Packaged Pretty (CFC #33)

We are officially leaving town today.  Everything is all packed up and ready to go.  It will be a short visit this year, but we will make the most of it.  Last night we had our Christmas with our kids.  I asked them all what they wanted for their special Christmas dinner and, of course, in their usual fashion, they all said different things.  We finally agreed on cheese-filled brats!  Although, mom bought a tray of shrimp for herself...followed by a few glasses of wine.

We have been trying to emphasize to our kids the value of presents.  It's really hard to teach them that they don't just appear out of thin air, but are bought with hard earned money and work.  Plus, when they are just receiving, they lose sight of the whole giving side of Christmas.  We decided to do an exchange within our family.  That allows the kids to be able to pick out something for someone else and see how it makes them feel when they see someone opening a gift they picked out.  It's something small, but we hope a step in the right direction.

Along with giving the gifts, comes wrapping them.  I try to let my kids do their own wrapping too, but sometimes my obsessive compulsive, crafty perfectionist comes out and takes over.  I like to make my gifts real purdy.  I had a blast with this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays to make brown packages tied with twine...a card with kraft would've worked, but I took the challenge literally and made myself a pretty package out of an old Trader Joe's brown paper bag.

I used some brand spankin' new stamps from this week's sponsor, Market Street Stamps.  I masked off some butterflies and started embossing that text all over in white.  I then removed my masks and stamped the butterflies in brown.  I also spritzed my package with some glimmer mist.  To finish it all off, I wrapped some cotton twine around it and topped it with a white embossed butterfly and a tag using some more of that bag and stickers.  Pretty slick, huh?  I'm loving the whole earthy feel of it.

Now it's your turn.  You've got two weeks to come up with something perfectly CAS (clean and simple).  The design team has lots to look at over at the CAS-ual Fridays blog.  Be sure to stop in and check it out.

Have a most wonderfully blessed holidays everybody!