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JANUARY 2017 BLOG HOP CHALLENGE

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Today is the January Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink. I wasn't sure I'd have time to get a card made for the hop, but I loved the inspiration piece, and finished a card for the hop on Monday night.

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What attracted me was the black background, white accents, and pretty, bright flowers. I went a slightly different way, choosing one of my favorite sets, "Lovely Layers." It was easy to tell I'd been away from the crafting table for a few weeks, as there were a lot of pieces that ended up in the circular file before I was finished. In the end, I had a card I liked for my friend who celebrated her birthday while we were away. We celebrated yesterday at breakfast.

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I stuck with the pinks and white of the inspiration piece for the sentiment. I used a "Swoosh" dies, and the rest of the sentiment came from "Birthday Cheer, " which was embossed in white. I used a Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter pen for the center of the main image.

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The main ink colors were Leaf Green, Summer Sunrise, and Hibiscus Burst with accents inked with Pinefeather, Orange Zest, Terracotta Tile, and Raspberry Fizz. The blog hop almost always produces lots of inspiration which you can access right here.

A Trio of Cards for CASology “Cut” Challenge

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Week 232 - Cut

One of the criteria for the CASology challenge is that the card should be "quick and easy to recreate." Once the main image was fussy cut, the cards were, in fact, easy to recreate. I started with an Altenew "Persian Motifs" image that I gold embossed on watercolor paper and colored with my Zig watercolor markers.

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I used a Simon Says "Stitched Rectangle" and adhered it to a cardstock color that coordinated with the painted image, and gold embossed the sentiment below it. The card on the right is actually navy blue, though it appears almost black in the photo. The cardstock in the middle is actually more purple (much closer to the painted image) but didn't photograph quite as accurately as I hoped.

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I'm entering these in the CASology "Cut" Challenge for this week. You can find other entries right here.

 

 

Variations on a Theme

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Maile Belles designed a series of stamps this past year called Splits for Papertrey Ink. They're very small, inexpensive sets but so versatile. I've purchased three or four of them, but my favorite is "Best Wishes." What's particularly great about them is that all the sentiments from the different sets are interchangeable, but many sentiments from other sets also work. I've posted several cards using Splits before here, here, and here. I needed several cards recently, and "Best Wishes" worked for all three of them, and I didn't use the sentiment that came with the set for any of them.

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The sentiment wasn't from the Splits set, but I don't have my notes with me in Chicago, and can't find the set online. The cardstock is a shimmer aqua from Papertrey adhered to a silver card.

You can see the color as well as the silver embossing and gems more clearly here.

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Next up is the anniversary card I made for Matt and Betsy in December. For this card I used gold embossing on white shimmer cardstock.

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This time I added some black gems as an accent.

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Finally, a thank you card I made for the professor of my Old Testament course this fall. The design was white embossed on gray cardstock with some white pearls for accent.

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It was great to pull out just a couple of stamp sets and get all three cards made in one sitting. Now that I have a stamp collection built up over 20 years, versatility is the #1 criterion for a new purchase. (Well, to be honest, I recently purchased several new sets with grandchildren in mind! But now there are five of them, so I guess that's justified, too.)

Two Cards and the WPSC

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I've been seeing a few posts for Eileen's Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt, and knew it was time to get the few I had posted. I'm going to start with #14 Repetition. I needed a birthday card for my brother in December and one for my nephew in early January, and did a riff on the first card for the second. Both employ repetition. Here's the card for my brother.

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I thought it would be easiest to use my MISTI to line up all these sentiments, but it turned out I did a better job eyeballing them. The sentiment comes from Papertrey Ink's "Colorful Words." Once I stamped the white panel I used a piece of white fun foam to create a bit of dimension.

For my nephew, I used a slightly different approach.

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This time I colored in one of the words with Copic markers, added an accompanying sentiment from the same set, and a small enamel arrow.

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Next up on the hunt is #8, a seasonal treat. First off, one of the gingerbread houses from the Eastman Museum.

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And gingerbread teddy bears. Skylar was "icing" their pants with chocolate frosting.

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Next up, winter weather, not a hard thing to find in Rochester. We had 12 inches in just one day in mid-December. 

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Number 11 was a photo taken outside at night. Driving home from dinner on Christmas Eve, we passed this house. It was the perfect subject for the hunt.

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The next two are my favorites, #15–Hands.

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Caleb's hands with his beloved Legos.

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And Baby Hannah's hand in Grandpa's.

Number 20 is cold. When Baby Hannah left the hospital it was 9° with a wind chill of -3°. We had her all bundled up laying on the hospital bed, and Caleb wanted his photo taken all bundled up next to her.

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And finally, hygge, a cozy sense of well-being, and one we get in our living room in front of the fireplace. Last year, we splurged on converting our fireplace to gas, and it was one of the best decisions ever. We turn it on every morning when we sit down to read, and again in the evening while we're watching the news.

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That's a third of the items on the list, and I'll have to be diligent to find the rest. Thanks to Eileen for providing the list and the link-up. I need all the motivation I can get to have my camera out during the winter. (Although I must admit, finding subjects to photograph while we're visiting Sarah has not been an effort!)

 

Memos, Mail, Me: Monday

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Sian has had another brilliant idea for a Monday post. The idea is to incorporate a piece of happy mail (snail mail, catalog . . . something that arrived in the mail during the week that captured your interest.) Since I'm visiting Sarah, I have no mail from the last week to share, and most of my recap was posted yesterday, but I do have something to share.

Right before the holidays I got a catalog from The Company Store. It's full of inspiration, and there are always multiple products that I'd love to have, but most are out of my price range. This time, however, I pulled out a page and saved it. As soon as I saw the add for a beautiful pillow, I had an idea for a card. While we were waiting for Sarah's call about the baby, I got the early January birthday cards made, and a number of thank you cards that I wanted to get in the mail before we left. One of the thank you cards was inspired by the pillow in the catalog.

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You can see the page from the catalog behind the card. The "Winter Hills" stamp set from Papertrey Ink came immediately to mind when I saw the pillow. The little bird is from "Through the Trees." The trees were embossed with white and platinum embossing powder. I had to emboss the birds on separate paper and fussy cut them since the red embossing powder didn't show up well on the dark gray card. I embossed a few snowflakes between the trees as well.  The photo above shows the card before I added the sentiment.

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I added the simple sentiment to a vellum banner, and hid the adhesive behind a silver enamel dot.

While I had the "Winter Hills" set on my desk, I made several more thank you cards (all the same design.) These were based on a card I found on Pinterest, simple and fast when you need several cards in a hurry.

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As for me, it' still going well with Sarah and Hannah. Adam, however, had an accident on the way home from work today, and their Yaris was totaled. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the driver who caused the accident took full responsibility for it from the start. They've been planning to buy a new van which will more easily accommodate two car seats, so this will most likely speed up that process. 

Thanks to Sian for another great weekly meme, and waving to the other Monday Memo posters!

 

Happy 5th Birthday, Caleb and Hannah Lise!

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Today is Caleb's 5th birthday, and this morning his little sister was born! What are the chances of having a shared birthday?  Typically we'd be in Chicago to celebrate, but we'll be there tomorrow! Sarah ended up having a C-section since they couldn't get the baby turned around. Hannah was 7#, and everyone is doing well. I'm anxious to get there!

Because Caleb was so disappointed not to see the polar bears when we went to see the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights, I decided on a skating bear for his birthday card.

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The polar bear and die are from My Favorite Things, "Polar Bear Pals." About the same time, I ordered the Tim Holtz stencil for the trees which worked out perfectly with the water colored bear and "pond." I used some Stickles Glitter Glue to create the snowy hills. You can't really see it, but the polar bear is attached to an Action Wobbles so that when you touch him, he bounces up and down a bit.

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The inside greeting reads, " Have a BEARY good birthday," a pretty appropriate pun for a five year old. I hope he likes the skating bear. There will be a birthday celebration tomorrow night with Grandma and Grandpa, and a third celebration later on as Sarah and Adam have scheduled his "friends" party for mid-January when all four of his grandparents will be in town.

Belated Christmas Crafting Post

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Due to circumstances beyond my control (a nasty cold and a lot less energy than usual) I'm posting a few Christmas crafts after the fact. First off three gift tags. Last year I purchased the Reverse Confetti Gift Card die set, and it makes one quick gift card holder. I made these for a dinner party we had mid-December. I gave calendars to all the ladies, and gift cards to the guys and one teenager.

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The die cut snowflake is from Simon Says, and the wreath from Memory Box. I added some silver twine and some tiny tags with the recipients's names to the tags after I photographed them.

Each year I create a calendar from photos I've taken during the year. They seem to be appreciated, and if we're traveling with folks, they'll insist that some of the photos I take in that location end up in next year's calendar. This year the first photo was from Sarasota, FL at the Ringling Museum, and there were three photos from Nantucket (requested by Betsy's sister.) They get packaged in little bags I found at Michael's several years ago, and were decorated with a bit of Washi tape, and a sticker from Paper Source.

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I also have a few cards to share—two get well cards for ladies from church who fell just before the holiday, one broke her hip and the other her pelvis! No way to start the holidays.

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Both cards were speedy to make as the patterned paper from the Pink Fresh "Oh Joy" paper pack was the perfect background. I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Painted Petals" and added some pearls to the first card, and some rhinestone stars to the second. 

And finally, one last Christmas card.

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The card base and Joy die were cut from silver metallic cardstock. The die is one of Papertrey's Wonderful Words sets, and the holly is also a die cut from Papertrey Ink. The lovely plaid has a metallic stripe that doesn't show up in the photograph and comes from MME "Comfort and Joy" paper pack.

We packed up Christmas tonight. I'd rather leave it all up for a few more days, but since we don't know how much longer we'll be here, we decide it was time. Now I've wrapped up the Christmas craft posts as well, although I certainly hope you'll see some Christmas Journal pages eventually. I think it will be the end of January, however, before that project is wrapped up. I've been babying the my cold this week so lots of reading has been done, but not much crafting.

Christmas Cards

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I have several posts I need to write to share some Christmas crafting. The crafting is done, but the writing of posts seems to fall at the bottom of the to-do list. But I'm now "officially done," two days earlier than usual, I might add. The cookies are baked, and the cookie plate is ready to be delivered this morning. The presents are wrapped, and most are under the tree. We'll celebrate Christmas tonight with Matt, Betsy, and the girls. They'll join us for the first hour or so of our Walker family Christmas gathering on Sunday, but dinner and the festivities are too late for the three little girls. Tomorrow is a super-quiet day. Tracy was given a very generous gift card to a lovely restaurant in a hotel at the 50th Retirement Party in September, so we're going to use that to treat ourselves to dinner, and then if we can stay awake (we always manage), we'll attend the 11:00 Christmas carols and readings service at our church. I'm looking forward to getting some scrapbooking done during the day.

Here are the three variations of Christmas cards that I sent to most folks. There were a few others that I made for a variety of reasons, some got photographed, others did not. I'll share some of those in the next post. I saw this stamp set by Hero Arts on Jennifer McGuire's blog early in the fall, and ordered it right away. I don't usually choose a design that requires coloring and die-cutting, but since I got an early start it worked out fine.

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The cards from Jo-Ann Fabrics were already embossed and very inexpensive with coupons, so that saved me a step. The stamp is called "Happy Holly Days," and included three different images so I could die cut and stamp three at a time. The red die cut is from Papertrey's "Photo Finishers," and the sentiment from their "Love Lives Here: Holiday" set.

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All the images were colored with Copic markers and then coated with Spectrum Noir's clear glitter pen.

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I'll be back tomorrow with some more Christmas craftiness. Off to visit some friends, and one last trip to the grocery store for eggs and lettuce. (Thought I was done, but not so much.)

Card Challenges

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I have a couple cards for current challenges to share. My last Christmas cards went in the mail today. Most of them were a variation on a theme, and I'll share those later, but I needed a few more, and decided to look through some die cuts I had created earlier and see if I could use some of them for the new cards. The first card is for a new-to-me challenge, The Heart Desires. Their inspiration board includes so many wonderful images, it's hard to know where to start. 

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For this card, I chose the upper right-hand image for the non-traditional colors.

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I had already stamped and colored the wreath from Papertrey Ink's "Rustic Branches." I'm not sure where the sentiment came from. To create the card I pulled out some of Papertrey's Shimmer cardstock in pink and ivory. The card came together very quickly. Here's a closer look at the sparkly gems.

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The second card is for the Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says. They have another wonderful inspiration photo titled "Ice Inspiration." 

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In my stash was a stamped and die cut snowflake. I chose the blue from the inspiration photo for my shimmer cardstock and mounted the snowflake on a Simon Says Stitched Circle cut from Silver Shimmer cardstock. A blue gem finished it off.

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Today is the first day in a long, long time that I haven't left the house (except to walk to the mailbox.) It's been a pleasure to have time to read and create!

Addicted to CAS: Congratulations

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This week is the Addicted to CAS challenge site's 4th birthday, and appropriately, they've chose Congratulations as their theme for the current challenge.

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Long time friends of ours are celebrating their anniversary this coming week. It's definitely an occasion for "congratulations."

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This one came together quickly:  a piece of patterned paper cut on the diagonal, the happy die cut from PTI's gold adhesive paper, one stamp, and a punched heart.

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Hope you're enjoying a good weekend! We're being blessed with sunshine, and unusually warm temperatures for the end of November.

Memorandum Monday

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It was a very unusual weekend. It began with a record high temperature on Friday of 72°. This morning we woke up to nearly a foot of snow and very windy conditions. We've definitely been spoiled, and I'm definitely not ready for this kind of winter!

The big event this weekend was celebrating Ella's second birthday. Her birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, and most of us will be traveling. We went over after church to give her our gifts. Several years ago, we bought Skylar her own chair from Pottery Barn Kids. This year it was Ella's turn and she was delighted to get her own personalized chair.

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We also gave her a box filled with notepads and pencils. Her favorite character is Mickey Mouse, and that was the theme for her party in the afternoon. I found some cute stickers to decorate the box where she can store her pads and pencils.

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Later in the afternoon there was a party at "The Little Gym." It was the perfect place for toddlers and some of their older siblings to run around and play. The staff there was fabulous and there was just the right mix of activities and free play.

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Of course, there was cake. Wegmans, our local grocery store extraordinaire, creates the most amazing and delicious cakes.

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I made Ella a shaker card for her birthday, which she promptly pulled apart to get at all the sequins. Later on, we pieced it back together again.

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Waving to Sian and other Memorandum Monday folks! Here's to a great week.

 

Virginia’s View: Stripes and Plaid #2

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As promised, I'm back with another card for Virginia's View Challenge: Stripes and Plaid.

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On our way home from Chicago in September we stopped at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. I found a really cute stamp set from Impression Obsession called "Tidings of Joy." I specifically purchased it for the image of a cute little car with a Christmas tree on top, although I haven't used that image yet. When I finished my granddaughter's birthday card (coming soon on a post) I had a series of stitched rectangles left over from cutting frames. I didn't want to waste them, so I looked for a Christmas image that would fit nicely into it. This sentiment fit the bill.

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In addition to the stripes on the sentiment which I colored with my Tombow markers, I created some tone-on-tone stripes with my scoring board. 

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I don't usually share my Christmas cards online until after they've been mailed. There are six of these, and there are nearly 50 total (several designs.) They are all done except for the inside greeting which I hope to finish over the Thanksgiving holiday so they'll be in the mail early next month. I can thank the World Series for being so timely with my cards this year. I set up a card table in the living room and worked on them while I watched the games. Hope next year's games interest me as much as this year's. It's a great way to get a head start on the holiday card making!

Virginia’s View: Stripes and Plaid

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Stripes and plaid

Somehow I always seem to be late to Virginia's challenges; sometimes I miss them altogether despite the fact that I always have ideas for them. This time I'm down to the last two days for Virginia's View Challenge:  Stripes and Plaid. I'll have one today to share and another tomorrow. Both were done a week ago, but I just didn't get to posting them. This card was made for a dear friend who just had a mastectomy. She got through the surgery well, and is recovering at home. Last alert said all was going well.

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The striped paper is from Maile Belle's "Black and White All Over" pad. I love these designs, and will need to order more next time I order from Papertrey Ink. the cute stamp is from Papertrey's "Inside and Out: Well Wishes." I stamped it on Limeade Ice paper and then attached the tear-off strips with a piece of Washi tape. The rest of the sentiment was stamped on a die cut from the A2 Noted die set. The leaf is from the Mini Market Kit: Color Pop Autumn.

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I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card for the challenge.

A Trio of Pink

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The current challenge at The Card Concept is "Pretty in Pink." One of the things that's interesting about this challenge is the categories they've set up for card designs. I have a trio of cards for this challenge:

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A simple CAS card—the tag was die cut from Maile Belle's Ombre cardstock by PTI, and the the Hugs die cut & stamped sentiment are also Papertrey Ink. I adhered it to a premade Memory Box card (A4) size and tied it with a bit of yellow & white twine.

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Everything about this card came from the "Don't Forget to Write" Make-it Market Kit by Papertrey Ink, without a doubt the best kit purchase I've made. The cardstock is Hibiscus Burst, and I added four enamel dots by MME to the center of some of the flowers. I think this one fits the Clean and Layered category.

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Last, a "Botanical Blocks" rose (PTI), colored with Copics, and layered with Raspberry Fizz, white, and black cardstock and adhered to a Bazzil card. The die cut is also Papertrey Ink–"Wonderful Words Thank You." Another CAS card, I think.

 

CASology “Welcome”

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Week 222 - Welcome

I'd hoped to have two entries to this week's CASology Challenge, "Welcome," since we have not one, but two, friends who have just moved into new homes. But the weekend was particularly busy, and only one is finished. It's a tag attached to the house warming gift we'll be taking this Friday when we go for dinner.

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I used the house from Papertrey Ink's "Winter Hills," "welcome" from "Wonderful Words: Baby," and "new home" from Reverse Confetti's "Whole Lotta Happy." I was thrilled to find that last set in my box of stamps, having forgotten that I picked it up a few months ago because it had so many versatile sentiments. They were all gold embossed to match the strip of gold on the tag. Both tags are from a set by Jen Hadfield for Pebbles. The black bag and tissue are both from Paper Source. There's a Paper Source store within walking distance from Sarah's house in Evanston, so I almost always make a visit. The fact that it's several doors down from Caleb's favorite bakery doesn't hurt either!

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The gift inside is a beautiful winter candle holder which I was thrilled to find at a local gift shop. I picked up another one as a birthday gift for a friend.