Category Archives: 3-D, Gifts & Things

Mini Coffee Carrier Christmas Gifts

I wished as hard as I could yesterday, but none of the rare Texas snow reached down to my part of the state, or even city! Outside of Houston, to the north and to the west got a few inches of snow which looked beautiful but it just didn’t come my way. Just rain ALL day and cold. Just not cold enough for snow! It’s been three years since we have seen snow, and I can tell you even a few flakes can be quite exciting here!

The cold and the snow reminded me of Christmas gifts I made using the Mini Coffee Carrier (retired) and the Mini Coffee Cups. Inside the cups I put a package of hot cocoa mix and plenty of candies (and maybe even a little cello bag of marshmallows). When I ran out of cups, I improvised with some retired bags from last year.

I decorated each Mini Coffee Carrier differently and decorated the cups as well. I didn’t own the dies to wrap paper around the cups so I had to decorate them some other ways because it is next to impossible to just wrap paper around a cup like that!

In the top photo, I used some Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper (retired) to decorate the Mini Coffee Carrier and cut out some houses from the Trimming the Town Designer Paper (retired) plus a stamped and colored tree with some red enamel dots for the decoration. In my gift wrap I found tags I made last year from a Stampin’ Up! kit. How great was that to pull out some cute tags I had already made and were ready to use!

Here’s one made with the cute Gnome For the Holidays Stamp Set (retired) and colored with Stampin’ Blends! You can use lots of different shapes and sizes of die cuts for the focal point on these carriers.

Here’s how I decorated the cups to go with the gnomes. I used the Stitched Stars Dies in Gold Foil.

I’ll miss this Snowman Season Stamp Set! I used some adhesive Snowflake Sequins (retired) around him. I also used the Glitter Star Ornaments (retired) on each Mini Coffee Carrier, just tied around the handle. I decorated the cup with a big die-cut snowflake from the So Many Snowflakes Dies. I ran out of cups so I just put the treats in a retired gift bag and tied some retired Christmas ribbon from last year around the package to make it look festive.

Coffee Carrier Trim the Town German Eric

You might notice some German words on this one! That’s because it was for my son who took German in high school and went to Austria for his semester abroad back in college. One sheet of the Trimming the Town Designer Paper had all Christmas words in many languages plus English printed in thin strips so I just found a German phrase on there to use and cut out the words! He also got a package wrapped in Merry Christmas ribbon from last year instead of a cup, but I think that was cute as well!

This Mini Coffee Carrier with a poinsettia is one I posted HERE back in November. You can see more details about these Mini Coffee Carriers on that post, if you already purchased some and have some extras to use.

Coffee Carrier Cups Trim the Town cutouts

And here’s how I decorated some cups just by cutting out images from the large paper in the Trimming the Town DSP that had the town scene with the mountains in the background, people ice skating, etc.

If you didn’t get to use your Mini Coffee Carriers and Cups, maybe you can think about ways to decorate them for next Christmas or even during the year with other papers and decorations, maybe for a birthday or other celebration. These were fun to make and easier than I would have thought! Once you get going, the ideas start flowing!

I didn’t get my snow yesterday but I’ll keep hoping!

Fine Art Floral Small Gift Box

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Doesn’t this Fine Art Floral Small Gift Box make you want to find a reason to give someone a gift? It’s a basic pattern to make the box and the new Fine Art Floral Designer Series Paper will make any project look gorgeous! You will be able to purchase this paper tomorrow, January 5th from the new January-June 2021 Mini Catalog with all kinds of new products for spring. Although we enjoyed the Holiday Catalog, it feels good to have a fresh start with this new Spring Mini!

This box is easy to make and you can modify it for a shorter size or just adjust the measurements if you want it a little narrower or wider.

My drawing isn’t perfect but along with the measurements I think you can follow along.

Box piece: 10 1/2″ x 6″ (on my diagram above I wrote 10″ going all the way across the paper but it is 10 1/2″.)

Scoring across the paper in landscape position, score at 2 1/2″, 5″, 7 1/2″ and 10″. Turn the paper to portrait position (narrow edge, up and down), score at 2 1/2″ to form the bottom flaps of the box.

I used Poppy Parade Cardstock but if you happen to use designer paper to make the box itself, make sure you check if there is a pattern than needs to go a certain direction.

Cut up on all those score lines in landscape position from the bottom up to the 2 1/2″ score line going across. This makes the bottom flaps for the box. On my diagram, those are the flaps at the top of the picture. Cut off that little 1/2″ piece at the end.

For the box lid, cut a piece of cardstock 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″. Now if you score at 1″ on all sides, you may find that the lid will be too tight to fit on the box without squishing the box inward. So what I did is I scored just a “smidge” outside the 1″ mark. So actually I scored at 15/16″ instead of exactly 1″. That gave me the tiniest bit of extra space for the lid to fit properly. Cut up to the score line as you see in the diagram.

To decorate the box, I used the new Fine Art Floral Designer Series Paper. You can modify these measurements if you want less of a margin on the box. For the sides of the box, I cut 4 pieces of designer paper at 3 1/4″ x 2 1/4″. For the lid, cut a piece at 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″. You could also put the paper on the sides of the lid, but I wanted to let the Poppy Parade show. Remember to pay attention to the direction of the pattern.

Poppy Parade is one of the colors that coordinates with the designer paper but there are many others! Usually there are just a few colors that coordinate with the designer paper but this one has many colors! I chose this particular pattern of the paper because the flowers were a little smaller and would fit better on the box.

To finish my box, I tied a piece of the new Fine Art 3/8″ Ribbon around the middle of the box. This ribbon is gold in color and very soft. I could also have tied it up around the box so the bow would be on the top of the lid. Or I could have stamped a greeting and added it to the front of the box. Whatever you want to do to embellish your box, although with this beautiful paper, it doesn’t need much!

This paper and ribbon will be available tomorrow, Tuesday January 5 but don’t forget to check the retiring holiday products in the Year-End Giant Closeout in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store. And there are just a few things left on the Clearance Rack! Today is the LAST DAY for the Closeout!!

Make a few gift boxes here at the beginning of the year and you will have some handy for those gift-giving occasions coming up in the new year! Try this Fine Art Floral Small Gift Box just to get the idea and then you can modify it for whatever you need!

Buffalo Check Decorated Candle

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I was watching someone’s Instagram “story” and saw in her home these black and white buffalo check candles. I think black and white is trendy in some Christmas home decorations this year. It gave me the idea to decorate a glass candle holder I had with a red and black buffalo check which is a little more traditional.

If you have a real candle, a flameless candle (even better), or a votive or candle holder of some kind, you can decorate it with your papercrafting supplies. We can do so much with our stamping supplies! That is why it is such a great hobby!

I haven’t used it in awhile, but I got out my Buffalo Check Stamp. This is a large background stamp, as we used to call them. You can purchase either the “cling” or the “wood-mount”. If you choose the cling, you need the largest acrylic block on which to mount it. I have always liked to use my background stamp stamp-side up, ink it up, and then lay the cardstock I am stamping on top of it. Then I take a scrap paper to cover the cardstock so I can rub all over with my fingers to make sure every area gets inked up.

This stamp was a little tricky but I got lucky! Obviously I wanted to line up the pattern going around the strip of cardstock that was going to go around my votive holder and it worked! Somehow I managed to lay down the strip in just the right place, at least close enough.

For decoration, I wrapped around a piece of Real Red Satin Ribbon and then tied on some pieces of greenery I had in my craft stash. I also had some of those red berries that I stuck in there. Maybe I could have added some other embellishments I have but I stopped with this. I could also have added a greeting on the candle. You can do so much with a project like this yet keep it very simple.

Look around your house and surely you will find some votive holders or maybe vases or who knows what that you can decorate for the holidays for little decorations in your home or maybe on your holiday dinner table. Here’s another votive holder I decorated by cutting out images from the fall Gilded Autumn Designer Series Paper. Just use your imagination and you will come up with a fun decoration for a Christmas candle or votive or even to give one as a gift!

Make Snowman Gift Tags

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How about making some Snowman Gift Tags for your presents you may be furiously wrapping at the last minute?! Here are three ideas you can use! Everyone loves snowmen!

As I was wrapping my gifts, I came across the center Layered Snowman Gift Tag that I had made several years ago. Sometimes we save the tags from packages we open and I put them away until the next year. Then we can reuse them as long as we check the “To:” and “From:” on the tags so there are no mixups! I decided to update my snowman tag.

This is a fun tag to put on a package! Much better than those plain To & From tags you buy, 1000 in a package and have to tape on!

To make this tag, I die cut the largest circle in the Layering Circle Dies and then chose two smaller dies (about every other size) for the body and head. I sponged the edges with Balmy Blue Ink just a little and popped them up on Dimensionals. Just make a hat out of a piece of Basic Black and the brim with a piece from the Classic Label Punch with the ends cut off.

To decorate the hat I just cut a sprig from a Forever Flourishing Die and the three little Real Red flowers from a die in the Budding Blooms Dies. There are certainly a whole lot of other leaf shapes and flowers, whether die-cut, punched, or cut out by hand that you could use! I added the tiniest Gold Glitter Enamel Dots to the flower centers.

The snowman face I just drew on with markers. The ribbon is Seaside Spray Metallic Ribbon to represent the snowman’s scarf. Punch a hole in the top if you want to tie on a ribbon for a tag or even just use the snowman as a decoration on a package!

This Snowman Season tag is really easy since it just uses one ink color, Balmy Blue. First I made a tag out of Balmy Blue Cardstock with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and then added a layer of Whisper White. I stamped the one snowman from Snowman Season in Balmy Blue and added the “To: From:” at the bottom. I used the Silver 3/8″ Metallic Edge Ribbon for the tie (one of my all-time favorite ribbons!).

This tag I made a little fancier since the other two were pretty simple. But this one is still simple! I just cut a 3″ x 4″ rectangle of Balmy Blue Cardstock and layered with a piece of Whisper White. The snowman from Snowman Season is stamped with Memento Ink and I did the little bit of coloring with various colors of Stampin’ Blends, even a tiny bit of Balmy Blue around the sides of the snowman for shading and to look a little cool and icy. I also just scribbled some Balmy Blue under the snowman to look like snow. Some glitter would have been nice, too! The snowflakes are stamped from the set and the greeting is from the set. I cut the words out separately after stamping so I could arrange them on the tag. Then I added some Adhesive-Backed Snowflakes (which may be sold out now but you can use other gems and jewels!) for a little more bling!

Once you get started making tags, you might not be able to stop because you will come up with more and more ideas and they don’t have to be fancy! If your packages are wrapped already, you might consider having fun stamping and making tags for next year AFTER Christmas when you maybe have some free time! These Snowman Gift Tags are fun and easy to make and the gift recipient will likely enjoy them!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

Reindeer Candy Cane Treat

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Here’s a cute Reindeer Candy Cane Treat I found online looking for candy treat ideas. This isn’t what I intended to make at all, but once I saw it I had to make it since I did have a box of candy canes! I did see lots of different versions, this one I believe was made by a Demonstrator in the UK. She used a 12″ x 12″ piece of cardstock whereas I used a regular size of cardstock, forgetting that hers was larger! But it all turned out all right in the end!

To make the Reindeer Candy Cane Treat, cut a strip of cardstock 11″ x 2″ (just a smidge under 2″ so it fits in the punch!). Each end is punched with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. Score at 2 3/4″ and 5 3/4″. Add strips of Tear & Tape to form the pocket to hold the candy canes.

Fold on the score lines in a zig zag fashion.

Fold the bottom portion up to form the pocket. The front tag punched end will become the reindeer face!

I punched a 1/2″ circle out of retired Red Glimmer Paper. You could use any red cardstock, foil paper, or the velveteen paper. Use whatever you have. For the eyes, I used some googly eyes I had in my drawer. Of course you can use small circles of white and black for the eyes.

Insert the two candy canes into the pocket. Tie a red ribbon in the punched hole at the top. I also added a bow around one candy cane just for fun.

Just play with this idea and see what you come up with! Use what colors and materials you have. I think it makes a really cute and quick and easy reindeer candy cane treat!

Wrap Gifts With Designer Paper

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If you happen to run out of wrapping paper as you wrap your Christmas gifts, or gifts any time of year, consider this idea: Wrap Gifts With Designer Paper!

This is a gift for my son and this particular pattern of paper in the Toile Tidings Designer Series Paper I thought would be a fun one for him since he sees some of these animals when he is out hiking where he lives. This paper was in the Holiday Mini Catalog LAST year but surprisingly was carried over to this year. Right now it is discounted on the Year-End Closeout by Stampin’ Up! so it really is a good deal. There is even some “official” Toile Tidings wrapping paper discounted over 50% off on the Clearance Rack right now.

I did not make a box, I just adhered this paper on to the box the gift is packed in. He’s going to have to rip the paper off to get inside the box! I only had one full sheet of this animal paper and another partial sheet so I had to piece it together somewhat. The top is not really a lid, it is another sheet of paper with the checked design folded over the top and that is also just adhered to the box, not really a lift-off lid. I used the Stampin’ Seal+ adhesive for a good strong bond.

The reason I am posting this gift-wrapping idea is to give you a reason to use up your designer paper (maybe especially retired paper that we all hoard!), maybe look for some paper that makes the gift more personalized, and keep you from rushing out to the store for more wrapping paper! You can use some of your old ribbon (or new!) as well.

Now yesterday at the same time I was getting ready to wrap this package, Sara Douglass, Stampin’ Up! CEO was going live on Facebook showing an easy way to make designer paper gift boxes with NO CUTTING! I felt like we were both a little bit on the same wavelength! I just sort of tried her method when I made the lid of my box, although, as I said, it’s not a lid that lifts off, it is glued down. But I did the corners as she did!

Here is the link to Sara’s video on Facebook (if it works!). Don’t forget other gift-wrapping ideas you can use rather than spending a lot of money on wrapping paper or rather than running out to the store.

Use designer paper or cardstock to make small gift bags.
Use designer paper or cardstock to make small gift boxes.
Use gift bags you already have from shopping and decorate the front right over the store printing.
Stamp on plain white computer paper or cardstock to make your own designer paper to wrap a gift.
Decorate kraft or white lunch sacks you may have in your pantry to hold a gift.
Stamp on or use brown packing paper you might receive in shipped gifts and then embellish the package with Stampin’ Up! ribbon and embellishments.
Make your own gift tags with kits, punches, or die-cut squares, rectangles or circles.

Those are just a few ideas I hope you will find helpful as we all get pressed for time! I think we all have designer paper that we can spare for wrapping gifts that will make a high quality gift presentation! Keep that idea in mind of wrapping gifts with designer paper whether for Christmas now or future occasions!

Make a Yarn Tree With Stampin’ Up! Embellishments

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I had to take some time from stamping to do some other crafty things, like make these Yarn Trees With Stampin’ Up! Embellishments! I saw these late last year during the holiday season but didn’t have time to make them, but this year I at least had the styrofoam shapes to make them!

These trees are so easy and fun to make! Even if I would have stopped working on them about five steps back, they would still look great! All you need is a styrofoam shape (mine were cone shapes with flat tops) and yarn! Of course I didn’t have any interesting yarn with which to make these! If I could have just run into a craft store, I’m sure I could have picked out all kinds of fun yarn, but during the pandemic I’m only doing online shopping so it as a lot more difficult and a lot less fun! But I did find a really thick yarn, one that was really felting (maybe?) that just looked smooth, and one that was thin but knobby.

Some videos I watched used a hot glue gun to adhere the yarn, but another just used straight pins, which don’t show at all once you push them in. And if you really wanted to, with pins you could pull the yarn off later and change the tree for the next year. I don’t think I would redo it, but I did use the straight pins.

Just pick a place near the bottom to start and start winding the yarn around and around the styrofoam cone. Pin or glue as you go. When you get near the top, just play with the yarn and get it how you like it. You can curl it around and tuck the end under. It’s a little tricky, but you can do it! I might still add some “topper” to my trees.

Here is the first tree I made, the largest one. I used the smoothest yarn to wrap around first. Next I used the chenille-type yarn to wrap around but spaced a couple inches apart. Again I used the straight pins to hold it in place. Then I took the thinner, more decorative yarn and wrapped that around in between the rows. I was perfectly happy with the way the tree looked at that point, but I day or two later, when I looked for the second time in my gigantic stash of retired Stampin’ Up! products, I found things I thought I could use! I added these larger and smaller ivory roses and even added just a few snowflake sequins and large silver sequins from a container from awhile back I guess! I used tiny dabs of hot glue to adhere the roses, snowflakes and sequins.

Then I worked on the two smaller trees. This one I started with the smooth yarn all around, then wrapped around the thin yarn spaced apart. In my stash I found this off-white velvet ribbon and also this Transparent Fine Garland. In another box of embellishments. I found these silver decorations with little rhinestones and they looked pretty good, so I hot glued those to the tree

Last, but not least, I made the third tree, wrapped with every bit of leftover smooth yarn to cover the styrofoam shape. I just made it!! Then I wrapped around some rows of the thick chenille (soft!) yard and made that knot on top. I had found this skinny red trim in my Stampin’ Up! stash so I wrapped around that plus some red and white twine! I had these pom poms from Amazon, which were bigger than I’d planned, but I decided to use them anyway! I also found these silver snowflakes, only about five of them that already had red and white twine bows tied onto them! I just poked a straight pin through the tiny know and stuck them onto the tree! It’s a cozy, wintery looking tree I think with the big chenille yard and pom poms!

These yarn trees were a fun, crafty project! Easy, no directions needed! Just start with a styrofoam cone shape and wrap some fun yarn around. You don’t really need the extra embellishments I used – sometimes I think I went past the point where I should have stopped! – but I like all the trees just fine so I don’t mind if they are a bit overdone! At least I used up some of my retired extra supplies from who-knows-how-long ago! If I had more styrofoam shapes, I’d probably make some more trees with some other of my Stampin’ Up! Trims rather than yarn and just see how it would turn out!

Happy Holiday Stamping and Crafting!

Tiny Christmas Treat Box With Trees

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It’s time to be making some Christmas treats to have on hand or to gift as extra little gifts or stocking stuffers. Here is one you can make in minutes using a couple of punches, paper, and ribbon…..plus the candy!

I always have some Clear Tiny Treat Boxes on hand because you can make something like this little Christmas treat very quickly and easily. Just put whatever candy treat you have inside or even a very small gift and then decorate.

I got the idea for decorating this treat box kind of from the Christmas card I made on yesterday’s post with the Pine Tree Punch and using the same paper!

To make my little treat box really quick and easy, I just punched out a green Christmas tree from the ‘Tis The Season 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper using the Pine Tree Punch. I was only going to put that one tree on the front of the box, but I liked some of the red paper too so I thought, “Why not have two red trees also?”. I punched out two red trees and placed them on each side behind the green tree. Next, I thought it would be nice to have a piece of Gold Foil behind the trees, so I punched a circle that would fit with the 2″ Circle Punch.

For a little bling, I of course had to add a few of the Holiday Rhinestone Jewels just to the green plaid tree. The final step was to just tie a Real Red 3/8″ Stitched Satin Ribbon around the box. Not only is it decorative for the top of the box but it also keeps the lid closed! You could also add a greeting on the box or tie it on to the ribbon, perhaps from the Itty Bitty Christmas Stamp Set.

These Clear Tiny Treat Boxes keep you from having to look up measurements to make a little box! They store flat and all you have to do is unfold it, crease on the score lines, and make it into the box. Be sure to put a package on your next order!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

Paper Pumpkin Jolly Gingerbread Projects

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I knew the November 2020 Paper Pumpkin Kit was going to be cute just based on photos of the box and my expectations were met! Here are the Paper Pumpkin Jolly Gingerbread Projects that I have made “so far”! I still have lots of materials and other ideas I want to make with this kit!

The two single houses you see at the bottom of the photo above are the projects the kit has designed. They are gift card holders and I’m sure you could insert cash or a check inside for a gift as well. There are also cute matching envelopes! The kit has enough supplies to make 15 gift card holders, but if you do not need that many gift card or money holders you can use the supplies to make other cards or anything else you want! That’s why after each month’s Paper Pumpkin kit arrives are subscribers’ home, you can always find alternative ideas online for ways to use the supplies!

The two cards at the top of the photo above are ideas I got from another Demonstrator online, but I changed it up a little bit. I used two different embossing folders on Mint Macaron Cardstock, the Woodland Embossing Folder, and the Diamond Embossing Folder for the backgrounds. I added some “snow” with Whisper White Cardstock with a torn edge. To get the single house, I cut the gift card holder pieces with a front and back of a house in half to use just the front of the house and added the stamping, greeting, and embellishments to the front portion of the house. Then this house was adhered to the card front. So easy to make a card with the kit supplies!

The middle piece is simply a tag I made with the “back” of the house I said I cut off in the paragraph above. That piece didn’t have a door printed on it, so I used the “punched out” piece from the white house front and colored it with a Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blend Marker, and added a Gilded Gem for the door knob! I just punched a hole in the top for some Braided Linen Trim. We always need more gift tags!

Paper Pumpkin Jolly Gingerbread House Cards

The idea for these cards came from Debbie Henderson, if I remember correctly, that I saw online and loved. I changed the background a little bit by embossing the Balmy Blue background with the Winter Snow Embossing Folder. On the second card, I stamped snowflakes from the Snowman Season Stamp Set. They are stamped off once to be lighter. The gift card holder was cut in half again so I could just use the house front. The little candy archway is cut out from a white piece that would be stamped and adhered to the front of the house, but of course you can use the pieces however you like! What is really brilliant, is using the pieces punched out from those white pieces to make the open doorway, which are used for fence posts on these cards!! This is what I love so much about stamping….the creativity and ideas that other stampers (usually not me!) come up with!

And my favorite thing about this kit are these adhesive-backed “candies” to use as embellishments on the projects! These are some of the cutest stick-on things I have seen! They are showcased very well on this card on the fence and house!

Paper Pumpkin Jolly Gingerbread Treat Boxes

These little gingerbread treat holders are what I thought was probably coming in the kit, but it took other Demonstrators to figure out how to make a little box for the bottom and these house pieces wrapped around it. To make the box inside, a piece of cardstock is cut at 4 1/4″ x 4 3/8″, scored at 1″ on all sides and then snips made on two opposite sides on those score lines up to the 1″ score line. Then you need two of the house pieces to fold around the box, using the Tear & Tape included in the kit. I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue to adhere the box inside as I folded the gingerbread house around it. Now they are ready for treats or gifts inside wrapped up in a cello bag or tissue paper! So cute!

After a lot of online Christmas shopping yesterday, I finally had time to work on my Paper Pumpkin November 2020 kit! My kit always arrives later than most everyone else’s, I don’t know what the post office is doing with it! But patience paid off, it’s a fun kit to create with! There are more ideas than I probably have time or supplies to use! This holiday Paper Pumpkin kit is a good way to get into the Christmas spirit by making some cards and projects we will be needing for the holidays!

The next Paper Pumpkin Kit is the “Beary Comforting” Kit, a kit to make a dozen cards to send to loved ones and friends who might need some encouragement and comfort during this difficult time. I’m guessing that most people would save these cards to send in January or February after the holidays. Be sure to sign up by the deadline or make sure your account is activated by December 10th to get this kit, which will be mailed out mid-December.

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN TODAY!

Gold Mini Pizza Box With Christmas Poinsettia

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It’s going to be time to wrap gifts sooner than we want to realize, so here is an idea – this Gold Mini Pizza Box With Christmas Poinsettia. Just put a treat inside or a small gift and decorate the box exactly how you want!

It’s a good idea to keep a package of these Gold Mini Pizza Boxes on hand. They are pretty already being gold so you can just add a little decoration and you’ll have a gorgeous gift box ready to go. These boxes are food safe so you can add a cookie or two inside, some Christmas fudge or candy, a set of 3″ x 3″ notecards or some other gift. You get 8 mini pizza boxes in a package!

I got the inspiration for this gift box after seeing a Christmas card online (not handmade) although I ended up changing it a little. The card had gold, dark blue, and red poinsettias with gold trim. It also had swirly things in the background in gold. So I thought I would try that red, blue, and gold color scheme as a gift box!

The blue I chose is Night of Navy although I started with Misty Moonlight. Really, either would be fine. I liked the slightly darker shade. The poinsettia is made with Real Red Cardstock and the Poinsettia Dies. I used two layers of the medium size flower and the smallest flower for the center. Just using the largest poinsettia flower in the center of this box would be pretty also, but I wanted room for gold trim of some kind. I ended up using Gold Foil for a few leaves and the sprigs in the die set. The flower is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals®. It’s a good idea to use your fingers to sort of fold up the petals and leaves a little bit to give them some dimension.

The greeting is stamped with the Itty Bitty Christmas Stamp Set and cut out with the Classic Label Punch. The greeting is popped up with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.

There are so many things you can do with these Gold Mini Pizza Boxes! They can be decorated for any occasion. You can use them for a birthday treat or gift or take a few cookies or candy to your neighbor. You could do some stamping on cardstock for the top and tie a ribbon around the box. Or add a belly band with a greeting.

Order some of these boxes or the plain white Mini Pizza Boxes to have on hand. You will have fun decorating them for many occasions, especially Christmas!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

Ribbon Turkey For Thanksgiving

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Time for a fun turkey for Thanksgiving and I came up with the Ribbon Turkey For Thanksgiving! I actually kind of copied myself, looking back through my blog at Thanksgiving ideas. I found an idea from 2012 for a turkey ornament I made with ribbon for feathers.

I made this but didn’t make anything out of it! You could tie a string on top and make it an ornament or decoration or attach it to a folded piece of cardstock and make it a place card! When I was a kid and we were at my grandma’s house, I always wanted to make place cards for the dinner table! I guess this year most people won’t need too many place cards! Sadly. Or you could put it on the front of a Thanksgiving card.

I used a variety of punches and whatever I came up with to make this turkey. The turkey body is the 2 1/4″ Circle Punch. The head is a small circle die in the Layering Circles Dies. I used Soft Suede Cardstock. The wattle….you won’t guess this….is a petal in Real Red punched from the Perennial Flower Punch. The beak is just cut from Crushed Curry. The eyes are punched with the retired Owl Punch. Loved that punch! The turkey feet are the stick arms from the Snowman Builder Punch.

Instead of paper turkey feathers, I just grabbed a bunch of my ribbons that I thought would work! You can use whatever you have or maybe even a mixture of paper and ribbon would be fun! I put strips of Stampin’ Seal+ on the back of the head and body and sometimes on the ribbon as I adhered it and then just cut non-measured lengths of ribbon and laid it down on the adhesive. If you are going to use it as an ornament or decoration, you might want to cover the backside of adhered ribbon. I punched out two more circles to match the body of Soft Suede and adhered them with Multipurpose Liquid Glue to the back of the turkey to make a cleaner presentation!

Just a fun little project you could even make with kids for Thanksgiving! If you don’t want to use your new ribbon, get out some older retired ribbon from your stash! Just have fun making a Ribbon Turkey For Thanksgiving!

Poinsettia Decorated Mini Coffee Carrier

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I’ve had these carriers for a while and kept forgetting to use them, but here is one for you today, my Poinsettia Decorated Mini Coffee Carrier! These will be fun to make for neighbor gifts or treats or extra presents for your family. You can use them in so many different ways for so many different treats!

Fill the cups with cocoa mix, or maybe just one cup and then on the other side put cello bags of marshmallows and maybe a peppermint stirrer. Put any kind of candy or maybe small cookies inside the cups. Fill cello bags with a treat and insert those inside the cup but leave off the lid so the recipient will see the pretty treat bag tied with a ribbon and a tag. Decorate the Mini Coffee Carrier but put in gifts of small candles or bath products or some other kind of product or container. The ideas are endless!

This is what the Mini Coffee Carrier starts out like! It is folded flat so you don’t have to worry about storage space. Just start sticking your hands in there to open it up and then when it gets loosened up, crease and fold on all the score lines to make your carrier. Play around with those tabs on the bottom and make sure you have them assembled so they are strong to hold the contents of the carrier. You get 8 kraft carriers for only $5!

The coffee cups are separate if you would like those. Order the Mini Coffee Cups and get eight cups and lids and they are food safe and can hold a beverage up to 200 degrees F.

Here I started decorating my carrier with paper in the Poinsettia Place Designer Series Paper. You can wrap a strip of paper around as far as it will go or you can do as I did, just cut paper to fit each side of the carrier. To leave a small margin of the carrier showing, I cut my designer paper at 2 1/8″ x 5 1/2″ for the front and back and 2 1/8″ x 2 5/8″ for each end. I tried to match the pattern but it wasn’t that important with this paper, but make sure you check your patterns so one isn’t upside down or completely doesn’t match and look good.

Poinsettia Decorated Mini Coffee Carrier Front Decoration

To decorate my carrier, I cut out a large poinsettia from one of the papers and die cut the leaves with the Poinsettia Dies. I used Garden Green Cardstock. For the berry sprigs, I die cut those from Whisper White Cardstock and then colored the berries with the Dark Real Red Stampin’ Blend and Dark Soft Suede for the stems. The flower and leaves are popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals® and the sprigs adhered with tiny bits of Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the berries.

Poinsettia Decorated Mini Coffee Carrier Tag

I actually love this tag that I came up with! The Garden Green tag is punched with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. The Whisper White layer is stamped with a Happy Holidays greeting in the Poinsettia Petals Stamp Set. Then I stamped the berry sprig in Crumb Cake ink to make a lighter interesting background. The poinsettia is hand-cut from the designer paper. The tag is tied on with the Real Red Sheer Ribbon.

There are dies to order to make wrappers to go around the cups for decoration. If you don’t order these, you may have to cut up a cup for a template to make your paper fit around the cup. The dies are called Warm Wrap Dies and they will make your life easier! Since I don’t own them, I punched a strip of Real Red with the Lovely Labels Pick a Punch and adhered that to the cup, then added another hand-cut small poinsettia flower to each label.

It’s time to be thinking about making some holiday gifts! Really, you could use these any time of year! All you have to do is decorate for any occasion.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Christmastime Is Here Designer Paper Gift Bag

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It’s so easy to make a small gift bag for the holidays like this Christmastime Is Here Designer Paper Gift Bag. You would be surprised! I didn’t realize this designer paper was still available in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store from last year! It’s so beautiful with rich colors so you might want to see if you still have some that you purchased last year and stock up with some more or pick up some for the first time.

This gift bag is made with the Christmastime Is Here Specialty Designer Series Paper. Last year it was a special release or something and I used most of my paper but I had placed it in with my retired paper. Something told me to check, and I found it still in the Online Store! It certainly is beautiful paper to use for Christmas! I’m glad it is still around!

All you need to make a gift bag like this one is a 6″ x 12″ piece of designer paper or cardstock. 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.

Christmastime Is Here Designer Paper Gift Bag Scoring

Adhere the tab on the end to the other side to assemble the bag. The adhere the flaps on the bottom. You can use whichever adhesive you like. I used Stampin’ Seal+, but you could also use Multipurpose Liquid Glue if you like a little “wiggle room” to get things lined up. You will be able to see how the bag goes together as you start to assemble it.

After you have the bag made, you can decorate it however you like. I chose to cut out by hand the pretty roses and leaves from another sheet of the designer paper. I was going to add a greeting but I liked just the flowers on the front of the gift bag.

I added handles made with two pieces of ribbon. The ribbon is the Gold 3/8″ Metallic Edge Ribbon, one of my favorites. I just attached them with a Mini Glue Dot on the ends and adhered inside the bag.

All you need to do is add a small gift or treat and your gift is ready to go!

Check out the Christmastime Is Here Designer Paper in the Online Store and add it to your Christmas papers to use!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online HERE!

Get The Last Half of My 12 Weeks of Christmas Holiday Emails!

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The “12 Weeks of Christmas” is my special Thank You gift to my Stamping With Karen Mailing List subscribers. Each Wednesday for 12 weeks leading up to Christmas I send out an email with an exclusive holiday project to give you an idea complete with supply list and instructions. You can use it exactly or use it as inspiration to come up with your own creative project.

This is absolutely FREE and I’m excited to share these project ideas with you! This is my annual gift to my mailing list subscribers, and I love sending out these weekly emails!

The 12 Weeks of Christmas is ONLY for members of my mailing list, however, and I have already sent out five weeks. But you don’t have to miss any more weeks if you sign up for my Mailing List TODAY by 1:00 pm CT to receive Week 6! We have already done 5 weeks of Christmas card ideas and starting today it will be Gift Ideas, then on to Gift Wrap, Bags, and Tags.

Just sign up in the box below or in the box in the upper-right corner of my blog. You will get a free gift just for signing up! We’d love to have you!

All the Halloween Things

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Happy Halloween!

Today is the day! It’s Halloween! I pulled out a bunch of Halloween projects I have saved from past years. Some I use for decorations in my house! Some I keep for future ideas!

If you are going trick-or-treating tonight or having them come to your house, be safe and be careful.

Don’t forget to change your clocks back to Standard Time tonight before you go to bed (or in the morning!). It’s Fall Back time! We get an extra hour of sleep!

Also, don’t forget today is the LAST DAY for the Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper Sale! Pick up some papers you will want to use for your Christmas cards or holiday projects! Save 15%!

See you in November!!