Blog MAKEOVER and Pillow Box of Love for Emily!

Happy Friday, my sweet friends! I hope you've had a beautiful week! :o)

It's looking drastically different around here and I am ECSTATIC! Heartfelt thanks to the sweet and talented Robin of Robin's Creative Cottage for turning my blog into something even more stunning than my heart envisioned. I fell in love with a digital scrapbooking kit and she transformed it into this lovely blog design. I love every single inch of it, from the gorgeous header to the fluttering butterflies to the scattered pearls to the elegant flourishes... and beyond! She made me swoon over my button. :o) The creative journey was so fun and truly inspiring. She is such a joy to work with. Thank you, Robin! :o) Now I just need to fill in the remaining fun labels with my friends' buttons and favorite sites! How fun!

I was so rushed that I wasn't able to share the contents of Emily's I Feel the Love pillow box before I mailed it out. There is such joy in creating, especially when you know it will brighten the heart of a cancer-battling little girl. The process might hurt the heart, but that merely motivates me to make time for one more little blessing as the deadline approaches...

Emily loves arts and crafts, so I made a selection of Create a Critter animals and cupcakes for her to create with or simply play with, along with a sparkling rainbow of butterflies. In the back are the two cards I made for her, previously posted HERE and HERE. I wanted to see how happy they would all look together. :o) (Although I took the photograph before adhering the kitten card's sparkly interior... oops!)

A partial close-up of most of the goodies... I pray that they bring her joy. :o)

The butterflies are all sparkly paper, so I think she'll have a lot of fun with them. I can't wait for them to flutter onto her lap when she opens the pillow box... there are approximately 26 butterflies, so that will be fun. Teehee. I thought it would be neat for her to have bigger versions of the two animals I made for her cards, so I included those in her gift. The sweet deer has a twinkle in her eye via Stickles because she's twinkling with love for Emily. :o) And yes, I officially made my 1,000,001st sparkly penguin, this time with a sparkling purple scarf since she adores that color. A purple hippo was a must, as was a sweet button-centered snail. I certainly couldn't send her a gift box without some sweets, so I made two cupcakes in my favorite "wrappers"... I wish I could take her out for cupcakes. :o)

Thank you for fluttering on by and I wish you a beautiful day! I am just over the moon... Robin designed my blog so brilliantly and I would not change a thing. Thank you once again, my new and wonderful friend. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridge: Create a Critter
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: D'vine Swirls, Swiss Dots
 * Peachy Keen Stamps: Critter Faces, Medium
 * Paper: Bazzill, Core'dinations, DCWV, Heidi Grace, Magnolia, My Mind's Eye, SEI
 * Butterfly punch: Martha Stewart Small Monarch
 * Twine: My Craft Spot (Grape Fizz, Strawberry Cupcake, Twisted Lime)
 * Miscellaneous: Button (My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie); Heart rhinestone on hippo (Recollections); iRock