Happy Holidays everyone!

I’m excited today because I get to feel filled with the spirit of the holidays,  as I pass on the amazing feeling of giving! To all of you who stop by to visit my blog, and shop in my store at My Time Made Easy ™ LLC, I am offering a NEW! template called Gingerbread Box ©.

This new template will be FREE until December 25th using coupon code: GINGERBOXGIFT

This coupon code is only redeemable for the Gingerbread Box ©, and is only valid until December 25th. This template will be available after Christmas for $5.

I think you will fall in love it, and it will really help you make those holiday gifts this year. If you’ve never made anything before then this is the time to give it a try.

So without further delay, here are the details!

Gingerbread Box

Available in PDF, SVG, GSD, DXF, WPC

Completed Project Size:
Box Portion Only
2 3/4 Inch Deep
3 Inches Wide
3 3/4 Inch Tall

Looking for something simply sweet to package up your gifts this holiday season? Then this adorable Gingerbread Box is about to spice up your holidays! Fashioned after our Gingersnap’s Pretty Impressions Stamp Set, Comes complete with all the pieces you need to make this into your own Gingerbread “cookie”.

I’m certain this gingerbread box will become the perfect holder for any treat you want to package!

Here I used some scented candle wax cubes ($1.88 each in store) for those Scentsy like candle warmers!

I have Ginger Spice Cake, Cinnamon Stick and Warm Holiday Welcome.

All 3 packages fit perfectly inside here and make a “scent-sational” gift any time of year.

I used all the “frosting” pieces to decorate my gingerbread man. The vest from the template, was cut using the Timeless Tradition © paper collection. It is perfectly complete with the paper bow, which also comes with the template.

For the back I re-cut another vest, then just cut off the top of it to look like it wrapped around.

Now if you like something a little more “girly”, then look at this:

Ginger-ballerina

Is she not adorable?! Don’t you love the ballet slippers? Another layer option included with this template.

 Instead of cutting the VV on the vest bottom, I left it plain and made a full tank top.

The bow that was on the vest V neck, was created and placed onto the top of her head. I added some eyelashes with a marker.

I placed some pearl trim around the top, and some marabou around the bottom to create the tutu.

The heart paper you see is from an upcoming paper collection called BFF Valentine, releasing on January 7th.

I had made this for my daughter Alexa’s friend at Dance. She takes Hip Hop & Jazz. They each need to bring a gift that costs $5 for a Secret Santa Swap. We picked out this super cool set of 3 nail polishes that come with nail stencils.

Plain on their own, but added to the Ginger-ballerina, much more exciting!

You can use any of our digital images as well to further transform this box into almost any character/animal you want.

Will a few embellishments, and a little creativity this adorable box can also become a Snowman, Santa, Elf, Penguin, Bunny, Teddy Bear, Monkey, Dog, Cat, Raccoon, Skunk, Gnome, Boy or Girl Doll, Witch, Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula…you get the idea!

So Happy Holidays from all of us at My Time Made Easy ™ LLC and thank you for your business!

Check out this AMAZING company Paper Clouds Apparel! They are having a big re-launch on January 7th ♥

Paper Clouds Apparel is a t-shirt company dedicated to helping raise money for schools, habilitation centers, and learning centers that work with special needs individuals.

A quote from the company founder Robert Thornton “I love what I get to do with Paper Clouds Apparel and not only raise funds for special needs schools and organizations but to really give a self esteem boost to those with special needs. To show them that they are important, special, and very talented. Another part of this that I love is that Paper Clouds Apparel hires individuals with special needs to package all our shirts. Being able to provide a job for some people that have a hard time finding employment. The more shirts we sell, the more hours I can pay my friends with special needs to package our shirts.”

You will be hearing more about this company from me very SOON!

Happy Holidays!

Yes, I am posting during a non-release week. Shocking I know! I do miss blogging and wish I had MORE time but owning my own company, designing the products, creating the samples, taking photos, writing up descriptions, managing a team etc is just a few of the work related “to do’s” that I have to do on a daily basis, on top of running a home and family (which will always be my #1 priority) keeps me busier than I ever imagined. But, I had a moment today and thought I’d share another project I have yet to show you all.

I’m really enjoying the holiday season this year, as the most “stressful” part of the holidays for me is over-my shopping and gift making!

I was done this year before Thanksgiving and it felt SO good to get ahead. I now get to sit back and enjoy my family. We have several traditions each year that I look forward to like getting hot cocoa and going to see the Festival of Lights, Breakfast with Santa, the annual Make A Wish Holiday Party, baking cookies for Santa, Cookie Swap amongst friends, making new holiday ornaments (my trees is ALL homemade ornaments from the kids, or special ornaments from family) to name a few!

I always make as many handmade gifts as I possibly can, and this year is NO different. I usually start in August 😀 and finish the first week of December depending on what I’m doing. This year I’ve made ton’s of stuff, all in which you’ve seen here, and some you have yet to see because they are TOP SECRET yet to be released items, but all ready to be gifted to someone NOW 😀

One of my favorite gifts in a snap uses the Oh-K Dokey © cut file!

Pepprmint Mocha K-Cup Gift

(For some teacher’s who I KNOW love this coffee/flavor)

Gift Cost $3.68 (K-cups cost $0.92 each)

Who doesn’t LOVE coffee, tea, or cocoa? Most people DO have a Keurig Coffee Maker by now, and if they don’t they need one! LOL! With its popularity I had designed a wrapper is the perfect gift when you want to simply “wrap” and share a little of something that you love!

My label is from the Apothecary Labels © set, and I also combined it with the marshmallows, & stripe straw from the Grab a Cup © set, to create my cup as you see it.

I used the pretty chocolate candy cane printed paper pattern from the Mrs. Candy Claus © paper collection.

This wrap is sweet and simple, and easy to whip up.

The best part is when you DO use digital images you can print/cut as many tags as you want, only taking the time to create the tag ONCE! I love that.

This is an adorable “wrapper” that was designed for wrapping up 4 of those simply sweet K Cups that are sold for use with the Keurig © brand coffee machines. The K cups come in a variety of beverages like coffee, tea, mocha, cocoa’s, lattes and chai!

OR another FUN idea-when you are done using a K Cup, recycle it! Simply  peel off the top, remove the filter (if there is one), wash and dry thoroughly, add adhesive to the edges, and fill with something else that is wonderful!!

Not a hot beverage lover? Well then this wrapper can also be used with a set of 4 Votive candles, tart warmers, Crystal Light drink mix cups (2 oz), 2 oz condiment cups,  and even a set of 4 mini flower pots.

Yankee Votive Candle Mixer

Gift Cost: $7.96 (or UNDER)

Yankee Votive Candles cost about $1.99 each (not on sale). You can also easily exchange a scent if you don’t like/prefer it, without hassle! You can also use other store variations of votive candles, which are just as “scent-sational” but far more cost effective.

I packaged up 4 different candles in this one, all which match the colors in my project too 😀

If you are using votive candles you will want to increase the size of this cut file to 102%. The votives are a little bit taller, and this will allow you to easily wrap them up, no problem!

Use a pretty patterned paper and you don’t need to go over the top decorating it. Here is used the ornament pattern in the Mrs. Candy Claus © paper collection. Given the Sugar & Spice scents of my candles, I used the The Gingersnap’s with Sugar & Spice © set for the tag on my gift.

It’s time for the second annual Visions of Sugarplums – a week long event which began December 3rd! 

Over 17 blogs will be showcasing Christmas projects, recipes, and giveaways! 

I’m excited to be participating with both the projects, and a Giveaway!

My Time Made Easy is giving away a $20 Gift Certificate, so be sure you visit Lori at the Visions of Sugarplums event for details on how to win that 😀

So, after you check our my projects, hop along to see what the following people have whipped up!

Lori

Lisa

Maria

Ira

Sandy 

I want to encourage all my readers to comment on each blog posting today – each comment counts as an entry into the giveaways.  Winner will be announced the tomorrow on Lori and Lisa’s Blog! 

Here is what you have a chance to win:

Giveaways:   $20 gift certificate – My Time Made Easy ™ LLC

                        1 set of choice – Digital Paper

                        1 set of choice –  Moonlighting by Mary

                        1 set of choice – Paper Sweeties

I’ve got so many great gift ideas here on my blog, since I am the owner/creator of My Time Made Easy ™ LLC, where the focus is all about creative gift packaging. My Time Made Easy ™ LLC provides you with the basics for creating your own coordinating handmade cards, tags, and gift packaging in no time. It is fun, affordable, and we made it easier than ever! I have always said that it really is all about the TOTAL package. Now you can afford to create and dress up the simplest of gifts on your own, and make them appear to be that much more special. Nothing says love like something handmade.

Today I created a sample using one of our amazing templates called Tri-It. It was something I have wanted to create for some time. I think you can make many cute themed gift items with a triangle/pyramid style box 😀 I had seen some cute triangle pillows that were designed to look like garden gnomes, and I thought a box, designed to look like an elf would be pretty cool!

So this is kind of like my little version of Elf on a Shelf!

This is made for one of the counselors at Alexa’s youth group she goes to after school. I wrapped up some salty pretzel caramel bark!

You may recognize the tag…it was first seen here.

Tag Details: I colored, printed my tag from the Homemade Holiday Labels set, which was cut out using the Homemade Holiday Labels cut file. The sleigh, Santa sack, and candy cane image are from the Homemade Holiday set. Santa’s Sweets sentiment are from the Homemade Holiday Sentiments set.

That is the beauty of creating with digital images. I had saved this from my past project, and now when I needed a tag in a pinch I was all set. You create once,then you can easily re-use it again. I resized it to suit my project. I could even change the colors with just a click. Fast, easy, and fun!

Here is the screenshot from my computer to show you all the pieces before they were cut.

Can you believe those pieces quickly turned into this?!

Fill this with Homemade Cake Balls, Cookies, Hershey Kisses, Truffles, Peppermint Ghirardelli chocolates…whatever you choose really, and you are good to go!

Now back to my lil’ elf on a shelf box….

I used  the boy elf from the Holly Jolly © set to create the face on my little elf box!

I printed then cut it out, and colored it in. I used the Homemeade Holiday Paper for my little elf suit. I clipped the snowflake pattern to the top for my elf hat. I added a little white pom pom to the top of the hat.

I then clipped the plaid version for the elf shirt. His hands were created using the hands from the Bouncing Bunny © cut file, resized to be smaller to suit my project. The plaid paper was clipped to that as well 😀

I added some zig zag trim from the Border Builders Zig Zag © cut file, along the bottom of the layer to create a elf collar. The little button tied on was the perfect touch.

I used the Candy Striper © cut file to create a paper candy cane for him to hold in one hand, and a real little Christmas ornament in the other.

For the skirt of the elf I used the tree pattern in the Homemade Holiday Paper collection.

For the legs I just had my machine create the legs from the snowflake pattern, and the boots which was just a oval and a rectangle welded.

I added some white liquid applique, with glitter, and heat set it for my “furry” trim on the hat, sleeves, and boots.

Now that I have all these pieces created I can make as many of these little elves I want, any time I want, without too much work! The Tri-It goes together quick, so I can have a completed project in a matter of about 15 minutes each!

That does it for me today!

Good luck with the contest, and have a happy, healthy, and creative holiday!

You will NOT want to miss what our design team has created for our monthly Year in Review group post because we are making *NEW* projects using *OLD* products!

Check it out

• Lauren Meader
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz
• Farida Rone
• Kimberly Morrow
• Lisa Kind
• Lori Hairston
• Lori Kalus
• Pattie Goldman
• Tangii Crain
• Tina Hale

I want to finally share a project idea I’ve had for the last year! Yup, a whole year, and had yet to find the the time to make it until now 😀 That is one reason why I love the “year in review” because it makes me make the time to go back to older products and make my ideas in the present! Its not good to always only focus on new stuff. It’s great to have new ways to use stuff we already have and may have forgotten, or maybe you are new to our products and you never noticed the older stuff 😀

Warm your ♥

How seriously cute is this?

I took the To Go! cup template, made from palin white cardstock, and made it into a “snowman” cup.

I just used some Googlie eyes I got ager Halloween for just a few cents for the package, cut my nose using the Topped Off © template (but you can free hand your own), and then I drew on a cute/goofy smile using a fine line marker, sponged on some pearlescent chalks for my rosey cheeks!

Over the top is a pair of super warm socks, used as a hat!

I tied the end with some embroidery floss, and tied a tag (cut using the Homemade Holiday Labels-resized) that I made using the sentiment from the Fancy a Cuppa? © set. I cut a heart into the center using the heart from the Flag ‘Em Down © cut file (resized).

It’s a super simple gift that costs about $0.09 cents to make. It’s cheaper than purchasing disposabThen add your cost for your socks (you can find some cute one’s in the $1 section, and choice of “filler”. You can put cocoa packets in here, and make snowman “soup” and any holiday treat you wish. Also makes a great gift card holder too.

We have all had such a great time working with all the new products, and we each hope our samples have inspired you in some way.

We hope these projects will allow you to look  at ANY of our Pretty Packaging Templates, and try to see the uses and possibilities in each one.
Remember:  If you are “stuck” for ideas most times the descriptions list the many possible ideas for filling them or creating things with them, and don’t forget we have an amazing gallery of already made projects to help you SEE what you too can create. You will find the direct gallery link to projects made for the product of your

Also if you haven’t already, you can follow us on Pinterest, as we have 16 pinboards full of ideas, we are also on Facebook-so LIKE US there, and follow us on Twitter!

Lastly we wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a happy, healthy, and safe New Year!

I am so enjoying all the ideas the team has conjurred up in me after viewing everything they’ve been making! My head is literally ready to bust with new projects I want to try!

We have MORE to share today, and then if that wasn’t enough a great group post tomorrow!

Take a peek:

• Lauren Meader
• Lori Kalus
• Mara Campbell
• Pattie Goldman
• Tangii Crain
• Tina Hale

Bring someone some REAL holiday cheer this season!

A gift for you

Design Details: The tag was made using the scalloped window from the Lovely Labels 1 © set, the flower is from the Sentimental Occasions Labels ©  and the sentiment from Timed Write © set.

This could be filled with just about anything! Hence my post tite Un-Wined. I chose to create a tall gift box using the new Wine & Dine template, that was inspired by my card set I posted yesterday (scroll down to view). I think there are MANY times we can use a tall box, and NOT just for giving wine, as the name suggests!

I was thinking about packaging up some homemade chocolate dipped biscotti, with some gourmet cocoa packets  from Starbucks in here, or I could use this to stack a vareity of homemade cookies, or raspberry linzer squares (my fave), blonde brownies….etc instead of the using the standard rectangle box, why not stack them up?!

Maybe some bath salts on the bottom, and lotion. body spray on top? Some chocolate dipped pretzels, Candy canes, Pirouette sticks…you get the idea.

I made the base from black cardstock, and the top from whtie cardstock. I layred on some Dainty Damask © paper, recolored to black.

To adorn the top and ring the the holday’s with a little elegance I used the Perfect Poinsettia © cut file, ran it through my crimper and them brushed on some gold Shimmerz. I had some holly leaves that I also brushed with the Shimmerz.

For the Perfect Poinsettia © cetner I used a large dimensional glue dot, and I added some gold seed beads.

I think it turned out really pretty, but it is far better loking in real life!

The bottom line of today’s post is to look at ANY of our Pretty Packaging Templates, and try to see the uses and possibilities in each one. If you are “stuck” for ideas most times the descriptions list the many possible ideas for filling them or creating things with them, and don’t forget we have an amazing gallery of already made projects to help you SEE what you too can create. You will find the direct galler link to projects made for the product of your

So here we all are, and I am still in disbelief that it is DECEMBER?!

Even though Christmas is coming soon, I know many of us are literally wrapping up our holiday gift making/shopping, sometimes up till the last minute. Well if that is you, we aren’t ever done providing you all with more and more gift ideas each month.

No matter what time of year, I am sure you can find the ideas useful and inspiring.

Check out the following designers today:

• Lauren Meader
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz
• Farida Rone
• Kimberly Morrow
• Lisa Kind
• Lori Hairston

Thankfully I did get all my holiday shopping done, and am almost done all my gift making for those special people in our lives, such as my children’s teachers.

I used the Card Wrapper template to keep costs down and limit the time it would take for me to create all of them.

Group 1 (Set of 12)

I made each of my children’s teachers a set of 8 customized cards/envelope, complete with their name, and then wrapped to perfection! Teachers can never have too many cards!

The circled layerd in the lower right hand corner was cut/layered using the Well Rounded Tag ©.

 I love using black, white and a pop of red!

Each card set only cost about 0.65 CENTS (not including the cost of the ribbon)!

 I made 19 gift sets (featured here) for a whopping $12.35!! Then add 2 rolls of ribbon at $1.99 each (on sale), that is still ONLY $16.33!

What can you BUY for under a $1 that looks better than this, AND is customized? Not much!

Super quick, and simple because I created the actual card design ONCE then changed one minor detail. My printer did far more work than I did 😀

Wonder if printing your own paper/images is afforadable? READ THIS!

 These are single layer cards that I created digitally. By doing this I could easily whip up a bunch, and just change the teacher’s name along the bottom! I used the Dainty Damask Paper Collection, and recolored a pattern to be black, for the top layer of the cards I created.

I added a strip of red along the cropped edge of the card.

The frame on the cards is from the Framed Elegance ©set , then my bird and branch images used on both the  Card Wrapper template and the cards, are from the Singing Silhouette © set. Each set has the specific name of the teacher along the bottom, and they can use them at their discretion.

A truly personal gift, made with lots of ♥

Group 2 (set of 7)

This group is similar, I just used a damask patterned ribbon instead and in this group the design is the same, but instead of having personalized cards, I did some “general” cards for other people who may be on my list, and to have on hand. I titled these “Just a Note” hence the bird 😀

 I kept the cards general putting in (2) With Appreciation (2) Just a Note (2) Just Because (2) For Your Kindness.

Not too shabby huh?!

Thank you again for stopping by, and your continued support, which allows me to share what I love with all of you!

Return for more ideas tomorrow from myself and our amazingly talented design team.

See you then!