No Gift Required.

Every birthday Tash has been invited to, the invite always says "No gift required". I always hate to go empty handed so usually I like to buy a book because I know most parents welcome books and it's not another piece of plastic to clutter up the house.

This time, when Owen received the invite (he and Sammy's dad geek out every other Saturday) he was pretty adamant about no gifts. He told us she had enough plastic crap and did not need anymore 'junk'. He did make a list though of things she liked if "your wives" just can't come without bringing something. Owen never ended up forwarding me the email, only told me that R said no gifts, so I had no idea what Sammy liked or needed. I debated for a while getting her a gap gift card, but figured not everyone is crazy about kids clothes as I am, so in the end I took an idea from Julie's blog and made Sammy an Animal Catcher. I had done one before for Maya's 2nd birthday and figured Sammy would also enjoy it. Plus I was not breaking Rob's rules of "no plastic crap". It's a fun little card game that either Rob or Vicky can play with Sammy. :0)

I think they turned out really well! Although now that I've posted a photo I see I forgot to add the leaves to the Bird's branch so I'll have to do that before the party this afternoon. hehe Julie also wrote at the top of each one "Huggable Henry", "Manny the Lion", etc. but my writing is atrocious so I'd rather not ruin the cards by adding wording to them.

I could not find the band-aid tins locally, but was able to find an online store based in Edmonton, so when I planned to do this the first time, I ordered some extras knowing I'd probably give this as a gift to several of N's little friends.

Something I did not do or that I think Julie did was laminate them. I was considering doing that with my Xyron 5", but I did not have any of the laminate cartridges on hand. I think by laminating them it would really help with the wear and tear that a toddler will put them through. Also if she's like Natasha, she's probably going to start to eat them too after a time.

Recipe: Paper: Whisper White (2.5x3.25), Pretty in Pink (2.75x3.5) (I **think** those are the measurements!), Flowers for you DSP, Stamps: C.C. Designs, Ink: Various SU Markers, Accessories: Band-aid Tins, 1 3/8" circle punch, Scallop Punch.

Tomorrow I will hopefully have some cards to share for a Swap. Heather invited everyone in her downline to participate in the SU annual Convention Swap. You make up the front of a card (has to be with all SU Product, no retired sets!) and then receive back as many as you make. I'm not attending the convention, but she is and she's going to take all our cards, as well as hers when she goes at the end of July and then bring us back the swaps. I'm excited! It will be so neat to get so many diff. styles of cards!