Happy Belated π Day! + Free Sweetie Pie Tags

π or Pie?  Well, if you ask my architect husband you might think he would say π.   But it just so happens that Dennis makes the best tasting pies in the world!  So I choose PIE, too!

Well, I am a day late wishing you Happy (Pie)  Day!  Yesterday, 3-14-15 was National π Day.  That works because 3.14 is what we use for π and 15 gives us the next two digits in the infinite string of numbers that is π.  

After I found this adorable pie image at Goodness and Fun, I decided to make some Sweetie Pie tags.  Goodness and Fun has some darling papers and sweet images.  You can find the pie as part of an adorable Miss Baker clip art set.  Vanessa is as sweet as her images:  she's got a Buy 2, Get 1 Free going on right now and she agreed that I could offer you these tags (featuring her pie) to you for free!  You can download the Sweetie Pie Tags HERE.

Happy (Late) Pie Day, Sweetie Pie!

St. Pat's Beauty (Free Image)

She's a beauty all right!  Don't you love her top hat and bright pink cheeks?  She's got the sweetest plaid bow tie, too.  She's another bridge tally from my collection.  

It's amazing how many cute bridge tallies are out there.  Bridge reached its heyday in America during the 30's and 40's and that's the era many of my tallies are from.  (If you would like to know more about the history of bridge, you can read about it HERE.)

She's been hanging from the knob on my office door.  I love seeing her every day!

Do you like her?  You can download her HERE.

Have a great rest of your week!

St. Pat's Fun + Free Image + Who Won?

All smiles - that's me!  We just got back from visiting my daughter and her husband (and, of course, their HUGE Airedale puppy, Percy). Let me just say, he is already 60 pounds and is not through growing!

Margarida from All Is Full of Love and I have a giveaway going on that ends now!  Who won?  Let's look at another project first!

Margarida has a lovely selection of colors available in these pillow boxes - go to All Is Full of Love to see them all.  You'll also find patterns:  stripes, dots and hearts - so cute!

I used a vintage bridge tally for decoration.  Love her costume!  You can download her HERE.  Just right click and download.

I've got a couple of quick tutorials to make shamrocks.  One to make the chenille stem shamrock that I used on the last post (on the handle of the shamrock treat cup) and also the felt shamrock that I used on the pillow box above.

To make the chenille stem shamrock you just need one chenille stem.  The last picture doesn't even have any adhesive yet - it holds together really well.  I used hot glue and just pressed the middle of the shamrock to the handle of the treat cup.  

I used a die to cut the hearts and just cut a strip for the stem using scissors.  Easy!

On to the giveaway!!!

Who won the 

The winner of all the green is:

Jenny!

Thank you to everyone who left such sweet comments - wish we had a giveaway for everyone!  As always, Jenny was selected randomly by my darling husband - plucked her name right out of the bowl!  We like the old fashioned way sometimes!!  

Jenny:  please email me lhairston@cox.net or click on it in my right sidebar.  I'll need your address to mail you all your goodies!

Happy Sunday everyone!

St. Pats Day + A Giveaway

Have you seen Margarida's Etsy store :  All Is Full of Love?  She has some wonderful paper and template sets - I just can't get enough!  Go ahead, go look, find out what you need (want)  and come right back.  You don't want to miss the two sweet St. Pat's Day treat cups created with Margarida's cupcake wrappers and the awesome GIVEAWAY!

I love the idea of the gold at the end of the rainbow.  When I saw the rainbow cupcake wrapper, I immediately thought of a little candy cup filled with chocolate coins.  

If you would like to download a copy of the little "Lucky Me" tag above, click HERE.

You'll also find a shamrock cupcake wrapper at All Is Full of Love.  

So how do you get from a cupcake wrapper to a treat cup?  Pretty easy!  Here's how:

Print  and cut out the cupcake wrapper of your choice.  Form a base with a scallop and a plain circle.  Use a bone folder to curve the cupcake wrapper.

Stack and glue the four 1 3/4" circles and glue them to the base.  Wrap the cupcake wrapper around the 1 3/4" circles to form a cup.  Adhere where the ends overlap.  Fill and decorate!

Margarida and I have put together a giveaway with lots of awesome green things!  Digital downloads, trims, cards, sacks, labels, straws, pencils, cookie cutter, clothespins, sequins, roses, stickers...

To Win:

1.  Like All is Full Of Love FB Page.

2.  Like ChouxChoux Paper Art FB Page.

3. We would love it if you would share this post on your facebook page and leave a link to your page in your comment on this post.

Don't have a facebook page?  Just leave me a note in your comment that you would like to win.

Winner will be selected on Sunday, March 8th by random selection.    So come back on Sunday not only to see if you've won, but also for another St. Patrick's Day project with Margarida's cute green pillowbox and a quick tutorial on how to make the chenille stem shamrock above.

See you Sunday!  

You're the Cherry on Top + Free Image

You're the Cherry on Top!  We hear that a lot, but it's such a sweet way to say a Thank You and "You're Great!"  I'm lucky that the people in my life are all cherries!  My husband, my daughter and her husband, my parents, my friends and all of you!

My friend, Kim in Altus, asked me to create a card for a friend.  She asked for a sundae and the sentiment "You're the Cherry on Top!"

Luckily, I had this cute vintage valentine!  I just cut off the valentine part.  

If you would like a copy of this image, you can download it HERE.  Just right click and download.

Have a wonderful week!

Put A Candle on It!

Have you ever wondered why we blow out candles on our birthday?  Or why we make a wish when we blow out the candles?

Well, it seems the idea could have started with the Ancient Greeks who put a candle on a cake to make it shine like the moon to celebrate the goddess Artemis.  It may have been the Germans who first used birthday candles for their children's Kinderfest. 

In, 1746 Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf celebrated his birthday with a "cake as large as any oven could be found to bake it and holes made in the cake according to the years of the person's age and every one having a candle stuck into it..."

However it started, putting candles on a birthday cake is a fun tradition and adding a candle to a birthday card is fun, too!

I found a small bundle of vintage birthday candles when we were visiting Lauren.  Fun, right?  I tied a ribbon around one of them and hot glued the ribbon to the card.  This darling image is from The Bunny Cloud.  Puppy adorableness!

Here's another fun idea:  Make an "Inside Surprise" card to show off a candle on the inside!

Usually, we try not to mix kids and fire!  But birthday candles are the exception.  "Bigger" kids love them too!  We may make a wish when we blow out candles because many ancient cultures believed that smoke helped carry their prayers to the heavens.  

Do you like the pretty cupcake banner?  It's part of a set from Cameo Shoppe on Etsy. 

An "Inside Surprise" card is easy to make:

You need one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  Cut it into 2 pieces: one that is 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" and one that is 5 1/2 x 5 1/4." 

The 5 1/2 x 5 1/4" will become the inside.

Use a die to create a window in the middle of the 4".   Add a 4" x 5 1/2" panel to the inside piece.  I used hot glue again on the candle.

Now attach the top to the "inside surprise."   

Embellish and you're done.  The next time you make a birthday card think about putting a candle on it!

So glad you stopped by.  Have a lovely week!

All That and A Donut Part II

So, it turns out that I did not have to give a donut box to myself!  My friend, Jean, really surprised me Friday morning.  (Spoiler Alert:  Jean, if you read on, you'll see something I haven't given you yet!)

Jean called me early Friday morning and asked if I could meet her before we both headed off to work.  I said "Of course"  and wondered why she wanted to see  me.  It was so mysterious.  Well...she gets out of her car with a box of heart shaped frosted donuts!

Aren't they pretty?  Almost too pretty to eat...ALMOST!  I did share a few with people I work with and brought home a couple (one more for me and one for Dennis).

I found some darling stationery from Paper Glitter.  This is just a small portion of the complete set - it is ADORABLE!  There are notecards, check off lists, labels, stickers, cards, envelopes...  I used a card to create the oval tag.  

The tag has a back, too, created with one of the check off lists.  Now I have a perfect place to write a little something.  I used an oval frame die.  This little trick will keep the frame piece and the interior piece together:

To keep the inside piece together with the scalloped frame, I kept the cut paper in the die, turned it over and taped the backside.  I did that with both the front of the tag and the back and then glued them together.

The sentiment is part of a set from Reverse Confetti.  

So, thank you, Jean!  Not only did you give me one of my favorite things on Valentine's Day, but you also surprised me.  I love surprises and don't get them that often!  See you for lunch soon...

Have a lovely week everyone!