Encre, papier, ciseaux

Easter Basket

Inspiration: Global Design Project #235 (Easter)

I wanted to give chocolate eggs to my nieces and I initially wanted to use the mini-egg cartons I got from Stampin' Up! a few years ago. Unfortunately, the Kinder eggs are slightly too big to fit in it, so I looked through my packaging dies to find something else. When I found the Berry Basket die, I knew it would be fast and cute, so I paired it with the Hip Hip Hooray collection from Simple Stories and I added a handle using the Tasteful Trims die. The backside of the gingham paper had cut-aparts, so it made for a strange look, so I die-cut a second rickrack piece and glued to back to back with the first so that I would have gingham on both sides. I've purchased flowers from the Prima Surfboard collection which were the perfect shades to go with the Simple Stories collection, so I used my glue gun to add a few flowers to the handle. (Glue dots would have worked but I've noticed my nieces tend to play with the boxes I give them, so I'm trying to make them as sturdy as possible.) I had yellow twine that I was trying to work in the design, but it was not looking great on the handle, so I decided to tie bows on all four corners instead. Again, because I was worried the bows would come undone when handled by little hands, I added a dab of hot glue on each one, hoping this will prevent them from coming undone. 

The basket felt a little empty and I didn't want the eggs to move around too much, so I looked around for tissue paper and I found some clear packaging with white chevron on it. I thought it would look cute, so I cut a piece down to size and placed it inside the basket to fill it out a little. 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Hip Hip Hooray (Simple Stories)
Flowers: Big Waves, Wave Crest - Surfboard Collection (Prima)
Dies: Berry Basket Bigz L Die, Tasteful Trims Bigz XL Die (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Stapler, So Saffron Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!);
Chevron Clear Packaing (Upcycled)

 

Not So Basic Mittens

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #528 (Any winter holiday)

After spotting the Plush Frosty Mitten die in my stash, I decided to put it to use to make something for this Christmas season. Initially, I was thinking of using the felt I had found at the dollar store recently, but I realized I had already made felt mittens before and it might be more fun to see how it'd look out of patterned paper. I found some old Basic Grey holidays paper leftovers and I put together the turquoise mitten. 

Initially, when I cut the mitten pieces, I was planning on having the pattern on both sides of the mitten. I soon found out that you have to remember to turn the paper around before die-cutting the second mitten side so that the fingers line up when you put the pattern on the outside! Rookie mistake... Usually, I would have corrected with another piece, but because I was working with leftovers, that wasn't a option, so I used the aqua side and I added a die-cut snowflake to decorate the front of the mitten instead. I added a pompom from the pack that was also part of my dollar store run. The fun sparkly thread is another recent find from the craft store. It's DMC Étoile thread. I like that it has shine without being as stick as Kreinik thread is. I purchased it to use in my cross stitching projects, but it became a perfect option to stitch the mittens. I used some tinsel trim to make a loop and added buttons as well. (I used my glue gun to add the pompom and the button.) I had found some peppermint candy canes at the dollar store, so I slipped one inside. I discovered that the paper mittens are stiffer than the felt version so that don't open up as much and therefore cannot contain as much. My idea to slip if candy inside along with the candy cane sort of fell by the wayside. I did like the result so much, though, that I decided I wanted to make some more to share at the office. I made seven more, each one different, going through the rest of my Holidays Basic Grey papers (and reminiscing all the while about the Basic Grey glory days). Because my additional mittens were not solid, I switched the snowflake on them to a more substantial version so that it would show up better and I used bigger pompoms to keep the proportions right.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Red Metallic Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Basic Grey
Dies: Plush Frosty Mitten (Memory Box); Snow Crystals (KaiserCraft);
Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Thread: DMC Étoile
Accessories: Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Pompoms, Candy Canes (Dollar Store);
Tinsel Trim (Stampin' Up!)

 

Advent Calendar 25th Box

Inspiration: Festive Friday #49 (Flocking + Metallic Paper + Embossing Folder)

I filled an Advent calendar with craft supplies for my niece last year and she really loved it. She not so subtly told me this year she would love to have one again. It was already in the plans, so she's been opening her little doors diligently throughout December. When I placed my preorder, I picked the flower punch as a freebie, planning to gift it to her. She loves punches and I think she was hoping to have a flower one, so this was perfect. 

I've recently received a point reward from Sephora that was packaged in a cool polka dot box, which I made sure to keep so that I could upcycle it. It was the right size for the punch, so I delicately opened the box and lined the clear window with an embossed piece of red foil paper to hide the content of the box. I also peeled back the point sticker from the window and was happy to find out it was coming off easily without leaving any glue residue behind. I placed the punch inside along with the black shredded paper I've recycled from the gift and I tied a piece of striped vanilla satin ribbon and a piece of red pompom trim around the box. To finish it off, I added a folded tag with the number 25 die-cut on it so this will be her gift for the 25th of December. (The Advent calendar was ending on the 24th.)

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Accrochés avec soin (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Red Foil Paper, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: various scraps
Accessories: Washi Tape (Michaels); Fold-Up Tags Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Alphanumeric Script Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Fallins Petals Embossing Folder,
Vanilla Striped Satin Ribbon, Real Red Pompom Trim (Stampin' Up!)

 

Winter Mitten

After I found felt at my local dollar store, which you've seen me use on my Cocoa Stand card, I thought I would pull out the Plush Frosty Mitten dies from Memory Box and make some mittens with it. I wasn't feeling all that inspired until I started wondering how the die would look paired with patterned papers intead. So I went to the patterned paper I've put aside to work on upcoming projects and I found some old Basic Grey holiday collections. I selected a few scraps and die-cut the pieces I needed. I used some new DMC étoile I found at my local craft store. I really like it because it's sparkly, but much softer than metallic thread, so it made stitching much easier and faster. To make life easier for myself, I stitched the mitten first and then the cuffs separately and I used adhesive strip to add the cuffs in place.

I had initially planned on having patterns on both sides of the mittens, but I messed up when I die-cut the pieces, forgetting that I had to use the backside of the paper for the second piece, in order to have the pattern I wanted out on the outside of the mitten once I put the two pieces together. Instead of wasting paper, I used the aqua piece and decided to decorate it with a die-cut snowflake and to add a pompom in the center. I found those at the same place I found the felt, and I like them because they have metallic flecks in them (silver on the white pompoms, and the assortment also includes red and green). I used my glue gun to add the pompom, the buttons and the loop for hanging the ornament.

The initial idea for the mittens was to prepare holiday gifts for the office, with a few treats stuck in them. What I found is that the felt version will let you slip stuff inside easily. The patterned paper version - not so much. It's too stiff. I was able to slide a candy cane in, but I don't think it'd accomodate much more. That being said, it makes a cute ornament.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Blitzen (Basic Grey)
Dies: Plush Frosty Mitten (Memory Box); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Buttons: Autumn Leaves
Pompoms: Dollar Store
Floss: DMC étoile (C816, C699)

 

Something Old, Something New...

No, I'm not sharing anything wedding-related today, but I did pair a very old die with some new patterned papers and Tim Holtz dies to make the cute little Christmas basket I'll be sharing today. Case in point to prove how old the basket die is: is what part of the original Big Shot flyer when Stampin' Up! added the die-cutting machine to its offering in 2008. (Wow, I didn't realize I've had my Big Shot and this die for this long before I did the math, but I remember the announcement was made at the first convention I ever attended, which is how I remember the exact year.) The reason I remembered about this die today is that Stampin' Up! announced this week that they won't be doing their Stampin' Success magazine anymore. This is a bummer since this was a staple of the company for a very long time, but people tend to get their information online nowadays so I can see how they felt that the magazine was maybe not the best medium to make information accessible anymore. Anyway, I was going through some old magazines and when I found the Stampin' Sucess, I leafed through them to reminisce. I jotted a few notes of stuff I was seeing that could spark inspiration for upcoming projects and one of those notes was to pull out the basket die again, which I hadn't used in ages. 

For patterned papers, I pulled out the Winter Wonderland paper from Heidi Swapp. I was so in love when I saw it online - and then when I got the actual pack, I was really bummed at how washed out the colors were. While I love the patterns, they're really faded in person so I wasn't sure how exciting they would turn out on project. I had planned to buy single sheets initially, and I quickly figured out that the paper pad was definitely more economical, so now I have this big stack that I'll try and use best as possible. I figured I'd pair them with the basket die. I started die-cutting the pieces for the basket and as I was putting it together, I realized that the paper are one-sided and that the inside of the basket is therefore left blank, which is a little boring. I hesitated for a moment - do I stamp the backside of the pieces? Ink them? Do I switch to another paper collection altogether?

What saved the original basket was the fact that I spotted the Deck the Halls - Colorize dies on my desk and  realized that the colors of the papers would work well with the die-cut pieces, so I got working on them. My first idea was to simply add a bow to the top of the basket handle. It looked a little empty, so I decided I would do two leaves on each side. But because we die-cut by colors, I also had the other twigs and berries, so I added those as well and then I decided the pinecones would look really cute.

I was then debating about adding a piece of fuzzy trim at the bottom of the basket, but at that point, I got curious about how adding the strings from the same die kit would look. I tried just one to start and found out it's the perfect length to go from one side of the basket to the other. I kid you not, it reaches the seam precisely. So I die-cut a few more, added the smaller bows which were already die-cut from my first pass anyway, and I picked red tinsel to add to the bottom of the basket. I was then wondering if I should do a tag or sentiment somewhere. I looked in the paper pad for something neutral to stamp on and I realized that the papers have a strip that you can cut away, but it has some patterns on it. The one I picked had a tag that said "from:" on it. I thought it would look great if I signed my name on it and then when I give the basket away, the person will know who it came from. I added a punched border to make it prettier, punched a little tree from a sheet of patterned paper and added two gold pearls, plus an extra bow at the top that I had leftover from die-cutting a green string.

Considering how uninspired I was when I started the basket, I'm really happy with where I landed. I love this die set from Tim Holtz, I think that the individual small pieces will be really easy to incorporate in various designs. I'm especially looking forward to using those strings some more!

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Bazzill, Craft Smith
Patterned Paper: Winter Wonderland (Heidi Swapp)
Dies: Basket & Blooms Bigz XL (Stampin' Up!/Sizzix)); 
Deck the Halls - Colorize (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Metallic Pearls, Border Punch, Circle Punch, Stampin' DImensionals, 
Stampin' Write Marker, Red Tinsel Trim (Stampin' Up!)

 

Treats Takeout

After finishing my scrapbook page, I decided to use the leftover papers and stickers to make more treat boxes, which I plan to give to my office colleagues. This was really quick - I used the die from the set to create little insert to go in the front and back, and matted them using the Perfect Layers rulers (which are great when working with wonky angles). I used Black Foil paper and Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper for a touch of shimmer. The candy jar sticker was too big, so I cut the bottom off, and after gluing it in place, I covered the jar with Glossy Accents. Those are probably the simplest takeout boxes I've done so far. (See Batch 1, Batch 2 and Batch 3.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Bewitched (Echo Park)
Cardstock: Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Black Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Takeout Framelits (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Hocus Pocus Tote Bag

Inspiration: The Inspired By Challenge #95

I wanted to use my Hocus Pocus stamp set before Halloween rolled around and I got the idea to pair it with my Tote Bag die. The colours from the inspiration picture reminded me of Doodlebug Design patterns, so I picked paper from the Booville collection. I was inspired to create an opening and add some Pearlescent Vellum in it. I was looking at my Outside In dies to see what I had that would leave stitching on the bag and the star shape caught my eye. I initially started with the opening only and I realized I could use the Sttiched Star Frames to add a second colour around the star as well.

I coloured my images with Copic markers, die-cut them and arranged them on the front of the bag using black Stampin' Dimensionals. I added a few Crystal Stars and some Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (love adding those on my projects, they are tiny and subtle but they give the best shimmer). I tied Black/Melon Mambo twine around the handle.

For the back of the tote, I simply used the star shape leftover from the front of the bag (the green backside), I added a stitched frame around it using Lovely Lipstick foil paper (offered during Sale-A-Bration last Spring), glued a button in the center and realized I hadn't used my spider image on the front, so I was able to add it to the back and fill in the space with it. I'm already done with my treat bags for the office, but this one might go to my niece. It's cute and colorful, so I think it would be right up her alley. I could fit a Kinder egg in there or a couple mini boxes of Smarties.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hocus Pocus (Waffle Flower)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Lovely Lipstick Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Booville (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Hocus Pocus Dies (Waffle Flower); Tote Bag, Outside In Stitched Star Stackables Dies,
Stitched Star Frames Dies (Lawn Fawn); Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More);
Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh); Markers (Copic); Black Stampin' Dimensionals,
Black/Melon Mambo Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Two Final Halloween Takeout Boxes

Inspiration: Fusion Challenge

I needed two more takeout boxes to round out the number I needed for the office. I pulled out the Witches' Brew Designer Series Paper from a couple of years ago and put together those simple but adorable takeout boxes. The first was decorated with the Pumpkin Patch stamp set and the second with the Spooky Cat stamp set (both retired).

To play on the takeout theme, I wanted to tape an "order receipt" to the top of each boxes, with the name of my coworkers on it. I wasn't sure how to go about it, but I found a stamp that says "Special Delivery" in last year's hostess set In the City (probably meant for baby cards, but perfect here), so I stamped it repeatedly on a strip of Very Vanilla cardstock, tore the top and cut the sides with pinking scissors. Then, I handwrote the name of the person the box goes to and taped the receipt to the top of the box (or the back, in one case where the ribbon bow was in the way).

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Pumpkin Patch, Mystérieux félin (Spooky Cat)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla
Designer Series Paper: Witches' Brew
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark, Pumpkin Pie, Smoky Slate, Basic Grey
Accessories: Takeout Framelits Dies, Pumpkin pie Satin Ribbon,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber
Non-Stampin' Up! Accessories: Candy Corn Twine (Lawn Fawn);
Black Glitter Washi Tape, Foil Paper Dots, Pinking Decorative Scissors (unknown sources)

 

Coffin Box

Inspiration: Simon Says Wednesday (Halloween) + Color Throwdown #565

I made a pit stop at Michaels this week and the Halloween items were at half price. They had their coffin dies set left and i decided to bring one home. I was curious to see if I could turn it into a coffin box. I've been mulling over the idea for a couple of days and the Color Throwdown combo finally pushed me to go for it. There was a lot of fidgeting and it's definitely not perfect from every angle, but it's cute. I forgot to take one measurement and the one that I estimated was wrong, so I had to play around to cover my mistake, but I consider that a learning experience for the next time I give this box another try. One of the elements I'm happy I added was a second layer to the die-cut to make the top wider. My die-cut layer is embossed with the Stylish Scroll folder and I added a second piece of black cardstock, which I cut 1/8" larger using the Perfect Layers ruler. I die-cut the spider from the same die set out of grey cardstock and hung it from a piece of silver metallic thread. The bottom of the coffin seemed a little bare, so it became the perfect place to add a sentiment. I found "Open if you dare" in a retired Halloween set, in the perfect size and font, and I was able to fit it into one of the Ornate Frames dies from Stampin' Up! I've been raving about those and as you can see, they're useful for various different projects.

The purple cardstock was stamped with an unmounted wheel design. I wanted to line the inside of the coffin with ribbon and most of my spools were not wide enough to fill in the space. I did find a striped vanilla satin ribbon that was just the right size: it was slightly larger than the box, which was perfect because it gave the satin a little bit of poof when I glued it in place. I also added striped satin ribbon around the coffin.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Large Wheel (name?), L'entrée du cimetière (Graveyard Gate - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Highland Heather, Smoky Slate, Silver Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Highland Heather, Basic Black, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Ornate Frames Dies, Stylish Scroll Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Vanilla Striped Satin Ribbon,
Black Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Grey Striped Satin Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Coffin Dies (Recollections); Grape Crush Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp)

 

Christmas Tree Tag

This project started with recycling leftovers from another project. A couple of weeks ago, I made a shaker card with the Stitched Tree Frames dies from Lawn Fawn. I used black foam to create the shaker edge, so I was left with the inside part of the tree both in foam and in patterned paper. I knew this would make a great tag so I put those die-cut elements aside to reuse later. Yesterday, I was looking at some Christmas washi tapes on my desk and thought they would make great ribbon for the tree, so I started decorating it. I also got the idea to add the fun red trim Stampin' Up! currently sells in its Holidays catalogue. I then stamped and watercolored cute images from the Snow Fun Avery Elle stamp set, using my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.

I die-cut a second piece of patterned paper from the Merry Little Christmas pack from Pebbles for the back, glue everything together and I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole at the top. I looking in my box of ribbon scraps (once a spool is down to less than a meter, I take it off the spool to save on space and into that box it goes). I found some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, threaded it through the hole and I tied a white baker's twine bow, threadng two gold jingle bells on it.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Snow Fun (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Patterned Papers: Merry Christmas (Carta Bella); Merry Little Christmas (Pebbles)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Merry Little Christmas Washi Tape (Pebbles); Gold Jingle Bells, Black Foam (unknown);
Watercolor Pencils (Faber-Castell); White Baker's Twine, Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Chills and Thrills Halloween Box

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + The Paper Player #460 (orange + die-cut + Halloween)

I'm really happy with the project I'm sharing today. Inspiration for it struck in such a random way. I found an old box of chipboard elements from K & Company and as I was putting it away, the top part came unglued. I looked at the piece and realized it would make a fantastic frame, so I put it aside for later. Today, I was tinkering around my desk and on a whim, I decided to use the Happy Halloween papers from Carta Bella (told you the other day I love Steven Duncan's designs!) to cover the frame. My initial idea was to do the checkered pattern on top and fill the inside with the city paper (which is probably my favorite of the stack). I used Distress Collage Medium applied with a paintbrush to glue the paper in place and then I got out my old precision file set from Basic Grey. I've had this thing for over a decade. Covering chipboard letters with patterned papers was all the rage when I got into scrapbooking and this set of precision files was perfect to get into all of the nook and crannies. I rarely pull this kit out nowadays, but today it came in handy to follow the intricate edges of the outside scallops and curvy edges inside the frame.

Because I had gotten the collage medium out, I decided I could collage some of the die-cuts on it. Initially, I was planning on then filing the edges as well, but once I got those on, I decided to cover them with collage medium so they'd be more sturdy and leave the edges as is. I handcut more images, added them, then I looked at my Halloween stamps and pulled out Haunted from Cosmo Cricket, which is probably as old as the filing set. Using Jet Black StazOn, I added the crow, stars and the sentiment in the top corner. Then I decided I wanted to add a fine dusting of glitter using the Glitter Duster from Tim Holtz. I filled the duster with champagne fine glitter and gave it a go. It was my first time using it and I was sure I was doing it wrong, as it looked like nothing was coming out. That,s the beauty of the tool, though - it produces a very fine dusting and distribute the glitter evenly. It was perfect because it did not ide the patterns on my box, but when you move the project around, the glitter is definitely there and picks up the light.

That is when I realized that I could actually decorate the whole box and glue the frame back on it and it would make the most awesome candy holder. So I went back to the chipboard box, moved the chipboard pieces to another container, and two of the chipboard stars caught my eye because they are distressed vanilla, so they matched the papers very nicely. I added those to the frame and added a few Ripe Persimmon pearls from Studio Katia on the stars and around the frame. Those are absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I was already loving my red pearls and adding them everywhere, and I think those orange ones are going to be right there in my most-used embellishments.

I kept the idea of having the village show through the frame and glued a square of village paper in the bottom of the box, covered with collage medium. I added four strips of striped paper to the sides of the box, and I added one last piece of patterned paper and a die-cut to the bottom to add the product info. Luckily, the sides of the bottom part of the box were vanilla and already fitting with the rest of the papers. Trying to cover those would have been hard because it would have made the top of the box too tight to fit.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Haunted (Cosmo Cricket)
Patterned Papers: Happy Halloween (Carta Bella)
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Accessories: Distress Collage Medium (Ranger); Ripe Persimmon Pearls (Studio Katia);
Chipboard Stars (K & Company); Champagne Fine Glitter, Gold Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);
Glitter Duster (Stampers Anonymous); Outside In Stitched Christmas Tree Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

You're Too Cute to Spook Treat Bag

Inspiration: Festive Friday #43 (Orange + Stars + Treat Packaging)

I decided to organize my scrap room today as I had too much stuff out and it was feeling a little too crowded. I put some YouTube crafting videos on in the background while I was putting stuff away and in one of the videos youTube randomly selected for me, the crafter was showing a pretty striking Happy Mail project she had put together. It was Halloween-themed and one of the elements caught my eye: bat-winged bows. I had never seen anything like it and I thought it was adorable! My mind immediately leaped to the new Woodland Critter Huggers Bat Add-On dies that Lawn Fawn just released. I thought the bat wing shape looked similar, so the organizing went out the window and the dies came out! I quickly looked for Halloween papers (which luckily I had close by since I have recently put aside my Halloween and Christmas papers to have handy) and picked up the Spooktacular papers from Bella Blvd. I die-cut the wings out of the word pattern and tried out various circle punch sizes to see what looked better over it. I seelcted 1-3/4". I glued everything together and while I was looking for options to create the center of the bow, the green buttons I've been recycling lately that are still on my desk caught my eye and became a quick and cute way to finish off the bow.

I was so excited about how it came out, I decided it had to be added to one of the Halloween treat bags I've been putting together lately. I selected a chevron bag and I started playing with the other papers from the collection to see what I could put together. I picked one of the cut-aparts for the main image ("You're Too Cute to Spook"), matted it with a scalloped square die-cut out of Black Foil Sheet. I punched two borders out of Highland Heather cardstock and placed them under a long strip of patterned paper. I added one of the borders from the cut-apart border paper and wrapped some Lucky Limeade ribbon around it. The bow seemed a little lonely at the top, so I decided to add a 2-1/2" punched circle underneath. To give my "moon" more pizzazz, I covered the paper with VersaMark and pourred Opalescent embossing powder all over it. I popped it up on black foam and I added the bow on top, making sure to pop the wings up with three stacked black Stampin' Dimensionals (so happy we have those in the current Holidays catalogue - I hope they will come back in the next annual catalogue). I then sprinkled glossy black gems on my bag.

The chevron bags are flimsier than the copper dotted bags and so it was buckling a bit with the weight of the bow, which is why I decided to line the bag with cardstock. I cut a piece of Basic Black cardstock to size and I added a strip of polka dot paper at the top, where is is peeking out. I rounded the two top corners with a punch, and that not only solved my problem, but made the top of the bag really pretty. I cut the back of the bag so that it wouldn't poke out from behind the insert.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black, Highland Heather, Black Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Spooktacular (Bella Blvd.)
Accessories: Button (Autumn Leaves); 1-3/4" Circle Punch, 2-1/2" Circle Punch, Black Stampin' Dimensionals,
Corner Rounder Punch, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, Heart Pinking Edge Punch, Chevron Treat Bag, Star Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Black Gems (Pretty Pink Posh); Woodland Hugger Critters Bat Add-On Dies,
Outside In Stitched Christmas Tree Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Opalescent Embossing Powder (Top Boss);
Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

 

Family Frames

Inspiration: Freshly Made #402

I'm still working on my Halloween treat bags, and this last one was inspired by the Monster Mash Halloween papers from Stampin' Up!'s 2019 Holidays catalogue. They're cute and I like that they went to a different colour combo with the Crushed Curry and Terracotta Tile. One of my favorite page from the pack is the monster frames. I thought they fit with the Ornate Frames die, but they don't, so I fussy cut them out of the paper (which is not hard because they are hand-drawn so the cut lines don't need to be perfectly straight). It took me a while to find a configuration of frames I liked. I kept moving them around and fussy-cutting additional ones to try something different, but after a while, I finally found something pleasing. The Happy Halloween sentiment comes from the French Word Wishes die set.

The pocket is a Copper Dotted Treat Bag (from the annual catalogue) on which I blended some Terracotta Tile ink with a blender brush. I seem to be obsessed with doing ombre inking on those pockets. I made an ombre look on the first copper treat bag I decorated and I loved the look and I've gone back to that technique, with different shades of inks, on the next two bags as well.  I wrapped the bag with a piece of flourish-patterned paper and on top, I added some Crushed Curry cardstock that was embossed with the Stylish Scroll embossing folder (it's a good one - the design is versatile and neither too crowded or too big). I really like the black ribbon in the Halloween suite but I kept my preorder to a short list, so for this project, I pulled out an older striped satin ribbon (which works just as beautifully). I added a few black gems around the project and because the bags has copper on it, I was inspired to use one of the stars from the copper elements to fill in one of the spots between the frames.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Black Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper: Monster Bash
Ink: Terracotta Tile
Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Black Stampin' Dimensionals, Mots de souhaits Dies,
Striped Grey Satin Ribbon, Black Rhinestone Jewels, Copper Dotted Treat Bags, Copper Embellishments

 

Everything Old is New Again: Row of Stockings Tag

The Wrapped in Plaid suite is so similar to the Warmth & Cheer DSP we had a few years ago, I kept on going with my samples copied from the current Holidays catalogue using this retired paper. On page 12, there's a sample of a Christmas tag with stockings on it. I pulled out the retired Christmas Stockings and Deco Labels dies, which are both very similar to the shapes of the tag shown in the catalogue, and I recreated my own version of it with what I had on hand. Instead of a stamped sentiment, I pulled out the Noel die from the same set. I initially stacked two of the stockings like in the sample, but it didn't look right to me, so I went back to having them all in a rowm hanging from the "mantel." I didn't want to punch a hole at the bottom, I preferred adding a gold gem for decoration instead. I replaced the die-cut star with a few star and snowflake sequins from the current Snowflake Sequin Assortment. This is a quick project that was put together in less than 15 minutes (the advantage of copying an existing project).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Whisper White, Gold Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper Stack: Warmth & Cheer
Accessories: Snowflake Sequin Assortment, Deco Labels Dies,
Christmas Stockings Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Gold Faceted Gems,
Garden Green Baker's Twine, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Circle Punches

 

Boo To You!

Inspiration: Festive Friday #42 (Black + Rhinestones + Birds)

I've had the Regions Beyond dies aside for a while, but I finally found inspiration to use them today. While the new Jolly St. Nick dies look pretty scary to put together but actually came together quickly, those are the opposite. They're small so you would think it would be fairly fast... Not so much. Add to that that there was a lot of thinking involved on how to combine all of those random images together and how to use a limited palette of colours but still have the images pop up nicely against the patterned paper. It took a while, but I'm quite pleased with the result.

Another new item I got to break in is the Type Lowercase Alphabet Bigz die from Tim Holtz. I've loved that one ever since it came out many years ago. Was not in love with the price, though. (And the room those Bigz dies take to store either.) Now that Tim has mentioned that Sizzix was not renewing his alphabet Bigz, I realized that it was probably now or never to get them. My usual store didn't have a whole lot of Bigz alphabets left, but when I recently ordered from another online source, I discovered they were having a sale on Sizzix items that week and that they still had a lot of the Bigz alphabets in stock! I'm really happy to finally have this one. I used it to die-cut "boo!" out of black glitter paper (and I am now wondering why I wrote the word in English while I could easily have used the French spelling instead! I was obviously distracted and not really thinking straight.)

Pulling out the Foursquare Backdrop Portrait die from Lawn Fawn helped provide a starting point for all of the little elements. I was playing with the bottles and the candles in the bottom row and realized if I pulled out the little shelf from last year's Laboratory dies, it would help group all of those elements together. I did the cute book and feather at the top and finished with the crystal ball. I used the two smaller stars to create a reflection on the globe, and I added the crow on the side. Those two elements allowed me a way to glue the vellum crystal ball in place while hiding the adhesive. The bottom of the crystal ball was die-cut out of woodgrain cardstock from Lawn Fawn. I couldn't resist adding the cute keys, out of Copper Foil paper, and I added rose gold rhinestones in the center, which works perfectly to add dimension. I repeated the same rhinestones throughout.

As for my last pocket, I decided to add a cardstock insert to make the pocket more sturdy and added patterned paper at the top of the insert. I found a little scrap of black striped grosgrain ribbon, which I tied into a bow and glued on the pocket with sticky strip. The bottom of the pocket was also ink blended with Black Soot and Hickory Smoke to make it stand out a little more. The die-cut elements were inked with Creamy Brown Chalk ink from ColorBox. I purchased that ink when I was starting out with scrapbooking. This ink pad is probably 15 years old and yet it still works like new. I was looking in my Distress Oxide drawers for a pale distressing color when I found it in the back of the drawer and I figured I could get some use out of it.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Grey Granite, Black Foil, Copper Foil,
Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper, Black Glimmer Paper, Vellum Cardstock (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: Twilight (Authentique)
Inks: Black Soot, Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Dies: Regions Beyond, Laboratory, Typo Lowercase Alphabet (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Foursquare Backdrop Portrait (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Metalic Rose Gold Gems (Pretty Pink Posh);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Tag a Bag Gift Bags, Corner Rounder Punch,
Black Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

 

Foursquare Spooky Village

Inspiration: ColourQ #365

This project was entirely inspired by the new Lawn Fawn products. I paired Spooky Village (a favorite from the new stuff - love those cute houses!) and the Foursquare Backdrop Portrait die. While it was initially going to be a card, as I started die-cutting the elements, I realized this would be more useful to me as a treat pocket. If I keep making one here and there whenever I create, I am going to have enough to go around at the office.

The frame was die-cut out of Knit Picky Fall paper and I inked the outer edges in black ink. I die-cut the four squares out of white Bristol, which I inked in Dusty Concord and Black Soot Distress Oxide inks. I splattered watered down Liquid Stardust over the four panels. I colored the various images with Copic markers, die-cut them and started arranging them on the four panels. I couldn't fit the Halloween patch anywhere comfortably, so I moved it to the bottom of the panel instead. I stamped Happy Halloween on orange cardstock and embossed the words in Crushed Curry embossing powder, then die-cut the words with a Sentiment Labels die. I glued the sentiment panel at an angle using Dimensionals and added two purple glitter enamel dots on each side.

I matted the panel with a piece of Concord Crush cardstock (with edges inked in black) and glued it to the front of a chevron-patterned kraft envelope. I folded the top, punched two holes with a Crop-a-Dile and threaded black lace to finish off the bag.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Spooky Village (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Whisper White, Tango Tangerine (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Knit Picky Fall (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!);
Black Soot, Dusty Concord Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Spooky Village Dies, Foursquare Backdrop Portrait Dies, Liquid Stardust (Lawn Fawn);
Black Lace Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, Glitter Enamel Dots,
Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Chevron Treat Bag, Crop-a-Dile (Stampin' Up!)

 

October 31st Bat Pocket

Inspiration: CAS on Sunday #162 (stencil) + TGIF #225 (splatters) + ColourQ #264

I wanted to use the Woodland Critter Huggers Bat Add-On dies and I decided I would use it added to a treat pocket instead of using it on its own. I had done a previous Halloween pocket using Stampin' Up!'s Copper Dotted Treat Bags and I decided to stick to the same format. I drew color inspiration from an old ColourQ combo and I inked the bag with Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink to create an ombre look. I then added water to Liquid Stardust and splattered the whole background, to add shimmer and to get the ink to oxide. I wanted to use the Mango texture paste from Izink and I decided to use the Numeric stencil from Tim Holtz with it. I then realized instead of using the whole stencil that I could use tape and isolate individual numbers to add a nice big 31 in the corner. I like how it turned out. (On a quick product review, the Izink pearly pastes have gorgeous colours, but I wish the texture was more firm. It's quite liquid, which makes it easy for the paste to get underneath the stencil. It also takes a surprising long time to dry, considering I didn't add a thick layer. I had to wait for the first number to dry before placing the stencil over the 3 to get the 1 in the right spot. I was working on other elements while the paste was drying and despite my best efforts, I still manage to get my hand in the paste while the first number was drying and again once the second number was added. My other pastes dry out much quicker than this one does, so that's a negative for me.)

For the candy the bat is holding, I was eager to try out the pearlescent vellum. Not my idea, this was shared in Lawn Fawn's videos and I thought it looked awesome. I went further with that idea, though, and added an additional layer of vellum on the candy itself, over a layer of colored cardstock, to get the look of an actual wrapped candy. You see the color through the wax paper wrapping, but it's not as bright. I used the wrapped candies on the bag itself, but kept the colorful candy in the bat's arms, to get a pop of colour against the black.

I punched two holes at the top of the bag to tie Pear Pizzazz chevron ribbon through. Regular punches were not going that deep, so I pulled out my Big Bite Crop-a-Dile punch. I've had that thing for over a decade and I rarely get it out. When I did a big stash purge a few years ago, I put it in the box of things that would go, then as luck would have it, I needed it to add a hole to a page and out of the box it came, then I put it aside to decide if I really wanted to keep it. So it doesn't get used every month, but it does get pulled out every so often, like for the project here. It's not so much trying to get money back that's my concern, more the fact that I'm running out of space to keep it all. This is one of those bulky items that doesn't get used a lot, but it serves a very specific purpose and when you need it, there's not a whole lot of alternatives. Anyway, I was able to punch through the two layers of the bag easily and to get wider holes that accomodated the wide ribbon nicely. Right now, the tails of the ribbon are a little too long for my liking, but there's reason for that: I will need to fill the bag with candy and retie the bow afterwards, so if I cut it short right away, I would have trouble tying the ribbon back without having the ends fray on me, so I've left some extra length to accomodate that and I will clip at my preferred length once the bag is ready to hand out to a lucky sugar lover.

To finish the bag off, I added one of the green buttons I have rescaped from an old project, crystal stars and Iridescent Mini Star Confetti. Those are tiny. To handle them, I use the precision glue from Stampin' Up! which has a needle tip and a jewel picker to pick the mini stars and place them on the glue dot. By the way, I have purchased other bottles with needle tips a couple of times to use with various adhesives (medium matte, collage medium) and I have been unlucky. Either the pin gets stuck in the top of the bottle and then the whole thing becomes useless or the adhesive inside is too thick for the needle tip. The precision glue from Stampin' Up! is very runny, so much so that you almost don't need to press on the bottle, just tip is down and the liquid will flow out. This means you have to be VERY mindful of the amount you put on your piece as it will very easily ooze out when you place it down on your project, and the glue dries shiny (not matte) so it really shows when it leaks. That being said, because the glue flows so easily, I do keep going back to it. I've learned how to control it better and because I don't need pressure, I can use my left hand (a.k.a. the almost useless one since I'm a righty) to apply the glue and add the embelishments with my right hand, which offers better precision. So right now the precision glue reminds my favored option, but I think there's room for improvement. If I could find something just a touch thicker with a matte finish that comes in a precision bottle, I'd be sold.

Another purchase I have made is the Nuvo craft spoon. It was one of those items that I eyed for a long time before splurging because having it will make your life easier, but you can definitely craft without it and find workarounds. I finally got it and it works so well to get embellishments out of the containers and also to place little quantities in shakers, I used it the other day to add a spoonful of glitter in the snow globe tag I made. It allows you to count quantity as well, to test out how much you should use to fill a shaker of a certain size. All in all, a purchase I am happy with.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Petal Pink, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz,
Wisteria Wonder, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!); Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Copper Dotted Treat Bags, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pear Pizzaz Chevron Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Liquid Stardust, Woodland Critter Huggers Dies, Woodland Critter Huggers Bat Add-On Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More); Button (Autumn Leaves); Mango Paste (Izink);
Iridescent Mini Star Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh); Craft Spoon (Nuvo)

 

 

Llama Snow Globe

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #59 + Little Red Wagon #511 (Tag It) + ColourQ #321

Another cutie from the new Lawn Fawn release is the Snow Globe Gift Tag. How adorable is it? And in true Lawn Fawn fashion, it's really easy to put together and be full of details since the die set includes the two little borders, the stitched frame, the tiny snowflakes and even the falling snow background. I couldn't help but wonder if the Dimensionals Domes released by Sizzix last year would fit in it. The short answer is, Yes they do. The reality of it is that it's not a perfect fit with the stitched frame. The dome is just a smidge smaller, so if you want to hide the seam, you will have to do a bit of creative layering to achieve the desired result.

For this reason, I pulled out the Tiny Snowglobes dies from Sizzix to have the correct size circle, I was surprised to find that it was a snug fit and that I had trouble layering the pieces flat, so out of frustration, I reached for a circle punch that was a smidge wider (the circle die is 1-1/4", and my circle punch is 1-3/8". I was much happier with the wider size and was then able to adhere everything flat.

So here are the various layers:

• the snowy background was die-cut in black and I layered white cardstock underneath.
• I punched a circle out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock and I used the full snowglobe die to die-cut a tag.
• I used the same full snowglobe die on kraft woodgrain cardstock and snipped the shape following the scored line beneath the globe, to keep only the bottom part. I layered over the Kiwi Kiss.
• I die-cut the two rounded borders out of Real Red cardstock and glued over the snowglobe base.
• I had the stitched border in black cardstock since I had done the snowy background. I glued it over the punched piece.
• I die-cut the top of the ornement out of Gold Foil paper and glued it on the ornement.
• I used a scrap of white patterned paper from my previous project and made the snowy background with it. I glued it at the bottom of the snowy scene.
• I stamped the llama on white cardstock, colored it with markers, die-cut it and glued it over the snowy scene. I stamped the fa-la-la-llama sentiment on Kiwi Kiss cardstock and found the perfect shape for it in the Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait dies (lucky find!).
• I die-cut the tiny snowflakes out of Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper and added a couple on the globe.
• To assemble the front of the tag, I placed a little bit of white fine glitter on my snowy backdrop, took off the liner of the dome and placed it over the scene. That's where another bit of improvising is required. The dome is circle. The snowy scene is flat at the bottom, so there was a gap where glitter would have escaped, so I had to add clear tape to cover the gap. I added liquid glue behind the Kiwi Kiss circle and glued over the dome.
• I die-cut the full snowglobe out of Real Red cardstock for the back of the tag. I remembered that the Diagonal Gift Card Pocket dies include the "To: [heart]:" text, so I die-cut the words out of the tag shape and I added a little piece of black cardstock behind the words. I glued the center of the O in place.
• I then glued the front and back of the tag together and I threaded red ribbon at the top.

Really cute, relatively fast but a lot of steps if you want to insert a dome. If you're doing a flat tag, which would still be totally adorable, assembly will be faster and easier. The dome was perfect for the "something see-through" challenge, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Say What? Christmas Critters (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: basic Black, Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Gold Foil,
Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!);Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Dimensional Domes (Sizzix); White Fine Glitter (Martha Stewart);
Real Red Cotton Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1-3/8" Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!); Diagonal Gift Card Pocket,
Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait, Say What? Christmas Critters Dies, Snow Globe Gift Tag Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Mad Hatter Cat

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

This project evolved from a vague idea I had to use my new Copper Dotted Treat Bags (Stampin' Up! annual catalogue, page 173) and try to create a black to grey ombre look on it with a brayer, then add purple icing paste over it with the Manuscript stencil. Once that was done, I decided this would make for a great Halloween project so I pulled out the Hip Haunts dies from Tim Holtz (from his new 2019 release). I started working on the cat and I was going through frames or background options in my mind. I was going to reach for the wonky square frames from Avery Elle and when I did that, I remembered the Starry Scene stamps from Avery Elle. I thought the big starry sky would look great as a background behind the cat, so I pulled it out and placed it in my stamping platform. I used blender tools to add three colors of Distress Oxide to the stamp: Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon. I stamped the image a few times on Bristol cardstock, spritzed with water to oxidize the ink and get water splatter, then I dried it with my heat gun and die cut  the image.

Afterwards, I was thinking of either spritzing the circle with shimmer spritz or splatter some pearlescent watercolor on it. I went for the spray and it reactivated the inks way more than I had anticipated. Initially, I was worried I was going to mess up my circle, which I liked, but in the end, it ended up blending the colors beautifully and the result is really shimmery and has a mottled effect, which is perfect as it looks like a big moon. The image already has little star in it , but I added additional tiny star sequins around the cat.

I looked at ribbon options and decided to use Tangp Tangerine two-tone trim at the bottom. I added the circle to the bag using black adhesive foam from Brutus Monroe, something my local store got in stock a few months ago. I was initially very happy to find black foam and at a very affordable price for a roll. The store owner had mentioned in a video showing the roll that they hadn't tested it yet and didn't know if it gummed up scissors or not. I can now see why she's made this comment as the answer is, Yes, it does. Knowing that, I use my Tim Holtz scissors to cut it off the roll since they have non-stick blades, so that helps, but I also find that the backer is hard to get off the tape. Seeing as I have worked with both Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!) and the 3M foam, I find the Brutus Monroe foam adhesive more difficult to work with. As it stands, I will keep using the roll when I want black foam, but will prefer the 3M foam when color does not matter. We will see once I reach the end of the roll if I want to restock or not. Stampin' Up! has just released it's 2019 Holidays catalogue and there's some black Stampin' Dimensionals in there for the first time. It's going to be a nice addition to my adhesive stash, but it does not cover as big a surface as foam tape on a roll does, so the jury is out. Pros: price and black option; cons: gets blades sticky, cannot be ripped off easily (has to be cut) and backer is hard to get off.

Next, I looked for sentiment options. I was thinking a die-cut sentiment would look nice but there's not a whole lot of French words available, so I wasn't sure I would find anything suitable, until I remembered the brand-new set from Stampin' Up! called Mots de souhaits (Word Wishes in English), which covers various occasions, including Halloween. I was therefore able to find Happy Hallowee, which was the perfect size and font and made me very happy!

At the last minute, I decided to fold the top of the bag down and add a little decorative clip, which I topped with a All Eyes on You shape sprinkle from Simon Says Stamp. Here's another product review for you: unfortunately, as with a lot of enamel ornements, those yellow over time. This is unfortunate since the eyes in the kit are all white. (I've had some snowflakes shape sprinkles from Doodlebug that yellowed really badly within the first couple of years and I ended up throwing them away because they wouldn't have worked on any project.) Here, as long as I pair it with stuff that does not require for the eyes to be sparkling white, I can probably get away with it (especially on Halloween project), but for the price enamel shapes sell, this is pretty disappointing.

One fun tidbit about the cat: adding the glasses was a last-minute decision. Since I had already glued the eyes in place, they were a little too close together to fit properly in the glasses, so I was wondering if I would add them anyway and then the project shifted and the glasses went down and I thought they looked even cuter crooked on him! And then I realized I could shift the glasses down to the top of his nose and have it look like reading glasses. Those Hip Haunts dies are not for the faint of heart as they have a lot of really tiny details and you need to pass the die through your machine a bunch of time to get the various colors and gluing the pieces down is another fun challenge (fine-tip tweezers, a jewel picker, adhesive sheets and a fine-tip glue pen should be kept nearby to ensure a happy assembly experience). The results are undeniably adorable, though!

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Starry Scene (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Vintage Violet, Granny Apple Green, Sahara Sand, Grey Granite,
Petal Pink, Black Foil Paper, Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!); Bristol Smooth Cardstock (Canson)
Ink: Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Vintage Violet and Granny Apple Green Classic Ink, Basic Grey and Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Hip Haunts Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Starry Scene Dies (Avery Elle);
Tango Tangerine Two-Tone Trim, Mots de souhaits Dies, Copper Dotted Treat Bags (Stampin' Up!);
Black Foam Adhesive (Brutus Monroe); Manuscript Stencil, Amethyst Magic Icing Paste (Finnabair);
All Eyes on You Shape Sprinkles (Simon Says Stamp)

 

Fish Tank

inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #57 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Bright and Cheerful)

I usually make packaging and then find candy to go inside, but this time around, it was the candy that inspired the project. I found some fruit juice candy at my Bulk Barn and I immediately thought it could work great paired with the Keep on Swimming stamp set to create a fish tank. Initially, I was tossing around ideas where I would have created a window to see inside the packaging, but when I went looking in my packaging box to find cello bags, I actually found little acetate boxes from Stampin' Up! that were just the right size to be turned into a fish tank.

I inked blended a long panel of white cardstock, on both sides, using Distress Oxide inks (Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Lucky Clover) and Blender Brushes. I spritzed with water and dried with my heat tool on the low setting. I then scored at 1-15/16" intervals twice so that I had a three panel insert to put into the box. I cut the last piece to 1-15/16" x 1-15/16" for the bottom of the box. By having the folded panel, I was able to simply slip the insert inside the box and now have to glue it in place, which is preferable when working with a transparency. I did glue the bottom part in with narrow double-side adhesive as it kept popping up a bit, but it didn't matter since we won't really be seeing the bottom of the box. It doesn't really matter when there's candy in there because the weight is keeping the panel down, but I've noticed that people tend to keep the empty boxes for a while after it's empty when I'm giving away candy as they think the packaging is cute.

I glued various fish and shells on both sides of the panels and added the Hope your day is fantastic on cardstock strips on the back. For the cat at the front, we would have seen the adhesive inside the empty box, so I die-cut the cat image (and snipped the tail off the image) and the fish food image a second time using grey cardstock and I glued it inside the box, lining it with the colored images. Then it looks like a shadow and hides the adhesive in between. My tip for you: glued the grey pieces inside first and then add the colored pieces outside afterwards. It's way easier to line up the small pieces on the outside since you have room to work. (I forgot to do that with the fish food image and I struggled to put it in place inside - I worked smarter with the cat and it was much easier.)

To finish the package off, I tried various ribbon and twine options. I didn't like it wrapping all the way around the box as it hid the fish, so I did pink ribbon around the cover only and baker's twine on top to tie the tag on it. I tried another colour option first but was not liking it, so I went back to my inked cardstock scrap and die-cut a tag out of it, which looks much better.

This set with the cat looking at something is fun. I can see using it for many more projects to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Keep on Swimming (Lawn Fawn); Étiquettes des Fêtes (Tags & Tidings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Inks: Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Features and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide (Ranger);
Tuxedo Black (Memento); Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Flirty Flamingo Ruched Ribbon, Basic Black/Mint Macaron Baker's Twine,
Clear Tiny Trest Boxes, Christmas Tags Thinlits Die (Stampin' Up!); White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll);
Markers (Copic); Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Candy

 

The Easter Bunny House

Inspiration: Inspired By #66 + Fab Friday #159

I really wanted to pull out the Scalloped Treat Box Spring House Add-On dies and make and Easter Bunny house with it. The colours from the Fab Friday challenge were perfect for it, and I picked the Spiffy Speckles paper in purple for the box (which is great to create that house texture). I also used those papers to die-cut little Easter eggs, in order to get the speckles on them.

I had the fabulous woodgrain cardstock to make my embellishments for the house, so I was able to use the kraft cardstock for the door and the white cardstock for the fence, The texture really adds impact. I used the new Mini Easter Eggs dies to create an egg-shaped tag. I also challenged myself to include every single die from the Spring House Add-on set.

I used the window dies that make openings and lined them with acetate. This would help contain the candy if I were to fill the box with treats and you'd get a glimpse of it as well. But having the light come through the house (since I have windows on both sides and they are lining up) is really adding an element of interest to the house and have it feel more airy. I think it turned out pretty cute. I might not give this one away and add it to my growing village instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Flirty Flamingo, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!);
Woodgrain Cardstock in Neutrals (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers: 12" x 12" Spiffy Speckles (Lawn Fawn)
Dies: Scalloped Treat Box Dies, Scalloped Treat Box Spring House Add-On Dies,
Mini Easter Eggs Dies (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Window Sheets, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Handheld Punch, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!)

 

Easter Treats

I wanted to make Easter treat packages for the office but I wasn't sure if time would allow. I finally decided to go for it this weekend and I picked a simple container that wouldn't takke too long to embellish. I realized that if I made pillow boxes, I could use my Hello Easter 6" x 6" paper stack. You only need a 5-1/4" x 4-3/4" piece of paper to create a box. There are many pillow boxes available - mine is the retired Bigz from Sizzix by Stampin' Up!

I pulled out the Easter Party stamp set that Lawn Fawn released last year. I had barely had the time to use it before Easter was over, and the cute characters are easy to color and die-cut. I looked for options on what I could place them on and finally decided to use the rectangle frame from the Mini Picture Frames dies. Since I was using double-sided patterned papers, I was able to simple turn the center upside down and get two different colours for the frame and the inside rectangle with only one cut. I had also grabbed the Say What? Gift Tags dies as another possible option, but the speech bubble caught my eye and I decided to have the characters say "For You." Because the duck is facing the other way, I had to improvise and die-cut those speech bubbles from the backside of the paper so that I could turn it around and the speech bubble facing right. The sentiment was embossed with clear embossing powder for a bit of shine.

I initially used pink and turquoise ribbon on all boxes depending on what created the most contrast with the paper but I found the turquoise ribbon was clashing with the turquoise frames, so I switched a few of them to chocolate ribbon. A dab of Fairy Wings Drean Drops were added to the top of the speech bubbles to fill them out a little bit and I was done.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Easter Party (Lawn Fawn); Voeux mignons (Teeny Tiny Wishes - Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Hello Easter (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Easter Party, Say What? Gift Tags, Mini Picture Frames (Lawn Fawn);
Pillow Box Bigz (Sizzix by Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Fayr Wings Dream Drops (Nuvo); Markers (Copic); Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon,
Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Valentine Takeout Box

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #386 + ColourQ #119

This box will be going to my niece for Valentine's Day. It's filled with Smarties and I used a lot of pink and shimmer, which I know she loves. I picked block letters to stamp her name on the tag and for the main sentiment. She's learning to read and has gotten the hang of it quite fast (as long as it's not script), so she should be able to read the sentiment herself. (She's known how to recognize her name on packages for a few years, now.)

The takeout box was die-cut out of hot pink metallic sheet. They're pretty much like the Lovely Lipstick foil sheets currently offered during SAB, but those are metallic foil paper my mom found at the dollar store. I found them while going through my paper stash looking for patterned papers and thought they would look great used for the box. I made sure to add a piece of print paper between my cutting plate and the foil surface, as I've learned the hard way the foil surface gets scratched or takes on texture really easily (and the shiny surface of the foil makes it really obvious afterwards). The heart die is from the same die set - I cut a negative image and filled the backside with some pink striped paper from Lawn Fawn. I used papers from the same paper pack on the backside, using the pink and orange section of it. I started watercoloring with inks, but the Stampin' Up! black ink is not great for watercoloring since it's meant to be waterproof, so I switched to my Gansai Tambi watercolors then and finished off the skunk with them. I went back to inks for the bird, but pulled out my Cosmic Shimmer iridescdent shimmering watercolour paints for the heart, which I wanted silver. I glued little gems of various sizes and shades around the heart for interest, and added my white-embossed "I Love You" block over it with dimensional adhesive.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Hey Love (Stampin' Up!); Label Love French (Altenew); Alphabet (Studio G)
Cardstock: Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Shimmery White (Stampin' Up!); Foil Poster Board (Studio - Dollar Store)
Patterned Papers: Really Rainbow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: VersaMark; Melon Mambo Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Takeout Framelits, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Basic Black and White Stampin' Emboss Powder,
2013-2015 In Color Sequins, Pumpkin Pie Satin Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Gems (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Set 1 Metallics Iridescent Shimmering Watercolour Paints (Cosmic Shimmer);
Gansai Tambi 36-Color Watercolor Set (Kuretake)

 

Christmas Packages

Inspiration: TGIF #191

I found this cool bark wrapping paper with gold foil on it at my local Indigo store and on sale, too, since it was the week before Christmas. I paired it with some red plaid metallic paper I already had and I pulled out the cookie tags I had done previously, to wrap my niece's gifts. Technically, I could have wrapped the gifts together, but because I know kids get a big kick out of unwrapping presents, I made sure to wrap everything separately. My oldest niece also thoroughly enjoys everything crafts-related, so I know she'll just love the beautiful packages.

I have to say, they look quite cool laid out underneath the Christmas tree.

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Gift Card Holder Winter Critters

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Wrap it up)

When the Woodland Critter Huggers dies from Lawn Fawn came out, I was on the fence about getting them. I was not sure I would be making a lot of critter projects myself, but I kept thinking they could be a fun project to put together with my niece. I kept hesitating - until the Winter Add-On came out and those adorable hats and mittens just put me over the edge! My niece and I had a full day of crafting planned the week after her birthday so I die-cut all of the pieces we would need the evening before (and was shocked to discover it took close to two hours to do so!), so on the day of her visit, all we would have to do would be to assemble the project. I cut two of everything so we could both put the critters together at the same time.

The project was a hit with her. She loved assembling everything and LOVED the sparkly embellishment. I had die-cut the Stitched Gift Card Pocket to put on the back so she could slip a note in the pocket and use those as Holiday cards for her grandparents, but as we were finishing the first critter, she slipped her finger in the pocket and said, "Look, it's a finger puppet!" After that, there was no going back - those were her new puppets! Had we known, I would have had her glue the pocket the other way around, but I thought it was a very creative idea from her. So notes to parents out there - those dies can be used to make finger puppets!

My finished animals are a little different from hers. I only bought the Winter Add-On dies the day of our crafting session (as going to the scrapbook store together was her birthday gift), so I had to die-cut the pieces while we were crafting and at the end, I couldn't keep up with her and crank out two of each, so I gave up and I finished my animals after we were done for the day. The little fox did not have any winter embellishments and I decided he would be more useful as a generic card holder.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Thick Whisper White, Crumb Cake,
Dusty Durango, Basic Black, Muths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Woodland Critter Huggers, Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On, Mini Wreath,
Stitched Gift Card Pocket (Lawn Fawn)

 

Christmas Cookie Tags

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #473 (No Cards Allowed) + Inspired By #47

This project started as a joke. My mom loves cooking now that she is retired, especially cookies and treats. She would love for me to share this interest, but I have zero interest in cooking of any type. She was hoping that I might pick it up so that I can bake cookies with my niece and she's even purchased a few things for me in the hope of sparking the interest, but to no avail. Because it's something that she's mentioned a few times, when I purchased the Fresh Baked #1 dies from Tim Holtz, I quickly put together a set of cookies one weekend my mom was visiting and put them on a little plate, on the table. When she came to the kitchen, I told her, "Since you were hoping I would make some cookies, I've made some for you." This cracked both of my parents up.

They've remained in the little plate on my counter, decorating since, but today I decided I would turn them into a project. I was hesitating between tags or cards, but tags won. I'd like to try selling some at the office for the first time, but I'm not sure what the interest will be. (My guess? People will think they are awfully cute, but will not want to necessary pay for them. We'll see.)

I think they turned out better than I initially envisioned. The list of supplies is quite long considering I've only made five tags, mainly because I looked through various stamp sets to find sentiments that fit the images and space available. Those would have taken forever to finish had I made the cookies today as well (they're adorable, but there's a lot of small details to die-cut and glue!), but since that part was taken care of previously, it seemed less daunting. That's the part that affects pricing, though: You can make those tags out of a few tiny scraps of cardstock, but assembling the die-cuts can easily take a couple of hours.

Fun detail: I used fun foam for the snowman, Santa's beard and hat trim and the mitten trim. It gives the images dimension and it looks just like fondant!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits en rafale (Snowflake Sentiments), Sourire de fin d'année (Jolly Christmas),
Cousu avec joie (Stitched with Cheer), Coffret d'étiquettes (Tin of Tags),
Joyeuses petites étiquettes (Merry Little Labels - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!), cardstock scraps (unknown source)
Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); White Fun Foam; Eyelets, White 1/8" Organza Ribbon,
Bigz Two Tags, Subtles Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!); Gansai Tambi Starry Colors (Kuretake);
Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

 

Fold-Up Christmas Tags

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #473 (No Cards Allowed)

I was eager to try out the new Fold-Up Tags Die-namics from MFT. I liked the size and the idea of having a fold to hide a message inside. I pulled out some paper scraps (Merry & Bright from Carta Collection, a 6" x 6" pad I've had and used for years and that still have quite a bit of paper left in) and tested the dies out.

The next day, I started looking for images that could be added to them. I spotted an older Stampin' Up! set called Color Me Christmas and decided the bold images would look great on tags AND be fun to color with my newly-acquired Polychromos pencil set.

I stamped To: and From: inside the tag using the Signs of Santa stamp set, and I added some gems (including some clear gems over the ornaments in the Christmas tree), twine, ribbon and a mini jingle bell. I also put some highlights on my colored images using some Copic Opaque White paint.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa), Color Me Christmas (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Merry & Bright (Carta Bella)
Ink: Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Fold-up Tags Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Ribbon, Cotton Twine, Baker's Twine, Mini Jingle Bell (Stampin' Up!);
Opaque White Paint (Copic); August Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Halloween Takeout

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (It's a Wrap) + In[k]spire Me #368

I used my new Tim Holtz Halloween papers to make cute little take-out boxes. The Takeout dies come from the Stampin' Up! 2018 Holidays catalogue. I also used some adorable faux wax sceal stickers from Recollections. I was convinced those were actual wax sceals when I bought them - until I got them out of the package at home and found out they are puffy stickers! The effect is that convincing! (And the price is way better than wax sceals would be!)

I tested out my Black Soot Distress Crayon on one of the boxes, running it around the edges and smudging the crayon with my fingers. I really like the smoky look you get using this medium. It might be the easiest way to distress edges without getting harsh lines.

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Salutations effroyables (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Halloween - 2018 (Tim Holtz Idea-ology)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Faux Wax Sceal Stickers (Recollections); Black Soot Distress Crayon (Ranger);
Stampin' Dimensionals Takeout Thinlits Dies (Stampin' Up!)

 

Dirty Dozen - March Projects

These are the projects I made for the March Dirty Dozen gallery on Splitcoast Stampers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For You, Deer

After making my big bunch of boxes, I was left with a ton of paper scraps and ovals from cutting out the box opening. I had also stamped and cut an extra deer, so it inspired me to turn the leftover pieces into a quick little gift tag. It came in handy when I wrapped my niece's Christmas gift. I could have used a fancier font to write her name, but she's five and she can recognize her name as long as it's written in block letters, so I was mindful of that when I wrote her name.

I really can't stop using that adorable stamp set!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: For You, Deer (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Whisper White
Patterned Paper: Perfectly Plaid Christmas - Donner, Let's Bokeh in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
Accessories: Copic Markers, Brights Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!), Eyelet,
Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn), Silver Satin Ribbon (SU!), Red Twine (SU!),
Stitched Shapes Framelits (SU!), White and Silver Gel Pens, For You Deer Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn)