IDEAS Blog Hop - Christmas Crafting!

Hi there

I'm back with the IDEAS (International Demos Exciting Artistic Stampin') team this month to share more fabulous projects. We are a group of international demonstrators who create a Tutorial Bundle each month to give you, our customers and readers a heap of inspiration for your crafting.

If you've come from looking at Sigrid's elegant projects, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the IDEAS Team by clicking on the NEXT button at the bottom of the post. 

This month we are inspiring you with Christmas projects and the team has created a fabulous collection projects using a wide variety of products. This bundle contains an amazing 14 tutorials and 78 pages of crafty inspiration for your Christmas cards, tags, gift card holders, gift packaging and treat packaging and even the table setting!

I have used the Stampin' Up! Cracker & Treat Box Dies and Sweetest Christmas patterned paper to create the cutest Advent Calendar. Fill the crackers with small gifts or treats and hang them on a 3ft (90cm) table top tree to delight small and big kids alike. It would make a fabulous pre-Christmas gift for friends and family! The finished size of the crackers is 5" (12.7cm) long and 1 1/4" (3.2cm) in diameter. I have provided lots of tips to make this project as quick and easy as possible. Also included in my tutorial is instructions for a gift box shaped Gift Card Holder with 2 options for decoration.

Would you like a copy of the instructions for this and the 13 other projects for your personal use, or even to use in your classes? 

There are 3 ways you can get the October 2022 Tutorial Bundle.

1.  Place an order with me for $50 or more using the current month's Host Code (shown in the side bar on the right) and you will receive the tutorial bundle for FREE. I will email you the PDF file within 24 hours of your order being confirmed.  

2. You can purchase the tutorial with Instant Download through my Etsy store by clicking here. You can pay with a credit card or PayPal and you DO NOT need to sign up to Etsy to make a purchase. Check out as a guest if you are not a member.

3.  Join my team and you will get this bundle of tutorials FREE every month to use for your personal crafting or for classes. You can see all the details over on the Join My Team page. It might be the right time for you consider the opportunity to run your own home-based craft business or to get a great discount on your craft supplies.

Once you have received the tutorials, please remember not to share or distribute the printed or electronic copies of these bundles. We have worked hard to provide these exclusive projects for your use. If you know someone that would like to purchase the bundle, please direct them to me to obtain their copy. Thanks for your support.

Now it's time to hop over to Sandra in the UK to see her lovely projects. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Sale-a-bration Sketch Challenge

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty this week!

If you've come from visiting  Rebecca, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

I can't believe it is a month since I have been able to participate. Renovations are consuming a lot of time and energy with a big push last week to get painting finished in bedrooms that were having their hardwood floors sanded.  These are 60 year old walls that need filling and sanding on repeat to get them back to their best before painting could begin. The refinished floors look fabulous, so I've used one for the backdrop on my photos this week. The good news is that preparations for laying the hardwood floor in my new studio begin this week. 

This week the Crew are taking inspiration from a specific project on page 10 of the Sale-a-bration brochure, which you can see in the pic above, on the right.  The sketch below helps to identify the key elements of the design and it is such a versatile layout. You can substitute the oval for any shape that works for your project. 

I'm way behind in building my Christmas card stash, so I took the opportunity to make a Christmas today with the Peace to You stamp set that I haven't used yet.

I started with a Very Vanilla Thick card base to coordinate with the gold and black starry design from the lovely Light's Aglow Specialty Designer Series Paper. The paper was adhered to Gold Foil, leaving a narrow border on each side. I heat embossed the nativity image in gold and then fussy cut Mary and Jesus from the background, leaving a tiny gold border around the image. As it happens I decided that an oval would work best with the image, so I cropped the stitched oval in Vellum using the (retired) Stitched Shapes Dies. The vellum softens the background, so the image doesn't get lost.  

I popped up the image on the Vellum oval and adhered it to the card, placing the adhesive behind the image where it wouldn't be seen. To ground the image, I tied the lovely vanilla and gold Satin Edged Ribbon around long panel and finished with the bow on the left. I added a narrow strip of double-sided tape along the base of the image to make sure the ribbon stays in place. The star was also fussy cut from the embossed image and popped up, with a (retired) Gilded Gem in the centre. The greeting from the Peace to You stamp set was heat embossed in gold and cropped with the smallest of the Stitched Rectangle Dies and popped up at the top of the card. I added a narrow border of gold foil under it, to give it a bit more presence. 

I've kept the inside simple, with a mat of Gold Foil the full length of the card to mirror the front and a strip of the black and gold starry design down the side.

Unfortunately the photos don't show all the lovely shine from the gold embossing, gold accented paper and the pretty ribbon. I like the elegant look of vanilla, gold and black for Christmas, how about you?

 

Project Details
Stamps	Peace to You
Card stock & Papers	Very Vanilla, Gold Foil, Vellum, Light's Aglow Specialty DSP
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	Satin Edged Ribbon, Gilded Gems (retired)
Tools	Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Shapes Dies (retired), Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Gold EP, Heat Tool

 

We would love to see your take on this great sketch from the Sale-a-bration brochure this week. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to cte bundlick on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Sandra to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Sweetest Christmas Suite

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! 

If you've come from visiting  Peta & Marvi, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

It's July and the new 2022 July-December Mini Catalogue is here! For my customers, I hope your complimentary copy has arrived in the mailbox and you've had time to sit and enjoy browsing. There are lots of new products and so much detail to take in. It's also Sale-a-bration time, so you will get FREE goodies when you make a purchase of $90AUD or more, until 31 August 2022.

I've chosen the project in the photo above for my inspiration. One of my favourite colour combos for Christmas is Pool Party and Red, so the Sweetest Christmas Designer Paper got my tick straight away. It's part of the Sweetest Christmas Suite, which includes 2 bundles, Glimmer Paper and embellishments.

I was keen to try the new striped die that has so many possibilites.  I cut it from white glimmer paper from the new Real Red & White 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper pack. I hope you can see some of the sparkle in the photo above. I love that Stampin' Up! have created a design in the Sweetest Christmas paper pack that fits perfectly behind the die cut to create the pretty multi-coloured look you see. I cut the paper at 4", so you will get 6 cards from each sheet. Adding Adhesive Sheet to the glimmer paper before die cutting will make it super easy to adhere to the designer paper. I decided to add a mat of Real Red card stock leaving a narrow border, to help it pop. 

I stayed with the candy cane embellishment for my card and stamped the pair from the Sweet Candy Cane Bundle in Real Red ink, as I wanted more red than white for my card. The sample card has the candy cane heat embossed in white on red card stock to give a more white look, so you can choose which option suits your look the best.  I added some Pool Party foliage from the Christmas Banners Dies behind the candy canes and popped the stamped banner over the top. I love the different banner options in the Christmas Banners stamp set with coordinating greetings. I finished with the Garden Green bow and one of the Flat Jingle Bell Trinkets above the banner and a sprinkle of gold sequins from the Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequins.

For the inside, I have stamped some foliage from the Christmas Banners stamp set in the top corner of the writing panel with Garden Green ink and stamped red berries over the top. I added a strip of striped designer paper at the base and layered it on a Real Red mat.

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas Banners, Sweet Candy Canes
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Pool Party, Real Red, Red & White Glimmer Paper, Sweetest Christmas DSP
Ink	Garden Green, Real Red
Accessories	Adhesive-Backed Seasonal Sequins, Real Red & Garden Green Ribbon Combo Pack, Flat Jingle Bell Trinkets.
Tools	Candy Cane Dies, Christmas Banner Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 

We would love to see your CASE of a project from the 2022 July-December Catalogue this week. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to cte bundlick on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Kathryn to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

If you're in Australia, please get in touch if you would like a hard copy of the new 2022 July-December Mini Catalogue. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Slimline Boughs of Holly

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! 

If you've come from visiting  Peta & Marvi, then welcome!  If you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are taking inspiration from a favourite retiring bundle from the 2022 January-June Mini Catalogue.  

Thankfully a lot of my favourite bundles have carried over into the 2022-23 Annual Catalogue, so I took a little poetic license and chose the project in the photo above using the Crane of Fortune Bundle. This slimline card with the simple embellishment spoke to me and as I had the Boughs of Holly designer paper still on my craft desk, I thought it would work well for another Christmas card.

My slimline card base from Thick Basic White is 21cm x 9.9cm when folded, which is a little larger than those cut from Imperial card stock. It will fit into a standard DL (business) size envelope in Australia for standard postage. I added a layer of the rich Poinsettia designer paper from the Boughs of Holly pack. It is a larger scale than the one I used last week and has the Mossy Meadow background.

The background for the greeting labels is a piece of multi-toned Mossy Meadow paper from the Boughs of Holly pack that I adhered to a piece of Mossy Meadow card stock. The new Fern 3D Embossing Folder from the upcoming July-December Mini Catalogue etches very strongly, so you'll find the paper might crack and show the white core if you don't reinforce it first. I decided to take a chomp out of each corner with a retired 1/2" corner punch to mirror the Real Red label and soften the corners. The greeting from the Christmas to Remember stamp set was heat embossed in gold and cropped with a label die from the Painted Labels Dies. Under the greeting label is a Gold Shimmer Ribbon faux bow and two of the new gold Open Leaf Trinkets. The greeting was popped up over the red label also cropped with the Painted Labels Dies and I finished with a sprinkle of Irridescent Rhinestones.

For the inside, I have added a piece of leftover Poinsettia paper to the Basic White writing panel and strip of Gold Shimmer ribbon for a border.

Project Details
Stamps	Christmas to Remember
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Mossy Meadow, Real Red, Boughs of Holly DSP
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	Irridescent Rhinestones, Gold Shimmer Ribbon, Open Leaf Trinkets
Tools	Fern 3D EF, Painted Labels Dies, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, Gold EP, Heat tool, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, 1/2" Circle punch (retired)

 

We would love to see your CASE of a favourite bundle from the January-June Mini Catalogue this week. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to Monique to see her lovely project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Please get in touch, if you would love to get a copy of the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue or the upcoming 2022 July-December Mini Catalogue. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store

CASE-ing the Catty - Boughs of Holly

Hi there

Welcome to CASE-ing the Catty for this week! 

If you've come from visiting  Peta & Marvi, then welcome!  IIf you're visiting me, I appreciate you stopping by today!  You can continue your journey to see the other inspiring creations from the CTC Crew by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the post. 

This week we are taking inspiration from an Embossing Project from any catalogue.  There are a number of embossing techniques including dry embossing, heat embossing, embossing paste and decorative masks, so there is sure to be a project that inspires you. 

I chose the project in the photo above for my inspiration as I like the simple layout that is perfect for Christmas cards. I've chosen to go with the Christmas theme and have a sneak peak of some lovely new designer paper from the upcoming 2022 July - December Mini Catalogue that goes live on 1 July. The year has gone so fast and I never have enough Christmas cards made, so I'll not pass up the opportunity to get my stash started!

I've dry embossed a card-sized panel of the Sahara Sand and white design from the new Boughs of Holly designer paper pack with the Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder and adhered it to the Basic White card base. The Stitched Rectangle Dies were used to crop the pretty Poinsettia paper. I went a little longer than the sample poject as I wanted to show more of the design. 

The greeting from the Merriest Moments stamp set (returning from last year) was heat embossed in white on the Shaded Spruce card stock, with the bottom end flagged. I popped up the greeting and added the Gold Holly Leaves in the corner with a trio of Red Rhinestones Basic Jewels. To finish I added double white Baker's Twine bow and 3 more of the Red Rhinestones under the greeting. 

For the inside, I have a Shaded Spruce mat and I've fussy cut a Poinsettia flower from the edge of the paper and adhered it at the base. Such a great way to get the most from your patterned paper.

Project Details
Stamps	Merriest Moments
Card stock & Papers	Basic White, Shaded Spruce, Boughs of Holly DSP
Ink	Versamark
Accessories	Red Rhinestones, Baker's Twine Essentials Pack, Gold Holly Leaves
Tools	Stitched Rectangles Dies, Merry Melody 3D EF, Stampin' Cut & Emboss, White EP, Heat tool, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

 

We would love to see your CASE of an embossing project this week. Click on this link or the image below to go there. The first time you will need to click on the 'Join Group' button at the top. Once you have been added to the group, you can go ahead and post your creation and you do not need to have a blog. 

You can head over to my lovely friend Tina to see her cute project and follow the hop to see the inspiration from the rest of the CTC Crew.

Please get in touch, if you would love to get a copy of the new 2022-23 Annual Catalogue or the upcoming July-December Mini Catalogue. 

Thanks for visiting today!

• Shop my Online Store 24/7
• See the latest Stampin' Up! Promotions
• Request a FREE Catalogue
• Check out my Tutorial Store