Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas Candy Cane Card

As long as I still had the paper, stamps, and dies out from yesterday’s card I decided to make another card design with all those materials. As I looked through the Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper, I liked this small candy cane print with this little red and white print on the backside of a candy cane stripe and that’s how this Christmas Candy Cane Card was born!

The card base is Real Red. I cut the two pieces of the designer paper to overlap a little bit. I intended to use Real Red Ribbon across the seam but I glued the paper down to the card base before I put the ribbon across. So the next best thing, maybe even better, was to use a strip of the Real Red Glimmer Paper! It really makes it festive!

To decorate the card, I die-cut one of the candy canes on the Sweetest Christmas Designer Paper from the Candy Cane Dies. You can cut it out with Paper Snips if you don’t have the dies. However, you can purchase the Sweet Candy Canes Bundle with the stamp set & dies and save 10% over buying them separately. I popped up the candy cane with Stampin’ Dimensionals and tied on a bow with the Real Red Ribbon in the Real Red and Garden Green Ribbon Combo Pack. Then I used some diecuts of leaves, Gold Foil and Garden Green, using the Christmas Banner Dies. You can decorate the candy cane as much or as little as you like.

The greeting is in the Sweet Candy Canes Stamp Set. I used the oval die in the All That Dies to cut it out. I think it fits perfectly along the glimmer band. For a finishing touch, I added two of the Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequins in green. They come in four different colors.

This would be a relatively easy card to make multiples of because it’s mostly designer paper. The candy cane is easy enough to cut out by hand or die-cut and the extra greenery, whether gold foil or green doesn’t need to be stamped, just diecut. Only the greeting is stamped. Even if you don’t make lots of multiples, you could make 5-10 of this same card, and little by little as you make new Christmas cards you will end up with enough to mail out to lots of friends and family!

You can get by making this card with just the package of the Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper, the Real Red & White Glimmer Paper, some ribbon, and a Christmas greeting (which we all have in our stash!) plus some die-cut leaves (and if you have any die cuts, you probably have some leaves or sprigs or a punch!). This Christmas Candy Cane Card is really a basic card design with two different patterns of designer paper top and bottom, a focal point, and a greeting. Here you can see some cards from a few years ago with the two patterns of designer paper and a greeting. Easy peasy!

Sweet Candy Canes Christmas Card

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My first order from the new Holiday Mini Catalog arrived yesterday, and after a busy day, I got to open it late last night. The first thing I wanted to make was this pretty Sweet Candy Canes Christmas Card that is pictured in the catalog on page 10 in the Sweetest Christmas Suite Collection. I didn’t want to try to figure out my own design at that moment since it was late, but I look forward to playing more with the paper, stamps, dies, and embellishments as soon as possible! I already had ideas dancing in my head just opening the designer paper package! I didn’t take time to look up the sample recipe for how Stampin’ Up! made this card, I just stared at the catalog page multiple times to figure out at least something close to this sample card! The sparkle is so pretty!

I started with a card base of Real Red and used the large striped die in the Candy Cane Dies to die cut the new Real Red and White 6″ x 6″ Glimmer Paper. I only used it once, but there are a lot of narrow slivers of glimmer paper that will come out of your die-cut piece. I believe that if you turn the glimmer paper over to the other side, you will be able to see the die-cut lines better and see if you got all of them out of your piece.

You can use just the die first to see how it lines up with the diagonally striped designer paper in the Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper to make the background look like candy cane stripes, just to get the idea. I’m not sure yet the best way to size a piece of designer paper to line up with that die, so for now I would say either cut a larger piece of designer paper than you need, adhere the glimmer paper, then trim off the excess or just adhere the die-cut glimmer paper on the large 12″ x 12″ paper and then trim. Someone will figure out a less wasteful way to get the diecut placed correctly on the designer paper!

The Candy Canes Dies work with the candy cane printed paper in the Sweetest Christmas DSP. You might want to just cut with your scissors into the candy cane you want to diecut. At that point, it really is almost easier to just cut out the candy cane with your scissors! But the dies do match and that’s what I did for this card. Just make sure you get the candy canes that face different directions if that is what you want. You can also use the stamps, inking up the whole candy cane in one color or use Stampin’ Write Markers to color multiple colors on the different stripes. I think that will be fun too to make your own custom candy canes! I adhered my candy canes flat on the card but you could pop them up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Next, I stamped the tag with a greeting from the Sweet Candy Canes Stamp Set. There is a die for making this tag and you can use it a couple different ways. I simply cut off the bottom half of the tag and the bow went over the hole when I adhered it to the card. The ribbon is in the new Real Red & Garden Green 3/8″ Ribbon Combo Pack in the Suite.

The small green leaves on the card sticking out from behind the tag and candy canes are stamped from the Sweet Candy Canes Stamp Set and die cut. The Gold Foil leaves are die cut with the dies in the second Bundle in the Suite on page 11 of the catalog. These are the Christmas Banner Dies. There are several leaf options you can choose from.

For a finishing touch, use a few of the Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequins in the Suite. These are metallic and somewhat shiny but not sparkly and come in two sizes and several colors. Since you have a lot of glimmer going on already on this card, you don’t need too much more sparkle!

I think this is going to be a useful and fun Suite to work with making Christmas cards and other projects. There are lots of sample ideas in the catalog to get us started! Soon there will be hundreds and thousands of ideas online I’m sure for using this Suite of products! Maybe you make all your cards the same, but if you like a variety, when you design and make one card you make go ahead and make several more (like 4 more) then you will have five cards that are done and ready to go. When you make the same card over and over it is faster because you are not figuring out the design each time and you can make the additional cards assembly-line style!

If you want ALL of the products on pages 8-11, just use the Sweetest Christmas Suite Collection number #159579. If you want to leave out certain items, then order each product you want separately or order extras of certain ones you want more of! You can try out this Sweet Candy Canes Christmas Card to get you started with a very lovely card to send and then come up with more of your own creative ideas or use the other samples in the Holiday Catalog for inspiration!

SHOP THE HOLIDAY CATALOG HERE!

Whimsy & Wonder Christmas Thank You Cards

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Christmas is over and now it is time to write those thank you notes like these Whimsy & Wonder Christmas Thank You Cards. It may be an old-fashioned thing and email or texting is faster, but a real thank you note is always best! Here are three quick examples!

To keep it simple, I chose the Basic White Note Cards but you could use a regular size card as well. Then I just decorated the cards using the Whimsy & Wonder Specialty Designer Series Paper. This is your chance to use the “other side” of the fancy paper, although I still cut out some images from the fancy side! You could even just use a strip of the designer paper if you wanted to use up your tiny scraps.

These note cards are 3 1/2″ x 5″, which is a mailable size and they come with envelopes. Therefore, I cut my layer of designer paper at 3 1/4″ x 4 3/4″. The “Thank You” is in the Peaceful Moments Stamp Set. I stamped it with Polished Pink ink just to keep it simple. Then I used different punches for the sentiment.

The first note card uses a pink “other side” of the paper. I cut out some of the packages on another pattern and adhered those to the front of the card, some popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals, some flat on the card. Then the “Thank You” was stamped and punched out using the Lovely Labels Pick A Punch.

The middle note card is the simplest of all! I just used the striped pattern in the Whimsy & Wonder DSP and added a stamped “Thank You”, punched out with the Tailored Tag Punch. I added a couple of jewels just for a little extra something.

The note card on the right uses a light green layer, plus a few cut out trees from the paper. The Thank You is stamped in Polished Pink and punched out with the Everyday Label Punch. I do have the dies for the trees, but since I had to clean up and put away my die-cutting machine, dies, and mess for Christmas dinner, it was easier to just cut the trees out by hand! Your recipient won’t know, “Gee, she could have die cut these and she didn’t!!” I added a little White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon behind the sentiment, just the back and forth underneath the label.

Since these Basic White Note Cards are smaller, they are not necessarily meant to be super-fussy cards so you can go a lot simpler and quicker with these! If you made just one style of Christmas card, it might be fun to use that same paper, even if you only used a strip, to continue with the theme of your Christmas cards! Whatever you do, the gift-giver will appreciate a little note (and the handmade note card!) from you! Or just write a note to those who know your family or couldn’t be with you and tell them about your Christmas, just a post-holiday note! It will ease the withdrawal from Christmas cards in the mail and no Amazon packages at the door! LOL!

And if you used up every bit of your paper and embellishments from the Holiday Mini Catalog, be sure to check out the Last Chance List, ending January 3rd, and the Clearance Rack where you might find some bargains to use now or to save for next year! Be old-fashioned and send a few thank you notes like these easy Whimsy & Wonder Christmas Thank You Cards with whatever paper you have left!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP!

SHOP THE HOLIDAY MINI LAST CHANCE PRODUCTS!

SHOP THE CLEARANCE RACK!

Chocolate Santa in the Chimney

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I made this Chocolate Santa in the Chimney late last night but couldn’t resist posting it today in case anyone sees it and can use it over the holiday! My friend I texted last night said it was “too cute”! I copied it from Melanie, @sternenglanzpapierzauber, a Demonstrator (I assume) in Germany. She didn’t have directions but I figured it out! All you have to do is make (or use) a box and stick a chocolate Santa inside!

My Santa is a Lindt chocolate Santa and a decent size, not really small. You could use a smaller Santa, just make the box smaller.

I started with Real Red cardstock 5 1/2″ x 10 1/2″. Score at 3″, 5″, 8″ and 10″. Turn the paper longways to score the bottom flaps at 1 3/4″. Just like we do on most boxes and bags, cut those flaps on the score lines up to the score line going across. Cut off the tiniest 1/2″ section. Crease well, see how it goes together, then glue that 1/2″ flap to the other side. Fold in the flaps and apply adhesive. I like to stick my bone folder inside and rub to really adhere the bottom flaps together.

For the white fur part at the top, I cut a 2″ x 11″ strip of Basic White and then just cut it curvy freehand! You may have a die to use as Melanie did on hers. The only thing is you want the ends to match in width so that when you get to the back of the chimney where they meet up, you don’t want one narrow and one wider (If you want it perfect!). I applied adhesive and placed the middle of the strip in the center of the chimney on the front and wrapped the ends around the sides and to the back. Since I was copying, I just punched out a Gold Foil star with a retired punch (you can use a die) and adhered that to the white.

For the belt, I cut a 3/4″ x 11″ strip of Basic Black and adhered it the same way as the white above. Just use your fingers to crease on the edges to make a tight fit rather than trying to score and having it not fit right.

For the belt buckle, I cut a 1″ x 1″ piece of Gold Foil, adhered that, then adhered a 3/4″ x 3/4″ piece of Basic Black in the center to look like the belt going through the buckle.

It’s just that easy! I suppose you could even emboss the Real Red cardstock to look like brick or some other texture. You could even omit the white fur and belt and make it look really like a chimney and maybe add a greeting to the front. Whatever you like!

Growing up, Christmas Eve was really my favorite day because my family opened presents at our house on Christmas Eve with my grandparents and maybe other visiting relatives, maybe going to church before or after. Then on Christmas Day we would go to my grandma’s house, who hadn’t hauled her presents to our house, and have Christmas dinner at her house then open presents from her. Of course, Santa came to our house on Christmas morning! What is better than being a young child and having Santa come??!!! My mother would often”apologize” on Christmas Eve that my parents couldn’t buy us more than one or two gifts on Christmas Eve because they didn’t have the money! But Santa always came through!! LOL!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Last Minute Stamping Christmas Ideas

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We’re here! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve so depending on your celebration schedule, today might be the last day you are trying to get things done and tie up loose ends for your holiday celebration! Here are some past ideas I think you can use, maybe with retired products but ones that you can substitute with current products or dig out your old products that you may still have in your stash!

This little Tiny Christmas Treat Box With Trees uses the retired little acetate box, but you can use any box. Just punch out or die-cut three little trees out of cardstock or designer paper plus a little ribbon and maybe some gems to decorate! Fill with candy or a small gift! So easy!

This Gold Mini Pizza Box With Christmas Poinsettia uses the still-current Poinsettia Dies so you can decorate any box with a beautiful poinsettia!

Pick up one of those giant chocolate bars on your last trip to the grocery store or drugstore and print out this poem! It’s the Christmas Fudge Candy Wrapper Poem! It’s an oldie but goodie and easy to make for a funny gift!

This Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Gift Bag has been a real favorite! So easy to make and so fun for a gift bag! Or decorate the top of a package like this!

Want to decorate a gift bag? This Snowman Gift Bag will easily cover up any printing of the store name on the front of the bag! And again, you could decorate the front of a package in a similar way! Just takes a few minutes!

Toile Tidings Christmas Red Gift Card Holder

I heard on the news the other night the high number of gift cards that are given at Christmas! Make yours special with your own gift card holder like this one! Of course, use any paper you have or something current! Probably you have scraps that will be put to good use!

These are just a few of my older blog posts with Christmas ideas. If you want more, just use the Category drop-down box on the right to search Christmas or #3D Gifts & Things! It’s fun to look back at the older ideas because we still can use them!

Merry Christmas!

A Stamper’s Christmas Card Poem

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The Week Before Christmas (In a Stamper’s House)

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and the house was a hush
Save the stamping of rubber in a last-minute rush.
The cardstock was cut with precision and care
In hopes that a greeting would soon be stamped there.

The children were tucked in their beds around eight,
But now it’s ten-thirty… How’d it get so late?
And I in my PJs with bleary red eyes
Had finally arranged all the stamping supplies.

It started out simple. (It does every year.)
Just make a few cards for friends who are dear.
I pressed ink to paper. (It looked crisp and clean.)
A sprinkle of powder, heat to a sheen.

When what on my green Christmas card should appear?
Why, a tiny gold Santa with sleigh and reindeer.
On pigment! On powder! On heat from a gun!
Now ribbon and glitter! Can I make eighty-one?

“I can do it!” I said with all of my might
And looked at the clock – ’twas well past midnight.
I went straight to stamping out card after card.
“This might take all night, but at least it’s not hard.”

But after I finished, they looked a bit lame.
I didn’t want fancy, but these were too plain.
And then in a twinkling, a thought came to mind.
“I’ll just dress them up, and then they’ll be fine.”

So I went to my craft room and looked all around,
Then back to the table with all that I’d found.
My Fiskars I brandished (I wasn’t a quitter),
And soon I was covered in EP and glitter.

The cap of a marker I held in my teeth.
I’d lay in some color or maybe gold leaf.
My broad little face was all beaded with sweat,
But I wouldn’t give up – well, not at least yet.

There was glue on the table and ink on the floor.
I laughed at the sight though my fingers were sore.
I did not complain, just kept up my work.
When more things went wrong, I did not go berserk.

When finally finished, one card about six,
It looked pretty good after all of my tricks.
I’m keeping this one. My work on it shows.”
So clutching my card, up the stairs I arose.

I crawled into bed at the crack of dawn,
Creativity all spent motivation all gone.
But make no mistake, I promise one thing:
You’ll all get your cards, but not ’til next spring!

–Author Unknown

Quick & Easy Snowman Season Gift Tags

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Here are some Quick & Easy Snowman Season Gift Tags that you can make here at the last minute if you run out of gift tags (as we often do!). I suddenly realized I hadn’t made anything with a snowman this season and this Snowman Season Stamp Set is so cute! It’s been around a little bit so I thought I better use it before it retires, although I hope it stays a little longer! And perhaps you already have this in your inventory so it would be easy for you to copy. You’ll find it in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog on page 93. And notice the round tag on page 92, which, without seeing this page first, I was thinking of making a round tag like that one but I ran out of time to make one more!

The tag punch I used is retired but is very similar to the two tag punches Stampin’ Up! does carry right now, the Delightful Tag Topper Punch and the Fancy Tag Topper Punch. This type of punch is so handy to have so I recommend you have one kind or another in your supplies.

I just layered a piece of Basic White cardstock on the Balmy Blue and the Crumb Cake tag bases. The snowmen fit perfectly on this narrow piece. If you stamp with Memento Ink you can color in with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. Or you can stamp with Stazon and color in with Stampin’ Write Markers or some other coloring product, like Watercolor pencils or ink.

The first tag in the photo was the last tag I made. That’s where I was going to make the circle gift tag with dies but I already had this scalloped rectangle in the bag with Basic White cardstock so I just grabbed it and stamped on that piece, then layered it on Balmy Blue cardstock. Also, since I was short on time, I didn’t have any more time for coloring so I stamped the snowman and greeting in Balmy Blue ink and let it be monochromatic! Easy enough and looks just as good! I just punched a hole in the corner and tied on the ribbon.

The beautiful ribbon I used and went well with the snowmen I thought is the White 3/8″ Glittered Organdy Ribbon. It is a white sheer ribbon with a little glitter and glimmer in it! Really pretty!

Now that it is officially winter, I think the snowman gift tags are just perfect. For more ideas, check out the Snowman Season tags I made last year HERE.

Just a few more days until Christmas so make a few of these Quick & Easy Snowman Season Gift Tags just in case you need a few more gift tags at the last minute!

Paper Pumpkin Gifts Galore Kit Snowman in Window

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I admit to almost completely copying this Paper Pumpkin Gifts Galore Kit Snowman In Window card from someone on Pinterest, Bonnie Friday. I don’t know if she was the original person or not, but this was a card I saw “somewhere” online and then could not find it ANYWHERE later when I wanted it – until I found hers on Pinterest finally. The first time I saw this card, I believe the creator said she wondered if it looked a little “creepy” with the large snowman head peering in the window at the Christmas tree! Then there were more comments agreeing or disagreeing or laughing about that idea! That really caught my eye and made me giggle because I knew the perfect person to send a “creepy” Christmas card to just for fun!

This card is made from the contents of the November 2021 Paper Pumpkin Kit, Gifts Galore. This kit, in my opinion, is one of the best Paper Pumpkin kits! It contained very large die-cut images of this snowman, a Christmas tree, and packages. The design plan was to use two of the same images, front and back, on a small open box that would hold some kind of treats. Here is my post of the first treat holders I made as designed.

As always, stampers come up with alternative ideas for the materials in their kit. If they don’t need treat holders, they would rather make cards with the supplies or scrapbook pages or some other projects. And you can do that with your Paper Pumpkin Kit!

This card starts with a Basic White card base and a layer of Basic Black. The Christmas tree is cut a tiny bit more than in half. If you look at this sample, you can figure out where to cut it. I popped it up on Dimensionals and Foam Strips.

The snowman head is trimmed as shown so that it fits behind this “window”. This is a little tricky to figure out (maybe it won’t be for you, though!). I used a piece of Basic White and die cut two stitched rectangles out of it. You just have to make the sides wide enough so you can glue the snowman image behind it. I put a piece of Balmy Blue behind the snowman to look like the sky. Just fiddle with it and you’ll get it. The packages are cut from the piece in the kit. Most are pretty large. In fact, the top package I cut down from a larger package. Then I added a bit of the twine in the kit for a bow just for an embellishment even though there is a printed bow. In my retired stash, I had some stick-on bows and snowflakes so I added those just for fun! You could also add rhinestones or jewels to the tree. Do what you like!

I hope you get a kick out of the creepy snowman card made with the November 2021 Paper Pumpkin Kit Gifts Galore! If you still need cards or little projects, maybe you still have some pieces left in your Gifts Galore kit you can use!

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN!

Wrapped Christmas Candy Bars

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Christmas is getting close! If you need some fun candy treats or stocking stuffers, here is a fun and easy idea! Just decorate some candy bars with your craft supplies like these Wrapped Christmas Candy Bars. You can use any size candy bars you have, big or little!

These candy bars I used are just regular size Hershey Bars. It’s a great way to use up some scraps of designer paper you have around. You could use cardstock and layer with designer paper or stamp on cardstock! Whatever you want! It’s so fun to make these you barely need to think about it!

The paper sizes all depend on your candy bar size, of course. I found 5 1/4″ wide worked well on these candy bars. Then I just wrapped the designer paper around the bar and adhered the overlapping ends.

The top candy bar in the photo uses the Tidings of Christmas 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper. I was going to put one solid green tree in the center but I notice the other side of the paper was pretty so I punched three trees with the Pine Tree Punch and added some gems to the solid trees.

The middle candy bar uses the Penguin Playmates Designer Paper that was available during Sale-A-Bration. It’s such cute paper and you probably have some. I kind of picked the characters I wanted on the center of the candy bar and cut the paper to fit. Then I just tied some Soft Succulent 3/8″ Open Weave Ribbon around each end because I didn’t want to cover up the center image of the paper!

The third candy bar is wrapped with a piece of the Gingerbread & Peppermint 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (retired). Since there wasn’t much space and I was keeping these super easy, I just cut a strip of another pattern of the paper to get the ornaments and bell images for the center of the candy bar.

You could think of tons of ways to decorate candy bars for Christmas or other occasions. Here is a post from 2014 with candy bars decorated for Christmas! These are really fun and cute!

You still have time to make some candy treats for Christmas, for stockings, party favors, or table settings. Make them into place cards if you are having people for dinner! They are really fun so enjoy!

3″x 3″ Gift Tags

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If you are wrapping gifts right about now and you don’t have much time to stamp, for lots of fun I suggest making these 3″ x 3″ Gift Tags! On some presents, the hanging tags aren’t quite right or you’d like to write a little note, so make some of the gift tags or gift cards to enclose with your gift. You may even already have some 3″ x 3″ envelopes to put them in.

These are simply made with a 3″ x 6″ piece of any cardstock, scored at 3″ in the middle and folded to make the 3″ x 3″ card. Then embellish to your heart’s desire! I barely had to go to any work on these because I had some scraps, some greetings, some die cuts that I had made but hadn’t used just sitting on my table. All I had to do was make the card base and add some scraps of 2 3/4″ square designer paper or maybe just a strip, pieces from other designer paper that had already been cut out by hand or die-cut, and maybe a greeting or two! Add a few jewels if you like for some sparkle!

No need to go into the exact details of how I decorated these! I’m sure you also have scraps and pieces you can use or you can quickly stamp or cut some out! For sure these are super fun to make! I think you could make a ton of them in just half an hour or so!! If you want just a tag, just cut a 3″ x 3″ square of cardstock and write the “To: and From:” on the back of that. Punch a hole in the corner of these cards and put some ribbon or twine through to tie on your package unless you are using an envelope. Bet you can’t make just one!!

Christmas Votive Home Decor

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If you want to make a quick and easy gift for someone or even just a little decoration for your home, make a glass votive holder into a decorated piece of home decor for yourself or someone else! You probably even have a votive holder somewhere around your house or you can pick one up at almost any store.

Last year I made one with the retired Buffalo Check Background stamp with black ink on Real Red cardstock. I really loved the look. This year it seems like a black and white check is quite popular so I redid the votive holder. I found a piece of black and white check paper in the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper that is available free as Host Reward in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Of course, you will have to judge the size of paper you need to use for your votive holder. Mine is about 2 1/2″ wide and wraps around the glass. If the glass tapers a little bit at the bottom the paper won’t fit around perfectly but that’s okay. Wrap it around as well as you can. I also tied a Real Red ribbon around to hold the paper in place. You can simply tie a bow, or for Christmas, I added some bits of artificial greenery and red berries. You could add a tag with a greeting or name, a little wreath instead of the greenery, maybe a small ornament, whatever you like and have in your stash!

Add a small votive candle or tea light and you have a cute little gift for someone! Wrap it up or put it in a cello bag and tie it with a ribbon. Just the presentation can take the gift up a few notches!

Christmas is coming VERY soon now, but it’s fun to make a few things for gifts or your own decorations for the holidays! This is the time of year we have looked forward to all year! Take some time to make those things you wanted to “get around” to making!

You Will Need Gift Card Holders!

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You know you will need at least a few gift card holders for holiday gifts, so here is one version you can easily make! It is basically a strip of cardstock, folded in the middle with a slit so that a gift card can be inserted, and then decorate and personalize for the occasion. You will need gift card holders throughout the year so keep in mind how easy it is to make your own rather than just using an envelope.

Start with a strip of cardstock that is 4 1/4″ x 11″. That is basically cutting a piece of cardstock in half, vertically. Score at 4 1/2″, 5 1/2″, and 6 1/2″. As you crease these score lines and use your Bone Folder on those folds, the center score line will be popped up (mountain fold) as you see in the photo above. This is where the gift card will eventually be held. It will be like a card opening on the side with this center fold inside the card.

The next step is to cut a slit in that center fold to hold the gift card. I used my retired Classic Label Punch which was so perfect for a project like this. If you do not have the Label Punch, use your scissors to cut your own opening or use something like a craft knife. The opening does not go all the way across, of course. You just need it to be wide enough to hold the gift card, so have your gift card or any card or credit card handy so you can measure correctly.

In this photo above, you can clearly see the opening I punched right on that center score line. It doesn’t have to be that wide and you can use scissors or die or whatever you have available. To hold that pocket closed, place a piece of Tear & Tape as close to the side score line away from the slit. You can insert the gift card so that you can see how the gift card fits in the slot. Then remove it, remove the liner from the Tear & Tape and fold back on the score line to adhere.

The gift card will fit in there far enough but not all the way down because of the tape. In this way, it can pop up when the card is opened!

Now the fun part of decorating the inside. I cut Basic White layers of 4″ x 3 3/4″ for each side and stamped the left side with the stocking and leaves in the Tidings and Trimmings Stamp Set in Real Red and Evening Evergreen. On the right side, I already had a stamped and die-cut greeting in my scraps so I just adhered that to the center, plus a little strip of the Tidings of Christmas 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper on the right side that matches the front of the card.

In the photo above you can see how the gift card pops up when the card is opened. That makes it a special treat for the recipient!

For the front of the gift card holder, which is essentially a card, I used a base of Evening Evergreen and a layer of Tidings of Christmas Designer Series Paper. The greeting is stamped in Real Red ink from the Tidings and Trimmings Stamp Set and die cut with one of the Tasteful Labels Dies. If you want to add ribbon to tie the card shut, when the greeting is adhered, just place the Stampin’ Dimensionals in the four corners of the die cut and not in the center. That way the ribbon can be slid underneath the popped-up greeting and tied on the side.

There are other designs for making gift card holders but this is one you can try! It looks very nice but keep in mind that it IS easy to make! Don’t let the pop-up slot in the middle scare you! For other occasions, just change the colors, paper, greeting and you are good to go!

Painted Christmas 2-4-6-8 Gift Bag

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The time is rapidly approaching when we will need all shapes and sizes of gift bags and boxes so here is a basic, quick, and easy Painted Christmas 2-4-6-8 Gift Bag. You can vary the measurements if you need something taller or larger. But learning how to make a 2-4-6-8 box (or bag) is a basic every stamper should know!

Here’s how to score your paper. This paper is 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. Just score at 2″, 4″, 6″, and 8″ which leaves the narrow little 1/2″ strip on the end which will be the tab to glue the box together. Then turn the paper and score at 1 1/2″ to form the bottom flaps. Cut off that smallest little section on the 1/2″ flap and cut up on the score lines to the 1 1/2″ score line to make the flaps at the bottom.

I used Real Red Cardstock because I wanted to use designer series paper on the side panels for decoration. I used the Painted Christmas Paper to cover each panel. Since each panel is 2″ wide by 4″ long, I cut the designer paper at 1 3/4″ x 3 3/4″. It’s easiest if you adhere the DSP pieces to the bag panels while the paper is flat before assembly.

Just crease and fold all the score lines to make it easy to assemble. If you are using patterned designer series paper with a pattern, be sure to think about the direction of the paper before you score and cut.

You have the choice of leaving the top open if you like or pinch it closed like I did, pushing in on the sides to indent a little. Punch holes in the top for ribbon or use some kind of clip instead to hold the top closed.

Here is another bag I made recently in THIS POST.

Just add a tag or adhere a greeting and decorate additionally however you like!

Don’t forget today is FREE SHIPPING at Stampin’ Up! all day with a $50 minimum order!

GO SHOP!

Be Jolly Altered Christmas Ornament

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This Be Jolly Altered Christmas Ornament came about after watching some of these crafty gals on Instagram buy something cheap and junky at one of those dollar-type stores and then remake it into something cute for their holiday decorations! Usually, when I walk into one of those stores, all I see is junk and a mess, and I don’t come up with any creative vision for what I am seeing in there.

However, one day I saw this ornament pictured below at Walmart and although it was pretty cute as it was, that creative process came over me and I thought it would be cute to redo the front of the ornament and the beads would make it extra cute! Wooden beads seem to be pretty popular these days!

I thought the Be Jolly Stamp Set would be a perfect set with which to redo this ornament. We didn’t have a large enough circle die to cover the printed side of this ornament so I ended up finding a little bowl in the cabinet that fit inside this circle the size I wanted and just traced around it on Real Red Cardstock and cut it out by hand. The white scallop circle IS cut with the Layering Circles Dies. I wanted to use the white on the original ornament as a border margin, then layered the scalloped circle with some of the Real Red showing.

On a scrap of Basic White Cardstock I stamped the Santa and the Christmas tree in the Be Jolly Stamp Set with Memento Ink so I could color with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. You can use whatever colors you like. On the Santa, I used Real Red but Cherry Cobbler would be good, too. The Christmas tree is colored with the Granny Apple Green Combo and the ornaments with Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue, and one of the purples! I forget which one I used.

The greeting is stamped from the set. Since there wasn’t much empty space on the front of the ornament for the greeting, even this short one, I stamped it and then cut the words apart and glued them on separately. It is a fun design idea to do this, but also very practical sometimes when you really don’t have much space! You can space out the words on your project, they don’t have to be right together in a line. Mine are the tiniest bit offset.

For a final touch, I added some Elegant Faceted Gems to the tree plus an orange star from the Cute Stars Adhesive-backed Sequins. Yes, it is an orange star but I hoped on the ornament it would seem to be yellow or gold! Close enough! These star sequins are discounted as I write this on the Last Chance List for the Holiday 2021 Catalog. Of course, I couldn’t stop with just those gems on the tree, I had to add some red ones from the Wonderful Gems package scattered around. Sometimes you have to know when to stop, but being overly festive for the holidays is usually a good thing! These Wonderful Gems are also discounted right now.

I also have to add that on the back of the ornament, I add a Real Red die cut circle with a Basic White circle on top of that so there would be a place to stamp or write a message or a “To: From”. I also realized that I could have left the “Ho Ho Ho” side as is and decorated the “back” side. However, sometimes the back side is a little messier than the front so it just depends. I really liked the “Ho Ho Ho” side and hated to cover it up even though I wanted to! I guess it reminded me of the Rae Dunn products everyone is so crazy about.

The Be Jolly Stamp Set is also retiring although not discounted. It is a cute set I have enjoyed using. It’s so fun to color in but you could also use it in a monochromatic way on a card if you didn’t like coloring. And you could use any coloring techniques you like!

If you are out shopping and see an ornament or decoration with better potential being altered with Stampin’ Up! materials and your expertise, like this Be Jolly Altered Christmas Ornament, go for it! See what you come up with!

Rainbow Glimmer Christmas Trees Card

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This Rainbow Glimmer Christmas Trees Card was sort of in my head, but then I started on two other projects first before deciding to give this idea a try! I thought it would be fun to use the Rainbow Glimmer Paper and try to get the ombre shades of the green color. The middle tree shows a different color at the base but the other two have slight variations in the green that doesn’t show up in the photo. I think it would be fun if this paper had narrower bands of colors so you could get more of an ombre effect on any projects. But, it is still really pretty and fun paper to use!

The card base is Mint Macaron with a layer of Shimmery White Cardstock. After cutting out and temporarily placing the trees on the card, I decided to try stamping the word “Joy” in the Whimsical Trees Stamp Set around in the background. There wasn’t a lot of empty space on which to do a little stamping so I’m not sure I like what I did. Maybe I do. What do you think??

The greeting is also in the Whimsical Trees Stamp Set and stamped with Mint Macaron. I layered it on a narrow piece of the Rainbow Glimmer Paper. I almost didn’t add a greeting since the card is a little busy already but I did! I really do like the Rainbow Glimmer Paper trees!

If you own the Christmas Trees Dies or will be purchasing them soon on the Last Chance Sale or the Whimsical Trees Bundle, note that there are two “pages” of dies in your package! I guess somehow I was only using what I saw when I pulled the dies out of the package and either forgot or never saw the rest of them! I wondered what happened to the trees that I used on this card that I had seen on other samples! So now I have lots more dies than I thought I had! Duh!

Remember the way these retirements work is that even if Bundles are carried over in the future to another catalog, they won’t still be Bundles. You might still be able to buy the stamp set and dies or whatever the individual components of the Bundle are, but you won’t get the 10% off discounted price. Be sure to check out the Last Chance Sale and the updated Clearance Rack to get the best chance of getting what you want lest anything sell out!

It was a rough morning because my website was not working so I couldn’t post my card until I went through two different Help Chats! Ugh! And even then they said it might work in a few minutes or it could take 24-48 hours globally! Thankfully it started working again after lunch!

Do some Christmas stamping this weekend! I hope to do that AND put up my tree! Wish me luck!

Stamping With Karen

Having Fun With Paper, Ink, and Stamps

Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas Candy Cane Card

Sweet Candy Canes Christmas Card

Whimsy & Wonder Christmas Thank You Cards

Chocolate Santa in the Chimney

Last Minute Stamping Christmas Ideas

A Stamper’s Christmas Card Poem

Quick & Easy Snowman Season Gift Tags

Paper Pumpkin Gifts Galore Kit Snowman in Window

Wrapped Christmas Candy Bars

3″x 3″ Gift Tags

Christmas Votive Home Decor

You Will Need Gift Card Holders!

Painted Christmas 2-4-6-8 Gift Bag

Be Jolly Altered Christmas Ornament

Rainbow Glimmer Christmas Trees Card