Peaceful Boughs Christmas ornament in gold pizza box

I do love a woodland theme... and particularly a woodland-themed Christmas ornament, so it wouldn't be the festive season without one of these making its way into my craft classes!

I bought some MDF hearts from eBay, painted them white and then set to crafting by stamping them with the Birch Background stamp and Peaceful Boughs.

I embossed the boughs with clear embossing powder on top of the Mossy Meadow (hurrah for the Stamparatus!) and, because the Crumb Cake Birch image still wasn't quite dry that picked up some of the powder, too. I call this a happy accident! There's even a hint of glitter!

The box is die-cut (look out for the missing piece coming soon!) and given a window sheet insert which is stamped in Whisper White ink and heat set, then we wrapped our ornaments in stamped black tissue paper ready to give as a lovely handcrafted gift.

I don't like glitter because it can end up in our oceans but still have quite a bit left so I now only use it when mixed with glue or embossing powder. Here I mixed it with the clear embossing powder to stop it from going astray. It adds a touch of glitz to an otherwise quite understated project. 
 

Pizza box with shaker dome lid

Let's start the week off with an over-the-top, complicated project, shall we? Actually it's not as complicated as it first appears; it's just that I've overstuffed my dome and didn't have enough pizza boxes to make another one.

In fact, the hardest part of this project was cutting out the dome shape from the lid of the pizza box as you have to get through quite a lot of layers and the inside of the box has a plastic coating to make it food safe. Once that was done, it was just a case of assembling the pieces in the right order.

When die-cutting foil, you need either a really unblemished cutting plat on top, or a piece of scrap paper to protect it. Otherwise you will get imprints from the plate in the delicate foil surface. 

 

Bloom by Bloom mini pizza box and cards

Sale-a-Bration is over now, which means I now have time to show you the rest of my All-Day Craft Event projects. This was our morning project - a mini pizza box with four small cards inside (two of each design). 

Everyone’s kit contained – among other items – the Bloom By Bloom stamp set, a roll of Night of Navy Baker's Twine and some Butterfly Elements, which made it a very relaxed occasion as nobody had to wait around for stamps. The Butterfly Elements are no longer available as they were a Sale-a-Bration item, but the Frames Elements (146906) contain leaf sprigs and hearts, so would do a similar job.

Together, the box of small cards would make a lovely gift, or you could use the cards and use the box for a different present.

Mix It Up Monday: Best Birds and Tree Rings

I was in Ikea last weekend – twice, for my sins – and I saw some of their Christmas ginger biscuits on sale for 50p. I just knew they had potential so grabbed a couple of packs. 

My hunch that they would fit in the mini pizza boxes was correct, although they do need twisting a little, so I decorated a box and made a matching card for Mix It Up Monday, using a Fresh Fig combination from my In Color charts. 

I promise you there is Blushing Bride on there; I used it with my blender pens to colour in the flowers. Admittedly it is a little obscured by the Rose Red on top, but you know how I feel about pink!

For a tip on using background stamps, please head over to my Facebook page for a short video. It’s a fab tip, although I say so myself, and will save you both time AND money. Can’t say fairer than that!

Log slice ornaments with Carols of Christmas

I didn’t make swaps for OnStage this year, but made these gifts for my team members who attended. I kind of guessed they’d be popular so planned a class around them so you too can join in the fun!

Come along and find out how to make the Mini Pizza Boxes turn green and much more...

Some non-Halloween cat punch projects

Here are the cat punch projects I demoed at a party recently... the host is the only one of my customers who actually makes Halloween projects, so I was keen to show its versatility with some generic cards and gifts.

Pizza box
We sell these fab little boxes in the Autumn/Winter catalogue. They are food safe with a shiny interior, but the exterior can be stamped or coloured. I mixed some rubbing alcohol with a few drops of Cajun Craze reinker and sprayed it all over to get this lovely effect.

It’s embellished with a black rhinestone. I’m quite embarrassed to admit I didn’t even see these in the Autumn/Winter catalogue so have been colouring my silver ones with a Sharpie! And, of course, that gorgeous black vintage crochet trim – a must have, in my opinion!

The notecards
Inside I placed three 3" square notecards - we now sell the mini envelopes again, in the Autumn/Winter catalogue. They all use the Spooky Night DSP but the reverse sides, which can be used for any occasion (not weddings perhaps, unless it’s a Goth wedding!).

I made a belly band to go round it – you can just see the pumpkins peeping out from the inside, but you can’t see them when the box is closed. 

The badge
Inside the box I also popped a cat badge mounted on a decorated backing card.

To make these badges, I punched out 6-8 pieces of the white card that backs Designer Series Paper and stuck it together using Tombow, so that it will slip and is easier to line up. I topped it with a punched cat and then Versamarked all over the front so I could emboss it with clear powder, two or three times. Finally a badge clip was stuck to the bag using a heat gun.

Hope you like!