day tea? So easy to coordinate with a bride's colors or the color scheme of a new baby's nursery.

  

I had fun making up my own design for these tiny petal boxes, but you don't have to.  I'm happy to share a template for making them. Simply print this petal box pattern (in pdf form) on cardstock and trim for a template you can trace around on any cardstock or patterned paper. Once your petal box has been cut out, simply score where indicated by the dotted lines on the template and punch holes where indicated. To complete, thread with baker's twine, pull to close petals (overlap as shown below), and tie shut. But don't forget to tuck a treat inside first!

That wraps up my project for today, but before you go, I'm sure you'd like to know more about that prize I mentioned earlier! Here's a little peek at what's up for grabs:

And guess what? There's not just one prize to be given away, but TWO! So be sure to leave a comment here before you go, as well as on each participating blog on the hop for your best chance of winning, before 11:59 pm EDT on Saturday, May 12, 2012, to be eligible for the product giveaways. :)

Now it's time to head off to visit the next designer on today's blog hop:

Jamie Cripps

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Emily