Paper Pumpkin’s first kit of 2020 is all about L-O-V-E. Whether you want handmade favors for Valentine’s Day, a bridal shower, or a remarkably romantic wedding, this month’s kit has everything you need to help you celebrate your favorite friendships and love stories. So make it a “LOVE”-ly year with Paper Pumpkin!
Kit details:
Makes 20 treat bags + 10 mini cards and envelopes
Card size: 3″ x 3″ (7.5 x 7.5 cm)
Envelope size: 3-1/8″ x 3-1/8″ (7.8 x 7.8 cm)
Bag size: 3-1/4″ x 4″ (8.2 x 10 cm)
Coordinating Stampin’ Up! colors: Crushed Curry, Highland Heather, Mint Macaron, and Rococo Rose
Get more from the I’ll Bee Yours Kit when you buy the Heart Punch Pack (item 151292) from the 2020 January–June Mini Catalog. Both punches coordinate with the heart stamp in the kit so you can craft for love-filled occasions now . . . and later! Think: weddings, showers, birthdays, and more! Check out the flyer advertising this super-versatile punch pack in your January kit!
By now you have probably used up most of your fun Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper unless you are a paper hoarder! And we all want to hoard this fun paper with the glittery snowmen on it. However, if you did actually cut up the sheets with the snowmen, you know it required drastic steps, perhaps destroying parts of the snowmen design. I know you didn’t throw away a bit of the scraps, so look through them now and see what you can make! You might still be able to salvage some snowmen!
On this first card, I had a smallish piece of designer paper with the two snowpeople on it. I just added extra layers so it would make a full card. And I jazzed up the snowmen by adding some stick arms and a scarf and hat. These pieces were from the Let It Snow Embellishment Kit. Don’t forget to use the cardstock cheat trick by punching out or die-cutting some pieces from the center of the cardstock that is going to be covered up anyway. No one will ever know!
On this card, I was able to save these two snowpeople and just made a smaller card! Make a 4 1/4′ x 4 1/4″ card or 4″ x 4″ size, whatever the piece of designer paper will fit best. On this one, just a little designer paper at the top and bottom of the snowman paper was enough to set off the focal point snowmen. Once you add a greeting and embellish the card a little bit you will have a great card even with a smaller piece of designer paper than you might have used.
Remember, sometimes the opposite side of the paper can be used long after the holidays. Often, we aren’t as familiar with the other side of the paper as we are of the well-known image.
If you have really small pieces of this Let It Snow Designer Paper, remember, you can make tags for gifts! Usually we run out before all the packages are wrapped, so it’s a good idea to make extra tags! Especially if you haven’t started wrapping packages yet1
Have fun making your last minute holiday cards, tags, and treats!
Little houses seem to be trendy this Christmas from what I have seen in the stores and on social media. Mostly the houses are wooden blocks and then painted with one embellishment on the front like a wreath or a heart or something. So here are my Little Wooden Decorated House Blocks that I made one evening and, if I do say so myself, I think they turned out pretty well! At least everything is still stuck on so that is good!
When I was at Hobby Lobby I came across these wooden house blocks although they were painted (printed?) on the front with a word like “Joy” and a painted wreath. I should have taken a “before” photo! When I saw them, I thought why not cover the front with designer paper and then add a wreath or something.
I didn’t know “how” I was supposed to do this project so I started with ModPodge, but I think mine was so old and stinky when I came back to the block the paper was all discolored. I was able to rip it off and wiped off the block and started over. I sanded the fronts of the blocks just a little bit and then just used our Multipurpose Liquid Glue to adhere the paper to the block.
I looked through my designer papers and chose what I thought would work. I used the Toile Tidings Designer Series Paper, the Wrapped in Plaid 6″ x 6″ Specialty Designer Series Paper, and the Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper (sold out). I laid the side of the paper I wanted to show face down on the table. I spread out the glue all over the front of the block (I think a foam brush works well and then you can just throw it away) and then laid the block face down on the paper. Sometimes I lined it up with the edges at the bottom and one side and sometimes I didn’t. After the glue had dried, I used an exacto knife to trim away the excess paper. Just cut off the large excess with scissors first to make trimming easier. If you still have slight edges to trim off, try a sanding block or very fine sandpaper or a nail file to sand the edges. You can even do more sanding for that distressed look along the edges.
You can either buy some tiny wreaths at the craft store or get some greenery that you can twist into a wreath. I also bought a little bag of red berries and twisted those around the greenery. Once I had the wreath made, I adhered each one to a house with hot glue. Then I used some retired twine with a sparkly red thread in it to tie a bow and adhered that with the Multipurpose Liquid Glue. You have to hold it on for a second or you could use hot glue.
On one house I put the bottom blob of hot glue in the wrong place for the bottom of the wreath so that it showed through the center of the wreath. Then I remembered I had these little Christmas trinkets from Stampin’ Up! from a year or two ago, so I held the hot glue gun on the blog of excess glue to soften it and stuck on the gingerbread man! “There are no mistakes in stamping!” It was so cute I added a trinket to each wreath!
I ended up adding just a bit of white acrylic paint on the house sides but you might not need to unless you have the raw wood. For the back, I ended up adding Real Red Cardstock just like I did the designer paper. I guess I could have just painted that area too.
Finally, the roof just begged for some snow, so I used my Shimmery Crystal Effects as the adhesive and sprinkled on some Ice Stampin’ Glitter (not available). I didn’t cover the roof fully but just did some swirls all around.
I think these will be cute for gifts and holiday decorations! You could probably even use some generic design of paper and then have different things to hang on the front of the house for different seasons or occasions so you can change them out.
Almost every year I have been making one variation or another of a Rudolph gift bag so here is my Easy Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer Gift Bag! Usually, I have decorated a kraft shopping bag like in this popular post HERE. Another year I made a smaller 2-4-6-8 bag to look like Rudolph HERE.
This is a similar bag, but a little larger that you make with half a sheet of 12″ x 12″ paper. It’s good to have at least the assortments of each color family of 12″ x 12″ paper on hand because even if we don’t use this size paper real often, sometimes you need a large piece for a project.
Start with a 6″ x 12″ piece of Soft Suede Cardstock or whatever color of brown that you like. Score at 4″, 5 3/4″, 9 3/4″, and 11 1/2″. Turn the paper so the short edge is at the top and score at 1 3/4″. This will make the bottom flaps of the bag. Cut those short bottom tabs up to the 1 3/4″ score line. Cut off the little 1/2″ tab on the bottom. Fold on all the score lines and crease well with the Bone Folder. Adhere the tab on the end to the other side to assemble the bag. Then adhere the flaps on the bottom. I used the Tear & Tape Adhesive. (There’s a piece of white cardstock underneath just for the photo.)
Before you completely assemble the box, fold on all the score lines and SEE how it is going to go together. See which area will be the front. I found it was easier to glue on the pieces while the bag was still flat, but either way works since it is so simple!
I used a 2″ Circle Punch for the Red Glimmer Nose, a 1″ Circle Punch for the white part of the eyes and a 3/4″ Circle Punch (retired) for the black. You can use whatever punches or dies you have according to what sizes and look you want your Rudolph to have! Just glue them on to make your reindeer’s face.
For the antlers I used the Sprig Punch. I punched out 3 of the sprigs out of the Whisper White Thick Cardstock since I wanted them sticking up over the top of the bag and thought the Thick Cardstock would be a little stronger. One of the sprigs I cut apart and added one piece to each sprig. I colored all the sprigs with my Stampin’ Blends, two of them with the Light Crumb Cake and one with Soft Suede just to make it a little interesting and adhered the darker piece to the full sprig.
Just fill a cello bag with treats and tie with a ribbon! Put it inside the Easy Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer Gift Bag and you’ve got a fun gift for someone!
I thought it would be fun to just make some of these Christmas Mini Curvy Keepsake Boxes to have on hand for the holidays – now that the holidays are upon us!! These are just easy boxes that you have probably seen online, nothing too creative, but cute nonetheless!
All you need to make these and other cute creations is the Mini Curvy Keepsake Box Dies. The one big die cuts out the box and then you also have little tags and other pieces you can use. Very creative people make the most creative characters and designs with these boxes!
This easy snowman is made with Whisper White Cardstock and I just drew on his face with Stampin’ Write Markers. You could alternately punch out pieces for his eyes, nose, and mouth but for me, it was easiest to draw. I used the greeting from the Itty Bitty Christmas Stamp Set. The Real Red Curly Ribbon makes a cute way to tie on the tag and add a little something to the snowman.
This little Santa box is easy to make with Real Red Cardstock and a bit of Basic Black scrap and Silver Glimmer Paper. Use a hole punch for a couple of buttons on Santa’s suit. To make the belt, just adhere a narrow strip of black cardstock. Add on a square of Silver Glimmer Paper and then adhere a smaller square of Basic Black on top of the glimmer paper to make it look like the belt going through the buckle! The greeting is tied on with a piece of Braided Linen.
This keepsake box uses a piece of the Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper with a snowman from another piece of the paper that is cut out and adhered to the side of the box. If the recipient opens up the box, they will find the cute inside pattern of lots of little snowmen. The only trouble with prints and this die is you would have to make sure the patterns and designs are going in the direction that you want. The greeting is stamped from Itty Bitty Christmas and tied on with a bit of the Silver 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon.
This cute little reindeer can be made various ways. He is made out of Soft Suede Cardstock for his body and a lighter color for the antlers, Crumb Cake. Of course you must you Red Glimmer Paper for Rudolph’s nose. The eyes are punched out and the black pupils colored in with a black marker. The antlers are glued on by bending back the stem of the die-cut piece and just glued on the top of the box. The tag, stamped with a greeting from Itty Bitty Christmas, is tied on with the Real Red Curly Ribbon.
As you can see, you can do a lot with these dies, much more really than these samples. But once you start making things with this box die, you can almost not stop!
if you don’t own the Mini Curvy Keepsake Box Dies, you might want to check them out in the Online Store. You can put a small gift or treat inside. Their little size makes them especially cute!
Every week for the past eight weeks I have been sending my mailing list subscribers a free holiday project that you can use to make your holiday preparations easier! This is a thank you for my mailing list subscribers that I like to do every year. Just like in my regular weekly email, I send a photo of a project, a list of supplies needed, and all the directions to make it.
These are the final four weeks! Can you believe it?! These last four weeks we will concentrate on gift wrap, tags, and bags for those Christmas gifts!
You may have missed the first weeks, but sign up today for my mailing list before 1:00 pm Central Time and you will get the remaining 4 weeks, plus you’ll be on the list for next year!
All you have to do is sign up in the red box in the upper right of my blog or in the form below.
At least these three turkeys are done for Thanksgiving (but not the real one!). These Mini Curvy Keepsake Turkey Box Treats For Thanksgiving are quick and easy to make and you could make any number of variations. There are so many cute little things you can make for lots of occasions with the Mini Curvy Keepsake Box Dies!
I always think these take two pieces to make but they do not…..just one die cut! You just need a piece of cardstock 6″ wide and turn the die so the points of the die-cut “point” to the corners of the cardstock, not straight up and down, and the die will fit. I used Crumb Cake Cardstock but Soft Suede would be another good choice for the turkey.
To make the tail feathers, I just used the oval tag die-cut in the package of the Mini Curvy Keepsake Box Dies. It does have a little hole in the tag, but I just put that at the base of the feather and it’s not seen. I started to glue the feathers right onto the body but then I thought to punch a 1 1/2″ Circle of Crumb Cake Cardstock and adhere the two rows of feathers on to that and then that onto the turkey body. You could also use colored leaves die cuts or even just strips of cardstock in various colors.
For the turkey face, I just used some stick-on googley eyes and cut a little turkey beak out of Crushed Curry. For the wattle, I punched out a sprig from the Leaf Punch and then cut off the leaves and used those for the turkey wattle. Just use and do whatever you think up or have on hand!
Don’t forget to put a little treat inside! I also tied on a piece of Lovely Lipstick 1/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon partly to hold the box closed for sure and mostly just for another little something to jazz up the turkey box!
You could make one for each of your guests at Thanksgiving and place them at their seat at the table. Or even put a little strip with the guest’s name on it at the bottom of the front of the turkey for a place card. I used to always love to make place cards for the table when I was a little girl!
If you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner, make a fun little treat or favor like these Mini Curvy Keepsake Turkey Box Treats For Thanksgiving or take a few for your hostess!
This Brightly Gleaming Ornament Gift Bag is perfect for a small gift and looks prettier than anything you would buy in a store! And instead of driving to a store for a little bag, use the time and stay home and make your own! It’s much more fun! Even better, sit down and make more than one bag and you’ll have a collection ready to go!
Start with a 6″ x 12″ piece of paper. Score at 4″, 5 3/4″, 9 3/4″, and 11 1/2″. Turn the paper so the short edge is at the top and score at 1 3/4″. This will make the bottom flaps of the bag. Cut those short bottom tabs up to the 1 3/4″ score line. Cut off the little 1/2″ tab on the bottom.
Fold on all the score lines and crease well with the Bone Folder. Adhere the tab on the end to the other side to assemble the bag. Then adhere the flaps on the bottom. The Tear & Tape Adhesive works great as far as strength but does not allow for any “wiggle room” like the Multipurpose Liquid Glue. So use whichever works best for you. You will be able to see how the bag goes together as you start to assemble it.
This little Brightly Gleaming gift bag doesn’t need too much in the way of decoration, but of course, I had to put a little more into it than I needed to! I punched the three ornaments with the Gleaming Ornaments Punch Pack. The copper foil ornament is embossed first with the Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder and then punched, but you could punch it out first.
I thought the ornaments needed a little bit of a background and I happened to have a scrap piece of Pretty Peacock Cardstock handy so I just used that, cutting it down as small as I could. Then I also saw a die cut Copper Foil piece and cut that in half lengthwise to be a top and bottom layer under the Pretty Peacock.
I used some copper foil branches in the Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements to look like the branches the ornaments were hanging from. I used some scrap white ribbon to “hang” the ornaments and then tied small bows.
That’s more embellishing than I needed to do on a little gift bag but it was fun! You could even put a cookie or two inside, tea bags, some jewelry, even a gift card. Make this basic gift bag with half a sheet of 12″ x 12″ paper for any occasion!
Thanksgiving will be here soon, although this idea can be used at any time of the year, and perhaps if you are going to someone else’s home, you might like to take a hostess gift such as a bottle of wine or other beverage. Rather than just take an ordinary bottle of wine, decorate it with your personal touch by making a Gather Together Fall Wine Bottle Tag such as this one. You can make it as easy and simple or as fancy as you like!
The basic idea is a piece of cardstock to hang down the partial length of the bottle with a score line at the top with a punched hole to make the hanger. Without the score line, the tag would just hang and stick out. You may need to alter these measurements to fit your bottle, but the project is easy enough to understand and you can make adjustments for your individual project.
For this exact project, I began with a piece of Blackberry Bliss Cardstock 9″ x 3″. It is scored at 2 1/2″ down from the top. You can either eyeball the center or measure accurately to find the center of this top portion in order to punch a hole to go over the wine bottle. I used a 1 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch to make the hole. You could also use a circle die.
Next, I cut a piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock to layer on the Blackberry Bliss Cardstock at 6 1/4″ x 2 3/4″. I stamped three leaves with the Gather Together Stamp Set in the same color ink as the cardstock in Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, and Old Olive. If you have the Gathered Leaves Dies, you can die cut the leaves, or if not, just use Paper Snips to cut out by hand (as I did!). The pumpkin is also stamped and cut out.
The greeting is stamped from the Gather Together Stamp Set in Blackberry Bliss Ink and lightly stamped in Crushed Curry with the little wheat stamp for a little interest. It is die-cut with the Layering Ovals Dies and layered on a Stitched Shapes oval die. I put a piece of underneath the popped up greeting.
As I laid out the design of the tag, I decided to add some color to the Very Vanilla layer on the Blackberry Bliss. I simply took a sponge and sponged on some Pumpkin Pie Ink, Crushed Curry Ink, Old Olive Ink, and Blackberry Bliss Ink very lightly. It just adds a little more of a fall look.
I sponged on these colors, then adhered the Crushed Curry 3/8″ Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon under the popped up greeting at the bottom of the tag. Next, I placed the leaves with the top and bottom leaves being adhered straight on to the tag and the middle one popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. I also tucked in the little stamped pumpkin by the greeting and leaf.
Here are another bottle tag I made in the past and another to give you other ideas and see how easy they are to make! And like I said, they could be designed for a birthday celebration or other occasion.
Here is a photo of the entire tag not hanging on the wine bottle to see how the top is made.
If you wanted to take an extra little hostess gift, you could also make an assortment of cards that matched the colored leaves and design on the tag. Give this little project a try and then keep it in mind when you are going somewhere and want to take a gift!
Projects like this one are difficult to photograph because of the glare, but you won’t find it difficult to work with when you choose some or all of the products in theStampin’ Up! Christmastime Is Here Suite! This paper is beautiful with the roses and the gold foil accents. It is just stunning and I think you will find uses for it long after the holidays are over!
We’ve been using the Mini Pizza Boxes for a while now that Stampin’ Up! sells, but these are extra specialGOLD Mini Pizza Boxes! They are hardly for pizza, though, unless you had a very, very small pizza! But the box is designed almost like a pizza box so that’s how they got their name! You could actually reverse these boxes and have the gold on the inside as an elegant surprise to the recipient and decorate the white side on the outside! You will find these Gold Mini Pizza Boxes in the Holiday Catalog on page 13.
Gold Mini Pizza Boxes are small gift boxes that are just the right size for a cookie or 3″ x 3″ note cards. Also perfect for small gifts and other treats!
8 shiny gold boxes
Folded box size: 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ x 1″
Food safe
There are infinite ways to decorate these gold boxes, and of course, they are perfect for the holidays when you really want something special. This box just has a layer of Cherry Cobbler designer paper from the Christmastime Is Here Specialty Designer Series Paper. Then a square portion of the rose pattern in the paper is layered on a piece of Mossy Meadow Card Stock that is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals®. This way once the gift is placed inside, a piece of the Gold 1/4″ Shimmer Ribbon can be slipped under this popped up layer and tied on the side to hold the lid shut and add a nice embellishing touch. You could even add a little greeting on there somewhere if you wanted to.
These Gold Mini Pizza Boxes come flat so they are easy to store until you need them. At that time they are easy to fold on the score lines and assemble. Then decorate to your heart’s content!
Get a package or two of the Gold Mini Pizza Boxes to have on hand for any gift-giving occasions, especially the holidays! Use the Christmastime Is Here Specialty Designer Paper with roses to decorate the Gold Mini Pizza Box with a special gift or treat inside for one of your gift-giving occasions!
Today, November 1st is the day you can finally purchase this beautiful suite of new Stampin’ Up! products, the Christmastime Is Here Suite! If you are looking for something a little different for Christmas but still lovely, these roses with gold accents will be perfect for you! I can tell you the designer paper is gorgeous! No doubt you will make beautiful cards and projects with these new products.
You can purchase the WHOLE suite or if that is too much for you at one time, you can actually purchase products individually! It’s great! There is even a bracelet in the mix with a rose and a Stampin’ Up! charm.
Click for full version.Click for full version.
Watch the Stampin’ Up! video below for more information!
These products are only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! To avoid disappointment, I would order whatever you really really want as early as you can! I have no idea how things will sell, but this Suite may be pretty popular. It is SO pretty!
Today is the big day for kids and also moms with little kids in school! Usually there is a run on Halloween cupcakes at the grocery store for the school parties! To celebrate, I put a few of my recent Halloween projects on this cute little cake stand my friend gave me the other day! The Clear Tiny Treat Box is easy to decorate and the Mini Curvy Keepsake Boxes are really cute. There are so many fun things to make for Halloween, just not enough time!
Halloween is such a fun holiday and one we all probably remember from our childhood – what costumes we wore, what kind of candy we got, school parties! I’m still good friends with a mom I met at my youngest son’s kindergarten class Halloween party!
After I took the photo I tied ribbon around them to hold the lid on after I put candy inside. The top decoration I popped up on two dimensionals at the top and bottom so there would be space in between to slide a ribbon. Here is a post for the first Coffin Treat Box I made and how to assemble it.
And then the other fun Halloween project was making these treat boxes with the September Paper Pumpkin Kit! “Craft supplies” (chocolate!) being put to proper use!
Even though Halloween will be over after today, if there is anything in the Monster Bash Suite you loved and want more of for next year you can still order it!
Have a safe and fun Halloween Night! Don’t let the goblins get you!
Every week for the past four weeks I have been sending my mailing list subscribers a free holiday project that you can use to make your holiday preparations easier! This is a thank you for my mailing list subscribers that I like to do every year. Just like in my regular weekly email, I send a photo of a project, a list of supplies needed, and all the directions to make it.
In the first 4-5 weeks, I send card ideas since it’s likely that is the first thing most of us will work on at this point. Next, come a few weeks of gift ideas and finally, as we are doing Christmas shopping, some ideas for gift wrap, bags, and gift tags.
These are exclusive projects that I won’t be posting on my blog or anywhere else. You may copy directly, take inspiration from the idea and come up with your own project, or simply enjoy seeing another stamping idea! I know I am all about seeing as many ideas as possible.
However, the only way you can get these special 12 Week of Christmas emails is to be on my Stamping With Karen Mailing List! You have already missed the first 4 weeks, but you can get the rest, beginning Wednesday! All you have to do is sign up in the red box in the upper right of my blog or in the form below.
This Halloween witch is ready with her Halloween Witch Boot Candy Favor! I’ve made these for several years now and they are very simple to make. The witch isn’t simple, just the candy treat! The witch I made (lots of them!) back in my crafting and craft show days from a pattern I probably bought at the International Quilt Show held annually in Houston back before I ever heard of Stampin’ Up!
The Witch’s Boot is easy to make. Just grab an empty toilet paper roll or cut down a paper towel roll or whatever roll you have. Wrap some designer paper around that you think looks like a sock. Then make a boot collar for the base. It just wraps around and meets in the middle. Then fold back the corners. The only thing to watch for is to make it wide enough so you can add a buckle. Then add a long strip for the base of the boot that is only as wide as the toilet paper roll. Narrow it down diagonally on each side and curl the tip if you like. No measurements, you can just do it for your size roll.
To make an easy buckle, just cut a square of some kind of foil (I used Copper on this one) and then make a smaller black piece for the center to look like it is going through the buckle.
