Free tutorials: Half-cracker gift box and triangle gift box

Well my brief “Christmas or not” series came and went; I’ve just not had time to make anything extra this week. I don’t know about you but I would rather have time off before Christmas than afterwards, so I can get all my preparations done. But never mind, it will all work out in the end, and then I get a good week and a half off to relax.

Friday was my last Crafty Friday of the year. I’m pleased to have kept this going all year, despite having to run sessions remotely. This month we made two boxes; a half cracker and a triangle box.

The half cracker uses a full sheet of A4 cardstock, and you need half a sheet of 12x12 or two 6x6 sheets, so it's pretty economical. It’s a pretty, reusable alternative to Christmas crackers, which you can refill every year and display on your festive table. Or you can simply use it as gift packaging for a small gift – my crafty Friday ladies seemed particularly keen on using it to gift a spirit miniature! That’s just how they roll...

 Download the tutorial and template for this project here 

I’ve used several different DSPs for these boxes, as I had leftovers to use up but I am particularly taken with the Most Wonderful Time papers from this amazing product medley. How I overlooked this I don’t know but I did manage to nab the refill pack before it went out of stock. 

The good news is that when I checked yesterday, the full product medley was still available and an absolute bargain at half price. Should be £65, now only £32.50 and you get stamps, dies, DSP, sticker sheets, tinsel and embellishments. A mega bargain, and a gorgeous one at that: you can order it here.

The triangle box starts with a sheet of A4 and uses less than a 6x6 piece of DSP. I have used Most Wonderful Time DSP for this project and decorated with a label cut with the Tasteful Labels dies and some trees from the Snow Globe Scenes dies. This ribbon gives it a hint of bling and goes with absolutely everything. 

This box uses Misty Moonlight cardstock (LOVE that colour) and the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper which has now retired. My new Rectangular Postage Stamp Punch makes for a quick label, stamped with Yuletide Pasture, which is retiring soon and currently reduced. 

Download the tutorial and template for the triangle box here

When making this box, you may feel that it’s not an economical use of cardstock but all those off-cuts are a decent size which can be used to make Christmas tags... 

These tags are all made using the Most Wonderful Time products, with the addition of greeting stamps and a little deer from the Snow Globe Scenes dies. Tags are a great way to use up any leftover elements from your Christmas cards, so don’t throw anything away! (What am I saying? If you’re reading this, you’re a crafter so you won’t throw anything away anyway!)

I hope you like these projects and enjoy making some Christmas boxes of your own. If you’re in the UK, please shop online using the December host code SX4NGWRH (unless you’re spending over £150!). And as a thank you for using the code, I will send you a handmade card and a thank you gift.

 

Sneak Peek Friday: Darling Donkeys

Want a sneak peek of what’s to come in January? Of COURSE you do!

This gorgeous stamp set is called Darling Donkeys and I predict it’s going to be this Sale-a-Brations BIG hit. You get three cute donkeys (one isn’t shown here) and a selection of greetings and they’re just perfect for colouring in and creating fun cards for children and the young at heart. Lots of potential for creating your own amusing greetings using alphabet sets or dies, too!

Check out what I’ve been making...

This one uses the gorgeous Flower & Field Designer Series Paper, which is also a SAB item. I’ve already warned my ladies that they’re really going to have to manage their SAB choices carefully this year as there are so many great things to choose from and only two months to earn them this time!

 

Yes, if you haven’t already heard, Sale-a-Bration is only running during January and February but stop! This is GOOD news for two reasons:

1. It only features stamps and Designer Series Paper, which don’t have any supply issues as they’re sourced in the UK (so no delays caused by Chinese New Year).

2. There will be ANOTHER Sale-a-Bration in July and August - yay! So you actually get a whole month extra of SAB. (We demonstrators get two whole months extra as SAB has started already for us – so if that’s a benefit you want to enjoy, please contact me via the email address in the side panel or click here if you are on a mobile and can’t see it.

This cheery yellow card uses the Dandy Garden Designer Series Paper which I know you’re going to love. Delicate dandelion clocks provide a subtle background to this sitting donkey.

And this card is an almost copy of a sample in the Sale-a-Bration brochure. It uses the Cinnamon Cider In Color DSP but I’d run out of Bumblebee DSP so made my hay bales using the Stacked Stone background stamp instead.

What do you think? Are the donkeys going to be on your SAB hit list?

 

Giant Year-End Clearout - save up to 50% on selected retiring items

Last chance to buy selected retiring items from Stampin’ Up!®’s August-December Mini Catalogue. Certain items are reduced so head on over to my online store to see, or check out the full list of retiring, carryover and returning items here. 

If you’re in the UK, please shop online using the host code here (unless you’re spending over £150, in which case don’t use the code!). I will send a thank you gift to everyone who uses the code; December gifts will be send in early January. 

Here are my top 10 picks, but remember, they’re only available while supplies last so could well have gone already!

Thank you for supporting my business and for using the host code!

 

Christmas or not? In The Pines watercolour card

If you’re like me, you'll still be making Christmas cards like an elf on strong coffee, so this post is for you as it features a fun Christmas card idea.

But if you're one of The Other People, who has not only made their Christmas cards but – worse! – maybe even written or POSTED them, then this blog post is also for you as it shows you a fun tree-themed card idea using one of my favourite stamp sets, In The Pines. 

 

 

This is the first in a very short series of blog posts on the theme of “Christmas or not’... showing cards designs which can be used for a variety of occasions.

This beautiful card idea came from Julie Kettlewell of the Paper Haven, who told me that she got the idea from Artisan Design Team member Nina.

I loved it and sat down to make it immediately. You know how I love a messy watercolour technique. And trees. Put them together and we have a project which is so far up my street that you can see my front door.

It’s simply a case of stamping onto wet paper, in this case Shimmery White. This gives you a lovely washy look to the images, and you can then spread the ink around a little more using a paintbrush or water painter.  

 

Watch Nina's video here

When it’s dry, you can splash it with Whisper White Craft ink but be careful! I ended up with a Jackson Pollock-esque streaks on my project and lovely little snowflake dots all over everything else... the table, my phone, my clothes and my hands. 

In Nina’s video, she squeezes ink onto a clear block to use it for splashing. I prefer to use an old embellishment container so you can put the lid on and use any leftover ink again and again.

 

 

For the Christmas version, I added a tiny star to the top of the tree from the All The Trimmings Embellishments pack. Leaving this off keeps the card neutral, so you can use it for pretty much any other occasion. I’ve stamped “thank you” from Beautiful Autumn, because that’s the type of card I needed.

 

But it would also make a great masculine birthday card for a man who loves the outdoors. Or you could send it to me because I love trees, as may have already mentioned.

 

Both are finished off with some gorgeous Linen Thread, which never goes out of style. I hope this never retires as I use it all the time!

Now a warning: don’t delay!

In The Pines and Beautiful Autumn are both retiring soon so if you want to get either of them, please don’t delay. Shop the retiring list tomorrow (Tues 8th) as some items will be reduced (In The Pines is full price but Beautiful Autumn will be reduced, in the UK at least) and there are some mega bargains to be had. All products will only be available while supplies last and shipping may take longer due to Covid and Christmas, so I strongly urge you to do your shopping tomorrow to avoid disappointment.

If you're in the UK, please shop online using the December host code SX4NGWRH (unless you're spending over £150!). And as a thank you for using the code, I will send you a handmade card and a thank you gift.

 

Sneak Peek: 10 cards using the Dandy Garden Suite

 

During December we demonstrators get the privilege of ordering from the new Jun-Jul Mini Catalogue - this is one of my favourite perks! Another perk was if we attended OnStage@Home we could order EVEN EARLIER from a smaller selection of products so I quickly snapped up a whole bunch from the Dandy Garden Suite.

This is a new mega-suite of products and, if you love the natural world as much as I do, you will LOVE it. So as a special end-of-week treat, here are not one but TEN projects using this fabulous Suite!

Indulge me while I wax lyrical about this gorgeous Suite for a moment. There are TWO gorgeous stamp sets – one with a co-ordinating dragonfly punch and one with co-ordinating dies.

There is an absolutely stunning pack of 6"x"6" Designer Series Paper packed with deep, rich colours, bold floral designs as well as delicate detailed monochrome sheets.

There’s a pack of fine laser-cut paper, including detailed dragonflies, intricate seed heads and delicate leaves. There are tiny bronze-effect ladybirds. And remember that beautiful woven linen thread we had before? It's back - but in Mossy Meadow.

I'm so excited about this suite that I'm sharing everything I've made with it so far. Some are adaptations of projects from the Stamp & Share section of OnStage@Home and others are actually completely from my own head (I know, right!).

Take a look at what I’ve been making...

These were some of the most fun to make as I got to use a new tool. We have some new blending brushes which are so pleasing to use and so effective – they give you a much smoother effect than blending with sponges.

I stamped my main images in Mossy Meadow, coloured them with Stampin’ Blends, then blended ink with the new brushes around the edges of the cardstock. Inspired by Stampin' Up!® concept artist Melody Hyde, I then stamped around the images with a greeting stamp, repeatedly and by stamping off onto scrap paper first. I really liked this effect when Melody demonstrated it at OnStage@Home.

I LOVE these dies, they are JUST what I've been craving. And don't they go perfectly with the Dandelions Embossing Folder which I've had for months but – gasp! –hadn’t used until I made this card. 

This Suite is perfect for the monochrome look. There are several sheets of DSP which are monochrome;in Misty Moonlight (as shown here), Blackberry Bliss (yum!), Bumblebee and Calypso Coral. Shall I tell you a secret about this card? It was supposed to have a folding back front, but I used the cutting blade instead of the scorer! Oops.



A splash of Bumble Bee goes so well with Misty Moonlight – this is one of our OnStage@Home Stamp and Share projects which we made during the event. 

This last card was a Northern Lights background which hadn’t gone quite to plan. It wasn’t working for the Christmas card I had planned but I think it looks great behind this Dandy Laser-Cut Paper and combined with some much-maligned Purple Posy.

I hope you love this Suite as much as I do as I will be holding a Big Event with it in February. Watch this space or my website for details. 

And if you can’t wait that long and want to get your hands on these fabulous products NOW, please get in touch about purchasing the Starter Kit. I would love to have you in my team so I can help you get the best value out of your Stampin’ Up!® crafting. Please get in touch via my website here. 

 

Winter Solstice Card for Holiday Blog Hop

Christmas may get most of the attention but there are many more December celebrations around the world and it is these which are the theme of our international Holiday Blog Hop, which has been set up to promote #stampingdiversity.

One of the oldest celebrations in the world is Winter Solstice, which has been around since long before Christianity. In fact, many Pagan traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice – cutting mistletoe, gift giving, decorating trees – were absorbed into Christmas celebrations and continue to this day.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is on 21st December; the shortest day and the longest night. I always welcome its arrival as it marks the turning point of the year and means the days will once again start to lengthen. 

To celebrate, I made this card using a variety of products and – surprise, surprise – a whole lotta sponging. Actually, I used a brand new Stampin’ Up!® product from the upcoming January-June Mini Catalogue. It’s a set of three Blending Brushes which are just amazing for getting all the look of sponging with a lot less risk of smearing. For ease, I’m going to use the term ‘sponging’, even though I used the brushes.

To get the huge setting sun (or is it a rising moon?), I die-cut a large circle from a piece of scrap paper to leave the aperture template, then laid a separate curved hill on top. I gently sponged inside here using Daffodil Delight.

Next I used the circle of scrap paper to act as a mask on top of the yellow sun, so I could sponge around in Seaside Spray and Night of Navy to represent the sky.

On top of this I stamped the row of trees from Winter Woods. Something was missing, though – you can’t have a huge sun/moon casting light over trees without some shadows. So I hand-cut a long, narrow triangle from another piece of scrap paper and used this as a mask to sponge with some more Seaside Spray. I didn't worry about creating shadows of the foliage as I knew my words would be covering this area.

I inked up part of the Season’s Greetings stamp from Peaceful Boughs with a Night of Navy marker and used this to stamp towards the bottom. 

Next I used the Playful Alphabet Dies to cut out the word ‘solstice’ from some In Color Designer Series Paper in Seaside Spray (oops! This is the old design!) – first backing it with a foam adhesive sheet to give it dimension and make it easy to stick down. Spacing was something of an issue, as you can see, and there was only just enough room on my piece of cardstock. This wouldn’t be an issue in North America, as their card bases are slightly wider.

I finished off with some Seaside Spray Scalloped Linen Ribbon and some cut-out leaves using Beautiful Autumn, one of my favourite sets from the Aug-Dec Mini Catalogue. 

Inside I echoed the DSP and leaves from the front and added a greeting from Peaceful Boughs, which seemed perfect for the occasion.

I hope you like my Winter Solstice card and it has inspired you to create a project for different holidays. Please now visit the rest of the blogs in the hop to see some amazing projects from talented Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrators around the world.

If you would like to order any of the products shown here, please visit my online store and shop using the December host code SX4NGWRH.