Year-End Clean and An Early V-Day gift

Hi there! I've been taking a major blogging break the past few weeks, spending lots of quality time with the family while my in-laws were here for the holidays. I've also done a MAJOR Craft Room clean-out and reorganization which took WAY longer than I thought it would - like 4 days longer (yeah, somehow I thought I could get it done in 1 day, but that didn't happen!). I don't know what it is about the approach of a new year that makes me feel this uncontrollable urge to purge and get things reorganized and in order, but I really wanted to accomplish this before 2011. I think it has something to do with living in a place with lots of Eastern cultural influences - I feel like if I sort of "cleanse" my life and start the New Year fresh, without all that clutter and mess (both literally and figuratively) - it will bode well for the rest of the year and I'll somehow magically manage to keep everything clean and clear and in order the remainder of 2011. HAS to work, right? We'll see. My Craft Room is all clean and organized and I am in the process of purging unloved crafting goodies like you wouldn't believe - one of my New Year's resolutions is to NOT spend a gazillion dollars on paper and stamps and supplies unless I have a specific project planned for those supplies or intention of using them right away - I can not believe the amount of crap I have that I just HAD to have that I've never even touched!

Anyway, I took a little break from all the cleaning this afternoon to have some more fun with the December Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions. You still have a few more hours to get your hands on this kit - if you subscribe before the end of the day on the 31st, you can still get the December kit as your first kit!! You can subscribe to the Key Ingredients HERE - and don't forget that subscribers not only receive a fabulous new kit delivered to their doorstep each month, they also get a 10% off coupon in their e-mail inbox each month - good for anything in the Taylored Expressions store!!

So my favorite papers in the kit this month were the red and cream papers and as I was looking through the supplies in the kit I was thinking how not only did they go really well with the whole "Winter" thing, but they made really nice Valentine colors as well. So yeah, I just went with that and created a fun little tin gift holder thing for Valentine's Day (LOVE it that I'm more than a month ahead!!).

I just covered a Tea Tin with some papers from the kit, added a ribbon and some stampy stuff and it's all ready to go! I used the Love Everywhere stamp set for both the sentiment and the hot air balloon image. The balloon image is cut out and mounted on a circle panel framed with a Lacey Circle nestability. Super simple and ready to fill with some V-day candy or other small gift item!

Don't forget to stop by the special Key Ingredients Gallery full of fun project ideas using this month's kit! You can also find other Key Ingredients inspiration by visiting the blogs of the other Key Ingredients Design Team members:
Jessica Diedrich
Lisa Hjulberg
Lynn Put
Melody Rupple
and of course Taylor VanBruggen

Well, that's probably it from me for 2010! I'll be back later this weekend with a card or 2.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year everyone!!