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Easter Trio & a Spring Thank You Gift

By KariV on March 23, 2013 in Easter, Gift Ideas, Holidays

I’ve been working on TWO holidays at once: Easter and April Fool’s Day planning. I don’t usually do much for April Fool’s Day, but this year we are having an outdoor party on that very day, and so I MUST have a little fun! (Don’t you agree?) I’ll be sharing my April Fool’s pranks in a later post, but for now here are some Easter prints I’ve been designing and re-designing.

The first one is really a reminder to me to get moving on all these projects and party plans! Ha! I need to post this one on my phone for a while as a wallpaper!

Which one would you choose to display?

I love the “Hello, Spring” in a frame. Now that I look at this picture, I think I might need some white “Spring” frames! Any suggestions on where to find some cute ones?

You might notice my little spring jars that I decorated up with some Easter vinyl. I cut these vinyl Easter creatures (bunny and blue robin) with my Cricut die-cutting machine and adhered them to the jars. Then I filled them with chocolate treats, printed a 2×3 of the Hello, Spring printable and used it for a tag on the jar.

I’m using this one as a special thanks to a friend who has helped me out so much! Hope she likes it.

Have a wonderful 2 days of holiday celebrating!

P.S. If I get enough requests, I will make these Easter printables available to you on this post!

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Dose of Sunshine (and Rainbows) Monday — Rainbow Dinner Party

By KariV on March 18, 2013 in Dessert, Holidays, St. Patrick's Day

I hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day. We had a birthday dinner celebration for my Mom’s birthday! And it turned out bright and cheerful. So for this Dose of Sunshine, I decided to share the Rainbow Dinner Party we had. I hope it brightens your day!

rainbow-skittles

I was challenged to decorate for this dinner party with only dishes I already had! (Shop for dishes much? I guess my husband thinks I have too many! What? Is that even possible?) So I started out with some rainbow skittles in mini glasses and added a bit o’luck tags…can you see the gold (rolo) at the end of the rainbow? I used the “Little Bit o’ Luck” printables from here.

The gold chargers I already had, as well as the white plates (they are the buffet plates from Crate and Barrel). Other items I already had: the silverware, goblets, vases. I did supplement with some shamrock papers for the runner (from JoAnn’s), and flowers (daffodils and carnations from Safeway). I colored the water in each flower vase in a different color of the rainbow.

I love the way the individual fruit salads turned out! Strawberries, Clementines, Pineapple, Green Grapes, and Blueberries make for a happy rainbow fruit salad. (And delicious! I made a vanilla pudding sauce to go with the fruit salad, but I found that the fruit was so sweet on it’s own that we didn’t even use the pudding sauce).

For dessert, I made Texas Sheet Cake Cupcakes (a favorite around here)! And I found these sour rainbow candies at WalMart, so we of course had to make a rainbow on our cupcakes. I used a little stabilized whipped cream (from Trader Joe’s) as the clouds, cut the rainbow sheets in half and put them into the cream. My nephews loved this part! I even let them make their own rainbows on the cupcakes.

We had some cupcakes to deliver to a friend who also has the same birthday, and so we wrapped them up in this cute cupcake box, tied with a green bow, and added a “Little Bit o’ Luck” tag to the top. I decorated only 2 of her cupcakes with the rainbows…since they are a little sour. Those chocolate cupcakes are so delicious on their own, but those rainbows are just adorable. So which one wins…adorable or delicious? I will let her decide! {Note: my nephews LOVED the sour rainbows…it might be a kid taste?}

We decorated with LOTS of flowers…a dinner party is made even more amazing with flowers! The ones on the left were a gift to my mom from a good friend (thanks, Erin, she loves them!) And I printed out the Luck printable in the frame from here.

It was a colorful and fun dinner. And I used *mostly* everything I already had on hand. I love that!

Have a happy Monday!

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Shamrock Search for kids — free printable!

By KariV on March 15, 2013 in Freebies, Holidays, St. Patrick's Day

Two of my adorable nephews are coming over this weekend for some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! It’s also my Mom’s birthday so we are really going to have some fun! I put together these “Looking for Luck” books to help us on our nature walk (it is such a beautiful weekend)!

I had fun with my new glitter tape to add a little sparkle. Inside, I have designed a nature scavenger hunt, some games and activities, and a coloring page.

I thought it would be funny to bind them with Lucky Charms and Irish Spring packaging…or is that just plain weird? It’s bound to get a few chuckles.

I used my “Zutter Bind-It-All” to punch and bind the books. But if you don’t have a way to bind, just staple the pages together. (see picture above). You can use a little green ribbon to add some flair…but who am I kidding? These are for KIDS, they won’t care if they are bound with Lucky Charms or have a ribbon on them! So anything goes here, really.

Here’s a quick view of the inside activity pages:

I think my nephews are going to have a little fun with this. Let’s just see how long it can entertain them!

To download the pages, please like my page here:

Then download the pages here:

2-13 looking for luck page 1 thru 4

2-13 looking for luck page 5 thru 8

And, if you decide to try these out with your own kids, grandkids, neighbor kids, or nieces/nephews, please let me know how they like them! 🙂

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Dose of Sunshine Monday: I believe in Luck

By KariV on March 11, 2013 in Freebies, Holidays, Inspiration, St. Patrick's Day

This is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day coming up! And one of my Dad’s favorites. So this is dedicated to my Dad.

Here’s an idea: take this printable and turn it into a sticker to wear on St. Patrick’s Day. Then you will be “pinch-proof!” Wishing you a little extra “luck” on St. Patrick’s Day!

And here’s the printables! Please like my page first, then print.

3-13 believer of luck 3×4

3-13 believer of luck 5×7

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A Little Bit o’ Luck FIVE ways

By KariV on March 9, 2013 in Freebies, Holidays, Paper Crafting, St. Patrick's Day

I had fun designing this printable for St. Patrick’s Day! It is such a versatile little gem that I’ve featured it in FIVE ways. With just a few different cutting techniques or punches, you can make it look completely different. I am sure there are plenty more ways to use this printable…so use your imagination and have fun!

Let’s take a closer look at these ideas. I first put together these colorful cards. I can just imagine my nephews helping me to paint a water-color rainbow for this card…they would love it! I simply folded a card out of white cardstock, painted the rainbow, added a “snowflake” stamp to the upper left corner, and cut out a pot-o-gold with black sparkly paper. It was super easy to put together and I love that it turned out so bright. I used the word bubble “Luck Logo” and just cut it out with scissors.

The other card was made with a green cardstock base, a green square cut to fit, and a “plank” of tan paper embossed with a wood embossing folder. I cut the Luck Logo with an EK Success punch and used a green stamp pad to color the edges a bit. I cut out a shamrock that I drew free-hand and glued on some green glitter. Who wouldn’t love to get one of these colorful cards offering a “Little Bit o’ Luck?”

SECOND, is the adorable cupcake flag! I cut these with an EK Success punch and attached them to a lollipop stick.

Can you imagine a row of these all lined up on your dessert table? I added a little glitter glue to the shamrock cupcake topper on the right…I think it adds just a little more pizzazz. So cute!

THIRD, a simple napkin ring made from paper. Having a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, brunch or dinner? Add some extra luck to the table settings. I cut the “Luck logo” into a rectangle and added a little excitement to the edges with a scallop cut. It’s actually the same punch as the cupcake topper on the left, but just a part of it. (can you tell by looking at the picture above?)

FOURTH, this adorable glassine bag, embellished with some green! My creative and crafty Aunt Marilyn donated these little bags to my crafting stash and, boy, have I been having a ball decorating them up! (Thanks, Marilyn, I love them!)

I added a bit of green glitter tape (love this stuff!) and green washi tape. {A quick shout-out to my dear friend Shellie, who graciously gave me the green washi tape when I saw it in her bag! She had “extra” and kindly gave me 2 rolls!! Shellie, you are awesome!} To the top I added the bubble Luck logo. You could use this at your table setting as a gift bag…I filled mine with butterscotch candies. I think it would be just as cute with rolos or skittles!

FIFTH, a small gift, represented here by green glitter nail polish.

This green glitter nail polish would be welcome by any gal wanting to avoid any pinching on that 17th day of March! I am going to give this to my amazing Mother (shhh…don’t tell) whose birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day! I secretly hope she will share it with me!

To add a little dimension and shine to the shamrock, try using Diamond Glaze…be sure to let it completely dry before you try to attach it to your gift. (ahem, not that this happened to me….!)

I hope you enjoy spreading a little bit o’luck with these printables this year! Enjoy!