Today I'm going to share another of my Christmas projects, this time a fun packaging solution for a cute chocolate snowman that I bought at my local supermarket. From the outside, it looked like a fairly straightforward nicely packaged box, complete with bow:

It's when the box is opened that the 'reveal' happens - the snowman is sitting in the middle with the inside of the box decorated with four co-ordinating stamped 'snow day' snowmen:

I love the snowman stamp set in the 'Snow Day' set and as soon as I saw the chocolate snowman I knew the two belonged together. The box base uses one 12" x 12" sheet of Crumb Cake cardstock and is a great way to turn a simple chocolate gift into something extra-special.

Today is going to be an early night for me I think; after all the food and excesses of the last few days and a lovely long walk in the fresh air this afternoon, I am absolutely shattered! Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Snow Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Real Red A4 Card Stock
Crumb Cake 12 X 12 Smooth Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

Well, it's here at last - Merry Christmas lovely blog readers! We've had a lovely day today that has involved much present unwrapping, eating and Lego building - don't you just love Christmas?!

I still have a few Christmas things that I haven't shared with you, so today thought I would share the Christmas cards I made for my little James juniors. I was inspired by Lizy Bartaby's card here - I loved the idea of the Santa Monster Hugs but took my cards a step further by making them into pop-ups using my Pop 'n' Cuts base; I'm always looking for new ways to use this. So I made a co-ordinating pair of his and hers santa monster hugs. Here's the little girl santa monster:

Cute, huh? Here's the little boy monster that is her partner-in-crime:

How cute are these? I made my hats using an oval punch with a section cut out using the word window punch to create the curve of the hat. I made the brim using a 'squashed' scallop circle as I don't own a scalloped oval punch, which would of course make this slightly easier. A pop up card and chocolate coins - I'm not sure which the children thought was best (who I am kidding - the chocolate, of course!)

I'm sure this won't be the last we'll be seeing of these little guys - but for now, I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa brought you everything that was on your wish list.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Monster Hugs Boy	Monster Hugs Girl	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Christmas Messages Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Merry Minis Punch Pack	Silver Glimmer Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Card Base Pop' N Cuts	Dress Form Pop' N Cuts

Today a quick post to share the Christmas cards I made for my Mum and Dad and Mother-in-law respectively - and a little 'sneak peek' of some new product that will be available in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue at the end of January. I wanted to use the single stamp 'Christmas Star' for my cards; this is such a great statement stamp but feel like I haven't used it anywhere near enough this season. I was inspired by this Brian King card I saw a while ago here. For my version, I decided to use the same design for each card, but create it in two different colourways. Here's the first one in silver and Midnight Muse:

I wanted the star to take centre stage, so kept the design fairly simple and embossed the star then hand cut and scored along the point lines to create a lovely 3-dimensional effect. I adhered the star to the card with rolled glue dots at the end of each point; this is a better option where you don't want the bulk of a dimensional. To finish I added the Christmas sentiment from the 'Delightful Dozen' stamp set.

For the second version, I used gold and Cherry Cobbler:

Did you spot the 'sneak peek' of the new product? Yes, shiny gold sequins - just one of a number of new gold products that will make their appearance in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue in just over a month's time. I just couldn't resist using a few to finish off my Christmas projects.

So here's a picture of both cards together; the question is, which one do you prefer?

I must say, I think it's a tough call - I like them both, and I'm not sure which I would choose as my favourite. Both were well received by the recipients, so I guess that's the main thing!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so will be a day of food preparations for the big day, along with a few fun things too. I'll be back to share another Christmas project too; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Christmas Star Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Midnight Muse A4 Card Stock	Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad	Brushed Silver A4 Card Stock
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Brushed Gold A4 Card Stock	Versamark Pad
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Delightful Dozen - Clear-Mount Stamp	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Well it's been another busy few days here in the James household with a trip to the movies on Friday, a fun trip iceskating yesterday and swimming, grocery shopping and a pre-Christmas festive family get-together this evening. The big day is almost upon us, but I finally managed to get some photographs taken today in between all my last minute Christmas preparations and today would like to share some of my quick but attractive festive packaging ideas for stocking-fillers and small gifts. Here's the first one - a simple pouch made using the envelope punch board:

I made lots of these in various colours to tie in with the Winter Frost DSP stack to package some little gifts for the lovely ladies who have attended my classes over the past year (I can't tell you what's inside though - it's not Christmas Day yet ;-)! )

The second of my projects is a little stocking filler I made for my daughter - a pair of hairclips decorated with Frosted Finishes Embellishments and packaged in a cute little triangular carton that I made using a sheet of the Winter Frost DSP stack:

I embossed the 'warm wishes' sentiment from the 'Snow Day' stamp set using silver embossing powder and it added a real feel of luxury to the finished packaging. For the clips, I simply adhered a Frosted Finishes Embellishments using Crystal Effects to a couple of standard hair clips.

My last packaging idea that I'm going to share today is one of the lovely little muslin bags, which I stamped with the 'Love and Joy' single stamp and decorated with another Frosted Finishes embellishment, a ribbon tie and a little Dazzling Diamonds for some extra sparkle:

These bags are a great size and perfect for a little sweet treat or a small gift such as nail polish or some candles, or maybe a miniature bottle of a favourite tipple, a pack of playing cards or a micro torch for a more masculine gift.

So some easy ideas to make those little gifts extra special.

I have a date with a very large ironing basket tomorrow evening (the exciting life I lead!), but all being well will be back with another post as I've a few more Christmas-themed things to share and am running out of time in which to do it.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board	Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Silver Glimmer Paper
1-1/4" Scallop Circle Punch	1 Inch Circle Punch	Merry Minis Punch Pack	Frosted Finishes Embellishments	Silver 1/8" Ribbon
Linen Thread	Versamark Pad	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug	Mini Muslin Bags
Love & Joy Wood-Mount Stamp	Marina Mist 3/4" Chevron Ribbon	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad	Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details

Well, what can I say - a seven day absence from my blog - unheard of!! I know this is a busy time of year and I've certainly no shortage of lovely things to share with you, but my real issue has been keeping up, both with the photography (lots of makes are leaving the house before being photographed!) and blog writing itself. The James juniors have finished school for the Christmas holidays already, and in addition to all of the usual pre-Christmas preparations, I have been having so much fun with them I've had little time for anything else this past week.

No festive project to share today - instead the alternative trio of cards made following the same layout used in my December Christmas card class (you can see the Christmas versions here) but with distinctly non-Christmas card designs. So here they are:

This one uses some of the Print Poetry paper stack that is currently available to buy on the clearance rack, whilst stocks last. The second one:

This one has quite a retro feel, with the colour scheme inspired by the retired Sycamore Street SAB paper - my customers love this paper, so are still looking for ideas and ways to use it. Lastly, the third card featuring a bow made with the Gift Bow Bigz Die:

This card actually uses a couple of the things we used to make the Christmas card version - the Seasons of Style paper stack paper and the 'Wishing You' stamp set and proves that these things can be used for non-Christmas as well as Christmas cards if you use alternative colours.

I liked the way all three of these cards turned out and the fact that they gave me a few cards to add to my stash ready for the year ahead. This really is a quick post from me, but before I go I thought I'd share one festive picture of the masterpiece created by my super-creative children today - our very first gingerbread house, from scratch! We made the house yesterday and they built and decorated it today. I'm pleased to say it's all their own work - I for one, think it's rather impressive:

Complete with gingerbread boy and girl and Christmas tree in the garden and following a considerable 'snowfall', of course! Tomorrow I have a day of present wrapping in store, so with Christmas music and tape in hand will be a woman on a mission!

I will hopefully not leave it so long before my next post; until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Standard Cutting Pads	Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Sticky Strip	Mini Glue Dots
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Wishing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Circles Collection Framelits Dies
Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Feel Goods Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Express Yourself	Brights Candy Dots	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad
Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Gumball Green A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder A4 Card Stock
Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Another busy day today so a late post - I'm still putting the final touches to a couple of video tutorials that I've prepared to go with my next couple of posts, so meanwhile I'm going to share with you three of the Christmas cards that we made at this month's card class. Each one features the Season of Style paper and a variety of different stamps. So here is the first one: 

This card uses the 'Love and Joy' single stamp on a set of layered pieces cut with the Deco Labels framelits. This was our second card:

This card uses the 'Warmth and Wonder' hostess set and is a CASE of a card I fell in love with by Mary Fish, who created a similar card using the Winter Frost colour scheme; you can see her original card here. Here is the third card that we made:

This uses a similar layout to one of the cards featured in the seasonal catalogue that showcases the 'Wishing You' stamp set, but I incorporated a small bow made with the Gift Bow Bigz Die for added impact. The last card was the Midnight Muse circle thinlit card I made a while ago featuring a bauble and two ways to make labels using the mosaic punch; the ladies in my class loved this card when they first saw it and were keen to have a go at it themselves. If you missed this card and would like to see it, you can find it here.

I also made alternative non-Christmas cards that followed each of the above design layouts, as I had a customer who didn't want to make Christmas cards (far too organised!); I'll share these cards with you next week.

I hope you liked the above cards, especially the last one - I love my Gift Bow Die and I have some great projects to share with you over the next few days using this useful product. Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Standard Cutting Pads	Gift Bow Bigz L Die	Sticky Strip	Mini Glue Dots
Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive	1-3/4 Inch Circle Punch	Warmth & Wonder Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Love & Joy Wood-Mount Stamp	Wishing You Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Old Olive A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies	Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents

Where is this week going?! I am so busy and feeling like Christmas is getting nearer and nearer and I am sooo not ready! Didn't manage to squeeze a blog post in yesterday as there was so much going on, so thought I'd better do a quick one today over lunch as I'm out again later and won't get the opportunity. Which is a shame, as I've still so many lovely Christmas projects to share! Today is a super quick card and gift card holder set that was designed by my lovely upline's upline Monica Gale at a recent Convention team gathering. Both items feature the 'Perfect Blend' stamp set. Firstly, here's the card: 

This is one of those cards that requires some paper snipping, but it's not tricky and worth it for the overall effect. We also made a matching gift card holder, which is just the right size for the credit-sized card coffee gift cards available from some of the large coffee house chains:

How cute is this?! I love the colours here and the little bow clip use to secure the gift card holder shut. I have a few friends who love a nice cup of coffee, so I might have to make a few more of these - not least because I received some extra Season of Style washi tape in a parcel that arrived yesterday, one of the things I won in a recent Stampin' Up! competition for World Cardmaking Day back in October - you can see my winning card here.

That's it for today. As always, if you would like to have a go at making either of the above project, the links to purchase the items you will need are included in the table below. Back tomorrow with a special Christmas project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Perfect Blend	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Baked Brown Sugar	Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad
Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad	Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack	Old Olive Simply Styled Embellishments	Season Of Style Designer Washi Tape	Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Today I have another festive project to share - this was also one of my convention swaps for some of the members of my wider team. I made a whole bunch of chocolate spoon stirrers - here's a close-up photo of the unwrapped spoon:

These really are so easy to make. All you need are some disposable wooden spoons and some small cello bags. To make the spoon, first I stamped it; I stamped the tiny snowflake in white kraft ink and heat embossed it for shine and texture, then stamped the word 'Christmas' in Real Red along the length of the spoon. This is a partial stamp from the 'Christmas Greetings' in the 'Warmth and Wonder' stamp set. This is a lovely hostess exclusive set, available when you host a Stampin' Up! party. Once the spoon has been stamped, I melted some milk chocolate in a small silicone cake mould and inserted both the spoon and some festive shaped marshmallows into it and left it to set before removing the mould. Here is a picture of the finished packaged spoons:

All you need to do is package in a small cello bag and tie with red grosgrain ribbon and attach a Festive Flurry snowflake stamped gift tag, stamped in white kraft on Crumb Cake cardstock and overstamped in Real Red with one of the other greetings from the 'Warmth and Wonder' set. So simple, yet a lovely gift for hostesses, customers, neighbours or friends during the festive season.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies used:

Today I'm sharing a gift I made for some of my most supportive stamping friends who I met up with at Convention. One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the friendships you make along the way - I have friends that I would never have met if it wasn't for Stampin' Up! and they are some of the most supportive when it comes to sharing successes, failures and ideas. Here is one of the gifts I made:

I found these cute little keyring notebooks in a local stationery store and customised them with stamps, punches and ribbon. I added a keyring Sharpie pen to each one, then made a little box with my Envelope Punch Board and closed with a co-ordinating belly band.

These are perfect for keeping in your handbag to always ensure you have a pen and paper to hand for quick notes.

Back tomorrow with another project. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Well, I'm back from Stampin' Up! 2013 European Convention and what can I say - my team and I had a blast! We came home exhausted, but having had the best time swapping, learning, meeting old friends, making new ones, 'sneak peeking' at some fabulous new products. Normal blogging is now resumed and I have lots of lovely things to show you, starting with the general swap that one of my downlines, Barbara, and I made for everyone we met at convention. It was something of a 'case' on the tag that features in this year's autumn-winter seasonal catalogue, but with a few changes to make it our own. Here is a picture of one of our finished swaps:

We also made some in a Pool Party/Island Indigo/Embossed Silver colourway - I will have to edit this post to include a photograph of one of these as I can't find one at the moment (might have to retake!) The snowflakes in the Festive Flurry set are great for making ornaments or 3-D tags or box-toppers with and you can layer just three snowflakes or all four to get a really large one. I shot a short video tutorial to show you how to put these layered snowflakes together to create this added dimension; grab your glue gun and click on the link below if you would like to see how to achieve it yourself - the video also shows the snowflake in the alternative colourway:

 I hope you find the video useful and have fun creating your own snowflakes in lots of different colour combinations. Just before I leave you the supplies list for this project, I thought you might like to see a fun Convention picture of me with 2 of my downline team members - I'm the one in the middle with the stripey hat:

If you would like to join us for some fun - and chocolate! - at next year's European Convention in Brussels next October, get in touch for more information about the benefits of joining my team.

Back tomorrow with more swaps and gifts made for friends; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: