It's a Thank You! It's a Valentine! It's a Calendar!

I'm still cleaning up all the Christmas stuff, but just had to craft something in my super messy craft room.  Here I've used a new stamp set by Santoro that will be selling soon at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  I love all the sweet images in this line of cling stamps.

The pastel striped and gold accented papers are from a line of Christmas paper that I didn't use in my Xmas crafting because it wasn't 'Christmasey' enough.  I love how the soft feminine image matches the precious paper.

I added heart candy-like buttons (shanks cut off) to the upper corners of the cards which along with the gold foil die cut 'love' (die is in Sizzix card blank die set along with lots of other decorative dies) help to make this card suitable for a Valentine gift card.

The Vippies calendar (ordered online) was adhered with the self-stick strip on the back of the calendar.

This side view shows how easy it is to stand up the card front for displaying.

Thank you for stopping to read this post.  I hope you enjoyed your visit. Please come again for new ideas and inspiration for a crafty 2017!

Peace and Merry Christmas to All!

The thing about this card that makes it the worst to photograph is also the thing I like the most....the iridescence, sparkle and shine.....so mystical that it can't be captured by a digital camera!  However blurry, the message of PEACE is one that I send to everyone in blogland via this card.

The origami style reindeer images were stamped on blue foil card stock and cut out with the matching Hero Arts dies.  The rolling hills were cut from a long hoarded piece of dyed and foiled specialty paper.  I feel that the die cut (Sizzix) ' PEACE' font (cut from glitter card stock) was a good compliment to the angular lines on the deer and hills. The pearlized lavender card base is another hoarded supply that surely can still be found at a stationery store.  The Hero Arts and Sizzix products as well as the snowflakes were purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts, a local store where you can get all your crafting 'fixes' every day of the year. Cheery crafting and splendid shopping to all our BFC patrons in blogland! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Xmas Tree Calendar/Candy Party Favor

Here is the Xmas favor I came up with this year for our annual holiday brunch.  I wanted to include something that would be usable for the guests so I started with a little Studio G stand up chalkboard memo holder I found at HM Ben Franklin Crafts ($1.50).  I used a Bistro marker (but chalk works well, too) to write my name (or the other guest's) on the memo holder.  Then I die cut the trees and sentiments (Sizzix set).  I found that a rolling tape glue works well to get just enough sticky stuff on the back of the words to adhere it to the tree.  For the tree topper I glued on a snowflake sequin and added a small sun one that I had in my stash. The tree was clipped in the memo holder along with the top of a goodie bag.

This is the back of the favor where you can see the Heiko cello bag (with the top attached to the memo holder) and Xmas sticker. The Heiko products were also sold at HM BFC.

When the treats are eaten the guest will be left with an erasable chalkboard memo holder with a (Vippies) calendar attached to the back.  I think it is nice to make favors that don't end up in the trash or contain artificial flowers that sit on a table collecting dust.  At least with these favors the recipient can put the calendar on his/her desk and even use it to hold memos/chalk in reminders. I'm sure you will find many other uses for the this die that are not shown on the package so let your creativity float like snowflakes this holiday season.

Using Dies to Dress Up Gift Bags in a Jiffy

Okay, the crunch is really on, but these bags only require a few minutes of crafting because of the fabulous dies available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  This winter village scene bag was pretty but not unique so I added two iridescent vellum panels of die cut snowflakes (Sizzix). A piece of frosty mini garland was used to tie the panels shut. The 'Winter Wishes' ( Sizzix) were die cut from silver foil DCWV paper        

When the panels are untied, the wintery village scene can be viewed.

Here is the same bag with a die cut (Ionic) gold foil deer and the 'Winter Wishes' cut from Paper Arts glitter paper. The Ionic reindeer has fancy antlers and an embossed body which make him very handsome. I made his collar from a mini holly garland (Darice) that I purchased at BFC.

 These are the dies that I used to fancy up these bags. It was easy and fun....give it a try...you have two more days, so craft like a crazed elf! LOL!

Folding Christmas Tree Card

When I first saw the Folding Xmas Tree Sizzix die, I wasn't positive how the card was cut out and folded.  The few photos included with the die didn't help me much but luckily the Sizzix website had some YouTube videos that were informative.

I think using the right paper is the best advice I could give you when assembling this card.  I used printed card stock from a 6x6 Doodlebug Designs  Xmas pad.  I had to think a little bit about how to lay out the die to cut out half a tree without making one half with upside down mini trees.  The sentiment was cut out of foil paper and adhered to some leftover frosted snowflake paper.

I didn't want to spend time cutting and gluing the little poinsettias for the top of the tree so I just used some snowflake confetti (large bag of three sizes of snowflakes came from HM BFC). The confetti for the tree halves were folded in half across the tree tops. Oh yes, it will save you a ton of time if you purchase a Spellbinder rolling brush tool to get the chads out of the intricate sentiment die.  I think I also saw a Sizzix one at BFC.  Anyway, I think this is an elegant, unique card that is easy to make with this special Sizzix folding die. You could make lots of them for friends and family or possibly use them to decorate the Christmas dinner table. In the next post I will show you what else I did with this special die set that I purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  Happy Shopping and Crafting!

Lawn Fawn Deer Add Sweetness to Chic Gift Bag

 I liked the soft colored stripes of this gift bag I purchased from HM Ben Franklin Crafts (and the fact that it came with matching tissue).  I thought that it was a bit plain (but elegant) so I couldn't resist adding a few die cuts.  The gold (Delicata)stamped and heat embossed (NUVO gold enchantment) Lawn Fawn deer with the pink Ionic die cut glitter paper tree were easy to do and added just the right touch of sweet chicness!  Since Christmas is just days away, I 'K.I.S.S. ed' (Keep It Simple Sweetie) this bag with love and a few crafty minutes. Enjoy this crafting season!

Gift Package Card with Vintage-Look Reindeer Ornament Inside

This rather plain ribbon-tied card hides the surprise ornament inside. The card base was cut with a Sizzix die set that I purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  The tag was made with a Paper Smooches die and decorated with the Sizzix embossing folder and die cut foil words (word die is in the Sizzix folding card set).

Here is the reindeer ornament that was hiding in the card.  The vintage look of the deer was achieved with a coating of Martha Stewart Gesso sprinkled with MS fine white glitter. The ornament is tied to the card with the ribbon that is the ornament hanger and which ties in a bow in the back of the card.    ( In the photo above, there is another style of ribbon (Heiko) used for the card band.)

The green panel inside the card is also embossed with the folder and slipped into the card tabs before gluing it in place.  I am very happy with the result of this card and hope to acquire more unpainted laser cut ornaments to use in my next year's Xmas projects....gotta start thinking about 2017!