Time for the October OOTBS!

Phew! It's been absolutely CRAZY around here lately! September seemed to fly by in a blink, and here we are at October already. I have several September projects to get you all caught up on, but today's spotlight is on the October Out of the Box Sampler! We participated again this month, and thanks to the overwhelming demand in our Facebook poll for them, this month's treat is a vampire cupcake upcycled bottle cap magnet!

Vampire cupcake...rawr!

Seriously, how cute is this little guy?? The magnet is massively strong so don't be afraid to have it hold up your most important papers on the fridge...filing cabinet...locker...anywhere metallic!

Those purchasing a box that are lucky enough to get one of my little magnets will find a small story about our upcycling and a coupon code good for the month of October, all bundled up in a black bag. Hey, it is Halloween!

All the spooky contents

All packaged up and ready to go!

The samplers go on sale TONIGHT, October 1st, at 8pm EST. Hurry hurry!

My Review of the August OOTB Sampler

One major perk of sending in 100 samples to the Out of the Box Sampler is that you're gifted one of the standard sized boxes. :D Mine came on Monday and I couldn't wait to tear into it. The following is my thoughts and reactions to the goodies inside.

Please note: I am brutally honest. If someone takes offense to that, I'm sorry. If anything I'd rather you walked away with thoughts on how to improve and really wow people next time. I have not been compensated for this, these are my own, stubborn thoughts.

Part of the fun is just opening the Priority Mail box to see how Michelle dressed up the boxes this time. Seeing as this month's theme was Sand in Your Shorts, I expected thoughts of beaches...and she didn't disappoint.

One pretty box and the separate food stuffs

First peek inside the box!

As always, there was a treasure trove of goodies awaiting me inside. Soaps, candles, and other treats all nestled together. I always love seeing the care that most companies put into their packaging and choosing something to match the theme. Yes, I said most...some I look at and go 'this is great, but what does it have to do with the theme? Nothing? Sigh.' Anyway, back to the goodies!

Food stuffs...yum!

Sneaky Cakes sent a delicious-smelling spice rub and Kline Farm was back again, this time with honey sticks. This is the only evidence I have that there were honey sticks...soon as my husband saw them, they were GONE! Only problem here was that the rub had a slight leakage problem in mine. No problem, nothing was ruined and that's why the food is packaged separately.

I separated everything out as I went and the piles wound up like this:

Bath Goodies

Tart Warmer Candles

Paper Crafting Goods (no, I did not get my own card)

Other; earrings from Kyote's Kreations

Overall, a very nice box of goodies. I still have more soaps than I know what to do with (I'm not even through the ones I got in June & July!) but at least I don't have to buy any for a while, right? ;)

There were, however, some items that I found disappointing. First and foremost, the sample from Lost Lemonade.

Ok, I give up...what IS it??

I have no idea what it IS! I'm surmising that it's a bath product as that's what the label says they make, but what IS IT?!? Yes, obviously I can go online and find out from their store, but why should I have to? A little label on top telling me what to do with it would go a long way. I did browse their store; looks like it might be the tea foot soak.

Here's what I consider the other disappointments, for various reasons:

My personal offenders list

Lost Lemonade is in there for not describing what their product is. Recherche I found guilty of the same thing, though I do believe it's soap. I also have no idea how it's beach related. Queen Vanna's Creations and Creations by Johnny Leigh also weren't beach related and I thought Better Body Better You was pushing it with the foot detox. Creations by Johnny Leigh sent the quilled photo mat, and honestly, I find it poorly done. If I saw it at a craft show, I wouldn't buy it. Queen Vanna & Better Body Better You also disappointed me further; these are the exact same samples that were in my box from them last month. I would have liked them to send something new for me to get excited about.

Ok, enough about the items that bummed me. Everything else I'm excited to try, and I really adored the packaging and creativity on these:

Soap wrapped like taffy, pretty packaging, and watermelon soap!

I love it when people get creative. :)

There are two different boxes to buy next month - the Think Pink box and the Golden Ticket, both of which have portions donated to charities. I'm not in those personally, but I'll be back again in October for the Halloween box! There are still a few boxes available this month if you want one of your own!

Until next time,

Time for the August OOTBS!

Yay, it's sample box time again! We contributed once again, this time to the August Sand in Your Shorts sampler box. Want to see what I made 100 of this time?

Lighthouse Note Card in a Glassine Bag, Stamped with a Shell

What do you think?? I stamped a pretty lighthouse scene in sepia ink on my favorite speckled card stock, then added in some color throughout the scene. The lighthouse keeper's house, stripes on the lighthouse, the rocks, and the ocean...much like the wildflower cards I have in the shop.

Lighthouse Note Card

I wanted something pretty to tuck them in, so I picked up some glassine bags. They're pretty, stampable, and reusable!

Stamped Glassine Bag

Close-up of the Seashell

They looked so pretty when I tucked the card, envelope, and shop note in the bag. It made me wish I was back on the beach!

Finished Package

Do I have you wanting one yet? The sampler boxes go on sale TONIGHT right on the website. Snag one while you can! If you miss out, drop me a line...I might be persuaded to make a few more. ;)

Enjoy!

It's Giveaway Time!

We promised that once we hit 100 'likes' on Facebook that it would be time for a giveaway. Well, as of this morning we're at 135 likes! Wow! I admit, it's a lovely feeling knowing that people like what you create...or at least pretend to. :)

Up for grabs is one of our new tea light gift sets!

Aren't they just adorable?? We've taken white, unscented tea lights and decked them out with gorgeous card stock. They come all wrapped up in their little clear sleeves topped with more card stock and some pretty ribbon. Perfect for gift giving...even if it's just a gift for yourself!

So, how do you enter? Just head on over to the Out of the Box Sampler Giveaway page on Facebook! (It's one of the perks of being a member, we get to use all the fun toys.) Follow the instructions there and you'll be entered to win! Totally easy, right? Hurry though, the giveaway closes on August 3rd and the winner will be notified shortly thereafter.

If you'd like to see all of our new tea light gift sets, they're available in the store. They're part of our Christmas in July sale going on RIGHT NOW. 30% off the entire store, but hurry, the sale ends on 7/22 at midnight!

Good luck! :)

Jumping on the Instagram Bandwagon

http://instagr.am/p/ME6ZC_AKq3/

My first Instagram photo! It only crashed my phone three times, but hey...nothing is perfect, right?

Welcome to the preview of the card that will be gracing the August Out of the Box Sampler kit! It's actually stamped in sepia, but this filter actually worked with my craft room lights...as in it doesn't look hideous. LOL

Feel free to follow me on Instagram at Caffeinated Papercuts. I'll get the hang of this new toy yet!

June Out of the Box Sampler and Giveaway Information!

Over on Etsy is a team called the Out Of The Box Sampler, or OOTBS for short. Each month small business on Etsy get their handmade items together and send them in to Michelle to package them up into boxes of absolute fun! There's a different theme each month and some months have a special box with a special theme, usually around holidays. June is one of those months with a special Men's Father's Day Sampler Box coming out today!

Seeing as I'm insane always looking for a new challenge, I signed up to create 100 special, limited edition greeting cards just for the Men's Father's Day Sampler Box. Seeing as they go on sale tonight, along with the regular June box of Hollywood Glitz & Glamour Girl, I thought now was the time to reveal what our cards look like! Ready?

 

One each of the color combos and sentiment stamps

I really, really love how they came out. The stamp set is from Unity Stamp Co. and is really perfect for any dude in your life. There are 5 sentiments with the set, so I used each one 20 times. I then scattered those across the 6 different background paper & shirt combinations I made, which you can see here. There were a few here & there that were a different combo, but you get the idea. Lots of cutting, inking, stamping, and more cutting went into these! They were then topped off with some very manly twine and layers of dimensional dots. Each box will contain one of these manly cards. I call them limited edition as I am OUT of the paper I used for all the backgrounds! So even if I do these again, they won't be the same.

Here are some close-ups of the various colors:

Brown stripes with ivory shirt & green diamonds with ivory shirt

Dark brown stripes with green shirt & yellow diamonds with purple shirt

Green plaid with yellow shirt and wood grain with blue shirt...and the shadow of me taking the photo!

You can see all the different sentiments used as well: the man, stud, my guy, father, my dad. I like how they would work for your father, husband, brother...really any guy!

One last close-up, this one showing all the dimensional layers:

The shirt, frame behind the shirt, and sentiment are all popped up

Have I convinced you that you simply must have one? Ok! Here's where you can go tonight, June 4th, to buy a box: OOTBS Team Shoppe. If you're curious to see what else is in the box, check out the list of participating business on the OOTBS website.

I know this is a really long post, but for hanging in there with me here's the fun part: we're almost to 100 'likes' on FB! If you haven't already, head on over to the Caffeinated Papercuts FB page and give us a thumbs up. Mention that you found us via the blog, it makes me feel warm & fuzzy to know that someone is reading it. :) Once we hit 100 'likes', there's going to be a GIVEAWAY! Woohoo! Who knows, maybe one of these cards will be in it...hmmm...

Ooo, baby's asleep! I'm off to craft - later!