Good Things Come in Small Packages

I never would have thought...but it is totally fun to make prizes and small gifts!! It is something I've only recently begun to add to my creative 'repertoire' and my forays into this realm have been completely inspired by my fellow Close To My Heart consultants. I absolutely love getting together with other CTMH consultants! Whether it be at a crop, at a team meeting, or at a big corporate event like convention, I am always motivated and inspired by the creative and encouraging people around me. I used to think "too much time, too much trouble" when I thought about making gift items, but when I saw consultant after consultant with easy, fun, and completely adorable ideas for gifts, I thought, "I have to try this!" So, over the past year I've been experimenting more and more by making prizes for Home Gatherings and Idea Book Launch Parties.

At Leadership conference last summer, I was inspired by an idea of Doresa Lambrecht's to make 'paper candy' for prizes at gatherings. I finally got around to my first try at it and I love how they turned out! Here they are...aren't they cute? I used some of the new papers from our brand new Idea Book, popped a couple of embellishments on...and Ta-Daa!

For my Idea Book Launch party last weekend, I wanted to create something special that could hold a treat as well as be re-used or re-gifted by the recipient. I have a bunch of old packaging tubes from various CTMH products (yes, I saved them...because, of course, they might be useful someday! Turns out, this time I was right. Who knows about the multitude of other things I have stashed in case they might be useful.) Minor rabbit trail -lol! -back to the mail trail now: I decided that these tubes were perfect receptacles for stashing yummy treats like mini Reese's cups and Rolos. So, I whipped out my new paper samples, the stamp of the month, and went to work. A short time later, all they needed was a little bling from some of our new embellishments and they were all set to party! I will totally make more of these...not just for party gifts but for teacher gifts, friend gifts, thank you treats. Try it sometime...sit down for 20 min with all those scraps of paper that you can't part with cause they're just too pretty and put together a few beautiful little treats for the people in your life. Everyone will love them!

Here are mine: