Wow! Have I been a slacking blogger, or what?!? My most humble apologies for letting the time get away from me like I have!!! But, I'm back in the saddle again (I hope!!!), so let me share some of my latest projects with you!

Today's project is a small gift set for a very special lady -- someone who has been fighting cancer for several years, and is now going back in for her fourth round of chemotherapy. Her husband works with my husband and Harry asked me to make a card for her... So, I found out what her favorite color is (red), set about to make a card, and got a tad carried away! LOL!!! Here is the set I made for her:

The set contains: a square card (5.5 x 5.5 in.) with a book clip embellishment; a small tin with a book clip inside; and a bookmark made from cardstock.

Here is the card by itself -- and a description of what I used to make it:

Papers: Basic Black & Whisper White CS from Stampin' Up! (SU!); Basic Grey's "Scarlett's Letter" 6 x 6 designer paper pad

Inks: SU!'s Real Red; Palette Hybrid Noir (black)

Stamps: SU!'s Petal Prints; Hope; So Many Sayings

Embellishments: SU!'s Cranberry grosgrain ribbon (ret.); Basic Grey's Book Clips in black

I used a hobby blade to cut around the white leaves on the BG paper, then slipped the stamped panel behind the leaf silhouette and added another stamped flower that I cut out separately.

I stamped the BG paper with the sentiment and applied it to the book clip's chipboard piece, sanded the edges, and inked them on the real red stamp pad. After tying the ribbon on the top of the clip, the card was done!

The gift tin is made from a business card holder I got from eclectic Paperie (one of my favorite online stores!!!). With such a nice base, I felt it unneccessary to add too much to it, so I simply added a CS/designer paper top, stamped with a simple sentiment, and embellished with flowers from the SU! Pretties Kit (one of which was dyed real red via the ink pad), a black mini-brad, and some "silk" leaves I had. Tied the whole thing up with some more cranberry grosgrain and the outside was complete!

The inside was simple, as well. The inside of the lid was lined with more designer paper (DP). I made a little folder from real red CS and yet more DP for the lining. I stamped "For You" on the front of the folder, added another book clip to the front flap, and the tin was complete. This tin isn't big enough to hold a gift card (I tried it!), but you could put money, a check, or another small item inside to surprise the reciepient.

Here is the bookmark. It is pretty simple, and I used the same CS and stamp set as on the card, adding only a sentiment from SU!'s Hope for Comfort set (ret.) and some black grosgrain as well.

The corners were shaped with the tag punch and I set a heart-shaped eyelet in the top of the bookmark with my Crop-a-dile.

Now, all I need to add is a gift certificate to a book store and, voila'! A gift of love for someone who could use a little cheer!

I hope you like it... More later on the book clips I used!