Cute triangle treat boxes with Christmastime is Here

 

I saw this cute project on Facebook and just had to have a go. It's by UK demonstrator Gez Carpenter, who has helpfully provided a tutorial here. 

I skipped the diagonal scorelines as I didn't find them necessary and they still turned out ok. Cute, aren’t they? I filled them with tiny chocolate Santas (from Lidl) but I stupidly forgot to include those in the photo. I say “filled”... you can only fit about three in but that’s ok because it meant there were some left for me to test!

The body of the box is made from Christmastime is Here Designer Series Paper and slides out of the Old Olive Sleeve. Again, I don’t have a photo of that - what I can I say? I can only apologise and and say, in my defence, I have been poorly!

This tip could be life-changing... when I bought the Christmastime is Here Designer Series Paper, I confess it didn’t “wow” me. It just wasn’t for me. However, I soon realised that this meant I had no qualms about cutting it up and have now used nearly the whole pack! So from now on, I may just start buying the DSP that I don’t love, because then I will be more inclined to use it!

Want a more practical tip? Ok... don’t make the outer sleeve too tight or it it will be difficult to slide the inner box in and out.

Snow Front Christmas cards - in festive Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive

If you love stamping and the great outdoors, you will get LOADS of mileage out of Snow Front, I promise. You can use it all year round, not just at Christmas!

This is a back-to-basics colour combo that is a winner every Christmas: Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler. What's not to like?

Repeat stamp the tree without reinking, offsetting it to give you the impression of depth and perspective. Saves time, too!
 

Christmas Countdown meets You Always Deliver

This was one of those projects that looked better in my head. I was aiming for clean and classy but fear it may just be a little boring.

I set myself up with a bit of a task by deciding to colour in the berries individually. Turns out there are 50+ on each image... and I was making cards for all the customers who ordered at a party this month! Still, it turned out the thought was worse than the actual colouring and I finished them in a few minutes.

I’d been a bit reluctant to buy and use this stamp set because we don’t have cardinals in the UK... and then I realised, it makes the perfect crested tit!

My Pool Party ink pad was freshly re-inked, so I stamped off the background image to avoid it swamping the bird, which was stamped on top in Grey Granite. A few dots of silver give it a wintry feel. 

Simple Christmas card with Snow Front

How long does it take to make a card? How long is a piece of string? This quick card was stamped in less than a minute - I know this because one of the guests at the party was timing me.

I simply loaded up the Stamparatus and bish, bash, bosh: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive all stamped in seconds.

I finished it off with some gold accessories – ribbon and dots – from the Christmastime is Here Suite.

Set up the Stamparatus then practise your design on some scrap paper before stamping onto your note card. That way you can ensure your images are straight and where you want them. 
 

Three days of discounts on craft cupboard staples!

The Online Extravaganza starts today and runs until Friday! There’s 15% off selected cardstock and inkpads and a further 5% off eight selected bundles. The full list of discounted items can be found below. They should enlarge if you click on them.

If shopping online, please use the host code TFWJ239X

Thank you!

If shopping online, please use the host code TFWJ239X

 

Simple stamping with Peaceful Boughs - and a touch of metallic glamour

Handmade cards don’t have to be product-heavy or complicated... especially at Christmas when you might need dozens of them!

This is a really simple card to create - and would be even quicker if you used the Stamparatus for bulk making.

A touch of copper really lifts this card - and mixing your metallics is all the rage! This design would work just as well with the gold foil-edged cards and with any of the new metallic ink pads.

Perfectly Plaid goes green... and silver

Perfectly Plaid is one stamp set which you won’t regret adding to your Christmas craft stash. With the co-ordinating Pine Tree Punch, you can create great cards, tags and even bunting in minutes.

I’ve combined it here with the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper (silver side up) to add a touch of festive glitz.

When using a dark card base like the Mossy Meadow I've used here, you’ll want to line the inside of your card, either with a paper insert or a layer of Whisper White cardstock. Decorate it for your favourite recipients, or just stamp a simple greeting if you’re in a hurry. 

Team rewards slider pen boxes

There’s a big Stampin' Up!® event in Germany this weekend called OnStage Live... but unfortunately none of my team members, including me, were in a position to make the trip. 

Instead, we held our own event – OffStage Derby – with demonstrations, Make & Takes and even our own awards ceremony. I decided to award certain team members with these lovely Stampin’ Up!® pens in a handmade box. It’s simply a tray with a piece of DSP wrapped around it but the black foil cardstock adds a touch of glamour and the sentiment on top is sincerely meant! 

Rewards were not for top sales or recruiting but for making an extra effort – for example, one team member has worked tirelessly to create videos and blog posts and has finally been rewarded with two customers. Effort pays off in the end!

Make any sized box, to suit your gift, by drawing a plan around your gift on some grid paper. 

Read my 10-year-old tutorial here!

If you love Waterfront, you’ll also love Snow Front. And if you’re thinking “I have Waterfront so don’t need Snow Front as well,” then I’m afraid you’re very much mistaken as the two sets complement each other perfectly.

This was one of my Crafty Friday projects this week; the ladies could choose to make one of these designs or go their own way. Everyone made a fabulous card and was surprised at how easy it was!

I love the watercolour effect this stamp set produces, thanks to the different tones within each stamp. And I love its versatility, too; as well as Christmas, it would be great for birthdays, masculine cards, sympathy cards and much more. Trees are very much appreciated in our family so I can see it getting lots of use for birthdays!

The snowy hills on the left card are made by sponging Pool Party above a piece of torn scrap paper. My tip is to stamp the trees first, then add the hills. 

Bonus tip: When creating a scene with stamp such as Snow Front or Waterfront, it’s a good idea to practise on a piece of scrap card or grid paper first, until you are happy with the arrangement of images. 

Snow Front ornament

Snow front is my stamp set of choice for my November classes so I’ve been exploring different projects and techniques with this versatile set.

It has lots of fun elements which appeal to me – not least... TREES! I love trees and am always drawn to tree stamp sets in the catalogue. With the Autumn/Winter catalogue, this means I’m spoilt for choice and inevitably cave in and buy all of my favourites. This one is gorgeous - the watercoloured look of the stamps means it’s really difficult to go wrong and you can create some fun, festive scenes in minutes.

But why stop at cardstock? I stamped on this MDF circle to make a Christmas ornament to go on my tree. Or you could use it as an extra special gift tag, the choice is yours. We’ll be making this at my Crafty Friday class this morning and I’m confident they’ll love it.

After stamping my images, I used a fine paintbrush to add some Frost White Shimmer paint to the cottage roof and the trees, then spritzed the whole lot with a mix of Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint and alcohol to give it a fantastic shimmer. Not sure this comes across in the photo but it is extremely shimmery!

PS: I’ve just noticed one of my rhinestones has fallen off! I think Glue Dots would help to keep them on the MDF surface. 

The MDF circle was a little dark so I swiped it with Whisper White craft ink before I began stamping. Bonus tip: stamp your scene onto a circle of scrap cardstock or paper before you commit to the project! 

Snow Front one-layer thank you cards

I actually really like Simple Stamping, although it can be a challenge at times, when you're just itching to use your shiny new products.

Thankfully, the shiny new product in this case was Snow Front, one of the most versatile stamp sets in the Autumn/Winter catalogue. It’s what I call “a stamper’s stamp set” which I know sounds a little silly because, well, aren’t they all? But there are those of us who love colouring, those who love assembling projects and those who love the art of stamping to create a scene. Or maybe it just depends on your mood at the time!

You can see from the stack of cards that they’re virtually identical. And if I tell you that I made all of these and more in half an hour, I think you’ll guess that I used the Stamparatus. It’s a real boon for bulk crafting!

You don't always have to place your card in the corner of the Stamparatus. Because my images were overlapping the edge of the project, I marked a place on my grid paper and placed my card within the lines each time. This wouldn't work for super-precise stamping (eg if you were embossing and needed to stamp exactly in the same spot) but it's ideal for a project like this, where "near enough" is good enough!
 

Fox in a box... and on a box

It was my friend Donna who accidentally gave me the idea to put a shaker dome inside a pizza box lid, so it seemed only fitting that I should use this same idea to package her birthday gift. And, as her gift was a fox brooch (she loves foxes), this image from Nature’s Beauty was ideal. It’s coloured with Watercolour Pencils (Assortment 2) and blender pens.

The ribbon is actually four pieces, all held together with Glue Dots. Why make life difficult for yourself? I started with a loop, joined at the back. A second loop goes around the centre, again joined at the back. Then I cut two more pieces to poke out from beneath.

Simple Stamping onto gold foil-edged cards

I don't know about you but when Christmas gets closer and that dreaded final posting date looms, I no longer have time for fancy craft projects? I know that's a way off yet but I like to inspire my customers to make #simplestamping projects such as this one, which I made with my Cuppa & Card ladies this month. The foil-edged cards do a lot of the work for you!

Yes, I confess I used dies to make my sample but you could easily cut them out with scissors - and, in fact, that’s just what we did at the Cuppa & Card sessions.

 Because the border is a shiny foil surface, you're probably safe to stamp onto it and it should wipe off but, to be on the safe side, we masked the border with a sticky note before stamping the bough.