Birthday Gift Ensemble

Happy Saturday to you! I love Saturdays, don't you? I especially love a long weekend, and since I took Friday off from work, I am enjoying a four day weekend! You know I have lots of crafting planned, along with a few organizational projects. Something tells me the crafting will get done first, however!

Today I want to share with you a gift I made for my friend Jim's mother, Bettylou. Friday was her 70th birthday and I wanted to send her a little something to let her know that I'm thinking of her. Bettylou is a very sweet woman and I have it on good authority that she likes butterflies. I managed to sprinkle a few in on the gifts I made for her:

My standard "go to gifts" always have something to do with office supplies, notebooks, pens, etc. Mostly because I love to make them, but also because I have a ton of them in my stash! This gift started with a set of 10 cards I made using Papertrey Ink's limited edition anniversary set, Round & Round. This set is perfect for a gift like this; it allowed me to make a set of cards each with a unique sentiment. Now Bettylou has a card for every occasion:

I used each image in the set twice and added butterflies to my background. Turning a New Leaf is one of my ultimate go to sets; I seem to be using it a lot lately! And a scalloped border is also a favorite of mine. When you're mass producing like this, it's always great to go with what you know. It makes short work of your project.

And, lastly, I added a spiral bound notebook that I made from two rectangle shaped heavyweight coasters. I've been asked where I purchase these and here is where you can buy them, if you are interested. I used simple lined index cards for the inside and bound the whole thing with my Bind-it-All. To finish this gift ensemble off, I added a pen that I coordinated with my gift by simply stamping butterflies onto white lightweight paper, rolling it up and sticking it inside:
I love how this turned out and I think I'm going to have to make a few more sets of these to have on hand for the next occasion. Maybe then my gift won't be late! Happy Birthday, Bettylou! Hopefully you didn't just read all this and ruin your surprise...lol!





Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Round & Round, Take Note (PTI)
Paper: Spring Moss, Berry Sorbet, Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Ink: True Black, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss (PTI)
Other: medium scalloped border die (PTI), circle punches, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Berry Sorbet swiss dot ribbon (PTI), card box (PTI), rectangle coasters, lined index cards, Bind-it-All (Zutter), pen