Cocoa & The Outdoors

Good Saturday Afternoon!

I've been trying to get over here all day, but other

things have been getting in my way...

you know: laundry, making deviled eggs for my dad's

birthday party tomorrow and cleaning the bathrooms.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot get around this
house-cleaning thing LOL

I just couldn't wait to share my newest projects for

SIMPLE STORIES!

I'm up on the blog today

www.simplestories.com

I snapped several photos of the family having fun out-of-doors last November. 

 The {Take A Hike} Collection not only brings out the colors in the photo perfectly, 

but captures the warm and rustic feel that nature evokes.

 For the 'mat' I used a sheet from the 6x6 paper pad, along with several basic patterns.  

 Part of my love for Simple Stories is the plethora of cardstock stickers that 

are offered with each collection.  I paired up the two different sticker letters to create

 the title for my page.  I did add a thin foam dot to the backs of the square letters.

In keeping with the outdoor theme, I added embellishments of rusty metal stars,

 wooden buttons and jute twine.  I picked up the stars from the 

 Christmas aisle at Hobby Lobby!

We shop a lot at a wholesale food club

.  Whether it's my mom who goes or myself, we tend to split up our goods

 between the two households.  During a particular trip my mom just couldn't

pass up an extra big box of colorfully packaged cocoa mixes :)  

I like to sit mine out on the counter when the cooler months arrive,

 so I derived this helpful cocoa bin from an empty Keuring coffee box

 and the {Handmade Holiday} assortment!

 Two sheets of 12x12 paper cover the larger-sized box perfectly.

  I simply used the contur of the box as the template, trimmed the excess and then glued into place.  

 In wanting to hide the opening of the box and its rather tattered edges,

 I glued on a bit of pretty trim.  And of course I just had to top it off with a gingham bow!

 I had the most fun creating the inviting little embellishment for the front of the bin.

  I love layering  journal cards with various cardstock stickers, buttons and other textured accents.

 And here's a peek at how the sides of the box look.  

For the top, I just creased the paper neatly before gluing down...much like wrapping a present!  

This would make such a sweet little gift for anyone on your list this Christmas Season :)

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Don't forget to check out the inaugural edition of

THE PAPER HAUS MAGAZINE

Winners from the blog hop will be announced tomorrow...see you then!