I found the cutest Big Shot project a few weeks back while searching blogs for ideas.  I loved this one so much I made very few changes.  I found it on Renee’s blog .

I decided to use it for my Holiday Big Shot class that I had a couple of weeks ago.

This was actually much easier to create than what it looks.  You need 3 pillow box die cuts and then 2 circles (I believe they were 4″ and I used my Circle Scissor Plus to cut them) and three strips that were 1″ x 5″.

I used the same color combination that Renee used – Not Quite Navy and Old Olive.  The snowman is stamped in Close to Cocoa and his nose is colored with the Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Write Marker.  The snowflakes are stamped in Not Quite Navy and I used my Shimmer Paint mist to spritz on some shimmer (you can’t really see it in the photo).

The handle is made from Old Olive ribbon in the Mistletoe Ribbon Originals pack from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday mini catalog.  A trick we learned at the Chattanooga Regional was to attach a piece of card stock to the underside of the ribbon if you want the ribbon to stand up like a handle.  So here I added a 1/4″ x 8-1/2″ strip of Old Olive card stock to the underside of the ribbon handle.  I used the slot punch to add a slot in either side of the bucket.  I added my holes at the crease line so that my snowman could be on the center of a flat panel rather than on a crease in the bucket.  The handle attaches to itself with brads.

The bottom of the bucket is created like a basket – you score 1/2″ on each end of the 5″ long strips and then glue them in on opposite sides of the bucket. The three strips will cross in the center.  Then you add a circle to each side of the strips creating the bottom of the bucket.

These are really cute and since I have three of them made and I have three boys – guess what – they will each get one filled with some type of little goodies.  Now to figure out what I’m going to put inside.

People often talk about comfort zones and how you need to step outside your comfort zone to grow and challenge yourself.  Many things that I have done related to my Stampin’ Up! business have sent me outside my comfort zone.  And I just took two new steps outside my comfort zone.  Last night I turned in an application to be a guest designer for an online class that two other demonstrators are having beginning in January.  And today I sent an email to a scrapbook magazine to get information on how to send in submissions for publication in their magazine.  Now I’ll have to wait and see what I hear back.

The count down towards Christmas begins and I’m finishing up an advent calendar project that I plan to post tomorrow.  I won’t have a chance to hold it as a class so I’m hoping to include some general instructions for you to create one at home.

Thanks for visiting me today!