witticisms by Jess Witty

November 12, 2012

Comfort Food

Hello, all!

First off... my bad.
I scheduled this post to go up today and in my craziness of spending a weekend chaperoning a youth retreat, got it wrong - it was supposed to be yesterday.  Sorry, folks!

But nonetheless, it's time again for a little Papertrey Ink action, November style ;)
We'll be bringing you lots of all new goodness to whet your stamping whistle.
{All the new products will be available at www.papertreyink.com starting November 15th.}

I'm kicking off this month's release with a warm little number...

Yup. 
I went there.
An ice cream cozy.

All because of this month's new set... Comfort Food.

I mean, come on... a super cute little ice cream pint image?

The first thing that I thought of when I saw this image was showing up for an impromptu movie night at a girlfriend's house.  She was having a rough time so we scheduled a late night talkathon/movie night as a way for her to decompress.  She was providing the perfect movie viewing room, so I showed up with the other necessary provisions... homemade popcorn and pints of Ben & Jerry's.

Now, on the rare occassions when I bust out the pint, the other tool that is absolutely *necessary* is the dish towel to wrap around it.  You know... to prevent the dreaded ice cream frostbite to the hand. And thus this ice cream pint wrap was born ;) 

I'm planning on showing up with it the next time I'm called into an emergency talkathon/movie night. Obviously, I need to make another one for myself ;)
Let's start with the gift tag...


The base is actually made from a Mini Envelope die cut.  I used some Aqua Mist patterned paper for that, then added a strip of patterned paper made with a little sneaky peek of another all new set coming to you later this week... I know you guys love the little sneaks within a sneak ;)

I die cut the ice cream pint twice, once from Raspberry Fizz and once from Smokey Shadow, then trimmed just the Smokey Shadow lid out and stuck it onto the other one. 
Tada!
Double colored die cut ;) 

The little wooden ice cream spoon finishes things off with the sentiment stamped right on top.  I used my cropodile tool to cut a hole right through it... no problem.


Now, don't judge me, but yes... this is the only pint currently in my freezer.
Because, you see, I lead a bit of a double life.

My coach at the gym {shout out to Amy at Peak Body Transformation... my home away from home!} pointed out that when I post all of the yummy treats I like to make, that you guys probably think that I eat like that all of the time.

HA.  Not so my friends.  Not so.
So, no judgement on my high protein, low sugar ice cream.
{This isn't even as crazy as it gets... usually I make my own "ice cream" using unsweetened almond milk, protein powder, and an ice cream maker.  Seriously.  But any more info and you guys would never trust my baked goods again.}
Trust me, if I was taking a pint to a friend, I know better than to surprise her with this stuff ;)


Moving on to the wrap...


I was totally inspired by this cozy over at Make It & Love It.  It's an excellent tutorial, so I'm not going to try to recreate the wheel by giving you another one.

I switched it up a bit by using Raspberry Fizz felt as my back layer and a layer of leftover white felt from another project as the inside layer.  Since I used felt on the back, I didn't want to fold all those layers over, so I just cut all the edges with pinking shears and stitched it all together right sides out.  A little elastic and two PTI buttons to close it up.


This was a super simple project.
I already had all the materials on hand (you could use anything... a dish towel, hand towel, fabric scraps, etc.) so I think I had it done in under 30 minutes.  Pretty darned quick for a gift to have on hand that I know will make one of my friends feel super special. 

This is also a great idea for a little ding dong ditch. 
I so love those.
Just pick a time when you know your buddy is home, park your car around the corner, drop off your gift, ring the bell, and run like you're being chased by a bear.
Good times, good times.
They might know who did it, but I can tell you from experience, people *love* opening up that door and seeing nothing but a gift on the other side.  So fun.

I finished it off by adding a little care instruction card inside the envelope...


Nichole will be bringing you all the info on those brand new stamps later this week ;)


Moving on to another gifty project...


We're lucky enough to be a part of a church and small group that is *awesome* at supporting us with meals in times of need.  We do a lot of taking meals, too, so I was excited to see the soup bowl and soup can image in Comfort Food since those are going to come in handy for me when it comes to labeling meals.


I made some of Skinnytaste's 3 Bean Turkey Chili soup this week, so I packaged some of it up in a large Mason jar and added this little tag to the front. 

I used the brand new Tag Sale #7 die to make the base... *loving* the pinked edge on this one.  A little scrap of brown paper bag stamped and added to the top made for a bit of a different detail.  Y'all know I can't resist those hearts from the oldie but goodie Love Lives Here die, so, of course, one made an appearance in Dark Chocolate felt for an extra shot of cute ;)



The reverse side gives the instructions.  I couldn't resist adding the little image from Handmade Hodgepodge... it was just too perfect.

That little pinked edge on the Tag Sale die inspired me to pull out a plain brown paper bag (I get mine from Emma's Paperie) and wrap the jar with it. I just trimmed the bottom off and then trimmed it to fit around as well.  A few Heart Prints die cuts to match the tag add some simple details.

And, can I just say... if you haven't checked out the Skinnytaste website... do it. We use Gina's healthy recipes for dinner 5 nights a week and I use tons of her other recipes for lunches, desserts, etc.

The last time I took a meal to a friend in need I made Gina's Beef Barley soup (Stuffed Pepper Soup is another great one to take) with a side of my favorite salad EVER, Spinach with Honey Roasted Butternut Squash, Pumpkin Seeds, Gorgonzola, and Dried Cherries (I use sliced almonds and goat cheese instead as those are easier for me to find; I also do this salad with grilled chicken for lunches or dinner).  I added a big loaf of whole wheat bread to finish it all off.  I generally double any of her soups that I make so I currently have 4 family sized servings of Gina's soup in the freezer to have on hand for friends or quick dinners around here.

I'm getting zilch for saying all this nice stuff about Gina's recipes... just a big fan of her yummy, healthy recipes here ;)

 

And after all that talk of healthiness, we're going to wrap things off with another shot of ice cream ;)

I really wanted to figure out a way to make the ice cream pint into more of an ice cream cup, so I came up with a little die cut to use as the ice cream scoop.

Can you figure out what it is?


A simple little clouds die cut does the job well, I'd say.
 
I just trimmed off the top of the ice cream pint lid first, then added the clouds die cut behind.  A little Crystal Effects on top gives it that nice wet look.
I used some wood paper for the spoon die cut... I can't help it... I just think that little spoon is adorable.



I paired this one with the Background Basics: Striped Sweater set from last month.  It just seemed like the perfect warm touch.

Well, kids... that's all for me today.
You know I love a post that's all about food!


Any thoughts on what you could do with the new Comfort Food set?



{A New Day} Ice Cream Wrap & Tag
Supplies not available now but available 10/15: 
Stamps - Comfort Food, Handle with Care, Party Poppers
Die - Comfrot Food
Supplies available now:
CS - Raspberry Fizz, Smokey Shadow, White
Ink - Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist
PP - Aqua Mist
Die - Mini Envelope, Tag Sale #3
Other - vintage buttons
{Get Well} Soup Tag & wrap 
Supplies not available now but available 10/15: 
Stamps - Comfort Food
Die - Tag Sale #7
Supplies available now:
Stamps - Handmade Hodgepodge
CS - White
PP - Crate Paper
Ink - Dark Chocolate, Fresh Snow, Pure Poppy
Die - Love Lives Here, Heart Prints
Other - Dark Chocolate felt, brown paper bag, twill ribbon

{Ice Cream Dr.} card
Supplies not available now but available 10/15: 
Stamps - Comfort Food
Die - Comfort Food
Supplies available now:
Stamps - Background Basics, Striped Sweater
CS - White, Kraft
Ink - Orange Zest, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate
Die - Love Lives Here, Clouds
Other - Aqua Mist felt, wood paper (Creative Imaginations), Crystal Effects (SU)

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Adorable, Jessica!! What great ideas. I especially love the ice cream cozy because my husband is an ice cream fanatic-it's his go-to for everything sweet and creamy.
I can tell by your pics you don't eat half what you post so no worries about that!!

Jessie said...

Neat neat idea Jess! I love your cards too! Thanks for sharing!

Nancy Penir said...

Love all the sharing about your discoveries. Tags, and more tags to accompany food gifts this year, that's my plan for the new comfort food stamps and dies. Love your brilliant cozies!

Rustyhammer said...

I am IN LOVE with the ice cream cozy! This is something I need to make. For me.

thejoyinlisa said...

Holy cow Jess, what great ideas! You got quite a few little gifts knocked out in the process, which is no small feat in itself lol! I agree with Rustyhammer - that ice cream cozy is amaaaaazing. Thanks so much for posting the link. I can sew some, but when it comes to patterns I'm pretty hopeless..lol.

lexi said...

i love everything you've created here jessica - it's so fun to see what others do with the images!!

Vicki said...

Wonderful projects! Love them all. Thanks for the food blog tip also. You are so creative.

Tanis S said...

First of all, love the projects. Gorgeous. But I'm totally distracted by the idea of making ice cream with almond milk. What!? I need to know more about this!

Jill Norwood said...

Just brilliant! Love the ice cream cozy! Love the cards and this new set is a must have for me! Adorable! :)

conil said...

Wonderful projects, happy, warm and very caring. Adorable.

Connie and Jack said...

Fabulously awesome projects!! And I'm green with envy that you can get Arctic Zero in your area...wish we had it here. (Sigh.)
-- Connie C.

jintyoo7 said...

"Better late than never" is one of my often used mantras - LOL!

Brilliant projects, the ice-cream wrap it a fantastic idea!

Kathy Mc said...

Jess, your projects are awesome! Such a clever idea to make an ice cream cozy, especially because I'm not a coffee drinker so don't need a coffee cozy. : ) Off to check out those soup recipes. Perfect combo ~ soup followed up with ice cream for dessert. TFS!

Holly Saveur said...

I love with this last card ...that will make me order the stampset def!!