Just Trying to Catch Up...

So sorry that I've been MIA this week! UGH - it's been one of those weeks where I've felt like I just couldn't keep up with anything...work, laundry, household chores, yard work, cooking, family stuff, crafting, etc., etc. And, therefore, blogging went completely by the wayside. I had good intentions of sitting down at the computer to share some fun and crafty ideas, (really I did!), but every day just slipped away from me and by the time I collapsed in my easy chair each evening I was just too pooped to post! (Or even read and comment on other blogs, for that matter). So, with that said, here I sit at midnight, unable to sleep and confessing that even though I am a high-energy kinda gal and normally very good with managing my time and juggling multiple things, for whatever reason I failed at it miserably this week!

What I actually had on the agenda to share with you this past week were project tutorials for the items that I made for the gifts baskets that I gave to the secretaries in my department to celebrate "Secretary's Day". I am very fortunate to work with 7 other secretaries in my department - Angie, Stacey, Marilyn, Penny, Kristin, Cynde and Margaret. They are all just SUPER gals and DEAR friends who make going to work each day a joy! Here's a photo of the gift baskets that I made for them:

Here's a close-up of one of the gift baskets:

The whole project was inspired by these cute little baskets that I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby last fall, marked down to only .60 cents each! I scooped them up and my crafty mental wheels started turning as to how I would decorate and fill them for Secretary's Day...

I went with a color scheme of pink, lime green, black and white. I started out by making pink bows accented with black checked ribbons to decorate the baskets with. I attached the ribbons to the basket using Liquid Glass from CTMH:

I then made little coordinating tags, wrote a note to each of the girls, and attached them to the baskets:

I lined each basket with pink tissue paper and white crinkle-paper shred. I then filled each basket with a little cello bag of M&M Chex Mix, a mock sour cream-style containter filled with mini chocolate bars, a mini composition notebook that I altered to look like a monogrammed purse, and a bottle of home-made moisturizing cream - which, by the way, is the "hot-diggedy bomb" and works absolute miracles on dry, cracked feet!! (My friend Sherri L. shared the moisturizing cream recipe with me and I'm going to share it with you in a few days as the "Recipe of the Week". After all, who says that a "Recipe of the Week" always has to be something you can eat?!?!?) Anyhoo, here are a few snapshots of the gifts I made...I'll be sharing step-by-step tutorials with you next week for these fun little projects:

Be sure to check my blog next week for the instructions to make all the goodies in the gift baskets!

Wishing you a fun and safe Mother's Day weekend!!