4th of July Double Tote Treat Holder

Had picked up this Sizzix Thinlits die set on clearance and wanted to make a treat holder for the 4th of July with it:

There is a video on Youtube for assembling this double tote holder that I had seen so putting this little tote together went quickly. I used kraft card stock from Taylored Expressions for the tote with a gingham print from the stash. The white is GP.

To begin with I cut all the pieces I needed to make the double tote. In the video they used glue to put their holder together and for mine I used red sticky tape. Less mess and no drying time. With the tote put together I cut out the two gingham pieces for the front and back of the holder. Put those onto the holder using the ATG. Cut the tags out from scrap card stock using the tag die in this set. To the bottom of the white tag I added a small piece of the gingham printed card stock:

I used the "Stars & Stripes" stamp from a summer stamp set by PaperSweeties.com. It is a long stamp and to fit it on my tag I inked half of the stamp and stamped it onto the tag and then inked the other half of the stamp and stamped that on the tag below the first stamped image. Added stars to the tag using a stars border punch from M Stewart. Offset the tags using the ATG and put them onto the tote using red and white twine.

Used a scallop border die and cut out white/GP for that to put around the bottom of my tote. Wrapped that around the front and back of the holder. Added more of the blue stars to the front scallops on the holder using TomBow glue.  The "celebrate" is a die from the double tote set and I cut that out of the blue card stock and put that on the front of the holder. Used the small pinwheel die from Lil' Inker Designs and cut out a double sided card stock for the pinwheel. Used a red brad to hold the pinwheel together. Added glue dots to the back and put this on the front of the double tote treat holder. On one side of the tote I have miniature candy bars and the other side holds a Fun Sized candy bar and a miniature candy bar:

This is a photo looking down at this treat holder to show the paper shred and the candies inside:

A nice sized treat holder without being too big. It is also free standing so it will make a cute place marker at a table or for favors. TFL

Stenciled Smile Card

Had to make my own stencil for this card using a metal die as the pattern -- here is a photo of the two dies I used for this card:

To begin with using the patterned die I cut out a piece of white/GP card stock large enough to cut this die out. Cut a piece of white/GP larger than what I would need for my card front. I taped this card front piece down on the craft mat. Over this I taped the die cut piece and using four of the distressed inks I used this as a stencil:

Here are the inks I used:

From the bottom of the stenciled piece to the top: Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, and a new colour for me Twisted Citron. Once I had the pattern covered in ink I carefully removed my stencil:

Decided I wanted to add this pattern to the top right of the stenciled piece so I moved the stencil over to that corner and added more colour:

Set this piece aside to work on my "smile" die piece. Wanted this to be raised up and a little thicker than just cutting out the word from black foil card stock so decided to use the kleenex box idea -- would this be Klipboard??? (instead of Chipboard...)  since I was using the pull tab off a box of tissues:

From this cardboard piece I cut out the "smile" die:

Using a scrap piece of Ken Oliver's Stick It sheet I put that behind the black foil card stock and cut out the "smile" die again. Once that was cut out I carefully pulled the Stick It backing off one of the black foil die cut letters and put this on top of the kleenex cardboard die cut piece one letter at a time -- AKA Klipboard:

This thinner cardboard gives the die cut piece some dimension without being too thick. With that done I cut out three of the hearts over the "i" "smile" using scrap coral card stock.  Used TomBow glue to stack those together -- used three hearts to get the same height as the die cut piece. With the hearts glued and stacked I used clear Wink Of Stella and went over the top of the hearts to add a little sparkle and shine.

Using a pierced frame die I cut out a white frame using white/GP.    With all card parts done I was ready for assembly. Cut and scored at the top a piece of coral pink card stock for the card base. I had cut my stenciled piece larger than what I needed for my card so I trimmed that to the size I needed to fit the white frame piece on. Used the ATG to put the frame over the stenciled piece. Wanted this framed stencil piece to be raised on the card front but did not want to use pop dots -- decided to use the white craft foam and I cut that a bit smaller than my frame stenciled front piece. Put the craft foam on the back of the frame stenciled front and put this onto the card stock base.

For the die cut "smile" I used a thin paint brush and added TomBom glue to the back of the letters. Put this on the lower right of the card front and pressed down to be sure all letters stuck to the card front. Then used the paint brush to add glue behind the hearts piece and put that on the card.:

With the greeting on the card front all that was left to do was add three clear sequins to the card front for some sparkle and shine. Put these on using the paint brush and the glue. Easy card to put together and have other dies I will also use for stencils... TFL and here is the card again:

Stitched 4th of July Card

Had picked up the MFTstamps.coms Stitched Cover-Up Diagonal die at the stamp show in Chantilly on clearance for 50% off and I wanted to use it for the 4th of July cards. Here is a card I made using this new die:

The camera has the red look really bright but it is darker IRL -- I used the Real Red card stock from Stampin Up for the red base and the red piece at the top.

To make this card I cut and scored a red card stock base. Using white/GP I cut out the diagonal frame for the card front. For the red section I used the red card stock and cut out the red panel using that die. For the blue I used blue card stock from Mikes and cut out the larger lower panel using the die. All die cut pieces have the stitching which gives the pieces more dimension.

For the "Happy 4th of July" I used a stamp from the Taylored Expressions 4th of July Wreath stamp set and stamped that onto the white die cut piece using the MISTI. Once that was stamped I used the ATG and put the white frame piece onto the red card stock base. Then used the ATG and added the red and then the blue panels to the card front.

Used two different sized star punches for the solid blue stars and the various glittered card stock stars:

Put the glittered stars onto the solid stars using mini glue dots. Then put these stars onto the white panel on the card using glue dots. Inside the card is white/GP card stock that I stamped and I used some stars washi tape I had in the stash:

As usual the die from MFTstamps.com easily cut the thicker and thinner card stocks without any problems including the stitching around each piece. Happy me to get that half price!  TFL

Pinwheel Treat Holders

Knew I wanted to make free standing treat holders for July 4th so I dug out one of my older bag dies to use for the treat bag. Had already made lots of pinwheels using the pinwheel dies.. .. .. but where to go from there? I searched for the Sizzix bag die projects and this came up:

http://www.ablogcalledwanda.com/a-blog-called-wanda/2015/07/4th-of-july-treat-bags-happy-summer-.html

Her treat holders were too cute and although I do not have all she used on her treat bags I had enough products in the craft room to make my holders. Here is a photo of my Pinwheel Treat Holders:

To start with I used these dies for my treat holders:

This is the die for the treat bag:

This is the die for the top flap for the treat bag:

Second smallest die was used for the window on the treat bag:

Second smallest die was used for the greeting banner:

To begin with I used these pinwheel dies from Lil' Inker Designs to make the pinwheels: (Be careful -they are addictive! :0) haha)

First I cut out all the bags -- two pieces for the bags - front and back. Used the Spellbinders die on the front pieces only of the bags to cut out the windows. To keep the candies/treats from falling out of the the window I cut on the front pieces of the bags I needed to put something behind the window. I used the clear packaging I had on the work table from a metal die set I recently bought at a stamp show. I measured the window opening and cut the clear packaging piece a bit larger to allow for room on all four sides for red sticky tape. Once all those pieces were cut out I put them behind the window pieces before I assembled the bags and they were flat. This photo shows the clear packaging behind the window:

Using tear and tape I put all the bags together including the bottom. Set these aside. For the top flaps to the bags I cut out three of the Top Note die pieces using double sided card stock -- except -- the holder that has the red background and white stars is just a piece of one sided printed card stock. Since that is lighter than the double sided card stock it would not hold up well as a closure piece. To fix this problem I cut the stars print larger than what I would need for the die. Then I cut a piece of white/GP card stock to match and put these two pieces together using the ATG.  I cut out these with the Top Note die and now I had a thicker flap piece.

Cut all my banner pieces from various printed card stocks. Scored the Top Note die cut pieces in the center and used a bone folder to crease that fold. Used the ATG and put the banners onto the Top Note die cut pieces -- only on the front side. Using the ATG I added adhesive to the back side of these Top Note die cut pieces and put them on the back of the treat bags. But how to keep this treat holder closed????

Decided on a favorite -- velcro. I put the front and back velcro pieces together. Kept the plastic on the velcro and cut them in half with scissors. (If you take the plastic backing off the velcro and then try to cut them with scissors you will have quite the mess and glue all over your scissors).

Here is a photo to show my velcro:

After I cut the circle in half I removed the plastic backing and opened the flap on the bag -- put the velcro above the bottom edge of the holder. Carefully closed the flap and that puts the velcro backing piece on the bag in the exact place I needed it to be. Pressed down to be sure the velcro would stick to the treat bag piece. I put the velcro close to the bottom of the flap because my pinwheel was going in the center of the flap and I did not want the thickness of the velcro to be in the way of the pinwheel.

Using a stamp from 1997 by Darcies I stamped my holiday greeting with red ink onto scrap white/GP card stock. Used the banner die and cut these out. I put glue dots behind the pinwheel and held it over the closed treat bag to decide where to put the banner. Once that was decided I put the banners on with glue dots and then pressed a pinwheel onto each bag.

The pinwheels were made using double sided card stocks -- these two holders I used the same card stock for the pinwheels but they look totally different depending on which side is the outside of the pinwheel:

At the bottom of the blue treat bag I used the star die from the Mini Treat Bag die set from SU and scrap white/GP card stock:

Used paper shred from the dollar store inside the treat bags and holiday candies from Hershey and Almond Kisses fill them up. Added three stars to the kraft card stock treat bags using glue dots. Easy holder to put together and I esp like they are free standing. Thanks to Wanda for sharing her ideas for this treat bag!  TFL  

Tussy Mussy Treat Holders

Today I made two of the Tussy Mussy Treat Holders that will hold some small chocolates. These are mini Tussy Mussy holders in that they are made from the card board toilet paper rolls. They can also be made using paper towel rolls cut to the length you want. Here are the two Tussy Mussy Treat Holders I made:

To begin with here are three of the card board toilet paper rolls that I began with, although I have only made two of these so far:

For the green holder I used scrap card stock and cut that approx 4 x 6. I ran the printed card stock over the bone folder to make it bend easier around the card board tube. For both of my treat holders I used tear and tape to put the printed card stocks onto the tubes. Once they were on the outside of the tube I used a glue gun and closed the bottom of the treat holder. I used binder clips to keep this closed until the glue cooled. Using a matching strip of printed card stock I cut that approx 4 x 1 and put that inside the open end of the treat holder. You will see the inside of your holder when you have your treats inside and having the printed card stock inside makes your holder look more finished. Here is a photo to show the binder clips:

The black floral treat holder has a piece of printed card stock from a 6 x 6 pack of card stock. Trimmed that to size for my holder and the inside.

With the card stocks on the card board tubes now I could decorate them. For the floral I used white trim for the bottom with a string of pearls across the top of that. Both of those are from Hobby Lobby. I used the glue gun to attach the trim and the pearls:

For the handle I used satin pink ribbon and pink satin ribbon trim around the top. To decorate the front I put three flowers together with the glue gun and added a pearl to the center of that. Then made a flower from black tulle and put the stacked flowers on top of that using the glue gun. To the back of this I added a small strip of pearls and used the glue gun to add this to my treat holder front:

For the green holder I had the green flower in the stash. Used Pearls shimmer mist and spritzed the flower to give it some shimmer. Using the leaf die from the Heartfelt Creations All Geared Up die set I cut out two green leaves from scrap card stock. Sponged the edges of the leaves with green ink. Used the glue gun to put the leaves behind the flower:

Put these onto a black feather using the glue gun. For the trim pieces on the green treat holder I used gather black trim and added a strip of green sequins on top of that:

Used this same trim for the top of the holder but did not add the green sequin strip to that. For the handle for this treat holder I used black velvet ribbon from the stash and the glue gun:

This photo might show the shimmer on the flower better:

Both holders have room for a tag or a greeting tag or a beaded stick pin or other accessories to dress them up before filling them with chocolates to be given away. A change from the same old same old box treat holders and each one looks different depending on the card stocks, trims, and accessories you add. Good use of the pads of 6 x 6 card stocks as well. TFL

All Geared Up Birthday Card

Last weekend went to the stamp show in Chantilly, VA and I bought this die set from the clearance basket at the Heartfelt Creations booth:

I had seen a card done by Heartfelt Creations using this die and since it was discontinued I figured I had better pick it up while I could. I searched for other cards made using this die and since I needed a masculine birthday card I decided to make this card first:

I had seen a card by Jeane V on her blog and she had the how-to's to get these colours on the die cut pieces for her card:

http://jvcreate.blogspot.com/2015/08/lets-get-geared-up-with-heartfelt.html

Did not have all the products she used but used what I had on hand. First I cut out scraps of #110 weight white card stock from Mikes for the gear die cut pieces. Then added a red, blue, and brown distress inks to my die cut pieces:

With that done I then used the Walnut distressed ink to over the die cut pieces. Using the dark brown ink over these pieces really knocks down the red and the blue:

Did not have the inks she used to add the finish to the die cut pieces so I used Perfect Pearls since they were already in the craft room. Used a cup of water and a small paint brush and I added the bronze, then the gold, and then the silver Perfect Pearls to these pieces:

With the die cut pieces cut out, then the distressed inks added, followed by the Perfect Pearls I set these pieces aside and worked on the rest of the card:

Cut and scored the Crumb Cake card stock base. Found a dark plaid printed card stock in the stash and cut a piece for the card front. Cut a piece of rust card stock smaller for the card front. Using scrap cream Close To My Heart card stock I embossed a piece using a diamonds embossing folder. Once that was done I cut it to the size I wanted for the front of the card. Using the distressing tool I distressed the edges of this piece. Using the Walnut stain sponge I added colour over the embossed piece.

Stamped "Happy Birthday" onto scrap Close To My Heart cream card stock for the greeting piece. Cut it to the size I wanted for the card and trimmed a piece of rust card stock to fit behind that. Put these together using the ATG. Using the ATG I put the plaid and the rust card stocks onto the card base. Used a piece of brown dotted card stock across the front of the card. Put the embossed piece on top of that. Using the ATG I put the greeting piece on the card front.

For the gear die cut pieces I used two brads that are screw heads and one square brad. Cut the gear pieces apart and put them on the card front using glue dots and liquid glue. Added a few pieces of the chain die cuts. Here is a closer photo of the shine on the gear die cut pieces:

Thanks to Jeane V for sharing her card and her how-to's to get the card stock die cut pieces to have a metal finish look to them. TFL

Treat Holders - Patriotic

Made some patriotic treat holders for July 4th:

Bought the paper patriotic cups at the dollar store -- 8 for $1.00.  Filled that with paper shred and candy treats. Used a cellophane bag from the candy aisle at the craft store to keep this in tied it closed with ribbons and added a patriotic decoration from Hobby Lobby to the center. Used a felt star with adhesive back to put on the front of the bag. Here is a better photo of this holder:

The Tootsie Pop holder is a die from MFTstamps.com and I used white card stock for the holder base. Used the Stampin Up Solid Strip stamp to add stripes to that, front and back. Sponged the edges of this using Stampin Up Crumb Cake ink. For the flower on the top I used the Stampin Up stamp set Triple Treat Flower and used the 5 Petal Flower punch and the Fancy Flower Punch to punch out the flowers. Here is a closer photo of this holder:

Used red and blue inks for the flower. Tied them onto the holder using red and white twine. Added small stars and clear crystals to the front of the holder using glue dots. The Fancy Flower Punch is good for flowers but also comes in handy at holiday time for the Gingerbread guy:

This third project is an older die from Lifestyle Crafts that I recently picked up at a used stampers sale for $10.00:

Perfect sized box to hold three of the Ghirardelli candies. Added some patriotic decorations:

For the box I used Kraft card stock from Paper Trey Ink. Cut and formed the box. Sponged the edges using Stampin Up Crumb Cake ink. Used a star circle frame die set from Spellbinders for the star circle behind the 4th. Used a circle punch for the blue circle and the white circle. Layered these together using glue dots. The "4th" is part of this stamp from the Hobby Lobby stamp line, Stampabilities:

Used a red marker and the huff method to stamp the "4th" for my white circle. The small red stars around the greeting on the box front are stars that the die cut out of the frame. "Celebrate" is a stamp from a summer stamp set from Paper Sweeties.  Used the Stampin Up Classic Label punch to cut that out. On the two sides and across the bottom of this box I added patriotic washi tape:

Used the Stampin Up Mini Gift bag die and make a small bag to hold a couple of the fun sized candy bars. Wanted to make a shiny bag and decided to use a roll of red gift wrap from the dollar store for my bag. Used accessory dies in that die set for the decorated pieces on the bag front:

With the bag front decorated I added white paper shred from the dollar store and the candy bars:

Easy treat holders to put together and best yet -- they are all full of chocolates!! TFL