Once upon a time . . .

Once upon a time, long, long ago, Stampin Up sold the Envelope Liners Framelits die set of three dies for $27.00. Too high for this crafter to pay for three dies so I did not buy them. . . But then, as time passed, more and more projects were featured on "internet world" here and there using this die set. Cute projects other than just envelope liners but still I did not buy this die set . . .   Which is not so good because they no longer sell it in their catalog. So another die set I missed out on.... Until...

A couple of weeks ago my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I shopped a sale where crafters sold items they no longer wanted or needed (is that possible??) in their craft rooms. Great items, great prices, great finds. . .  Here is a photo of the Stampin Up Envelope Liners Framelits die set that I picked up for $4.00:

When I saw this die set for sale I remembered two of the projects I had seen made with them and always wanted to make them for myself and for the sale price I knew these would be projects I could make for the upcoming holiday season. The first project I wanted to make, and just finished, is a snowman. I had seen this Snowman Pouch/Giftcard Holder by Cindee Wilkinson on her blog:

https://justspongeit.com/snowman-pouchgiftcard-holder.html

Here is my version of Cindee's cute snowman and I made my snowman into a treat holder rather than just a pouch:

For my snowman I used 110# white card stock from Mikes - both for the front, back, and box insert piece. I used the middle sized die in the die set for the two snowman pieces I needed for the front and back of my treat holder - here is a photo of the die set:

In this photo is the clear bin I keep my Stampin Up die sets in - I made tabs as dividers using the We R Memory Keepers Tab Punch Board and I keep the die sets in alpha order by title. The die set I am using at the current time I keep in the front of the bin, rather than loose on the work table top, so I do not loose any die pieces.

After my two middle sized snowman pieces were cut out with the Big Shot I set those aside. Using 65# black card stock from Mikes I trimmed two pieces to 2 1/8" x 5". Cut those out using the middle envelope liner die piece with the die at the top of the stacked black pieces to cut a hat for the snowman. Like Cindee did I used a stripped embossing folder for the hat pieces. I used a folder I had on hand by Sizzix. With the two black hat pieces embossed I used Stampin Up white craft ink and sponged the longer straight edge of the hat pieces. Used the ATG and put these hat pieces onto the two die cut white snowman pieces. Again used the SU white craft ink to sponge the top and sides of the embossed black pieces. For the sides and bottom of the snowman face pieces I used Stampin Up Going Gray ink to sponge those.

With die cutting and sponging done I used red sticky tape and put a piece of red striped ribbon across the hat on the front of the snowman hat. (This piece will be the front/face of my snowman treat holder).  Here is a photo to show the plain hat on the back of the treat holder:

I wanted this treat holder to be free standing and I also wanted to be able to put larger candy treats in it so here is a photo of my box insert cut, scored, and clipped to make the box rather than a pouch:

For the box insert piece I cut a piece of 110# white card stock from Mikes 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Scored it with the short side at the top of the score board at 2" and again at 3 1/5". Turn with the longer side at the top of the score board and score it at 2" and again at 6 1/2". Use the bone folder to crease all scored lines. Use scissors to clip for your box ends and make a wedge on each clipped part so the box will have a crisper look. Used tear and tape to put the box together. Put tear and tape on each long side of my box piece (front and back on the outside of them) and set this aside.

For the snowman face I used the 1/2" circle punch for the eyes and the 1/4" circle punch for the circles for the mouth. Put all of the black circles on the snowman face using TomBow glue. Used a dauber and put Stampin Up Pink Pirouette ink on the snowman face for cheeks. Used scissors and cut a long triangle for the carrot nose. Put his nose on again using the TomBow glue. Using a white Signo pen I made lines on the snowman eyes:

Used scrap green card stock and an old Fiskars squeeze punch for the holly leaves. Sponged the edges of those using green ink. Added a red foil berry cluster to the holly leaves using glue dots. Now for the wire -- my wire is 24 gauge wire (from big box home improvement store) and I used a pencil to wrap the wire around and then opened it up to made a random pattern. I used an awl and poked a hole on each end of the ribbon on the hat piece and put the wire through that and twisted the end around the wire to keep it in place.

Put the snowman front face piece onto one side of the box piece and put the back piece of the snowman on the other side of the box piece. As you can see in this photo my box insert piece does not go to the edges of the snowman face and back pieces. I wanted the box not as wide as the snowman pieces:

Filled the box with white shred and this will be ready for holiday treats! Like that it is free standing and this is sizable so a small gift and gift card would also fit inside with candy treats.  A cute snowman by Cindee W. and thanks to her for sharing her project on her blog. Have seen cute scarecrows made using this die set and am sure there are other ideas for more than just envelope liners. Will have to see what else I can make using this new-to-me at a great price die set !! TFL