Christmas Thank You's

I love giving little baggies of gift tags as thank you's to my customers.  So here's what I did this year.   Our SU cello bags are great for things like this because you only have to add a bag topper and you have this really cute, professional handmade treat.  These are also great projects for classes and you can turn them out relatively quickly so it's not a drama if you have a  lot to make (and you KNOW how I hate production lining.....that's what Hallmark is for!).
So, I've used a retired hostess set called Deer Friends.  Now I know that's annoying, but you could just as easily substitute an image from Season of Joy, Snow Swirled, Winter Post.....the list goes on.   I've used 3 punches - the Scallop Circle, 1 3/8" Circle and 1 1/4" Circle.  I've stamped, coloured, punched and layered them all together, then using the 1/8" hole punch I've made a hole in the top of each tag.    I cut enough silver or gold embroidery thread (you could use ribbon or cord though) to lengths for the number of tags in each bag - I think I made 8 tags because that's the number of stamps in Deer Friends.   Then I wrapped the thread neatly into a loop and popped it in the bag.

The bag topper is from a piece of Real Red card stock cut to size - I do all these according to the bag size, so measure your bag first and take into account what kind of embellishments you want to use.  I've embossed the cardstock using the Big Shot & a Texture Plate (I know, but be patient, you'll have it in a few short months!!).  Then I've rounded the corners, added some ribbon and another punched image, this time from So Many Scallops, sadly also retired, but all the sets I've mentioned would substitute nicely.  Here's a close up -

Because I love giving my projects some dimension, I've stamped the image once in Choc Chip Classic Ink, then again in Real Red Classic Ink, both on Whisper White Cardstock.  I've punched the Real Red snowflake out using the 1" Circle Punch and used a Stampin Dimensional to "pop" it up.  Cute eh?   Leave me a message if you like what you see.  Or if I've been to sketchy with the details and you want more info.   Have a happy day - only 4 more sleeps till the big guy in the red suit arrives!

OM GOSH! A SALE!

Can you resist a sale?   Bet you can't!   And especially not when it's a Stampin' Up! sale.  Yes, there's some goodies on sale right now that you can get your crafty little fingers on to keep you busy during the lazy hazy summer days.
Check it out soon, because they'll sell out fast, and when they're gone, they're really really gone forever!! Click on the link to go there.
http://www3.stampinup.com/au/ena/default.asp

SUMMER MINI IDEAS

The summer mini is full of goodies.  And I really felt, for the first time, that we are catching up with the products in the U.S. market.  Well done SU!   Anyway, I've played with a lot of stuff right now, and taken a ton of pics that need resizing for blogging with, but here's some I've done so far.

If you see something you'd like to order - you know where to find me.  And of course, I'll HAPPILY do a class on any of the projects you like, at a time that suits you (especially during the holidays, when I have more time to work to YOUR schedule!).



This is a little baggy/box made from cardstock....super easy & most of my class ladies have made this.   I used these as the door prizes for my Christmas Card Class ladies.  They each had a Stampin' Spot & a "made by me" stamp inside.  Very useful, if I do say so myself!

                                       Here's a side angle that shows you the shape of the box.

The next pic shows how much I love the butterfly stamp and punch.  This is fast becoming a favourite of mine and I can see I'll be busily adapting this to suit all kinds of things.

I love doing journals, and this one is my latest (it's a christmas gift for someone special...shhhhhhh!).  Then there's the bookmark - reminiscent of my Regional Swap (see earlier post), and the lovely card is just so bright and cheery, who wouldn't want to receive it?    The little "pouch" is cased from the Summer Mini Catalogue, but I've changed it a bit.   It's basically one narrow sheet of cardstock, scored in the middle twice to make the base, and I've used the Word Window Punch to make the handle in the top.   Don't you love those crocheted flowers....mmmmmm......mmmmmm.

Enjoy.   And hopefully, I'll pop in tomorrow with more goodies.
Happy Stampin.
Karen

Mini Christmas Tree

My daughter's birthday is 1st Dec so we like to wait until mid December to put our Christmas tree up.  This always presents a dilemma when I have classes in early December because I want the house to look festive so my ladies get into the spirit.  So I dug out the mini tree and started playing.   This is the result:

I've used the scallop circle, 1 1/4" circle, & 1 3/8" circle punches to punch out cardstock and layer them.   I got some yummy chocolate coins and covered them both sides, added a bit of gold cord, and voila!   Then I found some chocolate stars....there's a pattern forming......and this time used the punched out cardstock top and bottom with a brad to secure the cord to the top of the "ornament".  So cute - I did discover that my beloved snail adhesive wouldn't hold the star because it's a heavy truffle...yum yum, so I had to use tacky/pva glue instead.  But wait, there's more....I ran out of chocolates to cover and didn't want to haul myself off to the shops (because I'm crafting here....well duh!), so I made a couple of paper ornaments (scallop circle again) and some paper strips attached with brads top and bottom.   Woo hoo, I'm lovin' it.  Of course, the biggest sadness is that I've used Dashing and it's retired now :-((.   I love that Designer Series Paper.
All products are from Stampin' Up!  Except the chocolates, silly!    If you want more instructions - I'm posting in a hurry, email me and I'll happily share.
Happy Saturday!   And remember, if it's chocolate, you can eat it too!