HAPPY MAIL BOX

 Wow can you believe February is about over?  Why is it that we have to have such a short month?  Wouldn't it make more sense to take a few of those 31st days and apply them to February?  I always feel like its a gypped month.  LOL.  Anyway a while ago I mentioned that I had my husband make a HAPPY MAIL BOX for our grandkids.  With this pandemic we don't get to see them much especially since we have a high risk son living with us.  Plus the kids are remote schooling for this year.  I wanted them to have something fun and have something fun for me too.  SO I came up with this "Secret" Happy Mail routine.  It is very very random.  Not always the same stuff is put inside the box.  But first let me tell you about the box.  It is very very simple.  My hubsand built it to my design and I painted it and added a heart and the words Happy Mail.  My son then nailed it to the house on the front porch near the front door.  I then seek over there in the evenings and slip little things into the box and text my son "Ding Dong Mail Drop" and he goes through the routine of telling the kids he thinks he heard someone on the porch and the kids run out to find Happy Mail in the box.

I started with individual cards with words of encouragement pertaining to each child and then taped a roll of life savers to the envelope.  Problem with first Happy Mail drop was that the 4 year old ripped open the 12 year olds card because she couldn't read and just assumed it was for her.  So I decided I needed to be more generic.  Example another drop was when it was super cold and I placed a tag on each pack of hot cocoa that said "time to warm up".  Or another time a card that said "Hmmm Happy Mail can Be Happy Meals too" and gave them each money for McDonalds.  I've dropped in Valentines and small little crafts that I've printed off the internet like Harry Potter bookmarkers you can color.  Needless to day it has been a huge hit. Today it was just a card with a Kit Kat candy Bar in it.  It has been so much fun making these super simple porch drops for the kids.  It helps brighten their day and it's helping me to not miss them quite so much. Here are the cards from today.  

Well that's all for now so 

Til next time........................................................

HAPPY CARDING!

LOVE TAGS

 My obsession with tags continues.  With the scraps from the recent Valentines I have been making  I of course made some tags.  I was kind of laughing at myself though.  The one project of the 3 x 3 mini Valentine cards that I put in bags to scatter in the grandkids yard (and neighbors) were already made from last years scraps.  I'm a bit surprised (yeah right...no I'm not) at the amount of scraps I really have.  TONS!  So I decided to just use what was laying on the table.  No going into the box of Valentine scraps or I'd be at the table for months making tags or cards or both lol.  So I whipped up Eleven of these tags for my Tag box.  Except for the ones that actually say Happy Valentines day I'm sure you could use these for Sweetest Day or even for a Sweethearts Birthday.  Truth be told my favorite ones are the Black ones.  For some reason those just draw me in.

All they need now is a ribbon tie and they are ready for the box.  Whewwww...time to put Valentine papers aways and bring out the St Patty's Day stuff!

Till next Time...............................

HAPPY CARDING!!

Valentine Slimline

VALENTINES DAY TOMORROW!!!!!  WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS????   MINE??   LOL  NONE!!!   Yep hubby and I have never really celebrated the holiday.  Rarely has he given me flowers unless its a potted plant to be planted outdoors since he hates wasting money on things that will just die and end up in the trash.  He's also an Arborist so it makes sense that if you give something that is a plant or flower it is suppose to be planted in the ground and not bought in a store to go in a vase and then in the trash.  Its been like this for 45 years so why change now right?  But we do give the kids chocolates and cards and I did do the whole school thing when the kids were young and now do it for the grandkids.  So of course I don't just give them any ol' card for Valentines Day.  This year decided to do the popular Slimline cards.  I made mine so simple to fit in regular business envelopes so they measure 4" x 9.25".  I used a die I got on Amazon that can be seen HERE and was super cute but definitely needed wax paper to release those tiny hearts.  Of course I needed to use those tiny hearts so nothing was wasted.  I think they are perfect for quicky cards.  What do you think?

I love them and with some of the left over papers and hearts I plan to make some tags to put in my tag box.  I'll share those next time.  Obviously the tags can't be used for this Valentines Day but it will be nice to have some on hand for the future in my tag box.  I am sooo glad I have that box.  I go to it alot.  I think we all need a Tag box or two or three or................................. lol!

Til next time

HAPPY CARDING

Valentine Mess Up

 Its the Valentine weekend and we are having a huge cold snap here up north.  More snow is on the way temps will be around 0 or below and windchills well into the -20's and -30s.  Of course with Covid no one is going anywhere anyway so we are just staying home, making some soup and watching some movies.  But I did want to make things a bit fun for the grandkids and some neighbor kids as well which I mentioned in a previous post.  I got the little 3x3 cards made and bagged.  Here are the bagged ones with the candy.

Original post on these cards can be seen HERE I then decided to treat the grandkids to a little treat.  I made a slimline Valentine card and slipped some money in each card for a McDonald treat and put the card in their Happy Mail Box.  I'll post on that another day.  But wouldn't you know it!  I was so excited to put these cards in their box that I forgot to take a picture of the cards!  They were so darn cute too!  I had signed them from the Elf on the Shelf Danny who comes to visit my house during the holidays.  I mentioned in the card that Santa was concerned due to Covid and thought Danny should do a quick check up.  Kids were so excited.  Well the littles were...I think the pre-teen was eye rolling! LOL  Well I'm hustling to make new bigger Slimeline Valentine Day Cards for the Grands to give them on Sunday.  This time for sure I will take a picture.

Til next time...........................................

HAPPY CARDING!!!!!! 

Scrap Valentines

Its a week away!!   Yep I'm talking Valentines Day!  We are still battling the virus and many children are still not in school which means no Valentines day party for many youngsters.  How very sad.  I think of my own grandkids and what they are missing.  Not so much the pre-teenager but the younger ones.  I was just looking at a photo of the 4 year old last year at age 3 making her very first Valentine box.  We used an Oatmeal container and turned it into a ladybug.  She was so darn excited about that ladybug for her pre-school party.  I wanted something special for this year just so that they still get a smile on their face. So I came up with the idea that I would make a bunch of 3x3 Valentines, bag them up with some candy and then the night before scatter them all over their front yard.  A little Valentine Surprise.  I'm hoping I'll be able to get a picture to share later.  Here are the 3x3 cards I made.  They are very very simple.

In fact I think I may make a few for the neighbor across the street and toss in her yard for her kids.  If the snow sticks around the red will definitely pop off the white of the snow!  During these uncertain times it's all about the little things to make people smile.  I hope this puts a smile on a few faces.

Til next time................................................

HAPPY CARDING

January filled with Birthdays

 As glad as I am for the new year I have to say I always feel so rushed to make the January Birthday cards.  I have so many for this month.  At least so many for me.  January is a busy month.  Kids are going back to school.  Ok well usually kids are going back to school.  This year my grandkids, who I usually watch, will be remaining remote with their schooling due to the pandemic.  We all usually de-decorate our homes from Christmas and start decorating for Valentines Day and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to squeeze in birthday cards.  Oh and I have to remember to mail them lol.   The important ones are children so I quickly checked and my little grandnephew turns 6 this month.  He's such a cutie and obsessed with Sponge Bob.  SO since I can't see him I'll send a Sponge Bob card with a check.  Actually I'll have his mom pick the card up as a porch pick up since I don't trust the mail. heeheehee.  So here's my quick card.

Someone told me Sponge Bob has Blue eyes...oh well my Bob has green.  I also put stars as pupils because I couldn't find my small circle punch.  Ughhhh...my craft room is such a mess!

Next I resized the card I made in my last post so that it would fit in a 5 x 7 envelope.  Since these papers were already out from the last card I just used the same ones.  I did put the towers together a slight bit differently just so I could tell myself it was different.  I also used different embellies since this was not for a 25th birthday.  Though I'm sure she would have appreciated being thought of as a 25 year old!

 I still missed a few other birthdays.  Shame on me I even missed my sister in laws.  Thank goodness she understands.  I actually made a card for a friends husband and for one of my past neighbors but I was running so behind that I slipped them in envelopes and right into the mail before getting a picture.  Story of my life lol.

Well that's all I have for now so til next time................................

HAPPY CARDING!

25th Birthday

 My niece turns 25 this January and its so hard to believe that once upon a time I held that sweet girl in my arms.  I was blessed to be her God mother.  Though truth be told during the Christening her twin brother was being such an angel and she was screaming bloody murder and pushing me away that I asked my sister if I could have John instead lol.  As she grew she became more and more interested in all kinds of crafts and couldn't wait to spend time at my house crafting.   So I wanted to make an extra special card and my all time favorites are fancy folds.  I found this one on line it's super cute so this is my inspiration.   HERE

I'm using an older collection from Heartfelt Creations called Wildwood Cottage as the designer paper and Recollection blue shimmer paper is used for the base. The matts are made by a lone 12 x 12 sheet of textured bazzil I think (it's not marked) and I have no other sheets in this exact color tone.  As I progressed I found that 1 sheet was NOT enough for the entire card as planned so I had to omil some sections that were supposed to be matted.  These were inside sections of the cubes and I decided that I could get away with not doing those.  Although I think I would have liked it alot better if I was able to complete it.  But with the virus still high in my area I refuse to go into stores and you just can't color match on line.

Above is just having all the papers glued down.  It doesn't look bad as is but you know me I need to bling up everything.  So I will be making the embellies and using stickles to pretty it up.

I am a bit dissappointed in my camera skills.  You do not see all the glittering I did in the photo.  I Glittered areas of the background paper and then popped out and glittered all the flowers and butterflies.  The numbers 25 have glitter around the circles too.  This card is so much prettier in real life.  My niece is going to love this.  Now as for an envelope.  Well this is a HUGE card.  It measures 7.5 " x 9" when folded closed so I decided to just mail it in a manila envelope.  Not pretty I know but since I won't be going into any stores any time soon and her birthday is the 7th it is what it is.  I think I will work on trying to down size this card so that the next one can at least fit into a 5 x7 envelope.  

Til next time........................................................................

HAPPY CARDING!!!!!!