Crafty Fun!

We have been so busy working on the house, that I haven't had any time (or made any time) for scrapbooking. It's been since Christmas that I have crafted anything, and I'm going through a serious withdrawal! I love all the renovations that we're doing to the house, but sometimes a girl just needs an instant gratification project.

Enter Annie. This is Annie (isn't she beautiful?): She's my best friend and she lives WAAAAAAAAAY too far away from me. She also just had her tonsils out. Many of you might remember getting your own tonsils out as a child. Not too bad, right? You got to stay home from school and eat ice cream and popsicles! Unfortunately, it is a much different story as an adult. Not a fun surgery, and definitely not a fun recovery! I know several adults who have had it done, and every one said it was a horrible experience.
Don't let that scare you though! It really makes a world of difference if you are constantly getting sick with strep throat and other icky respiratory things (especially if you have germ-machines, I mean little kids).

Back to Annie. I wanted to make her something, send her a little treat, since I couldn't hang out with her and be her personal nurse. I figured chocolate chip cookies were out of the question. As well as anything else in solid form. Since ice cream and smoothies don't travel well through the mail, I bought her a gift card for Jamba Juice. And you know I couldn't just put it in a plain old card!

I headed over to Papertrey Ink for some ideas. There I found a whole slew of templates that you can purchase and download, to make all sorts of cute items to hold little treasures. They're designed by Lauren Meader and there are a couple you can download for free to try out. At only $5, they are well worth the price, as you get a printable template and instructions, as well as a bunch of project ideas!

The template I got was called Music Makeover and I already have lots of ideas for using it again. The instructions are really easy to follow. I just printed the template on cardstock, cut and scored the lines, and then got to decorating it.
The patterned paper was from the DCWV Summer Stack and the little blings came in a kit I got long ago. I remember thinking, "When am I ever going to use orange and green rhinestones?" I think it came out great for a little touch of spring! Do you like how I smeared the sentiment? I am so impatient with stamping, I never wait long enough for the ink to dry. Oh well, distressed is still in, right??

I whipped up a matching card (I got that big Fiskars flower punch for Christmas -- love it!), attached my gift card inside with a couple of glue dots, and tucked it all inside my little box.I realized later that I didn't think about whether or not there was a Jamba Juice near where Annie lives, so far away. The great part about that? Turns out there is one right next to her surgeon's office. He should probably get a referral bonus.

I had so much fun being crafty again, hopefully I'll carve out more time for it in the midst of our house deconstruction. I did Ali Edwards' December Daily album but haven't had a chance to fill it yet. This could be the mojo motivation I need!