A Gift for a Friend

Happy Monday Everyone!!

  Did you all have a good weekend?  I did, even though it went by TOO fast!  I had dinner out Saturday night with some of my best girlfriends.  We had a great time.  It was our post-Holiday Holiday dinner.  My gifts for them were a variation on a theme.  I made them each a piece of Christmas decor (which I forgot to take a picture of), got them each a book (we all love to read, so the bonus is, we can swap them when we are done!!), some super soft, good smelling, hand lotion and a winter candle.  I wrapped them all in customized gift bags using our Jolly Holiday designer series paper and the Victoria ribbon.    I topped that off with some really pretty reindeer ornaments they can save for their tree for next year.  It was really fun to watch them open them and enjoy the things I'd picked for them.  Here's a picture of the bags.

I also have another gift bag and mini card to show you.  One of my co-worker friends starts a new job today.  She is going to be GREAT in her new role, but we are all going to miss her on our floor.  She is one of the ladies in my stamp club, too, and I wanted to make her something special for her new workspace (when she has one).  I again created a gift bag that matches the gift with a cute little 3x3 gift card to go with it.  I used Rose Red, So Saffron, and Old Olive colors.  I love how springy that mix is, and in mid-January in Minnesota, we need a little peek of Spring!! ;)
  I started with just a white gift bag (that you can pick up at any of your big box stores) and then added the strips of paper.  The card is made from a 3x6 piece of Old Olive, folded in half.  To that I added the fleur de lis from the Sale-a-Bration set Bliss, available to you at the end of this month if you hold a workshop or place an order totaling $50 pre-tax.  What's fun about this promotion is, for EVERY $50 pre-tax spent you get to pick something free.  So, I used the fleur de lis, a tiny strip of one of the prints from the new Sweet Stitches paper in the mini (ADORABLE designs and fun colors in this one!)  and I used my scallop border punch  on a strip of the Rose Red polka dot patterns from the Brights DSP collection.  I topped it off with a 1 1/4" punched circle with the true friend sentiment on it from the Punch Pals set coming with Sale-a-Bration and added a fabric covered brad for a finishing touch.  What do you think?
  Thanks for stopping in today, I'd love to hear what you think of the projects I shared with you.  I'll be back tomorrow with a picture of the gift that is inside this gift bag, as well as later this week with some Valentines ideas, some more of my All About Me scrapbook layouts.

Happy Stampin!