Handmade Gift Exchange ~ For Bethany

I participated in another Handmade Gift Exchange hosted by Craftaholics Anonymous this summer and even though I am a little late posting this I wanted to share the gifts I made for my partner Bethany. She is a high school English teacher so appropriately she loves book pages and said pink is one of her favorite colors. 

I decided to make her a button bracelet using bubble gum buttons (with a little bee charm tucked in) and matching earrings. I also made her a cute little card using some book text cardstock and a few more buttons and a decorated gift bag for them to go in. I also included a set of recycled paper flowers for her to use on her own crafting projects. 

Bethany was a great partner for this exchange. She sent me an adorable owl art piece, an owl necklace and beautiful dragonfly earrings. You can check out her gift exchange post on her fabulous blog here. She has photos of my gifts and a tutorial for making the earrings there as well.

 If you participated in the handmade gift exchange I hope you had as much fun as I did!!

Thanks Bethany for my wonderful gifts!!

it's in the mail...

...literally! 

I finally mailed off my package today to my giftee! Just short of the June 30 deadline...sorry Lisa! 

This is the fourth Handmade Gift Exchange that I have participated in, the second summer one. Although June is always a crazy month, it is fun to have a reason to get your craft on. I love to craft in the summertime and this exchange helps jump start my creativity. I have received some wonderful gifts from some very talented women too!!!

Want to see what is inside?

Check back in a few days...I do not want to spoil the surprise if she happens to stop by my blog!

I hope she loves it!

If you participated in the exchange I hope you received a fab gift and that your gift was warmly received!

If you missed this one...play along next time!

~ Julie 

nugget purses...

I just love these cute little nugget purses! I received one from a fellow consultant at a get-together and have been wanting to make some ever since. I needed a couple of quick thank you gifts to go with some customer orders and these were perfect! They are so fast and easy you can whip up a batch in no time. And because I know you will want to make some too, I have included instructions below. All supplies (except the chocolates) are from amuse|studio. 

I made mine in a patriotic theme but you can customize with any colors...

Nugget Purse

1.5” x 4.5” piece of cardstock for purse

1.5” x 7/8” piece of cardstock for trim

Score purse piece at 6/8”, 1”, 2.25” and 3.25”

Round corners of purse flap and trim piece

Attach trim piece to underside of flap with snail adhesive

Embellish flap with gem or pearl

Attach ribbon handle with glue dots

Secure candy nugget inside purse with glue dots

Secure flap closed with snail adhesive

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, I'd love to help!

Visit my webstore anytime to purchase the needed supplies.

Thanks for visiting!

~ Julie D.

For Mom...

Check out this super cute bouquet of pens in a hand-painted mug that I made my mom for Mother's Day! This project is straight from Michael's (my favorite store) and you can get the supply list and instructions to make your own here. I liked the sample project so much that I even used the same tree design. I just love the way it came out... 

I made a little card and a wire holder to stick into the bouquet...

The pens that I had on hand had holes already in the tops that were the perfect size to fit the flowers into. I wrapped the bases of the flowers and part way down the pens with floral tape. I also made a cute little post-it note holder... 

...and a sweet little packet of seeds too!

I packaged it all up and mailed to mom...

Happy Mother's Day!!

Thanks for visiting!

~ Julie D.

a little teacher gift...

Hello...I wanted to share this adorable little bag of goodies that I made for one of the teachers at my daughter's preschool who is expecting her first child very soon. I totally got this idea from one of my new favorite blogs, Eighteen 25, so I guess it is another inspiration recreation! When I first saw it I could not believe that I had almost the exact same materials already on hand!! You can see the original post here.    

All supplies (except the doily and the bag) are from amuse|studio.

Here are all the little goodies that I put inside the bag...

Of course I had to include a set of cards! These baby thank you cards were so fast and easy to make! I stamped the sentiment with black ink and rounded the bottom corners of each card with a corner punch. I punched the bunnies from petite polka-dot paper, added little pearls for the tails and used foam adhesive to add a little dimension. I packaged them up with white envelopes in a cello envelope. All supplies, except the punch (Martha Stewart), are from amuse|studio. I think they are sweet!

 I just love their little tails...

 Thanks for stopping by!

~ Julie D.