This little Santa’s Workshop 2-4-6-8 Treat Box with a little elf on the front is easy and basic to make. We will need lots of basic and easy holiday cards and items to make in the coming months because you know how fast the holidays sneak up on us! Happy September!
I think the 2-4-6-8 box is one of the first things a stamper learns to make. You can vary the height of the bag or make a lid and make it a box. Or make tabs on both ends and make it a small box. This little box is made with just a half sheet of cardstock, 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. Just score it at 2″, 4″, 6″ and 8″ going across. Turn the paper lengthwise and score at 2″. That short area will be the bottom of the box. Cut on the score lines just up to the 2″ score line going across. Cut off the narrow little tab area. Apply a strong adhesive, like the Multipurpose Liquid Glue or the Tear & Tape, to the narrow tab on the end, then fold the other side of the box over to adhere. It’s easier to do this flat than to try to hold the box. Fold in the flaps for the bottom and add a little glue to hold them in place. Leave the top open or pinch to close, whatever you like.
For my little box, I just pinched the top closed by pushing in on the sides a little bit and punching holes in the top for a bow made with the Garden Green Baker’s Twine, coming in the Holiday Catalog. Be sure you put your treat inside first! You could also use a clip of one kind or another to hold it closed.
To decorate my box, before tying it closed, I added a small banner of the Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Series Paper. Maybe I had read it and forgot, but several sheets in this package of paper have white flocking on some of the areas! Very nice! Mind you, it was very difficult to cut into any part of this lovely new paper to make this banner and punch out the little elf! But it had to be done! The little greeting is from Itty Bitty Greetings, a suitable replacement for the retired Teeny Tiny Wishes, one of my favorites.
Here is another 2-4-6-8 box I made that is taller. It’s a fun project to know how to make!
Beginning today, September 1st, Stampin’ Up! has a new promotion, and it goes along nicely with the advent of the Holiday Catalog on September 5th. If you gather some orders together with some friends or go crazy with the Holiday Catalog (it doesn’t take much effort, I assure you!) and have your own large order of $250 or more before shipping and tax, of course, you will get FREE this Dashing Along Designer Series Paper!
Stampin’ Up! decided to use a mix of old favorites and new patterns to bring you beautiful, traditional Christmas paper. This collection of patterns has an eclectic feel and is perfect for layering, and while the newsprint design isn’t Christmas-themed, was selected for its versatility and popularity with customers. This promotion ends on September 30. This paper is in addition to your Stampin’ Rewards. Do remember that if you use any Bonus Coupons you earned in August, that reduces your order total (so you get to order a couple more things to reach $250!).
September 5th is the date the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog goes live! After you receive your order (or should I say your FIRST order because you won’t be able to resist more than one!), you can start on your holiday cards and projects. I urge you to try something like this Santa’s Workshop 2-4-6-8 Treat Box for one of your holiday projects as it may come in handy!
This Halloween Favor Clear Tiny Treat Box is so fun and easy to make if you need a little party favor or treat! It’s a good idea to always keep a package of these Clear Tiny Treat Boxes on hand for little gifts or treats. You never know when one might come in handy at the last minute! They are so easy and fun to decorate for whatever occasion, not just Halloween, of course!
These little clear plastic boxes come flat so you just assemble them by opening up and creasing the score lines to form the box. Be sure to take off the extra plastic that protects them. Then decorate away, inside or outside!
For this box, I just cut a strip of the Toil & Trouble Designer Series Paper, coming in the Holiday Catalog in September. I wrapped it around the box, barely creasing it on the corners, just to see how it would fit. You can start with the 12″ strip, however wide you would like it, and then see how much excess length you can cut off. Decide if you want that overlapping in the back of the box or in the front, hidden by whatever you decorate the front with. Then you can take it off and crease the folds with a Bone Folder to get a good, crisp crease.
For the front of my little Halloween favor box, I stamped the little bird ghost from the Trick or Tweet Stamp Set in the Holiday Catalog and colored it in with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. There are new colors coming in the Holiday Catalog, too! Love these!!! Then I punched him out and layered him on various circle punches and the small 1 1/8″ Scallop Circle Punch. I could have done even more, maybe tied ribbon around the box or added a greeting, but I just stopped here and put some candy inside!
Another idea to consider for Halloween treats is to join Paper Pumpkin before September 10th to receive the September papercrafting kit that is definitely going to be Halloween but not too spooky! I cannot wait!
Click to sign up!
If you would like to make a little Halloween favor box like mine, these Clear Tiny Treat Boxes are fun to have available, whether or not you join Paper Pumpkin! Be sure to put them on your order and be ready for the holidays!
Almost a month ago now, I had the pleasure of having five girls and four moms over to do some stamping! The girls are all friends in Girl Scouts and/or school and they were so wonderful to work with. I initially thought that being 11-year-olds and in our rather short time frame, we wouldn’t get that many projects done. The former teacher in me always overplans, regardless, even with adults, because you never really know how fast or slow people will work. And I like nothing better than thinking up projects on my own or browsing the internet (of course!) for ideas so I had PLENTY from which to choose.
My first thought was to decorate a gift bag for them to carry home their projects and teach them how they can recycle the bags they might get at a store by decorating with paper and maybe some stamping and embellishing. The one in the photo I made a while back in this post, but it was a good sample and I used this same retired paper for the girls because I had enough of it, in different colors. They stamped different flowers in matching colors. I also had die cut their first name initial with the Large Letters Dies to glue on the tag. I love decorating bags like this.
To teach them how to make a card, I thought a birthday card is always handy to have on hand. One girl made hers for her dad who had a birthday coming up. I found this design somewhere online. It was easy to make with the Balloon Bouquet Punch and the In Color 2018-2020 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper. My sample used all the same colors but some of the girls and moms traded balloons so they could have each balloon a different color. I love when people put their own twist on a project.
When I first became a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, at my first workshop we made a sticky note holder (whatever brand you like to use!). This one just takes a piece of cardstock folded to fit a pad of notes inside and then decorated on the front. For this one, we used a piece of the Garden Impressions 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper on the front and then stamped a daisy with the Daisy Delight Photopolymer Stamp Set and punched with the Daisy Punch. These stamps and punch were very popular last year when they came out in the catalog and still are this year. Some people punched two daisies to layer, which was cute also! For the daisy center we used a Clear Faceted Gem.
The thank you card used the Stampin’ Up! Note Cards & Envelopes and I die cut the butterfly ahead of time with the Springtime Impressions Thinlits Dies. I got this idea online from Mary Fish. We placed a colored piece of cardstock behind the die cut and popped the butterfly up on Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. Some call this the Eclipse Technique. For a little bling, we added the Glitter Enamel Dots.
And what’s a stamping event without candy and chocolate?! We assembled the Clear Tiny Treat Boxes and decorated with some retired designer paper and ribbon. Of course one of my favorite things to do is to cover chocolate candies with a small strip of designer paper, so I showed them how to do that for some chocolates to put in their Tiny Treat Box.
Who would have thought we would get through this many projects with 9 people in about two hours or less?! But we did, and still had extra time, I hurriedly cut some more paper and grabbed some small chocolate candy bars and we made the small Halloween slider treat with the Cat Punch. This is a fun little project that is surprising that when you pull on the ribbon at the top, it pulls the candy bar up and out of the cardstock wrapper.
I always like to make a lot of projects, I wonder if these broke a record in how many we got done in two and a half hours with nine people! The girls said they should come back for “every occasion” and were amazed at all my stamp sets on the shelf. I’m just glad they enjoyed the stamping experience. I told them all to come back to me when they are 18 and I’ll sign them up to be Demonstrators!
One of the first things I learned to make as a stamper, and a project I did at my first workshop as a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator was this Easy to Make Note Holder For Your Purse Or Desk! These are easy and fun to make, and you can customize them any way you like!
The base is Melon Mambo cut 3 1/4″ x 7 1/4″. Score at 3 3/8″ and 3 7/8″. This will allow for the thickness of the “sticky notes” you will put inside. That’s all there is to it, really! I decorated all of these with 3″ x 3″ squares of the Garden Impressions Designer Series Paper. It’s on sale today and tomorrow in the Buy 3 Get 1 Free DSP Sale!
To decorate each note holder, I stamped and/or punched a daisy with the Daisy Delight Stamp Set and the Daisy Punch. I think it is best to adhere the daisies flat onto the front so they don’t get stuck as easily on something in your purse, if that is where you are going to put it. If it is on your desk, you could pop them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. For a little pizzazz, I added a Clear Faceted Gem in the center of the daisy.
Just adhere a pad of notes to the back of the inside of the holder.
Another option would be to make a belly band to go around the note holder and stick the daisy on top of that. You could also have a matching pen if you were giving these as a gift!
Grab some pieces of cardstock and scraps of designer paper and make some of these easy note holders for your purse or desk and give some to a friend!
During July and August, you just may be able to save a little bit of money while enjoying stamping! Here are a couple specials you may have heard of and one more new thing just out today.
Yesterday I went into a craft store and was quite surprised to see pumpkins and fall things out on the shelves! I shouldn’t have been surprised, especially in a craft store, because crafters have to get started early for craft shows and things coming up in the fall. Today at the grocery store I noticed it is “Back to School” time already with lunch bags and school supplies on display! So even though I think summer just got rolling, it probably is only about a month until some schools start back again! Something that usually goes along with the start of school nowadays is Sales Tax Holidays, usually for school clothing, shoes, and school supplies.
Today Stampin’ Up! posted information about the Sales Tax Holidays in some states, mostly in August. Amazingly, some of our Stampin’ Up! products do count as school supplies so you might be able to save a few pennies anyway if your state has a tax holiday. You’ll have to click on the photo and probably zoom in to read this. It’s very small print. Your state will have more information when the time comes.
Click to read!
Don’t miss out on this great chance to try Paper Pumpkin! Sign up by August 10th and get the August Paper Pumpkin Kit in the mail mid-August for 50% off! Save $9.97! I have no clues on what the kit will look like or be BUT I would guess that with a promo title of “Blooming Summer Savings” and pictures of flowers on the banner, the kit is probably NOT going to be snowmen or a pizza party and it’s not going to be fruit and baskets because we just had that in July! I could be wrong, though! Ha! Now if you were a past subscriber but are interested in coming back, I have it on pretty good authority that you would count as a new subscriber if you use a different email address.
It’s not every designer paper, but a good selection anyway! After you choose 3 papers, you get the 4th package FREE! I already have several of these, but tonight (another!) of my orders arrived with the Animal Expedition Designer Series Paper. OH my gosh! This paper is so darn cute!! I don’t even have the stamp set and framelits, but I thought it might be fun to have this paper! I think I was right! Stock up on designer paper during July! You’ll save $11.00!
So there you go! Chances to save some money at Stampin’ Up! Don’t miss out!
It’s so easy to make your own birthday gift bag with half a sheet of designer paper! Why not make your own with paper, greetings, and embellishments that express your sentiments and are appropriate for the gift and the recipient? You just need paper, a scoring tool, scissors and adhesive to make the bag.
Cut a piece of cardstock or designer series paper in half, 6″ x 12″. Then score with the Stampin’ Trimmer or the Simply Scored. Put the paper in longways and score at 1 3/4″. Turn the paper so it is going sideways and score at 4″, 5 3/4″, 9 3/4″, and 11 1/2″. The area below that 1 3/4″ score line will be the bottom of the box so check the paper pattern if it has one so the design is going in the correct direction. Fold and crease all the score lines. Cut up on those bottom score lines, up to the 1 3/4″ score line to form the bottom flaps. Cut off the little 1/2″ tab.
To make the birthday gift bag, I used the Broadway Bound Specialty Designer Series Paper. Just put a strong adhesive, like, Tear & Tape, on that narrow tab on the right side, then assemble the bag. Fold the bottom flaps in and add some adhesive to close the bottom of the bag.
To decorate the bag, I cut a banner for the front of Lovely Lipstick Cardstock. The greeting is stamped from the Detailed With Love Stamp Set. I punched it out with the 1 1/2″ Circle Punch, made a layer with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch of Lemon Lime Twist, and then layered those on Gold Foil punched with the Starburst Punch.
That’s all there is to it! Put your gift inside with some tissue paper, and if you want to make your own crinkled paper, just cut thin strips of cardstock and crinkle them up by hand or with a paper crimper.
Although this Broadway Bound paper is NOT on the designer paper sale, Buy 3 Get 1 Free, lots of other very nice papers are during July so be sure to check that out!
It’s almost the 4th of July, and if you need a fun treat or party favor or even just a home decoration for the holiday, try this 4th of July Wood Crate Candy Treat Holder! The Wood Crate Framelit Dies have been around for a year, so you may have them already, plus the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack. And if you don’t have the paper, it’s part of the Buy 3, Get 1 Free Designer Series Paper special offer during July.
To make this crate, I used a light colored wood patterned paper in the stack. You need to cut out two pieces to make the crate. It goes together very easily. Then I used the star die to cut out an assortment of stars to adhere to the front. The word “celebrate” is from the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set. I already know this stamp set is going to get a lot of use because it has tons of greetings and sentiments in it.
As I said, there is a special offer on select designer series paper during the month of July so check out that sale and the choices HERE.
Also going on in July, if you are interested in becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, you will DEFINITELY want to sign up during July and choose a whole set of the new Ink Pads FREE with your Starter Kit! Just click HERE and scroll down a bit to see the information.
To finish off the 4th of July Wood Crate Candy Treat Holder, just fill up a cello bag with some candies for the holiday and tie with a ribbon! Now you have a very cute and easy little treat for someone special!
If you are having a party or just want a little treat for your family or co-workers at the office, make these 4th of July Candy Treat Pouches. They are easy to make and you can decorate them however you like! It’s really just origami in making the pouch!
I used a sheet of the In Color 2018-2020 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper for each pouch. This 6″ x 6″ size makes a pretty small pouch, so if you want to put very much candy inside, you might want to use a 9″ x 9″ piece of designer paper or even cardstock. (It’s a good way to use up some of your retired designer paper if you are hoarding it for a special occasion!!) You could even make a big one at 12″ x 12″!
Fold the paper square in half to form a triangle. Place the base of the triangle at the bottom, and fold down the top point to just about 1″ from the bottom edge. Then fold down the front layer of the point just as a guide. Take the point on the right side and fold it over to the left side, but not all the way, so that it will fit underneath that point you folded down from the top. Later you will fold that point down to stay, but for now, just make sure folding that point from the right will fit under it. Then take the point on the left side and fold it over toward the right side. Now fold the front piece of that point at the top down. Tack it down with a little Snail or Glue Dot. Stick your hand inside to just poof it out a bit and it feels like everything locks in place when you do that!
For the 4th of July, I just used the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue….except the red is Lovely Lipstick and the blue is Blueberry Bushel! To decorate my pouches, I die cut the star from the Wood Crate Framelit Dies. I have to say Stampin’ Up! has done a good job of getting rid of our star punches and dies but I managed to find one in the Wood Crate dies as I said! Stars are SO useful I don’t know what we don’t have some good assortments that we have had in the past! The word “Celebrate” for the holiday is from the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set.
For the candy, I always love decorating chocolate nuggets with designer paper. It really just takes a 1″ x 3″ (or 3 1/4″) strip to wrap around the candy. Be sure not to get adhesive on the candy itself!!
If you saw my post from yesterday, you saw that Stampin’ Up! is having a Designer Paper Sale during July! Select papers are Buy 3, Get 1 Free! Check out this list to see which ones are on the sale!
It wouldn’t hurt to make yourself a little 4th of July Candy Treat Pouch even if you’re not having a big gathering!
Click to View Chart!
You will find these designer series papers on pages 188-191 of the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog. Remember, even if you only like a certain paper a little bit, it will be 10X better in person! There’s no way the photographs of the paper can look as good as they do in real life! That’s what everyone says if they see the paper I have in person compared to what they see in the catalog!
Here are the details:
Check out the papers here! Just click on each one!
The Petal Promenade Suite is one of the most beautiful in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog. The designer paper, the Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper, is the real star of the suite! Like some designer paper in the previous catalog, this paper is designed by photographing real flowers and making it into a paper pattern.
Watch this video below from Stampin’ Up! that describes how they designed the paper. I love learning the “behind-the-scenes” secrets!
Even seeing this photo from the Online Store, you KNOW and I KNOW from experience that any designer paper made by Stampin’ Up! is ten times more beautiful in person that even the best photograph.
I think this paper is going on my next order! There are some sheets that have elements that you cut apart. All this paper is 12″ x 12″, so you will have plenty of paper to work with!
The video is very short, but if you don’t have time to watch it, just know that they photographed real flowers that they purchased and then designed the paper from those photographs. I think there was some mention of photoshopping out a small spider!! A ladybug on the flowers might have been cute!
To go along with this designer paper, there is the Beautiful Promenade Photopolymer Bundle containing the stamp set and the Beautiful Layers Thinlits Dies. There are also some embellishments. Check out all the products in this suite below:
If you didn’t get my June newsletter, here’s what you missed! On the first Tuesday of every month, I send out a newsletter to my mailing list subscribers with the latest Stampin’ Up! news and updates, and a variety of papercrafting and stamping projects – cards, techniques, scrapbook page idea, other projects! You can see in the collage above there was a mention of the brand new Stampin’ Up! Catalog and some of the new products featured in four project tutorials. These tutorials include a supply list and instructions so you can create the same or similar project on your own! I had also included some special news about the June Paper Pumpkin Kit, and an article about how my new ink pads fit in my Color Caddy! I also had a beautiful scrapbook page featured. These projects are exclusive to my newsletter because my subscribers are special! That’s why you only see a partial image of the projects in the photo!
At holiday time, I send my subscribers an extra newsletter each week with an exclusive holiday project, the 12 Weeks of Christmas! It is very well received and I love sending it out!
On other Tuesdays, I send out a shorter newsletter with one or two projects (sometimes I can’t resist more than one or two!) and any other Stampin’ Up! news or special offers. So if you are one of my mailing list subscribers you are always well-informed on all things Stampin’ Up! and get ideas for great projects to try!
When you sign up for my mailing list in order to receive my newsletters, you even get a FREE GIFT…..a guide to a dozen ideas for gift wrapping! We all need to give presents and if you can make your own packaging, it saves money and a trip to the store!
Please join us on the Stamping With Karen Mailing List so you can take advantage of the news and ideas I send out every week! Sign up in the box below! You will receive a link to your FREE GIFT right away!
Paper Pumpkin meets a Stampin’ Up! Suite in the new catalog, and now that the new catalog is live, we can reveal the name of the suite! It’s the Broadway Bound Suite on pages 68-69 of the Stampin’ Up! Catalog. The upcoming June Paper Pumpkin Kit will coordinate with this suite in the catalog.
You don’t have to have this suite to make your June Paper Pumpkin Kit, but it offers an opportunity to expand your creative possibilities! This Broadway Bound Suite looks really cute to me, and I put it on my order today so I have it ready to go when my Paper Pumpkin Kit arrives! Using this catalog suite along with your kit will give you more variety and a way to step up your projects. Sometimes all you need is an idea to get you started and maybe a few more materials to make more cards and things. You’ll even be able to make alternative projects along with your kit!
If you are already signed up for Paper Pumpkin, your kit should arrive at the usual mid-month time. Then you can consider if you want to order the Broadway Bound Suite (or maybe you already know you want it!).
If you aren’t getting the monthly papercrafting kit known as Paper Pumpkin, try it out now! Join and try it for a month! See if you like it. If not, just cancel before the next month. If you are busy one month, just put your subscription on hold for a month.
Each month is a surprise (on rare occasions, Stampin’ Up! gives us a sneak peek!) but it is often cards. Other times we have gotten party favors, home decor, treat containers, little gift bags, pinwheels for July 4th, etc. I think it’s fun to find that red box in my mail! It’s a treat for me! You deserve a treat every month too…….and some crafting time that is easy enough for everybody, with no planning or preparation required! Everything you need is in the box!
You get an exclusive stamp set, an ink spot for stamping, and all the supplies you need, usually even the adhesives! You don’t have to design a project to make, unless you want to strike out and make some alternative projects with your kit! Sometimes I make several of the designed projects and then maybe I make a few alternate projects that maybe I saw online. You also get a video from Stampin’ Up! that shows how to make the project.
Click HERE to see just one month’s example of a Paper Pumpkin project!
If you are interested, now or later, in the Broadway Bound Suite, note that it doesn’t come with the Paper Pumpkin Kit, you just order the products you want on any Stampin’ Up! regular order. You will get a flyer inside your kit to remind you. It is separate from the Paper Pumpkin Kit but just adds additional creative ideas! I think it will be fun!
One of my favorite products that I hate to see retire are the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies, which I used to make this Naturally Eclectic Mini Treat Bag. Through the years that Stampin’ Up! has had these dies, I have used them a lot! And you can even make some variations, like folding over the top of the bag or cutting it down to make it shorter, even making somewhat of a 3D bag out of it! You can use it to just put a card inside for a note or greeting, or you can slip a gift card or check inside for a gift. It’s just a fun thing to make that is a little different that the recipient will not be expecting!
This mini treat bag is made with the retiring Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper. Just two pieces of paper need to be cut to make the bag. It scores the bag pieces for you. Just fold and glue! Then embellish how you like. I made a belly band with a one inch strip of Emerald Envy Cardstock and stamped an embellishment with the Label Me Pretty Stamp Set and the Pretty Label Punch. I made a card to slip inside with an Emerald Envy back and Whisper White on the front ready for a greeting or note.
If you would like to have the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies, be sure to put them on your order before May 31st! You’ll be glad you did!
