Ahhh, Summer!

Warning - the first half of this post is not stamping-related, so scroll down if you only want the stamped goods!

Here's what I picked up at the Farmer's Market on Sunday: fresh mozzarella, fresh bread, tomatoes, green beans, garlic, carrots (with the greens still attached), green peppers and potatoes. YUM! The garlic is so potent, I made a batch of hummus using only one clove, and you'd better have mints handy after eating it :)

Before work today, I picked a couple of big zucchini from the garden. We have one tomato that is about to turn red, and something is eating my eggplant!! Seriously, one plant is half gone and another had an eggplant that *would* have been ready now, but some critter had dinner with it before I could! UGH...For dinner tonight I had a sandwich with hummus and cucumbers and lettuce on the bread I purchased Sunday. I could eat like that every night, but only do when DH is out of town. I feel like I have to serve him some meat each night, or I'm failing in my wifely duties.

Now on to the stamping - I participated in the Divine Secret Siblings swap on SCS this past round. It has been tons of fun spoiling my "little Sis" each month with treats. This month, it is reveal time. I made a little package for her and included this criss-cross box filled with Tootsie Rolls and this Post-It Holder. The pad inside is a "B" for her name and I made a buckle closure for the pad holder. I only used a few sheets of Elegant Eggplant CS and some scraps of dp, and white cs. The stamps are Verve, Filigree Fantasy. I added some bling and sparkle with my white gel pen and Gelly Roll Stardust pen, and also a crystal brad in the centers of each main image. I hope she likes them!

OK, off to bed now. I'm exhausted after working today and yesterday. Why is it so hard to come back from vacation??

Thanks for looking!

Teacher Gifts, Yankee Swap Gift

Here are the beaded pens and altered notebooks I made for the teachers at ds' preschool. It's hard because there are soooo many teachers and assistants! I decided to just give gifts to the three that spend the most time with him. I got the tutorials for these gifts at Emily's blog. They were so much fun to make! It was my first time with Mod Podge, and now I'm ready to alter the other things I have been collecting - frames, more notebooks, paint cans...I also made a few matching notecards for one of the teachers. The others got gift cards in these adorable little holders. I found the instructions for these little cuties HERE. SOOOOOOOOO easy and better than the generic rectangle holders you get at the store.

The final item is a Criss-Cross Box that I found through Nichole Heady's blog. The instructions and template are HERE. My DH needed a quick Yankee Swap gift for work, so I whipped up this box, filled it with chocolates and another gift card in a holder. They loved it!

Phew! This is the last of the Christmas postings for me! I'm going to spend the weekend cleaning and getting the house ready for guests. And we still have all our wrapping to do, so I'll be getting all that done, too. We still have to put up the tree, which will probably be done on Sunday when the guests arrive. And ds has requested a Green Goblin birthday cake, so I'll be hunting for pictures for that! Is it January yet?

Merry Christmas to all of you and thanks for looking!