Creative Weekend Show & Tell

A week ago my sisters, Mom, BFF and I went on another "Creative Weekend", which means we all meet up (in this case metro Detroit) and hit all the crafty, artsy fartsy stores in the area.  We stay at a Residence Inn so we can hang out and check out each others finds, browse our crafty magazines, snack and insult (in a loving way) each other!  We also treat ourselves to massages.  It's really a great time.  And as we all live far away from each other, we exchange birthday presents as my sisters and I have birthdays in December, January & February.  Most of the time we bring little gifts or goodies for each other too.  So today I wanted to do a little "Show & Tell" of the great goodies I brought home from them.  In a future post I'll show some of my great finds from the trip and some shopping suggestions if you're ever in the area.
Of course I got beautiful handmade birthday cards from them all.  Here's the card from my sister Jenny:

It was done on brown linen cardstock that had a gold shimmer.  The patterned paper had florals stamped with bronze glitter.  Pretty lace, cord and gold threads across.  The picture was matted on gold paper that had gold Stickles swiped on.  Beautiful embellishments and pin finished it off.  Inside she ran a strip of Tim Holtz tissue tape across the width of the card and on that she stamped "Birthday Wishes" in gold.  There was also a faux charm inside and the card was signed with a gold pen.  Very elegant!  (Just like me--HA!)

Along with the card, I got some great Tim Holtz supplies from Jenny.  Now I know why she was watching what embossing folders I was buying at Archiver's!  In the plastic bags are some tags and ribbon she coffee dyed.

In addition she brought lots of goodies for us all.  Paper, ribbons, sticky notes, even metal turn hardware.  Plus she split up a box of Tim Holtz tissue paper with all of us!  Yippee...now I can finish my Tim Tag #12.

My other sister Vicki made me this beauty:

You may have seen it on her blog, Paper Squirrel.  She has all the details there, but let me tell you it is stunning in real life!  Lots of lovely layers.  She also gave me this Clip & Spin for my birthday.  I'm all about organizing so I was thrilled.  Vic got this at Hobby Lobby (which I had never seen there before) and it was the only one in the store.  She reminded me a few times about the great sacrifice she made for me by not keeping it for herself!

  Vicki also brought each of us these darling little hangers made from wood tags.  So many lovely details and even the packaging was awesome!  She took a little white paper bag banded it with cardstock and tied with a ribbon. Simple and elegant!

My BFF Sue presented me with the motherlode--Christmas, Birthday and "Just Because" gifts.  This was attached to my birthday gift:

I love the image on the card!  Sue says it came from a postcard she found while antiquing.  I think it looks just like us!  She glammed up the ladies hats with Stickles and added antique photo corners and the bird (the wording below the bird says "You're My Best Friend"---how cool!).  The base of the card is turquoise linen cardstock with a brown patterned paper, butterfly patterned paper and burlap layered on top.  The ribbon matches perfectly and a sweet heart charm hangs from the bow.  I don't know if she stamped or just cut out the butterfly but it goes beautifully with the picture.  The inside is just as pretty as the outside and the note she put in it made me choke up.  A very special card from my dearest friend!  And she SPOILED me with gifts.

Here's a picture of all the goodies she crammed into two gift boxes:

Where do I start?!  So many pads of paper:  Distress Core, K&Company and more!

Embellishments, stamps, tape, candle, a glass cloche, and more.  My sisters were green with envy as I unwrapped package after package.  And she wasn't done yet!  She gave each of us a bag with these goodies:

Antique buttons and lace from her massive stash (she buys and sells antiques).  Loved the vintage looking tag she made to put the lace on!  And a very cool folder that is 1/2 the size of a regular one.  It has the metal binding inside and I can't wait to alter it and use it to hold either tags or ATCs.  She also gave me this cool ornament she made using a reflector from a set of vintage Christmas lights:

My Mom sent me the card below.  She makes beautiful paper embroidery cards that she stamps sentiments on.  I have a nice collection of these beauties...all which I mean to get framed one day. 

I'm so blessed to have these amazing women in my life.  They are all so talented, each in their own way, and we never have to pretend to be anyone other than ourselves when we're together.  I always say that no one tells you like it is except your sisters and your best friend...whether it's how bad you're driving or how bad your hair looks!  lol