Hung Up on the Holidays Christmas card

Woohoo! I am a winner! Can you believe it? I never win anything but I won something very special yesterday! It was a Golden Ticket to go to the Stampin' Up Convention for European demonstrators! I've known about this event for a long time but put it to the back of mind knowing there was no way I'd be able to go but now...! I'm so excited!

Anyway, thank you for listening to me witter on for a bit! If you're still with me, come and see the Christmas card I've made for today:

This is a one sheet wonder - meaning that I stamped the design over an A4 sheet of card stock and cut it up to make lots of cards. I used the sweet Christmas set Hung Up on the Holidays which is being retired this year. I love this set and have found it to be quite a hard worker! That star, for example, has seen plenty of action all through the year and there is also a useful little 'hanging thread' image in the set. It is available, along with all the other items on the Last Chance List, until the 30th September! Do check the Last Chance List here for last minute bargains and click here to email me your order. If you're finding it difficult to work out the Last Chance List, give me a call on 01280 820593 and I'll be happy to help you.

But now - here's how to make today's card:

• Stamp an A4 piece of Whisper White card with a random design. Cut off a 6.5cm x9cm piece.
• Take a piece of Pink Passion card stock 14cm x 7cm and scallop the bottom with the scallop border punch. Mount the stamped panel onto this.
• Cut a 1cm strip of Real Red card stock and wrap it around the Pink Passion card stock. Stamp a sentiment onto a scrap of Whisper White, cut it out with the Oval punch and attach it to the strip using dimensionals.
• Knot a piece of satin ribbon round the bottom of the stamped panel, above the sentiment, and mount onto a Real Red card blank.

Supplies
Stamps: Hung Up on the Holidays, Loads of Love
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Pink Passion, Creamy Caramel
Card stock: Real Red, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Other: Old Olive satin ribbon, Oval punch

I do realise that I seem to be posting lots of Christmas cards when it's only September! But it's perfect weather for making them and if you start now, you'll have one less thing to do when it comes round to December!

And talking of saving time - it's Three Minute Thursday here tomorrow! Don't forget to pop in and see the speedy card I'll be making then.
Have a good evening!

Gift set with sandy speckles

Last week my young son went to a birthday party. He wanted to give his friend some money and suggested that I could make something to put it in. (He has such faith in me! Unfortunately this is the same faith in me that leads him to announce that he needs to dress up as a dalek ten minutes before a party...)

Here's what I came up with: a mini pizza box and, to carry it in  - no, your eyes do not deceive you - it's a bagalope! For those of you that haven't come across the bagalope before, it's a gift bag made from an envelope. I love this technique and it has come in useful more times than I can remember!

I thought a 3" square mini pizza box would be ideal to contain a crisp bank note folded in half so I started with a piece of card stock measuring 5" x 9" (click on the link above for details on how to make the box). It was decorated with the star stamp from Hung Up on the Holidays along with stars punched out from card stock. I wanted some of the stars to be smaller than the star punch so I drew a star inside the punched shape with a pencil, following the line of the original, and cut it out with paper snips. It works a treat!

The bagalope was made from a C5 envelope decorated with the Sandy Speckles wheel in different coloured inks and the same star stamp as the box. The handles are thin strips of card stock, twisted and secured to the bagalope with brads. I added a little tag made from a circle of card stock decorated with punched stars and attached it to the bagalope with silver elastic thread.

Supplies
MINI PIZZA BOX
Stamps: Hung Up on the Holidays
Ink: Brilliant Blue
Card stock: Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy
Other: Star punch, Hodgepodge hardware, Brilliant Blue marker

BAGALOPE AND TAG

Stamps: Hung Up on the Holidays

Ink: Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, Brilliant Blue

Card stock: Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy

Other: Sandy Speckles wheel, star and 1 3/4" circle punches, Silver elastic thread, silver brads

Well, my son thoroughly enjoyed the party and returned, weary but happy, early the following morning. He had recovered sufficiently by mid-morning to venture out on an 8 mile bike ride. Where do they find their energy?

I'm off to stoke up my energy levels with some fish, vegetables and saute potatoes and a Victoria sponge for pudding... No-one ever tells you that having a teenage daughter means always having cake in the house!

Thank you for dropping in - see you tomorrow!