Welcome...

to the neighborhood!

It's Dare to Get Dirty Week at Splitcoaststampers! If you're a Fan Club Member this is your chance to play along with Dirty Girls, past and present, in a ton of fun challenges. If you're not a Fan Club Member, this is the perfect time to become one! You can get all the info here . We'd love to have you play with us this week! There are 33 challenges to choose from - play one or play them all.

The project I'm sharing today is for the challenge I am hosting and you can see the details here .

As many of you know, I am married to a pastor, actually he serves as an associate pastor. We live in a mostly rural community north of Niagara Falls. Like many towns, we have several churches that serve the community. Two of the smaller United Methodist churches recently joined forces to hire a full-time pastor to serve their two congregations. The new pastor and his family moved in about two weeks ago and I drive by their house everyday on my way to work/church. They are not from the area so we wanted to be sure to introduce ourselves and welcome them to town. A welcome basket seemed the right "treat" for the occasion.

I created the basket and filled it with a jar of my homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam, a magnetic list pad, beaded pen and a list of local places to help them find their way around. The wife of our pastor gave me a similar list and it was so helpful when we first moved here. The list includes grocery stores, movies, pizza places, parks, farmers markets, restaurants and since they have small kids, the closet McDonalds, lol.

The basket is a downloadable template from PTI, it came out some time last year and this may be the first time I have used it. Shameful, I know, especially since it is sooo cute and easy to assemble! I made the larger of the two sizes and decided early on I would not be using the lid that came with it. Since the inside was going to be exposed (meaning the print lines) I "lined" it. It helped to make the basket even sturdier and I have to say, I love the look! The rose red panels are embossed to match the trim around the top. I simply printed a second set of the templates onto the rose paper and cut just inside the lines so it would fit.

I used a Sizzix flower die to create the focal points on the basket and card. They too were embossed with the polka dots. I did some crazy stitching around the centers for a bit of whimsy. The leaves on the basket are made from felt and stitched down the centers, the leaves on the card are made from card stock and stitched.

This was such a fun project to put together! I think it was appreciated.

The supply list is kinda long, but in case you're interested...PTI Pack a Picnic template, SU Cardstock-kraft, Old Olive, Rose Red; Neenah classic white cs, Paper Studio brads, Sizzix Flowers Layers die, Spellbinder Circle, Scallop Circle, Labels 11 dies, dimensionals, Jenni Bowlin button, Cuttlebug Polka Dot Embossing folder, SU Watercolor Trio set, SU scallop trim border punch, October Afternoon Thrift Store DP and letter stickers, Pentel RSVP pen, micro beads and sticky tape (Pennywisearts.com), list pad, magnets, Rubicoil binding machine, machine stitching, ribbon and twine. Whew!!

You will be want to be sure to check out the other samples that my stamping buddies Diane (Cookiestamper) and Jody (texasjodylynn) made. Mmm, Mmm...mighty fine I tell you! After you are inspired I hope you will think of playing along!

Blessings,