Category Archives: 3-D, Gifts & Things

All Is Calm Kraft Gift Box For Christmas

I just recently ordered and received this beautiful ribbon you see wrapped around this All Is Calm Christmas Kraft Gift Box. It is the Real Red 3/8″ Satin Woven Ribbon in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. It is gorgeous!! Of course I do love red, but I did think this ribbon was really pretty! I chose a paper in the All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper to cover the Kraft Gift Box. I wrapped the Real Red Satin Ribbon around the box with the ends adhered on the bottom of the box. The bow is tied with an extra piece of ribbon slipped under the ribbon on the top of the box, with a little of the Gold 1/8″ Ribbon curled with a scissors at the ends. I used to love to watch my mother work her magic with that curling ribbon wrapping a package! I didn’t know if this Gold Ribbon would do this, but it did! I just tied that in with the bow for a little extra decoration. The tag is stamped with the Merry Everything Stamp Set and punched with the Note Tag Punch. (You can buy that stamp set and Note Tag Punch together in a Bundle and save 15%!)

Such an easy way to wrap a package using the Kraft Gift Box, some designer paper and some beautiful ribbon! Stampin’ Up! even offers a larger gift box that might be handy for you. Just check all the Packaging options in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Tag A Bag Fall Gift Box

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There are some birds, squirrels or critters having a party in our tree that are causing a lot of small branches and leaves to fall in our front yard, and as I was picking them up one day, I thought maybe I could use some in a crafty way. Well, today was the day as I decided a small real branch might look good on a fall gift box made with the Tag A Bag Gift Box. These are really nice quality boxes and clear plastic lids, worth picking up on your next order! I think at a previous Stampin’ Up! Convention we made similar boxes as a make & take so it was easy to use the idea in another way.

The Crushed Curry card stock is just folded over the lid the of the box. The measurements are 4 3/8″ x 6 7/8″, with the two long sides scored at 1″ each side. I cut a piece of Burlap Ribbon to put on there and had a piece of Tangelo Twist 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon tied around to hold the lid on. The leaves are stamped with the set For All Things in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog and cut out with Paper Snips. The tag is from the stamp set Merry Everything and punched out with the Note Tag Punch. If you want both the stamp set and the punch, you can buy a bundle and save 15%! The tag is tied on with a bit of Linen Thread, another must-have in your stash!

While this Tag A Bag Gift Box makes it real easy to present a lovely gift to someone, you can also use the wrap design on any package.

For any packaging supplies, visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE. Quite a few gift box ideas or make your own with the Gift Box Punch Board!

Festival of Trees Holiday Votive Holder

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Here’s a quick and easy holiday votive holder decorated with the Festival of Trees stamp set. It is made with just one 8 1/2″ x 3″ strip of Real Red card stock, with an area punched out and covered with a piece of vellum card stock so the little tea light inside can shine through. Of course you would want to use a battery-operated tea light this close to paper!

I scored the strip of card stock at 2″, 4″, 6″, and 8″. That left a little 1/2″ tab to adhere after you have folded all the score lines to form the little votive holder. There is no bottom piece. You would have to make more of a box pattern to get a bottom. To get the vellum panel, I figured out which panel would be the front and punched out a sticky note so I could stick that on the card stock for a guide for exactly where to stamp. You may or may not need that step. I used the new Note Tag Punch in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog to punch the opening.

For the window, I cut a piece of Vellum Card Stock just slightly smaller than the panel. I stamped it with the Christmas tree (something embossed would be beautiful, too!), colored some Rhinestone Jewels with the dark Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities Marker and adhered them to the tree. Then I used Mini Glue Dots in the corners of the vellum to attach inside the opening. Although it kind of covered up my punch shape, I stuck on a small Gold 1/8″ Ribbon bow adhered with a Glue Dot.

With a little electric tea light inside, here is what the holiday votive holder looks like!

I’ve been cleaning up and organizing all my craft stuff this week and in going through my swaps from recent Stampin’ Up! conventions and Leadership Conference I found this little votive sample. That’s where I got the idea to make this. The sample is punched with the Decorative Label Punch and just has a piece of regular card stock inserted in the opening, not vellum. You can see you could make these in larger sizes, taller, different colors and stamps for different occasions. Very versatile!

Try your hand at making this very simple little votive holder for an electric tealight.

For any stamping supplies you need, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals! And check the Clearance Rack, too, for bargains!

Stampin’ Up! Frightful Wreath for Halloween

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This weekend I finally got busy and made my Frightful Wreath Simply Created Kit for Halloween, since time is getting close! This is a great kit! It came together real easily as far as just the wreath and rosette are concerned! Complete directions are included with the kit, plus Stampin’ ! has a video. All you need is a hot glue gun. The Stampin’ Up! Silicone Craft Sheet is really handy to have when you are using a hot glue gun plus for making the rosette. The rosette piece comes already scored, all you have to do is accordian fold, adhere the ends, put a glob of hot glue on the silicone sheet and plunk the rosette down with the center in the hot glue to hold it. Then you get to ink up the doilies (I still have the black fingers and fingernails to show for it!) and finish off the front. I neglected to purchase the coordinating stamp set, Frightful Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set, so I had to dig out a retired Halloween set for a greeting that worked, plus I added to stamped images from Freaky Friends on the ends just for fun!

The kit also contains all the beads and wires to make the spider for the wreath! I was anxious to make it, but when I started, I thought, “This is why I am a stamper and not a bead person!” But with the directions plus the video, plus a little patience on my part, it didn’t take long until I was moving along getting all those beads on the spider legs! I like the way my spider turned out. I just placed him on the wreath for the photo, not sure if I will glue him on or let him dangle!

Now if you want to see a real spider web, much like one I found on my bushes last year, here is one I discovered this weekend when I was taking pictures of our pretty flowers in the backyard. When the breeze blew just right, I could see the web glistening in the sunlight. It started up at the edge of the garage and went at a diagonal all the way down to the yard!

So there you have it! Pretend spooky spider and real spider and web!

Don’t forget: Today is the last day for the Stamp, Stock & Save Sale! Be sure to look it over. Do you have all the foam ink pads yet? If not, this is a good chance to get all of them at a discount! All individual ink pads are 15% off! You can get assorted card stock families 15% off, as well as Medium Envelopes, Whisper White card stock, Fast Fuse Adhesive and refills, plus a few stamp sets at 20% off. Don’t miss it! Last day, Monday October 6!

It’s also the last day for the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals! Good stuff!

One more thing! My “12 Weeks of Christmas” emails have started! If you don’t want to miss any more of them, please sign up for my Mailing List in the red box on the right of my blog. Next issue comes out on Wednesday!

Alternate Ideas for the September 2014 Paper Pumpkin Kit

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If you read my post the other day about the September 2014 Paper Pumpkin Kit and all the materials that came in the kit and all the cute burlap treat bags I made with it, you knew that I still had materials left over. Here are the extra projects I made with the tags from the kit and a few extra materials from my stash.

For the Halloween card, I used a Tangelo Twist card base and added a Basic Black layer that I embossed with the Decorative Dots Textured Embossing Folder. Then I added a piece of the White & Tangerine Tango Two-Tone Trim. After I tied on the knot (separately) I decided to fray the ends and see how that looked! And I used a tag I had already made from the Paper Pumpkin Kit.

Here’s a little candy treat holder, made with the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch and a 2″ wide piece of Crumb Cake card stock. You can put a couple of Ghirardelli chocolates inside or some other treat. I tied some ribbon at the top with a piece of the sequin trim from the kit and added the tag I had already made with the kit. And I just had to add another one of the little adhesive bats from the sticker sheet!

Here’s an easy project, with or without the Paper Pumpkin Kit! Just find one of those lunch sacks in your pantry, cut a little off the top and fold the top edge over a couple of times. I used a little SNAIL Adhesive to hold it down. Then I took one of the Tea Lace Paper Doilies and sponged a little Rich Razzleberry ink on it for some spookiness. The tag, of course, is from the Paper Pumpkin Kit. The bag needed something so I just used the 1″ punch to punch out some circles to glue to the bag!

Did you know once you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you can usually purchase extra kits or refill kits depending on availability of past kits?

Join Paper Pumpkin now (for sure before October 10th!) and enjoy getting that fun red box in your mailbox!

Freaky Friends Halloween Treat Box

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If you were wondering what I did with the Back To Black Designer Series Paper that I colored in with Blendabilities Markers yesterday, I made this Freaky Friends Halloween Treat Box! You can see the designer paper wrapped around the box which was originally just black and white until I colored in random dots with the markers. It was so much fun!

First of all, I had fun making the box itself with the new Gift Box Punch Board, now available in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. The top pieces lock together with the little slits you can punch in them with the Gift Box Punch Board, but they won’t stand up to a lot of wear and tear so try to put your gift or treat in there before hooking those together! You can make different sizes of boxes with the punch board. Be sure to watch the video below if you haven’t seen it yet or if you want a refresher, The board may seem confusing at first, but once you see the video and make a box, you won’t have any trouble.

The Frankenstein guy is stamped in Black Stazon from the Freaky Friends Stamp Set, also available in the Holiday Catalog. I colored in his face and legs with a green Stampin’ Write Marker. I used the Labels Collection Framelits to cut him out and also the Tangelo Twist layer behind. I thought the layer needed something, so I just used one of my Project Life Journaling Pens to draw some squiggles and dots around the border. The little banner is stamped with a “Happy Halloween” greeting from the And Many More Stamp Set. This is a stamp set like the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set that is so useful making cards and other projects when you want just the right greeting.

And to finish off the cute little Freaky Friends Halloween Treat Box I just tied the Tangelo Twist 3/8″ Satin Ribbon around it!

Need any stamping or papercrafting supplies? Just visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Don’t forget the Weekly Deals!! Today is the last day for these!

Learn to Use the Stampin’ Up! Gift Box Punch Board

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One of my favorite new items in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog is the Gift Box Punch Board. At first glance I didn’t think I “needed” it, I’m not even sure why I put it on my order! But I did, and I like it! I think this Stampin’ Up! video will help you see how to use it because there are some steps involved – but once you get the idea, it isn’t hard. If you can fit your gift or treat inside without gluing the flaps down inside the box, it is really super simple. Otherwise, you can add some glue or glue dots or Sticky Strip to make the inside neater and more structured.

Use the new Under the Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper, cardstock-weight kraft sheets with a colored design on one side and white printed design on the other side to make sturdy boxes – but other kinds of paper are fine, too! Wait until you hear what Holly Linford from Stampin’ Up! says you can do with this paper!

To purchase any of these exciting new products from Stampin’ Up!, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store or contact me with your order and I’ll be happy to put it in for you!

Motley Monsters Halloween Treat Box

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It’s fun playing with the new Gift Box Punch Board to make a Halloween Treat Box with the Motley Monsters Designer Series Paper. To make the tag, I stamped the bird from the Freaky Friends Stamp Set. The words are from the new special set Good Greetings that you can get FREE with a $300 party or order. I added a little Linen thread to tie the tag on to the box, a strand of the Burlap ribbon for some interest and some Gold Sequin Trim. The box itself is made with the new Kraft 12″ x 12″ Card Stock in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. It’s a little bit heavier than regular card stock.

It’s going to be fun playing with the new goodies in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog! What do you think? Is it the best one yet??

To purchase any of the Holiday Catalog products, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

It’s Time For the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog!

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Did you wonder if this day would EVER get here?! The day the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog goes live?! Let the ordering begin so you can get on with your holiday cards and projects! Not just Christmas, but fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween and other fun things! Lots of kits for those who don’t have time or supplies! New products, such as a Gift Box Punch Board!

Here’s a little gift tag card I made in minutes with the Festival of Trees stamp set, some Brights Candy Dots, Silver 1/8″ Ribbon, and a greeting stamp called Good Greetings that you can earn FREE! Just host a $300 party or place your own $300 order!

Don’t miss the Festival of Trees Bundle with the stamp set and NEW Tree Punch!

Contact me if you want to have a Christmas card party or other fun night or day out with your friends! Now go enjoy the brand new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog! If you are one of my regular customers and didn’t receive a catalog, please let me know. And if you don’t have a demonstrator and are interested in Stampin’ Up! products, please contact me at Karen@KarenStamps.com. I would be happy to get a catalog to you!

Today is the LAST DAY for the Short & Sweet Offer: Become a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator by purchasing the Starter Kit for $99 and choose an EXTRA $25 in product! Get $150 in product of your choice for only $99 (regular offer $125 in product)! Click HERE for my link to get started! It only takes minutes to purchase your Starter Kit online and become a Demonstrator. Then you will be emailed a password to get in to the Demo Site and begin your training and look around and see all the resources available to you to start your own business! Choose items from the Holiday Catalog for your Kit if you like!

Shop my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for all your stamping needs!

Gift Box Punch Board Gift Box and Blossom Punch

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Soon you will be able to make your own gift boxes with the new Gift Box Punch Board #135863 when the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog goes live on August 28! That’s in only a couple more days! Yesterday I finally got a chance to play with the new punch board and just grabbed a retired piece of designer series paper, Urban Garden, to use in case I messed up. So in this project you are seeing the new with the old! You may find the punch board a little confusing right at first, but once you get the hang of it, you won’t have any problems. After all, I did make that box myself and didn’t even mess up! This post isn’t about how to use the Gift Box Punch Board, but just a sneak peek at something you can make with it and an idea for the Blossom Punch, on the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals this week!

Here is the 4″ x 4″ gift box before I decorated it. This is the largest size you can make with the Gift Box Punch Board.

Here is a view of the partially open box. You can see the little clasp closure on the points of the top of the box. You can use the Gift Box Punch Board to make these. If you do not like all the folds of the box being pushed to the inside of the box, there are a couple things you can do to change that to adhere those sides.

Here is a close-up of the flower decoration I made with the Blossom Punch. First I wrapped the box with the Pear Pizzazz 3/4″ Chevron Ribbon. I thought it matched pretty nicely! With the Blossom Punch, I punched three flowers from the Urban Garden DSP. One pattern is different from the other two and is layered in the middle. The layers are all held together with a Silver Mini Brad, which is later covered up by the button. I spritzed the flower with water and gathered the layers up toward the center and mooshed them together to get a little texture. The Very Vintage Designer Button is threaded with the Gold Baker’s Twine with a little bow and adhered with Glue Dots. Do you know you can color the buttons with the new Blendabilities?!

Even though this box was my first attempt with the Gift Box Punch Board, coming in the Holiday Catalog, and even though I didn’t even like this pack of designer paper very much, I was VERY pleased with my first little box! Especially after I so easily decorated it!

When you place your Holiday Catalog order later this week, check the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals and get the Blossom Punch if you don’t already own it. It is a punch I have used a lot. It coordinates with the Mixed Bunch Stamp Set, too! Everything is available at my Online Store!

Festival of Trees Christmas Tag

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Only a week and a day until the Stampin’ Up! 2014 Holiday Catalog goes live and you’ll be able to make this Festival of Trees Christmas Tag yourself! If you are a customer of mine, your catalog is on its way or maybe you have already received it! The one I sent to myself came yesterday in the mail so yours shouldn’t be far behind. (Unless your mail carrier is reading it in the back room of the post office before she delivers it!)

Since I left on vacation right after my Holiday Catalog preorder arrived (a perk for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators!), I haven’t had a chance to play with my new goodies – and didn’t want to tempt you too much when it wasn’t time for you to order anyway! So here is a little Christmas tag I made with the new Festival of Trees stamp set (#135059) and the new Tree Punch (#135856) (both available in a Bundle #137640 and you save 15%!). I started out planning to make a card, but came up with this tag instead, getting an idea from a tag in the Holiday Catalog.

The Kraft 12″ x 12″ Card Stock was punched first with the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch and then with the Tree Punch and a piece of the new All Is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper #135823 is adhered behind the punched tree area. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to put the paper a little more behind the punched image. The greeting is stamped in Real Red from the Festival of Trees Stamp Set. The “To and From” is also in the stamp set! To jazz it up, I added some Rhinestone Jewels (and I could have colored them with my Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities Marker if I had thought of it beforehand!) Since I couldn’t find my new container of Frosted Sequins #135835, I used a star sequin from the In Color Sequin Assortment to top the tree. And for a finishing touch, I stamped a redbird from the same Festival of Trees stamp set, cut it out, and popped it up with a Dimensional scrap right on the side of the tree, The tag is tied with the new Gold 1/8″ Ribbon in the main catalog.

Enjoy the last days of summer because the holiday are upon us! But it is fun to have new holiday products with which to make easy and personalized tags, cards and more such as my Festival of Trees Christmas Tag.

Easy Gift Bag with Chevron Tag A Bag Gift Bags

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If you keep a package of these Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bags on hand, you’ll always have something cute you can use for a small gift or even a gift card. Just put your gift or treat inside and decorate the front in any one of thousands of ways! On this gift bag I just made a tag and tied some Coastal Cabana Thick Baker’s Twine around the bag to keep it closed. The tag was cut with the Banners Framelits Dies. I added some strips of Retro Fresh This and That Washi Tape. The greeting is stamped with the Yippee-Skippee Stamp Set. I absolutely love that saying “You can never have too much happy”! Just makes you happy to read it! It is punched out with the 2″ Circle Punch and then layered on the 2 3/8″ Circle Scallop Punch. I love the Glimmer Paper so I punched out a little star from the Gold Glimmer Paper with the star in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.

The Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bags are fun to have and use! You could even use them as an envelope or an envelope in a scrapbook. You can even turn this little flat sack into a little 3D bag! You can check my Facebook page to see how I made a bagalope out of a regular envelope. The same basic principles would apply! You can find them in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

So Very Happy Mini Album

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This is one of those cute little mini albums that can be made for a little gift or special treat. It’s just 3″ x 3″. The inside pages are made from one piece of 12″ x 12″ designer paper scored, cut, and folded a certain way. the covers are made with just pieces of chipboard (like scraps from the cardboard in our designer paper packages or a cereal box) and covered with designer paper.

The flower and greeting are stamped from the set So Very Happy. I actually stamped the flower several times, in different colors, so that I could cut out parts of each with my Paper Snips to make a layered flower for more pizzazz.

Here is the inside:

It’s fun to make these little albums. There are all different kinds you can make and of course just changing the paper and covers and embellishments make each one look different. With people taking so many photos with phones these days, these little albums could work really well with smaller photos cropped to fit and with a little journaling.

Things to Remember:

New Big Shot & Bundles Special – Buy a Big Shot, Get a Bundle OR Have a Big Shot, Buy a Discounted Bundle(s)

Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals – Last Day – 2 punches, buttons, and 2 Big Shot dies on there!

Paper Pumpkin 50% Off Special – Subscribe to Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit that comes to your door! Use code HALFOFF2 and get the first two months at half-price! It’s fun, try it! (new subscribers only and not good on prepaid subscriptions). Sign up by August 10 to get the August kit!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for any of your stamping and papercrafting needs!

Last Day! Buy 3 DSP Get 1 Free!

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Today is the last day to get a free package of Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper when you buy 3! That’s like ordering 4 and getting $10.95 off your order! Just put in the three sets of papers you want to order and the fourth one will come up free. Today is the last day! You can chose from the papers on pages 186-7 in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog.

As I’ve been enjoying looking at the DSP I already ordered, here is a cute box I made with the Big Shot and the Hamburger Box Die! (Don’t buy the Big Shot today, though!) I die-cut the tag with the Chalk Talk Framelits and just tied it on with a piece of Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine. The greeting and heart are from the stamp set Something To Say.

Here’s a tip when making the Hamburger Box! Instead of following the directions to fold in all the corners of the box on the score lines, it is much easier if you cut one of the score lines in each corner. Do NOT cut the center score line, cut one on either side of the center score line like in this photo. It doesn’t matter which side, just do not cut the center one. Then use a Glue Dot to adhere.

When choosing DSP, don’t go by the title or the main sheet shown on the top. Many patterns in each package are good for other projects rather than just what you think they are.

Shop Today at my Online Store to take advantage of the

Buy 3 DSP Get 1 Free Offer!

Watching the Stampin’ Up! Inspire.Create.Share.2014 Convention from Home

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Stampin’ Up! was kind enough to live stream a portion of the Inspire.Create.Share.2014 Convention from Salt Lake City so those of us who did not attend this year could watch it. It’s almost as good as being there! And I still found myself trying to take photos of my laptop screen and write down notes of the projects all at the same time like I would be doing if I were there! This morning Donna Griffith was the presenter on stage teaching about using the new Stampin’ Up! Blendabilities alcohol markers. I missed a little bit of the beginning since they started a few minutes earlier than they’d planned, but I still saw plenty of cute ideas!

Did you know you can color the Vintage Faceted Buttons? Just be careful on the sharp edges with your marker so you don’t wear out the tip. You can also color pearls, rhinestones, and other embellishments.

You can color on Window Sheets. Here she stamped the flower with White Stazon Ink but did not let the coloring touch the Stazon ink. The ink sits on top of the window sheet so you have to let it dry and add more if you want.

You can use Blendabilities on the Mini Muslin Bags.

Start with light colored lines at the bottom and make them darker as you go for the ombre effect!

Amazingly, you can color on black & white photos! This is Donna’s granddaughter! See the headband?

And how about a mask on the superhero! (Donna’s grandson!)

To see another really neat idea, come over to my Stamping With Karen Facebook Page HERE!