My Favorite Gift

OK, so now I will post the gift I had the most fun making this year. It is actually a set of things. I forgot to take a picture of them all together, so I will have to post each picture seperately.

My Mom is in the process of redoing her kitchen with the Italian Chef theme. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I got these ideas from all the wonderfully talented ladies at SplitCoast Stampers.

First up: Recipe Tin



I love how this turned out. I was trying to match the colors in her kitchen. When she opened it, that was one of the first things she said was that the colors matched! I included dividers inside and a bunch of my favorite recipes. I still have more to add to her collection, but I ran out of time before Christmas!

Next: Coasters



I'm really happy with the way these came out too. I used the unglazed tumbled tiles. Then I colored them in with sharpies. I tested these, and they didn't leave a water ring, but if I spilled something like coke or coffee on them, they stained. So I sprayed them with a sealer to prevent that. I used thin sheets of cork, cut to size on the bottom of them.

Refrigerator magnet/post it note holder & beaded pen.



I used one of the acrylic frames and turned it around so the "foot" was in the front. Then I adhered magnets to the back (front!) I did this so it would hang on the refrigerator and have a little shelf for the pen. It is pictured hanging on my fridge.

Dry Erase Tile:



I used one of the ceramic tiles for this. What makes it so easy, is if you mess up, you can wipe it right off and try again. After stamping the image, I heat set it with my heat tool. Then I colored in with sharpies and heat set again. I read on SCS that to keep this image "in place" that they covered it with Crystal Effects. I didn't have any but I had some Liquid Embossing by All Night Media, and from what I can tell, it does the same thing. So I used it, and it worked perfectly.

And Next: Menu Board



I picked up this little chalkboard at Michaels. I painted the edges to match everything else. Then I stamped right on it. The image was a little too faint for my liking, so I outlined it with a silver sharpie. It made the image not be quite as crisp, but it still works. Then I attached a piece of ribbon tied to a stick of chalk. (Hey Mom, I forgot to give you the box of chalk! I'll bring it next week!)

And lastly. A Birthday Card
Her birthday was a week before Christmas. I have to admit, I pretty much copied this card exactly from a SCS'r. You can see her original card here. I just loved it so much and knew it was the perfect card.



And there are actually a couple more things that were supposed to go with this set, but time just got the best of me, and I ran out of it! So once she has the other things, I'll post them here too.

This was absolutely the gift I enjoyed making the most. I couldn't wait for her to get it. And she loved it. At least, I'm pretty sure she did. After all, she is my Mom, and she'd NEVER tell me if she didn't like something. But I can read her pretty well, and she really did seem to love it!

And hey Mom - I LOVE YOU!!!