Box of Sunshine

We Live in Sunny California

My Nephew is away at school in Chilly Pennsylvania

I remember when I was in college how exciting it was to get something in the mail - especially a package.  I also remember never having anything fun to eat, how hard it was to get to the local store, and not having much money to spend on anything that wasn't a necessity.

So I decided it was a perfect opportunity to send my Nephew a

Once you start looking - it's amazing how many YELLOW snack food items you can find.

My Box contained the following:

Lays Classic Potato Chips

Velveeta Mac and Cheese Cups

Kraft Cheese in a Can

Wheat Thins Crackers

Slim Jims

Primgles Potato Chips

Mr. Goodbar Chocolate

Bumble Bee Tuna Snack

M n M Candies

Dried Pineapple Bits

Everything sweet, salty and completely bad for you that a College Student could ever want.  

There were so many great food choices.  

I was like a crazy woman wandering around the grocery store grabbing anything I could find that was yellow.  Once I realized I would have to SHIP the package....it helped me edit my selections.  
Nothing too heavy, or breakable, or easily smashed.

But if I were delivering this to a local friend....Ohhh the possibilities.  

I filled the shipping box with yellow paper shred and tied yellow bows around several of the boxes.

We wrote a personal message on the back of a Large Sun cut from cardstock and patterned paper.

A few more suns were made from circle and scallop paper punches.

  There was even room for a little light up stress ball animal.  

And then it was all shipped off for my nephew (and his room mates) to enjoy.

This would be a great pick me up for someone who is feeling under the weather and could easily be tailored to the Lucky recipients tastes.   

Who do you know that could use a little Box of Sunshine to brighten their day?

Chocolate Nutcracker Mice

Each year we try to make something to share with Little K's fellow Nutcracker dancers.

She has danced the role of a Mouse in the Fight Scene several times.  Once as a Baby mouse when we lived in Arizona.  You can see more on what we made that year in this post. 

Now that she is a little older - and dancing with a different Ballet Production since we moved to California - she had the opportunity to dance as a Mouse once again. 

This time it was a bigger - more scary mouse.  But we managed to find a sweet treat to share with her fellow rodents in the show. 

They were easy to make.  Just a few purchased pieces of candy assembled with melted chocolate.  You can read more details on how they were made here. 

We created an entire Army of mice.  Ready to go into battle.

With the Mouse King in charge. 

Each delicate little creature was packaged into an individual box, lined with paper shred to keep him safe during transit.

Then we made Holly Tags from various sizes of circle and scallop punches and tied up the box with bakers twine.  The holly leaves were free hand cut and sparkled up with some iridescent glitter glue.

The Mouse King - because he is special, received a special package as well.

The same tag - but boxed into a frosted vellum Chinese take-out container with a tuft of tulle.

I hope you get the chance to see a local Nutcracker Performance this year.  It just wouldn't be Christmas for us if we didn't see at least one show (or two, or a dozen).

Ten on Ten: December 2012

A quick peek into my day.  

Participating in Ten on Ten.

(a photo every hour, for 10 consecutive hours, on the 10th of the month)

See what everyone else is sharing about there day over here.

Woodland Party Invitation

Every year we host a Holiday Party for my husbands staff.  Since he works in retail, we try to plan the party before the crazy fall holiday rush.  

Even though it is a Holiday Party - it's a bit strange to follow a traditional Christmas theme when the gathering is in early November.

Last  year we had a Harvest Party.  You can see more about the party here and here, and more about how we decorated for Fall here and here.

This year I decided on a Fall Woodland Theme for the Party.

I fell in love with the sweet critters on the Cricut Create A Critter cartridge and knew I just had to incorporate them into the invitations (I ended up using them elsewhere too).

Yes - I agree - the invitations are a bit "cutsie" for a work staff party - but I just couldn't resist.   

Plus, I think I ended up making other elements of the party "sophisticated" enough that it didn't end up looking like a childs birthday party.  

The card was pretty simple without a lot of details (other than the layers of the cricut cut squirrel).  I ended up making 18 of them, so after number 10 or so....I was pretty happy the elements were basic. 

I really enjoyed working with the primarily Green and Brown color palette (for the card, and other details of the party).  Even though it looks somewhat Christmasy with the pops of mushroom red - it definitely reads Woodland.  It also helps that my favorite color is Green - so I had lots of stuff already on hand to work with.

I'll be back to share more details of the Party soon.