A Card And Gift Bag for a Friend

Around about the middle of last year I decided to start one-on-one Pilates classes!  There comes a time in ones life when stretching becomes an imperative, that time arrived last year for me!  I was not happy waking up and feeling like I had to unroll my body one bone at a time (I do exagerate slightly, I am a very fit over mid-40's person, however, I have always neglected stretching!).

Anyhow, all I really wanted to say was that my Pilates instructor celebrated her birthday today, and I go to her tomorrow for my session and wanted to make her a little something, and here they are:

Paper: PTI Carstock, Patterned paper from old stash
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, CTMH (Juniper ink)
Stamps: PTI (frame), Hero Arts (sentiment), Butterfly (gift from Jacqueline)
Other: Flower (Hero Arts), SIlky white flower (unknown), Crochet flower (made by me), brad (old stash), PTI Mat Stack Die, Gemstones (stash)

It's so nice sometimes to not do too much to a card.  I loved that patterned paper and simply added the flowers, the butterfly that was so kindly sent to me already stamped by Jacqueline, and I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment on a die cut that I made from a PTI die. 

Then I decided to make her a little treat bag with some of the yummiest Date, Coconut and Walnut chewy cookies that my wonderful friend three houses down introduced me to over Christmas!  The treat bag design is something that I found in my blog browsing on the Cosmo Cricket blog HERE, really cool idea, all you need is one piece of cardstock.  So here it is:

This is the front view.  I am not really good at decorating, so it looks a litte plain, hey, it's my first one!  My master piece on this is my lovely rose, a close up is on its way.

Here is a side view.  So there is a little goodie bag inside there holding the cookies.  The box itself is really one whole piece of 12 X 12 cardstock.  And then you can add a topper, which is the dark brown cardstock if you want, or use other creative ways to close the box or add some ribbon handles for example.

And here is my rose that I just love.  I used a piece of rustic white PTI cardstock.  I stamped both sides with two different Hero Art stamps that could cover the entire surface.   I stamped them using versamark, then clear embossed and then used Worn Lipstick and Walnut Stain Distress ink and inked up both sides furiously.  Then I rolled the flower, like Jennifer McGuire and many others have explained.  Glued it, pushed down on the petals a little and then spritzed it with Viva Pink Glimmer Mist and that is when I fell in love with my own rose! (It's better in real life, the photo does not do it justice.)

Well, can you tell, I had fun!  I hope she likes it and is not allergic to coconut, dates or walnuts!

Wishing you all a very good night!  It't just  gone midnight here!  I guess a little sleep before the normal daily activities including a run in my countdown to the Marathon in 13 days!  Yippee!  So excited!