Gift bag tealight holder

The whole point of this project is that it contains a battery tealight, which illuminates the scene through the vellum. So why I failed to switch on the lights before taking the photo, I’ll never know. These were gifts for ladies in my yoga class and have now left the building, so you’ll just have to use your imagination, I’m afraid. 

They’re made using the Gift Bag Punch Board, which is actually almost as difficult to type as it is to say. Fortunately it’s easier to use and, to make this project you’ll need a sheet of A4 cardstock cut down to 11in x 6in, then you simply follow the instructions for making a MEDIUM bag.

Die-cut your window in one of the wider panels then create your scene using the Sleigh Ride Edgelits. The holes in the top were, in retrospect, a mistake, as it means you have to untie the bow every time you want to switch the light on or off, so you may want to skip that bit. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I make mistakes so you don’t have to!

Sleigh Ride Edgelits Dies [139670] £17.00	Gift Bag Punch Board [135862] £18.00	Circles Collection Framelits Die [130911] £24.00	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky [131292] £6.50
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315] £4.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	White Vellum A4 Card Stock [106584] £6.00

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Home for Christmas bambi cards... in a hurry

When you need a batch of Christmas cards in a hurry, it does help to be a Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator with lots of leftover Make & Take kits. I always prepare too many Make & Takes for parties as you never know if extra people are going to turn up, and I can use the extras for other events or, in this case, for myself. And a pile of Pool Party card blanks was just the job for this quick project, which is very closely based on this beautiful album created by French demonstrator Hélène Legrand. 

I love these little bambis, but wasn’t sure of the best way to use the Designer Series Paper effectively. Hélène’s idea to punch them out was perfect, as it allows the cuteness to stand out. The corrugated paper sets them off nicely; I don’t use this often enough and I love it. I ran out of wooden snowflakes while making these my cards, so switched to a punched star for the rest. 

Jingle All The Way Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139907] £14.00	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper [139592] £10.00	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314] £4.50	Kraft And White Corrugated Paper [138317] £6.50	Pool Party A4 Card Stock [124391] £6.50
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £7.25	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] £6.00	Snowflake Elements [139638] £5.50	Home For Christmas Enamel Dots [140536] £3.75	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments [119246] £4.50
1-3/4" Circle Scallop Punch [119854] £16.00	1-1/4" Circle Punch [119861] £14.50	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787] £15.50

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Sneak Peek: Botanical Blooms bundle from the new Spring/Summer catalogue

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts.

And today I have a Sneak Peek for you from the upcoming Spring/Summer catalogue and, drum roll please… Sale-a-Bration!

When I first saw the Spring/Summer catalogue, I diligently made my wish list on a spreadsheet and began working out class ideas. The Botanical Blooms didn’t even feature on the “might get” list. 

But then, as is so often the case, I changed my mind. I kept being drawn back to these wonderful tropical flowers and, in the end, I caved in. It’s so easy, see? Buy the Botanical Blooms bundle of stamps, dies and Designer Series Papers… and get a co-ordinating stamp set free. So that’s what I did: because Sale-a-Bration starts early for demonstrators to give us time to prep samples to tempt you.

If you can’t wait until 5th January for Sale-a-Bration and the new Spring/Summer catalogue to begin, you could always join my team and start the party early. Get in touch if you have questions or, if you’re the decisive type, just click here to get ordering. 

Catalogues will be winging their way to my hostesses shortly… as soon as I’ve written (made) their Christmas cards. If you’d like a catalogue, too, just shout up please!

I can’t give you product images as they’re too new but I used the following on this project:

• Botanical Blooms Bundle
• Botanicals For You stamp set (SAB)
• Pool Party cardstock
• Island Indigo cardstock
• Early Espresso cardstock
• Delighful Dijon cardstock
• Very Vanilla cardstock
• Pool Party ink pad
• Island Indigo ink pad
• Delightful Dijon ink pad
• Early Espresso ink pad
• Sponge Daubers
• In Color Markers, 2015-2017
• Island Indigo marker
• Basic Rhinestones
• Home for Christmas enamel dots

Caturday: It's Mayhem!

It’s Caturday – and it’s Mayhem! Well, probably... there are so many cats at Woodland Nook at the moment that I haven’t quite worked out which one is which.

I am not sure about his name but I do that he’s absolutely gorgeous. He was a new arrival when I saw him last weekend and he looked terrified to see me. But I kept things low-key and within minutes he was rubbing round me and rolling on his back.

His sister, whose name I’m afraid I don’t know but I’d like to think is Mischief, took a little more winning over. She just stared at me, wide-eyed and petrified, while I stroked her brother. But within a few minutes, she began to blink at me and I knew I was getting somewhere. With results that quick, I just know they are going to make fantastic pets for someone. In fact, I think the girl cat has already gone!

It’s mayhem here, too. Would you believe I haven’t made my Christmas cards yet? Or done much shopping. Sadly, it’s true, so both tasks are on the “to do’ list for today!

Simple festive Gift Bag using Punch Board

I’m crabby. I have a cold and I’m not taking it well. So the big long impressive tutorial I have for you will have to wait, and I’ll show you this simple gift bag instead. 

How simple? Pretty simple, if you use the Gift Bag Punch Board which, take it from me, is not that easy to say. Those who attended my team meeting on Saturday morning will know what I’m talking about. We had a lovely morning, keeping things very low-key with a few shared projects and a Christmas fuddle. It was a nice, relaxed atmosphere before the chaos of Christmas.

So, with the Gift Bag Punch Board, you can make three widths of box using the instructions in the pack. The height is, of course, variable. But even that seemed a little limiting to me, so I had a play around and have come up with some more fun projects you can make with this board. The result is that this is my favourite of the three punch boards currently available. 

Gift Bag Punch Board [135862] £18.00	Jingle All The Way Clear-Mount Bundle [140862] £26.25	Confetti Stars Punch [135861] £20.00
Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314] £4.50
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315] £4.50	Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments [119246] £4.50	Silver Cording Trim [139620] £4.50

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Mix It Up Monday: Clean and Simple Christmas stars

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts.

This one takes its inspiration from Germany. I am frequently drawn to the blogs of German demonstrators; I love their clean, classy style, particularly at Christmas. The demonstrators whose blogs I follow employ this “scattered elements” look to great effect and are big users of Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Smoky Slate. It’s a tasteful but subdued colour palette which doesn’t lend itself well to CASEing for a colour combination challenge.

Undeterred, I had a go at adapting the style for this week’s Mix It Up Monday project and came up with this fun card for Christmas. I die-cut the large star using the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set, which also has a strip of tiny stars, which I used for the red and green stars. The stamped star is punched out with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack star punch. 

And that’s it. Quick, clean and simple, with just a tiny hint of grey in the stamped background. Because, even though I love those German cards, I’m still not a big fan of grey. 

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments [119246] £4.50	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949] £6.00	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad [138324] £6.00	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179] £6.00
Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] £6.50	Cucumber Crush A4 Cardstock [138342] £6.50	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315] £4.50	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787] £15.50	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies [137547] £36.00	To You & Yours Too Photopolymer Stamp Set [139819] £14.00

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Caturday: Sally with Sophia, Gracie and George

A very belated Caturday today but hey, there are still six hours to go! Anyway, I thought a reminder would be good as we’re trying desperately to shift our cat shelter calendars to raise money for Woodland Nook. Not to mention the fact that a lot of blood, sweat and tears (mine) went into the creation of said calendar.

It’s a great calendar (although I say so myself), with lots of lovely pictures of cats and kittens, which have all been resident at Woodland Nook Cat Rescue in the past 12 months.

This week I wrote a press release about the calendar, which I’m happy to say was used in several local papers/websites. It featured this image, of volunteer Sally, showing off the calendar with the help of, from left, Sophia, Gracie and lovely, lovely George. (Shouldn’t have favourites but George is adorable!)

I’m off to Woodland Nook in the morning so if you want a calendar, please shout up and I’ll pick one up for you.

Also massive thanks to blog readers from California and Ontario, who once again have ordered multiple calendars as Christmas gifts. I won’t mention any names in the unlikely event that one of the calendar recipients is also a blog reader.

Frosted Christmas wreath

Last Friday’s wreath class was the first workshop I’ve held in our new kitchen/dining room combo and it worked a treat. So much more space to play with. 

Everybody began with this:

And ended up with this:

It’s a fabulous wreath design, so simple yet so effective. I have to thank Yorkshire demonstrator Monica Gale for the idea as it’s a project I made on her retreat in October. I’ve since seen a couple of similar wreaths for sale in shops, so the frosted look is very clearly on trend. 

It’s a pretty simple recipe: as well as your wreath (of course), some frosted berries (eBay), 40+ flowers (which I’d kindly and painstakingly already cut out for my class-goers), around 15 pine cones of various sizes, and some silver glimmer paper.  Oh and a hot glue gun is essential.

Now I’m wishing I’d bought extra wreaths as I fancy having a go at a red and gold version.  After all,  I do have quite a few pine cones left over…

Silver Glimmer Paper [124005] £4.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25

Originals Flower Spiral Bigz Die [129379] £16.00

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