So my daughter LOVES giraffes! Anything Giraffes. So one day on our trip to the local craft store she spots this ribbon. At another craft store she spots the felt. And she HAD to have it. She asked me to make her something with it, which I of course said I would. I didn't have a clue as to what I was making with the felt. So I began searching for a ribbon tutorial, and I came across this one:
I am still looking for new crafting items to try, and in my search I came across these flowers. 
So I have been trying to branch out in my creativity. Which isn't always easy to deviate from what you know best. Anyway...I learned ho to make ribbon roses! This is the first one I made. I have a theme for one of my upcoming swaps where we have to add a handmade flower, and who knows, maybe these will be the ones I use! I still have to finish this one off, but I like how it turned out!
These cards were made for December's theme, "Specialty papers." The papers I used are hand made papers that have metallic details added. I have always loved red, black and white together, so of course I had to make them that color! I used sentiments from Stampin' Up's "Pursuit of Happiness" (121970 clear, or 121907 wood) on the one on the left, and "On your Birthday" (only available in wood - 111664). I have had these papers for a while, someone had given them to me as a gift (Terri was it you?), but I wasn't quite sure how to use them. I think they turned out pretty nice!
I am trying to get back into the swing of taking pictures of my swaps. It isn't always easy to remember! These were the swaps I made for my "based on a sketch" theme for my card front swap on my favorite MB. I had received a bunch of pieces of cardstock that someone had embossed for me a few years ago, and they have been sitting here, while I didn't know what to do with them. Well, I pulled them out, used some inks to rub over the image to give it some detail and added them to the card. I added the hand made flower and voila! You can't tell from the picture, but the ends of the banner are raised slightly to give the illusion that the banner is floating. I wanted to add a picture of the sketch, but it appears that was saved on the old computer! Doh.
Here's a picture of some of the candy boxes I made for the sales. I made a bunch of them and lost track after I sold 27 of them. I also had a special order for more of them. So easy to make, although they do take a little while to get everything cut and assembled. One woman bought some and said they were perfect for her place settings for Christmas eve. :)
I believe this is the last of the photos I have. I have to look in my cell phone to see if there are more. In the top picture I have hand sanitizer holders. Great gifts for teachers, day care workers, bus/van drivers, or anyone you'd like to keep germ free! (and a not so good picture of altered starbucks jars) And in the bottom picture I have another close up of post it note frames with matching pens.
