Here are a couple of things that I made for my friend for her teacher gifts. Since they didn’t make it out for the holidays, we’re calling these New Year’s gifts. One reason that it’s good to be late with your teacher holiday gifts — they can really enjoy something in January when they’re not given a lot of stuff (especially edible stuff) at once, as they are in December. So that is what my friend and I are telling each other, and we’re sticking to it.
The card’s in blue and white, a color combo. that I seem to be very focused lately. Literally, the last three cards that I’ve made have been blue and white. (One of the blue and whites has yet to be posted; it’ll be on here soon.) I made four of the same card so I kept them pretty simple.
As is often the case with cards with shimmery, metallic elements on them, this one didn’t photograph too well. There are some metallic silver flourishes around the sentiment that didn’t really show up, and the ribbon across the card is actually a shimmery dark blue. And here’s a bargain-hunters tip that I learned on Splitcoast — the little Dew Drop-looking thingies in the corners? Not Dew Drops! They are from Michaels and come in a huge bag that costs a few dollars that I found in the area of the store that has floral supplies and vases. Unlike the variety of colors you can get with Dew Drops, these just come in a few colors. However, the clear are really versatile. I used clear on this card. In the past, I’ve also added a bit of color to them with Prismacolor markers, which also works well. I found these at Michaels several months ago, so I’m not totally sure they’re still there.
Speaking of products, I have meant to share this Cuttlebug tip for ages — Scotch Removable Tape works wonders for holding dies and embossing folders in place while they are run through the Cuttlebug. The tape lifts off of cardstock really easily, although I’m still really careful with it — you just never know when a little tear will occur! You can even reuse the pieces of tape many times — I often keep a piece of the tape right inside my embossing folders for quick access. I didn’t know this tape existed until someone else gave me the tip, so I was happy to learn this one, given that I use my Cuttlebug for pretty much every project I do. This tape is at Michaels in the gift wrap section.
And then the bags — I love these bags! They’re from Papertrey Ink, and I think that I’d like to have these around at all times. You can throw a little sweet treat in them, decorate them up, and there you’ll have a very nice gift package! But here’s what’s odd — the cards and the bags don’t match. When I decided on the stamp I wanted to use for the bags, I realized that it 
sort of had to be stamped in red (it’s a cardinal after all!) and I had already made the cards. The not matching really bugged me, but since it didn’t bug my friend, we went with it. The bags eventually were personalized with to and from tags (not in the photo), and then filled with chocolate!
Card components:
Paper: Papertrey Ink white cardstock; The Paper Company Zoolander Blue Steel metallic cardstock
Stamps: Anna Griffin for All Night Media; Inkadinkado Bohemian Flourishes
Ink: SU! Brocade Blue; Encore Silver Metallic ink
Accessories: Cuttlebug: D’vine swirls embossing folder, Nestabilities rectangle and scallop rectangle dies; American Crafts brads; Michaels faux Dew Drops and ribbon; dimensionals, SU! Ticket Corner punch
Bag:
Large frosted tin tie bags from Papertrey Ink
Paper: SU! Riding Hood Red, The Paper Company gold metallic, Papertrey Ink white cardstock
Stamp: Inkadinkado Winter Birds set
Ink: SU! Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Cuttlebug: Spellbinders Nestabilities curved rectangle dies; Stickles in fruit punch
Since I mainly talk about crafty stuff here, the subject of music doesn’t come up much, and it really should since I am a huge music fan. On that note, do you want to hear the song that inspired the title of the CD and the title of this post? Click below! The song is by a band called Vega4 (whom I hear have broken up). 
