Dec 19, 2009 | Big Shot, Christmas, class, Holiday Mini Catalog 2009 |
This is a super quick project if you are in need of a little box for a last minute gift. The Big Shot machine and our Stampin’ Up! punches make this so easy.
Use a 6″ x 12″ piece of Real Red card stock and run it through the Big Shot with the Stampin’ Up! Fancy Favor Bigz XL die. It cuts the box and makes all the score lines for you and the top edge has a fancy edge so it really dresses up this simple box.
Then I used the Jumbo Snowflake punch to punch a snowflake out of the front panel of the box – I pushed the punch in as far as it would go. Carefully remove the punch so you don’t pull off any of the small delicate pieces of the snowflake. Here is where I came up with what I thought was a neat idea – I thought the box was too plain with just the snowflake punched out so as I sat there I took the punched out piece and put it back (thinking I would do a different idea) but when I did that the edges of the snowflake popped up some while the center remained flush with the box. Hmmm…. now that looked much better to me but I needed something to hold the center of the snowflake in place. Back to my punch collection – I pulled out the 3/4″ Circle punch and punched a Real Red circle. Using a bit of Tombow Multipurpose adhesive (my new favorite thing to use can you tell) I glued the circle to the inside of the box in the very center of the snowflake and then put the punched out snowflake back in and glue it only in the center. Hold it there for just a few seconds. Then I put a square piece of Whisper White card stock on the inside of the box behind the snowflake and ta-da – a pretty snowflake box!
To finish the box I added the Mistletoe Ribbon Originals – the Whisper White ribbon stitched with the Real Red – I added a handle – used the crop-a-dile to punch the holes in each side. I did not fold in on the side gussets I left those alone so I could have a straight box. I also added the ribbon around the bottom of the box.
And some of the girls sprayed their box with the Shimmer Paint spray (rubbing alcohol mixed with the shimmer paint). The Shimmer Paint by the way will still be available after the Holiday Mini catalog ends – it will be a write-in-item for the regular catalog – yeah!
Last was to add a white half pearl from the Pretties Kit to the very center of the snowflake. Everyone said this was the fastest project that they had made. This was part of my Holiday Tags & More class that I had yesterday. We had fun and ate chocolates that Sue shared – yes, Sue, we ate a lot more last night! Everyone says thanks for the chocolates!
I still have lots of Christmas stuff to do – cards to mail, presents to wrap, a few more gifts to finish making and maybe one more to buy. I need to make a cake and plan Christmas breakfast so I still have another trip to the grocery store this week.
I think this is my project #9 for the Late Night Stampers 12 days of Christmas challenge. Just a few more to share…..
Bye for now!
Dec 18, 2009 | Christmas, Holiday Mini Catalog 2009 |
Today is my Holiday Tags & More class and I made a tag set using the Snow Buddies stamp set. I wanted to make some to match some wrapping paper that I have. I love snowmen and I decided that one year I am going to have a Christmas tree decorated only with Snowman ornaments. I have a lot and didn’t get them all out.
This is a set of eight little tags. The Bashful Blue piece is 5″ x 2-1/2″ and they are scored and folded in half with all four corner rounded with the corner rounder punch. The stamped white pieces are 2-1/4″ squares also corner rounded.
I used the Snow Buddies stamp set which is a Level 2 Hostess set in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog. On each tag I built a different snowman stamping with Jet Black Stazon Ink. Then colored them with Stampin’ Write Markers.
The stamped piece was layered on the front of the blue tag. On the tags where I stamped a snowflake I used a tiny drop of Crystal Effects in the center of each snowflake and put a blue bead in the center. The beads are the larger beads from the Bead Duo set. For the tags that did not have a snowflake stamped I strung about 3 beads on the silver cord before tying it. Not all the beads have a hole big enough to put on the silver cord so you just have to pick through them.
The tin is a square tin with a clear window in the lid. These were bought in bulk from an online store. On the lid around the clear window I put some Crystal Effects and then carefully poured the blue micro beads on to stick to it. Be careful because the beads make a big mess and they do bounce – carefully use a powder pal to catch the run aways. Set the lid aside to dry.
Add silver cord to each tag and the Double-Stitched Bashful Blue ribbon around the bottom of the tin. Stick all the tags inside the tin and let the top snowman show through the window. When the tags are all gone use the tin to hold a small gift!
We have a cold rain today – really yucky out. It is a great day to be indoors stamping.
Dec 17, 2009 | Christmas, My Digital Studio |
My second post for today. I have a variety of Christmas cards made – I didn’t end up making a bunch of just one design because I have made so many over the last couple of months I decided to just use the ones I already have made. If I run short then I’ll make something else. The problem is that we like to include a photo and I didn’t have a good family photo of all 5 of us. So I decided to try using MDS to create a “photo” for my hand made cards. I also wanted to print it locally so that I can pick it up today or tomorrow. I had everything made in MDS and was about to select the button to print copies of my photo and decided to do a preview – oh no – part of my beautiful creation was getting cut off….
So this is what happens – in the Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio software I selected to create a card – I selected to create a 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 size card – but when I went to upload and get it printed the choices for printing a photo are 4 x 6 – so it was cutting off part of my card in order to fit into the size that the photo prints. My solution this time was to pull up my card into my photo editing software and then change the aspect ratio to be a 4 x 6 photo – this added white space on one end of my photo. I saved that and will print it with the white space which I will then cut off once I get them home. Now they will fit inside my 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 cards that I created.
This is what I created using the My Digital Studio. Here are some basics steps on how to do this:
1. Open MDS and choose Greeting Card as the project type.
2. Choose 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ Portrait.
3. Choose a Designer template.
4. Choose Christmas Jingle – 4.25 x 5.5 – card 3.
5. For the Page Arrangement – just click Next – I only created one page.
6. Choose Pick and Click – Insert Photos Individually.
7. Give your project a name and click FINISH. MDS will create the card you selected.
8. I removed the embellishments and greeting by clicking on each one and hit the DELETE key.
9. I moved the Chocolate Chip strip over to the left to about the 2-1/2″ mark.
10. I enlarged the Old Olive area towards the left to meet the Chocolate Chip strip and to the right to the end of the bleed area.
11. I added a photo box – creating about 1-1/2″ square. I copied this photo box four times so that all my photo boxes would be the same size. I moved each box into position and turned on the GRID and SNAP TO GRID to help align them. The top box I enlarged to be the width of the two lower boxes.
12. I added the photos to each box. I used the ZOOM IN tool and CROP tool to adjust my photos. I also added a thin white mat around all the photos on the page.
13. I added a STAMP from Season of Cheer, rotated it 90 degrees and changed the ink color to white. I positioned this in the Old Olive area next to my photos.
14. I added several text boxes. One at the bottom has our name and the year – the text is white. The others are also white text and put on top of the photos, I rotated them on each photo to position them where I wanted.
Once the project is complete you can CHECK PROJECT – I checked the page for errors – there were none.
Then you can SHARE PROJECT. From here I exported mine to a .jpg file. And then used my photo edit software to resize it to be a 4×6 so I could print it as a photo.
Maybe you can try creating something like this in MDS also. My sister-in-law created her Christmas Letter using MDS – she create an 8-1/2 x 11 scrapbook page that she printed on her computer at home on nice paper. Then she bought envelopes and put them in the mail. I got mine a day or two ago.
One more family related item – we got a phone call yesterday from Kennesaw State University – this is where Kyle is going to school for his senior year of high school as a Joint Enrollment student (he gets both high school and college credit at the same time) – anyway they were calling to tell him he won the award for Outstanding Student from all of the Joint Enrollment students that attended. The award was for the student with the highest GPA and the most credit hours. We are very proud. He also had straight A’s and is on the President’s List (that is a 4.0 GPA). He’ll be invited to an awards ceremony in April along with the Outstanding Students from all the other majors at the university. Can you tell I’m a proud mom?
Have a great day!
Dec 17, 2009 | Christmas, class, Designer Series Paper, Holiday Mini Catalog 2009 |
Well yesterday got away from me and by the time I was ready last night to try to post our internet connection wasn’t working….so I’ll try to post twice today once now and again later.
This Friday (well I guess now that is tomorrow) I have my December class and it is themed “Holiday Tags & More” – I wanted everyone to make some quick little projects to finish up their gift wrapping. So we’ll be making some tag projects, a cute ornament and a little box. I designed the tin full of Ornament Tags for the class – but unfortunately it won’t be part of the class on Friday. Why? Well when I went to get out more tins I only had 2 left – I don’t know what happened to all the others that I had. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it those were the tins I used for the holiday bazaar a couple of months ago – that must have been where they went. Well darn – it is a beautiful project so you will just have to recreate it at home. I suppose you can just make the tags without the tin maybe we’ll do that instead – once it was empty you could use it to hold a gift card. So it was a double duty project – tags and a gift card holder…..
Stampin’ Up! Supplies that I used:
- Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper
- Delightful Decorations stamp set
- Ornament Punch
- Real Red card stock and classic ink
- Soft Suede card stock and classic ink
- Stampin’ Dimensionals
- 3/4″ and 1″ circle punch, 1/16″ and 1/8″ handheld circle punch
- silver cord
- Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon
- Tombow Multipurpose Adhesive
- Corner Rounder punch
Other Supplies:
- metal tin – like an Altoids tin
- white embroidery thread
This project features the Ornament Punch – if you don’t already have this punch and it is on your wish list order soon – it is in the Holiday Mini Catalog which ends on January 4th. It may not be available again after that – Stampin’ Up! hasn’t told us yet. I hope it is because there are many other things you can do with this punch. And I haven’t had the chance to try them all or share them all either.
For the Late Night Stamper’s 12 Days of Christmas challenge – this is my Day 6 project.
Happy Stampin’!
Dec 15, 2009 | Christmas, Occasion Mini 2010, Tutorial |
Last night I had my downline group meeting and as part of our meeting I wanted to do a cookie exchange – so everyone brought cookies to share. With the idea of the cookie exchange in mind I decided that one of our projects that we make should be a cookie box. So I sat down this weekend to design a cookie box. While making my box I had my new Stampin’ Up! punches out on my craft table so I decided to use those to dress up my box a bit. I love the look of these new punches – there is a corner punch with a matching border punch. There are two sets that will be available in January. I used the Scallop Trim Corner (it will be in the new Occaions Mini Catalog) and the Scallop Trim Border (it will be in the new Sale-A-Bration Brochure – so you can earn this one FREE). The other set is called Pinking Hearts. These are the new punch style and they look more like a stapler, the lock shut and you can store them by standing them on their ends or stacking them. They punch very nicely too – I can even do it with my left hand and I’m not left handed.
Here is my finished cookie box. See the nicely scalloped trim around the top. I also scalloped the edge of the lid.
The bottom of the box is Chocolate Chip and only a little bit shows at the bottom under the scallop border but if you wanted more to show then you just need to make the side panels on the lid smaller.
For my box base I used a 12″ x 12″ piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. Scored on all four sides at 2″. I snipped two sides to form tabs and then glued it together to make the bottom of the box. I have started using the Tombow MultiPurpose Adhesive for my boxes and it seems to be working well. You only need a small amount and it costs much less than Sticky Strip.
The lid is Real Red card stock – also a 12″ x 12″ piece and it is scored just less than 2″ on all four sides. This is so that the lid will fit over the base – I did about 1/16″ less for a snug fit. I snipped two sides to form tabs and then punched all four edges with the Scallop Trim Border punch. I glued the lid together at the corners, trimming where needed so nothing showed behind my pretty scallop edge.
The top piece is Whisper White – stamped with the large swirl from Baroque Motifs in Garden Green and Old Olive. Stamped with the ornaments from Tree Trimmings – using Garden Green and Real Red ink. The “Season’s Greetings” is from Many Merry Messages stamp set. I sponged around the edges and added some Rhinestone Brads.
To create the Chocolate Chip mat with the scallop trim border was not working out as easily as I had hoped. I worked with my corner and border punches trying to create the perfect square and after rounding the third corner somehow I was always crooked. I’ll have to work on that some more but until then I came up with a cheater method to create the perfect square (you could also do a rectangle). Besides it used less card stock this way too. Do you want to know how I did it?
Monika’s Cheater Scallop Trim Square Tutorial:
Step 1 - four strips
1. Start with 4 strips of card stock at least as long as you want your side to be – you can always trim of the extra if it is too long. The width should be enough to punch the scallop trim corner punch and get the two scallops on one side. On each strip punch one corner and then all the way down one long edge with the Scallop Trim punches.
Step 2 - match corner to end
2. Then you are going to match up one corner to an end of each strip. You will trim at an angle up to the second scallop on the corner so you don’t have any extra card stock showing behind the next scallop. You are going to match the scallops up at a right angle and glue the corner together.
Step 2 - glue together at a right angle
3. Now if you need to lay your piece that will be on top of the scallops and see how long you need your pieces to be – or complete your square and then measure for your top piece. You will create a square by repeating step 2 for the other three corners.
Step 3 - make a square
Make sure you are at a right angle at each corner so that you end up with a square (or rectangle) in the end. It might be easier to punch one more scallop around each corner so that you are matching up two instead of only one to help you stay straight.
4. Then add your layer on top of your square. Or if you prefer – have your layer and glue your corners and strips to the back of it. Since mine was very big for my cookie box I saved card stock this way because I don’t have any in the middle of my mat.
Step 4 - add layer on your square
close up of a corner
You really can’t tell that the scallop trim is made up of two pieces. It is just barely visible in the close up photo on the left side.
So this was my cheater method for creating a nice square with the new scallop trim corner and border punches. I’ll keep working with them on a full piece of card stock too and let you know if I figure out anything with that. I have one theory that I am working on now that worked for me once – but that could have been luck – I need to be able to do it more than once for it to be a helpful hint.
Last night was fun. This cookie box could also be used as a gift for a neighbor – of course you’ll want to fill it with cookies. To give the box some extra support I cut a piece of the cardboard backer from our Designer Series Paper to sit inside the box. I also laid some wax paper inside so I could put cookies in there – cut the wax paper to 12 x 12 and it fits inside and covers the sides too. Or put your cookies in a plastic bag before putting them in the box. Yesterday I made Snickerdoodles for my cookie for our exchange. Yum Yum!
Thanks for stopping by today – I really need to finish my Christmas cards….. I do think I have just about all my shopping done – only a couple of little things left to find. I put ornaments on our tree this morning. I bought wrapping paper too – I thought I had some but apparently I used most of it up last year.
Have a Happy Day!
Use a 6″ x 12″ piece of Real Red card stock and run it through the Big Shot with the Stampin’ Up! Fancy Favor Bigz XL die. It cuts the box and makes all the score lines for you and the top edge has a fancy edge so it really dresses up this simple box.
