Stampin' For Christmas-Let's get Christmassy!

Thank you for joining us on this monthly Christmas themed blog hop featuring the many fabulous Stampin’ Up! products we all have to choose from! Sometimes it is hard to pick just one set to focus on! I did narrow it down to the Coming Home Bundle as I am having too much fun colouring all of the houses and trees. Colouring can be so relaxing and its so easy with our Stampin’ Blends! This bundle is part of a larger suite called Trimming the Town.

This stamp set does not have any sentiments to it, which is sort of unique to Stampin’ Up! It is all images. So I pulled in a nice sized ‘Merry Christmas’ from the Tag Buffet stamp set.

I used Balmy Blue as my card base and stamped the sentiment in the same color. The house is coloured in Real Red with Crumb Cake accents and Balmy Blue on the windows. The trees are classic Old Olive and Crumb Cake.

I used one of the dies from the Home Together Dies that has the trees and the snow drift shapes. It created a great background and I stamped directly to this piece. The house and trees are layered over top.

I wanted the illusion of a snow storm too so I stole a snowflake from the So Many Snowflakes dies and added those in. I then created a spray with my Wink of Stella and Balmy Blue markers to add to the snowfall feel.

I think this is a great card that you could easily mass produce and enjoy the relaxing creative benefits of colouring!

You can visit Sue Allen’s blog next to see what her crafty Christmas creation is! I hope you hop all the way through so you do not miss anyone’s creativity!

Christmas Coffee Explosion Box

This project is definitely in my top ten favourite things I have EVER made! I just couldn’t love it any more and definitely know its the gift I am making for my kids teachers this Christmas!

If you haven’t tried making an explosion box, don’t be intimated, its actually quite simple. You can look at each panel as a mini card and let your design inspiration go from there! This overhead shot shows you what it looks like once you take off the top and the sides ‘explode’ down.

There are tons of tutorials out there and almost all of them start with a 12x12 piece of card stock which is what I used here. I scored it at 4 inches on all sides and then cut some of the panels at a diagonal to create the two ‘pocket’s. I wanted a couple spots to add in some gift cards (one for coffee, one for booze!).

I used the two stamp sets Warm Hugs and Wrapped in Christmas from the Heartwarming Hugs Suite to decorate and embellish this project. These two sets work so well together!

This is the top of the box. I just love this mini coffee cup that fits inside the For You… it gives a little hint of what might be inside.

You can also use the Glitter Star Ornaments as a stationary embellishment by cutting the string and tucking the hook behind something.

I used the Heartwarming Hugs DSP and used the same pattern on the lid and on the inside panels and decorated the box with colors that coordinate with the DSP. I love the options of using Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, and Soft Suede. I used white embossing powder on many of the sentiments to help them ‘pop’.

The pull out pockets also have some stamping and you easily have enough to add a gift card.

I sacrificed one of the cups by carefully taking it apart to trace it onto the DSP so that the shape would be perfect to wrap around the cup. I used Tombow adhesive so it would stay adhered until the end of time! I decided to hot glue the cup to the base of the box. This way you can add some little treats inside the cup too and won’t move around in the explosion box.

I love how the Warm Wraps dies have such great layering options. The top of the coffee cup illustrates this perfectly and I used this layering option on all of the panels.

I would love to share this project with you! I will be offering it as a class on October 21st at 12:30 and October 23rd at 7pm. If you are in the Edmonton area please feel free to reach out if you would like to come stamp with me, or order any of the supplies by following the link to my store. Click on the button below to contact me to sign up for this class!

Coffee Carriers--not just for coffee!

The very first suite I ordered from the Handmade for You catalogue was the Heartwarming Hugs suite. Once I saw those mini coffee cups and that carrier I was SOLD! Hahaha! I have been crafting with them all month long in preparation for a display I was putting together and let me tell you, they are for so much more than coffee!

This cute little project is home to a little coffee bean plant! Isn’t that fun? I went to a local greenhouse and they told me it would maybe grow a bean in like a decade! hahaha! Keeping it alive for that long is actually more of a challenge!

To create the DSP wrap I sacrificed one of the cups by gently dismantling it. I then traced it onto the Heartwarming Hugs DSP so that the shape would be exactly the same to wrap around a cup. I used Tombow to keep things glued down. I love the color palette of this DSP as it allows you to bring in several brown and green tones and the patterns are so versatile and easy to mix together! I wrapped this carrier in DSP. I want to mention that you cannot wrap one strip of 12x12 around the carrier. It isn’t long enough so you need to cut individual pieces for the 4 sides. I wrapped it with the Real Red Braided Trim which is also a part of this suite.

I decided to add in a couple mini cards alongside my mini plant. I cut them to 2 1/2 inches wide so they could slip in the other side.

The Heartwarming Hugs Suite includes two stamp sets, Warm Hugs and Wrapped in Christmas. I used the Wrapped in Christmas set to make these mini cards and accented them with images from the Warm Hugs set.

The suite also includes two slim embossing folders which are great for adding in some texture like in this card shown.

Don’t all these patterns look awesome together? I love the Mossy Meadow Diagonal Stripe ribbon and the Glitter Star Ornaments in this suite. They help make the perfect tag! You can also see on this tag how fabulous the Warm Wraps Dies are as they have shapes that layer on top of each other! I always love when that is a component of a die set.

I actually ended up giving away both of these carriers as gifts so I wish the recipients luck in keeping these little coffee bean plants alive! hahaha! I also hope they are able to put the mini cards to good use and find themselves inspired.

I will be posting more coffee carrier projects so keep checking back so you don’t miss out! And if you need any supplies to make these projects, please shop my online store!

Stampin' For Christmas--Blog Hop!

I am so excited to be participating in this Stampin’ For Christmas monthly blog hop, celebrating Christmas ALL YEAR LONG! Isn’t that fun! When I got my copy of the Handmade for You holiday catalogue, the first things I ordered was the Heartwarming Hugs Suite. I LOVE everything in this suite so I knew I wanted to use it to create a card to share with you today!

I started with a card base of Soft Suede and layered it with Crumb Cake. I used my Water Painter and some Soft Suede ink to create the splatter effect in the background while stamping the little hearts from the Warm Hugs stamp set. I love how the Warm Wraps dies have so many layering options and I featured one here on this card. I even trimmed the scallop boarder down a bit to nestle in beside the sentiment.

The Mossy Meadow Diagonal Stripe ribbon is also amazing as it has two looks depending on what side you use.

Look how fabulous this looks! I love the layers that you can create with this die set and how the sentiment pops being embossed in white on Real Red card stock.

I hope my cards inspire you to create something with the Warm Hugs Bundle!I think it has so much potential and I know I will be using it a lot this holiday season! You can shop with me by using the Hostess Code or my Shop Now Button!

Next up on our Hop is Kirsty Pattrick, I can’t wait to see what she has designed! Thanks for hoping with us and hope to see you next month!

Christmas in July--its a thing!

Don’t believe me? Hahaha, or do you feel that its blasphemous to talk about Christmas in July? Well if you do, maybe this cute card will change your mind and get you thinking about Christmas 2020. It might be the only thing we have to look forward too. Hahaha!

Actually I can think of something else to look forward to, making awesome holiday cards and Christmas projects! I actually start this process in August believe it or not!

I created this card using traditional Christmas colors in Real Red, Old Olive and Crumb Cake and the upcoming Heartwarming Hugs Suite.

I used the Warm Hugs stamp set and Warm Wraps Dies to create this card. I started by stamping Happy Christmas randomly in Real Red on the card base. It is hard to capture in the picture, but I flicked my Wink of Stella pen across the card front as well. If you haven’t tried this before, experiments! It can add some amazing sparkle too your projects!

I cut a strip of Heartwarming Hugs DSP and layered it on some Crumb Cake. I tried some Linen Thread around in a bow. I I used three stamps from the stamp set to create the label. To highlight it, I cut a scalloped strip using one of the dies from the set and tucked it underneath the Crumb Cake.

It actually didn’t take long to create a bunch of these for a card swap I was in—yes, a Christmas in July card swap!