Gift Bag and Tag

I'm always saving the little Kraft bags that gift stores seem to be using these days. Usually they have added a small sticker or stamped their store name on the front. Then I just cover the front with some DSP and make a matching tag or card.
Here's the one I made this week.

The little tags on the front were made with some retired tag punches and the retired Merry Medley punch trio. The little strips of silver foil on the tag and the DSP give the bag some added sparkle. The tag is made using the Chalk Talk framelits. 

This will probably be my last post of 2014; I've got a  before Christmas to do list that is a mile long. 'Tis the season! 

Flower Tag

This is a flower tag made using several different punches. I'm sorry I don't remember where I first saw this one.

Stained Glass

I made this tag with a retired set called Holy Triptych. I got this idea from Jan Tink's blog.
The image is stamped with Staz-On ink on a window sheet and then you flip it over to color with Blendabilities markers. Then layer it on glimmer paper. Sparkly!

Christmas Tags

I'm working on some Christmas tags and packaging this week.
Here's a cute Santa Tag using the Big Shot Gift Bow Die (CASE: Angie Leach).

Top Note Gift Card Holder

This is another CASE of Linda Heller. I get so much inspiration from her Stamping School website. I treat myself to a subscription every year. This gift card holder is easy than it looks and uses the Big Shot Top Note die. You just have to make a zig zag fold in a large piece of cardstock and then align that folder edge inside the Top Note so that you aren't cutting that edge. Then you use the Word Window punch to make the slit for the gift card before gluing that fold together.
I've used the On Point Impressions Embossing Folder on the front of the cut Top Note piece only and more All is Calm Designer Series Paper, Glimmer Paper and Frosted Sequin Snowflakes to decorate the card. And even though it doesn't look like it the middle photo is the same card. My camera battery was getting very low! LOL

Tri-Fold Gift Card Holder

I've been making this design of gift card holder almost as long as I've been stamping. I used the retired slot punch to make the tabs to hold the gift card but you could either use an Exacto knife or a small circle framelit by positioning it at the edge of the platforms.
The sentiment comes from the Mingle All the Way stamp set. I'm still using the All is Calm Designer Series Paper and I got the idea for the tree from Linda Heller. I covered a rectangular piece of white cardstock that was slightly larger than the tree punch with All is Calm washi tape and layered that under the punched tree. I wrapped a little baker's twine around the bottom and topped it with a Vintage Faceted button. Usually I use a small piece of self stick velcro to make the closure for these tri-folds but I have a few of the little clips still in my stash so used one of them instead.

Lolly Gift Card Holder

 Today's card is a CASE from Linda Heller. I didn't have all the same supplies she had so I just improvised. The swirl background comes from the Everything Eleanor stamp set. This is a card you would want to hand deliver. The lolly on the front would get smashed if you tried to mail it. And as Linda recommends using a glue gun when making the lolly and I have to say that is the best(!) piece of advise; otherwise they just want to spring apart.
Designer Series Paper, Glimmer Paper and the sequins from the Frosted Sequins Accessories make this gift card holder sparkle.

And now I have to share a cute story. I gave one of my coaster calendars to a friend who had treated the three of us to an Advent concert on Sunday evening. The concert was so good and this is the second year she has provided tickets for us. Anyhow, I also included this card in the gift bag telling her now much we enjoyed our evening. She called me to say how much she liked the calendar and that the card was a "work of art" and of course, it is because that's the name of the stamp set used!. LOL

Slider Gift Card Holder

Here's a fun slider gift card holder. When you open the card the piece holding the gift card slides and pops up. I've used the All is Calm Designer Series Paper again. This is a special silvery one-sided piece of paper in the pack. Very pretty! I used the Envelope Punch Board to make the notches on the front of the card.

Envelope Gift Card Holder

This week I'll share some gift card holders that I've been making. Today's was made with a sheet of All is Calm Designer Series Paper and the Envelope Punch Board. You just cut an 8x8 inch piece of DSP and then punch and score as directed for the card size 4-14x5-1/2 on the Envelope Punch Board. Fold the envelope into shape and then fold it in half. Then adhere just one half of the envelope completely flat. I then used another piece of DSP to layer over that flat part of the envelope. The other halp of the inside makes the pocket for the gift card. This went together in less than 5 minutes. Quick and easy, using the Good Greetings and Festival of Trees stamp sets and the tree punch. I added a little silver ribbon to tie it closed by punching a small hole in bottom and running the ribbon through the hole.

Angel Ornament

This angel is made using the Gift Bow die. I'm busy making about 100 of these for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services at our churches. They'll be given to the children during the children's message. And then any family that didn't get one can pick them up at the door. This is our third Christmas here serving the two churches and each year I've made a little ornament to go along with the children's message or should I say I've made an ornament and then Pastor Brian tells a children's message that goes along with it.
Can you guess what stamp set I used for the embossing on the angel's garment?

It's the largest star from the Bright and Beautiful stamp set. The halo is made using the gold foil sheets and 1-3/4 and 1-1/4 inch circle punches. The little poinsettia is made using the the Boho Blossoms punch and the little center is punched from the halo scrap using a retired punch but you could use the little flower from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. 

CASE:  Dawn Olchefske

I won't be posting again until next week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and weekend everyone!

Holiday Home Votive

This cute little votive candle holder is made using a strip of vellum Staz-On ink and the Blendabilities (you have to stamp the image on one side of the vellum and then color with the markers on the opposite side) and the Holiday Home stamp set. I found this idea on Vicky Hayes' blog. I used her directions but she didn't have the instructions for making the base so, I had to figure that out on my own. It was hard to get a picture that would come close to doing it justice. It's so pretty with the little flickering battery votive.

Snowman

The coaster calendars were a big hit at the holiday fair on Saturday. So, I've been busy making a few more of those for friends. I finally got my Gift Box Punch Board out of the box and made this cute snowman. I've seen several of these posted on the web. I pretty much followed the pattern on Dawn Olchefske's blog. The differences being the googly eyes on mine and the added scarf using chevron ribbon. I also pulled out a retired embosslit for the buttons (but you could use the new Little Pieces embosslit).

Isn't he cute!

Coaster Calendar - September, October, November and December

 September's bus comes from the retired Every Little Bit stamp set and fussy cut and adhered to a 1" punched circle.

October's Frankenstein comes from the retired Googly Ghouls stamp set, fussy cut and adorned with some googly eyes.

November's pie is from retired Every Little Bit stamp set, fussy cut and adhered to a punched 1-7/8" circle.

December's tree comes from the Festival of Trees stamp set and punched with the Tree Punch.

Coaster Calendar - May, June, July and August

May's flower is punched card stock using the Boho Blossoms punch and topped with a button from a retired assortment. 

June's butterflies are cut using the Big Shot Beautiful Wings embosslit.

July's stars are punched and topped with a rhinestone.

August's ice cream cone was stamped using the retired Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set and colored with Blendabilities markers.

This Year's Coaster Calendar

Here's the cover and first four months for this year's "Coaster" calendar. Instead of coasters I use the white tag board backing the comes in the packs of Designer Series Paper. Yes, I save those, too. I have a small space on one of my studio shelves where I store them.
I use that tag board cut to 4"x4" to make the cover and back of the calendar. The month pages are just a piece of 4"x4" card stock.
When I'm making these calendars I pick a pack of DSP that has at least 6 different colors in it and then pull card stock in those six colors. Each monthly page has a small piece (1.5"x4") of DSP glued to the bottom of the cardstock. I usually think about what ribbon I have to trim the pages, too. This calendar is made using the retired Sycamore Street DSP. Then I decide what little stamp, punch or embellishment I can use that goes with that month.
Once you have those things decided the work goes pretty quickly. Since I was making a couple of these for the church's Holiday Fair I stamped and cut everything multiple times and then got busy putting the pages together.
I used my Crop-a-Dile to cut the holes for the rings.

 The numbers were cut using a Big Shot die The back is made the same as the front except I just overlap the ribbon on the inside so it lays flat.

 Snowflakes are from a retired Big Shot die.

 The heart is from two Big Shot dies layered together.Hearts a Flutter and a retired heart Embosslit.

 I fussy cut this shamrock from the retired Got Treats stamp set.

The umbrella comes from the retired Every Little Bit stamp set and is mounted on a punched 1-1/4" scalloped circle that I ran through the Big Shot using the retired Cloudy Day embossing folder.

Notebooks and Pens

These cute little notebooks and pens are some of the items I've made to donate to the church's Holiday Fair. I used the Confetti Celebration Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up! and some of the washi tape I had in my stash. You take the Pentel pens apart and roll a little piece of DSP and stuff it into the barrel before putting the pen back together. The little composition notebooks were found at Walgreen's. I'm hoping people will think they make great stocking stuffers or little gifts for office mates. I tied them up with ribbon from my stash... I'm trying to get rid of all my non- Stampin' Up! ribbon. We like to use it to tie up all our gifts and packages.
The little cello bags are recycled. When I get new stamping accessories they usually come in cello bags. So I carefully remove the product and have a bag hanging in my studio closet where I store them. When I make a gift or these type of items I can usually find a cello bag that is the right size. My family will be saying it's a "Aunt Nina" thing!

All Occasion Card from Work of Art

Here's one of the calendar pages I made and then decided not to use. So, I turned it into a card. The flourish comes from the Everything Eleanor stamp set. I added a few rhinestones when I decided to make it into a card. The interior is left blank. We use a lot of all occasion/blank cards in our house, There always seems to be some occasion that we need to acknowledge or someone who needs a little encouragement.

Work of Art Calendar-October, November December

And the final three months!

For October I just hand drew the ghost and pumpkin faces with a black marker. November's leaf comes from the French Foliage stamp set (retired). The bow loops on December's wreath were made by inking just the edges of the Work of Art heart stamp. Then I hand drew the bow tails and the holy berries. It's hard to tell here that I used two shades of green to make the wreath. I used Pear Pizzazz and Wild Wasabi. I think next time I will pick a darker green than the Wild Wasabi. And yes, I need to make another one. This one went to one of our churches Fall Festival Silent Auction.  The other church has a Holiday Festival later this month. So, it's back to the stamping table!

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday.

Work of Art-July, August & September

July's page was lots of happy accidents. I saw a similar design with punched stars but since I wanted my calenar to stay flat I was restricted from adding any layers. So, I heat embossed some stars with white embossing powder. My star image came from the Perfect Pennants stamp set. Then I stamped the red and blue images using the stamps from Work of Art. I didn't think about needing to wait for the blue to dry completely before wiping it off the stars. So I got a smudged blue background, which I decided I liked. Happy accidents. Then when I put the calendar together I realized the image would be turned 45 degrees from my original thinking. Luckily I like it this way!
Can you tell August is Popsicles? This was the one image I wasn't real sure about. I did create another image but decided it wasn't as whimsical as I wanted, so it is being turned into a card (maybe you'll see it next week).
September's red apple is made using several of the different shapes from the Work of Art stamp set. It's much easier than you'd think. The face on the caterpillar is hand drawn. The body is just stamping off with the little circle stamp in the Work of Art set.
Come back tomorrow for the final three pages!

Work of Art Calendar-April, May & June

Yellow tulips for April, a sailboat for May and a slice of watermelon for June. The flag on the sailboat comes from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set. I just drew the seeds on the watermelon using a black marker, otherwise all the images were created using the Work of Art stamps. It's a fun, fun set!

2015 Work of Art Calendar-January, February & March

For the rest of the week I'll be sharing a fun calendar I made using the Work of Art stamp set. There are so many great ideas out there using this set. I had fun exploring and then creating a page for each month.
Here's the finished calendar hanging on my wall with January.

 I used the same calendar document I created for the CD calendar, then layered that photo paper sheet on cardstock in a color that coordinated with the stamped image. The 4-1/4" x 5- 1/2" cardstock backing was also a color that coordinated with the stamped image. The images were stamped on a piece of 4"x 5-1/4" white cardstock. I punched two holes in the top of the backing cardstock using my Crop-A-Dile to punch through six sheets of cardstock at a time. Then I just ran a ribbon through the holes and tied it off to make the hanger.
The trees on January page are from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, Febrruary's "love" comes from Best of Love stamp set (retired). All other images were created using the stamps in Work of Art Stamp set. Come back tomorrow to see the April, May and June pages!

Turkey Time!

When I saw this Turkey punch art that Linda Heller did I had to make one! It is so cute and just 3 punches needed to make the turkey and tray (Bird Builder, Modern Label and Owl Builder). The rest of the card is made using the Circle Card Thinlit, Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, 2-1/2" circle punch and 2-3/8 scallop circle punch. Thanksgiving cards are all done at my house!