Stocking Die for the Big Shot

I was stamping with my friend Missi several weeks ago and I was talking about what I was going to do for my Christmas class.  I had just finished my Halloween banner and I knew that I wanted a different banner for Christmas.  That's when the idea hit me: string stockings together from the brand new, super cute Holiday Stocking Big Shot Die.  I finally had a chance to get it on paper:

Colors: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Whisper White.  Big Shot: Holiday Stocking Bigz L, Serif Essentials Alphabet.  Punches: Five Petal Flower, Large Oval, 1/2" Circle, Postage Stamp.  Accessories: Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon, Old Olive Scallop Polka Dot Ribbon, Brads, Mini Clothes Pins, Brights Buttons, Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper, Glitter Paper.

I love the little clothes pins that hold the stockings in place on the ribbon.  I forgot I bought these and almost ordered more before I found them in my extra embellishment drawer.  And I need to give another shout out to Missi for suggesting the embellishments on the cuff of the stockings too.  It needed a little something and her suggestion was right on.

I also wanted to offer a card made out of this cute die but then came across one on the internet that turned it into a gift card holder.  I wish I could find it again so I could give credit to the creator. (I really need to be better about writing down where I see things.)

Colors: Marina Mist, Cherry and Whisper White on Left.  Real Red, Garden Green and Whisper White on right. Stamps: Four the Holidays. Big Shot: Holiday Stocking Bigz L Die, Snowburst Textured Embossing Folder. Punches: Word Window, Scallop Border Punch, 1-1/4" Circle.  Accessories: Buttons, Bakers Twine, Ribbon.

On the back side of these, the Word Window punch creates a slot for the gift card to slide into like so:

Isn't that clever?  I will be offering both of these projects at my Christmas Card and Gift Crank on November 18 and 19.  You can check out all the details here: http://paulastamps.blogspot.com/p/christmas-crank-class.html

Hand Sanitizer Holder

On Wednesday, I showed you one of the projects for Tammy's class. Her second request was for a teacher gift.  I was running out of time to get something designed before I left for vacation so I reached into last year's Christmas Projects and decided to offer the ever popular Hand Sanitizer Holder.  I hope they are as big a hit with Tammy's friends as they were at my class last year.

There are a few different patterns and tutorials for these floating around on the internet.  For these, I used the directions from the amazingly talented Kimberly Van Diepen's blog stampinbythesea.com.  I like them because you can get four out of one sheet of card stock and the Simply Scored tool make them super easy to make too.

Colors: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White.  Stamps: Warmest of Wishes. Punches: Decorative Label Punch, Medium Oval Punch. Tools: Simply Scored. Accessories: Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper, Riding Hood Red 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Gold Brads.  Other: super thin neodymium magnets, hand sanitizer

If you are interested in hosting your own workshop or private class for your friends, let me know. Time is running short to get classes in before the Holidays so let's get it on the calendar now.

Mini Album/Photo Display

Sorry I took Monday off.  We got back from vacation on Sunday night and I just couldn't get myself out from the piles of dirty laundry long enough to post on Monday.  But I'm back now!

My dear friend Tammy is graciously inviting all her friends and neighbors over for a private stamping class next week.  She told me exactly what she wanted and I went to work trying to make it happen.  :)

She asked for a mini album/fold-out photo display that would make a great little add on gift for grandparents.  I had made some of these a few years ago for a boutique and that is where she got the idea.  They measure 4"x12" and scored every 3" and accordion folded.

The hard part for me with these things is trying to make them gender neutral enough that you could put boys' or girls' photos on it and that a man could put it on his desk without getting ribbed by his coworkers.

Here's what it looks like from the outside when it's all folded up:

And here is what it looks like open without the photos in it:

I added photos of my cute nieces to it and then gave it to her to show her friends before I took more pictures. Oops!  There is another project for her class to and I'll show that on Friday so come on back.

SUPPLIES:

Colors: Soft Suede, Pool Party, River Rock, More Mustard and Very Vanilla
Stamps: Fabulous Phrases
Punches: Jewelry Tag, Round Tab, Small Oval, Curly Label, 1" and 1-1/4" Circles, Modern Label and Word Window.
Big Shot: Top Note Bigz Die and Square Scallop Duo Bigz Die
Tools: Simply Scored
Accessories: Spice Cake Designer Series Paper and Buttons, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Soft Suede 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, silver brads, Neutral buttons

Countdown to Halloween

Last week I showed you a countdown to Christmas.  This week I'm sharing a countdown to another holiday that children frequently ask how long til:  Halloween.  It's also one of the featured projects at my All Occasions Stampin' Buffet this month:

Colors: Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White. Stamps: Festive and Fun.  Big Shot: Square Scallop Duo, Billboard Decorative Strip.  Tools: Crop-a-dile. Accessories: Markers, Chalkboard  Decor Element Sheet, Basic Black Scalloped Dot Ribbon, Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon. Other: Chalkboard Marker.

The black scallop square is die cut from our Chalkboard Decor Element Sheets so each day you can erase the number and right a new one on there.  I used a chalkboard marker to add the dots in the scallop and write the number, but you can use regular chalk as well.

The base of these are some On Board Small Book Basics that Stampin' Up sold a few years back.  I've been hoarding a couple of packages of them, but this is the perfect use for them.  They measure 5-1/2"x7" so they are the perfect size to hang, or put on an easel.

And notice the Festive and Fun set again?  I'm getting a lot of use of this cute set.  Love it!

If you want to make one of your own, come September 16 or 17 to my Stampin' Buffet.  They are $6 each but I only have a limited number of those boards so RSVP today!  You can see all the other projects here: All Occasions Stampin' Buffet.  And don't worry too much that this is the only Halloween project this month.  Next month will be all about Halloween so stay tuned.

Fun and Festive Swap

I can't resist a good swap.  Especially when a new catalog comes out.  So even though Valentines is still months away and we have a lot of really great holidays between now and then, I'm showing you a Valentine's Card that I made for a recent Stampin' Addict Holiday Mini swap.

Colors: Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White.  Stamps: Festive and Fun.  Punches: Modern Label.  Big Shot: Polka Dot Embossing Folder.  Accessories: Dazzling Details, Silver Brads, Taffeta Ribbon, Markers, and White Gel Pen.

Sometimes to switch things up a little bit, I like to use Pink Pirouette as a neutral Card Stock.  It's a light enough color that it can take other ink on top of it.  And the Card Stock itself is a titch thicker than the others so it holds up to coloring pretty well.  Here I stamped the Valentine in Black Stazon and colored it with Cherry Cobbler.  One of the other fun things about using Pink Pirouette for a base, is then you can use white as an accent.  I colored in some of the sections with our white gel pen to give it some more color.

This stamp has that cute heart for a V and I really wanted to make it pop.  So I stamped just that heart on Cherry Cobbler and used the white gel pen for the dots.  Then I cut it out and used a dimensional on top of the original image on the card.

It does seem very strange to be sharing a Valentines Card in October.  At some point in my stamping obsession, I've become oblivious to the calendar and just started stamping whatever, whenever.  But this stamp set is only available until January 3 and it does include a cute Christmas and Halloween image too so don't wait until Valentines to order it.  You can see more about this set in this previous post: FESTIVE AND FUN SNEAK PEEK.

Candy Wrapper Countdown

As promised, today I'm offering you a closer look at the Candy Wrapper Countdown project I featured on the Stampin' Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop last weekend. And here it is:

The first thing you should know is that if you click in the above picture, you can get a closer look at all 25 of these beauties.

Last year, when the Candy Wrapper Big Shot die was first introduced, it was more than a little frustrating for more than a few people.  I will admit to being one of them.  But them my good friend Missi told me about a video on Barb Millikin's blog that took all the frustration out of it.  I've made hundreds of these since then and even have shared them at workshops and events.  I love this little box now!  So if you have a fear of them, check out her video on YouTube.

But even so, 25 was a lot to make at once.  Fellow stamp enthusiast, Peggy, left a comment the other day about maybe making just 2 or 3 and then velcroing the tags on to them every few days to reuse the boxes over and over again.  That would be one way of doing it for sure.  But I envisioned this when I came up with the project:

A bowl full of these cute boxes sitting on my coffee table!  So I really needed 25.   I'm just hoping that my boys, 6 and 8, don't destroy the boxes so we can reuse them over and over each year.  Honestly, I haven't filled these yet but I plan to put small treats in some of them and maybe some slips of paper with holiday activities written on them in others.  But I'd love to hear your ideas too so leave a comment with them please (or even just to tell me what you think about the project in general). 

Here are a couple of close up pictures:

I wrapped each of the candy wrapper boxes in a piece of Frostwood Lodge Paper.  Then to some I added ribbon, including the beautiful new Quilted Satin Ribbon from the Holiday Mini,  if it didn't look too busy with the printed papers.  It seems like I used ever punch I owned to make the different tags but I listed them all below.

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget the Holiday Mini Catalog goes live tomorrow, September 1.  (Woo Hoo!!!!)  Come back on Friday for a look at a couple of cards I made for a Holiday Mini Swap.

Supplies:
Colors: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Garden Green, Whisper White and Marina Mist
Stamps: 25 and Counting from the 2012 Holiday Mini Catalog
Big Shot: Candy Wrapper Bigz L Die
Punches:  1, 1-1/4", 1-3/8" & Scallop Squares; Postage Stamp, 1", 1-1/4", 1-3/8", Scallop Circles; Medium and Large Ovals
Accessories: Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper, Early Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon, Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist Scallop Dot Ribbon.