All Packaged Up

Happy Sunday!

There's not a lot you can count on these days but one thing you CAN count on is that if it is the weekend I'm not sleeping.  Sigh.  Every Monday I could sleep until noon … Saturday and Sundays?  Awake at 4:30 am.  Today I decided to just get on with it … and … another thing you can usually count on is a Sunday morning blog post *lol*

Why can't I sleep?  I just have too much running through my head this week … and for the next few.  Rebecca turns 13 next Monday and we have something EPIC planned … so that is keeping my mind busy for many reasons and with may things.  All be be revealed next week so make SURE you come back to see what Momma got up to (*insert squeal of excitement here!!!)

So what have I been up to lately?  I haven't been crafting per se.  I'm on my semi-annual purge session. About twice a year I feel like I'm being buried alive in "stuff".  Everywhere I turn cupboards and drawers are bursting with "stuff".  Last weekend I spent a LOT of hours just putzing in my Craft Cave purging and organizing. Well … I SAY purging but really it was more like "throwing away old paperwork and selectively stacking everything else" lol.

One thing I DID get around to was organizing all my little "one day" gifts.  I had a rather large box of small gift items just waiting to be packaged, tagged and given away.  Little things I have picked up here and there over the last year or two.  Hand lotions, packages of teas and so on.  It was taking up valuable real estate in my Cave so I decided to DEAL with it.  Here is the result ...

I ended up with about 15 little packaged gifts that are all in one (smaller) box ready to go when I need one.  BBQ season is fast approaching and I always like to bring a little pack of hand-made cards to the hostess.  Hand lotions and bath gels are ready to give for a little birthday gift or "just because" when someone needs a pick-me-up.  Nothing makes my heart smile more than making someone ELSE smile and all these little gifts will do just that!

For my packaging I used up some of the bags and tags I've been hoarding.  Yes, shocking, I know, but I usually have a MINIMUM of 4 Tag a Bag kits on my shelf just waiting to be put together.  I used our clear Gusseted bags ($5.75 for 25 bags)…

And the Tag a Bag kits that are currently on the Clearance Rack for $4.79.  Can't beat THAT deal with a stick .. so I generally buy one every time I place an order (ya, ya, I have a problem … I know …)

To stamp the "For You" sentiment I used a Paper Pumpkin stamp set from a year or two ago (it was a Mother's Day kit, I believe).  Any " for you" or "to you" stamp will do!  I used our Basic Grey Archival Ink.  I didn't use the little coloured clips but I did use the twine … and the Bermuda Bay sticky strips.  I'm not really sure how they are intended to be used … as bag closures??  Dunno - I just used them to decorate the cello bag.  What the heck - if you've got it use it, right?

It took me about an hour and half to just chip away at making the tags, decorating the bags, tying them and so on.  It was SO relaxing!  It also made me feel a lot "lighter" to a) use up some of my supplies that were bought for just such a reason b) to clear space in my cave and c) to just stamp for fun - not because I had a class looming or a deadline to hit .. but just for fun … the whole reason I go into this crazy game 10 YEARS ago!

I spent another few hours organizing my shelves … but I'll share that in my next post.  Today, despite the temperature going up to a fabulous 23 degrees(!) I am working on getting those 968 pictures in my Project Life albums - another mission to get organized and use up some of the THOUSANDS of journaling cards I seem to have purchased *lol*.

Thanks for checking on me - whatever YOU get up to today I hope you have a stampy one :)


Tam