Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? #1

Impression Obsession AKA  IO Stamps sadly closed their doors last year. Their warehouse was about a 3 hour drive for us so my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I would shop their yearly warehouse sales and usually their dies at the sale were half price or close out prices.... so I have a lot of their dies and I was happy to come across the video on YouTube made by "KellyinID" for her IO Stamps Snowman card.....Esp since she used this Impression Obsession "Gingerbread with Heart" die set by Anna Wight.....

I rummaged through my die sets and found almost all she had used for her card to use on my card - here is my version of Kelly's Snowman card she had made for #satmornmakes on YouTube:

For my card my card base is red card stock cut and scored at the top. For the plaid card front I used a new to me plaid background stamp I picked up in the fall from a used stamp sale. This is a wood mounted background stamp;

I laid that on the craft table stamp side up and I inked that with red ink and laid a piece of white card stock onto the stamp. Used my hands to press the card stock onto the stamp to transfer the inked pattern to the card stock. Trimmed this piece to the size I wanted for my card front. Kelly had layered backgrounds on her cards and tags but I wanted to use a red frame for my card front. I used two rectangle dies from a Spellbinders rectangle die set and cut out a red card stock frame for my card front. I set this aside. 

For my gingerbread snowman - I used white card stock and cut him out. Sponged the edges of him using light blue ink. Used a circle punch for his orange nose and his three black buttons. For the pink on his cheeks - when this die cuts out your piece it embosses the cheek circles and mouth on your piece. To add ink to his cheeks I measured the embossed circle and then used a punch to punch out a circle that size from scrap white card stock and I laid that card stock piece over my cheek circles and added pink ink to those. They are smaller than the dauber so I wanted to be sure to just get the pink ink in the cheek circles:

For his hat I used the same die set Kelly used for her snowman hat from Tim Holtz "The Gent":

As Kelly shows in her video I also trimmed off the curved pieces on the front of the hat brim for the snowman. I cut the hat out of black mirrored card stock with a piece of red mirrored card stock for the red band on his hat. For the greenery I used the same IO Stamps die set Kelly had used "Winter Foliage" and I put them on his hat and by his candy cane.

After I had seen Kelly's video on her snowman project I came across "jannastamps" on YouTube and she was also inspired by Kelly's video to make a snowman using these IO Stamp die sets. Janna had added her own touches and die cut pieces to her snowman version and it is equally as clever. On her ribbon for her snowman she used a button die and card stock to keep her card flatter for mailing rather than use a plastic/wooden button. For my snowman I also used a button die from the stash for my button and I die cut my button out of recycled cardboard:

I also did not have the candy cane die set that Kelly had used for the candy cane for her snowman to hold so I used the "Mini Candy Die Set" from Creek Bank Creations" for my candy cane:

This candy cane was the perfect size to go with the holly piece for the snowman to hold. With all my snowman pieces ready I put ribbon from the stash around the snowman and I put the die cut button I had put thin twine in on the ribbon using hot glue. Added the holly/candy cane to the snowman arm using liquid glue. Added red mirror card stock dots the holly die set cuts out for the berries. Put those on the holly on the hat piece as well. With the snowman completed I set him aside. 

Used liquid glue and put the red frame piece on the card stock front. Like Kelly I die cut a large snowflake out of white glittered card stock and put that large snowflake at the top right corner of the red framed piece. Added foam to the back of the snowman for dimension and put him in the frame on the card front. Used small snowflake dies from the stash and die cut a couple of the small snowflakes to put by the snowman. 

For the sentiment "Warm Winter Wishes" I used a hot foil sentiment set and hot foiled sentiments in different colour foils onto different coloured card stocks. I went through the hot foiled sentiments in the stash and pulled out a silver foiled sentiment on red card stock for the card front. I put this piece onto the frame piece below the snowman using liquid glue:

Whenever I hot foil sentiments I hot foil them in different colours of foil onto different colours of card stock and these are sorted by foil colours for later use:

Having these hot foiled sentiment strips already foiled and die cut makes picking out a sentiment for a card quick as there are many sentiments, foil colours and fonts in each box. 

Thanks to KellyinID for sharing her clever snowman tags and cards using the Impression Obsession Gingerbread with Heart die set and using many other of her stash dies for her projects. Fun snowman to put together and another thanks to Janna from jannastamps on her YouTube video sharing her ideas for Kelly's inspiration on her snowman cards using the same Impression Obsession die sets. Still sad IO Stamps is closed but happy to find new inspiration to use their products in my stash! 

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? #2

This card uses my free gift from a December order from SimonSaysStamp - the Bundled Snowman die set that is also available to buy. My PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) had gifted me a 3D embossing folder from Altenew for Christmas - "Layered Snowflakes" which I thought was perfect for my card:

Card stock base is light blue card stock cut and scored at the top. I embossed a piece of white card stock in this 3D Altenew embossing folder and trimmed it to the size I needed for my card front. This design is nice because it gives you open areas on the embossed piece for a sentiment or your snowman or whatever. It also embosses this design in a high/low design. You can see the 3D embossed snowflakes and behind that it looks like a lighter embossed snowflakes 

.so this adds a lot of dimension to the embossed piece. 

The sentiment "Warm Wishes" is also from SimonSaysStamp and it is the "Warm Wishes Medley Script" die set. It has the words as well as the shadow piece behind it. I used the light blue card stock again and cut out the words in the die set. Using Post It tape I taped off the top half of the words and added blue ink to the bottom part of the words so it has an ombre look..... die cut the shadow piece from vellum and I used liquid glue to put the words onto the vellum shadow piece. Used liquid glue to put this onto the card front.

For the snowman I die cut him out using white scraps and I used shimmer blue card stock from the stash for his hat, scarf, and heart pieces:

Once the white snowman was die cut I sponged the edges of him with blue ink. Die cut his hat pom pom and hat brim using white glittered card stock. Put the pom pom on his hat, then the blue hat piece and then the glittered brim piece on the snowman. Put on the scarf pieces. Added his eyes, nose, and buttons all using liquid glue. Added his little blue heart and he was done. Put him on the card front using pop dots. Added two small snowflakes by him using an old Marvy snowflake punch from white glittered card stock. Added blue gems to those for some sparkle. Easy card to put together and really nice embossing folder...

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? #3

 Wanted to make a few snowman cards before all holiday items get stashed away.... For this card I used an old die set from Spellbinders - the Snowman Die D-Lites die set and combined that with the Frosted Lace Cover plate die from the Stamp Market:

Card stock base is red and I cut and scored that at the top. Used the Frosted Lace Cover plate for my background piece using white card stock. I adhered this to the red card base using liquid glue. Die cut the snowman using scraps and his hat I used black mirrored card stock for his hat. I assembled him and added the holly/berries piece from that die set to his hat. Using an oval die set from the stash I die cut an oval to put behind the snowman. I used foam tape behind the green oval piece to add dimension to the card front. 

"Warm & Cozy Wishes" was hot foiled onto black card stock and I used foam dots behind that. Easy card to put together since the snowman die set is only 5 pieces.

Christmas Thank You Card

Awhile back I had bought the Spellbinders Better Press Butterfly Splatter plate but I did not get a chance to use it yet. I do not have the Better Press system but I know from experience that the Better Press plates can be used in the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine for hot foiling. When I made this card I wanted the butterfly to have the look of a splattered piece so I went through my rolls of Spellbinders hot foil and I had a roll of striped foil. Pulled that out to use on this card. 

This card is very hard to photograph being foil but here it is:

 Rather dark but I had to turn off the light to show the different foil colours - here is a lighter photo of that:

and the colours:

Once I had the butterfly plate heated up when I put my foil on the plate I turned the foil so it was at an angle so that once it was foiled you would not see stripes but it would just look like the colours flowed into each other. Here is a photo of the foil piece I used so you can see I put it over the butterfly plate at a diagonal to avoid the straight up and down stripes look:

I think the diagonal helps the butterfly plate to have the splatter look that I thought the stripes would take away from. The "Thank You" is the Altenew Essential Sentiments hot foil plate I had bought recently on sale and I hot foiled that with a dark pink foil. For the frame on the card front I used two rectangle dies from a Spellbinders die set and cut out a frame. Trimmed the butterfly piece to fit behind the frame and I used liquid glue to put the frame over the butterfly. For the "Thank You" I used the matching dies for that hot foil sentiment set and cut out the sentiment. Put the sentiment on the card front using pop dots for dimension. 

IRL this card is very pretty. With the different colours of the striped foil I did not want to add gems to the card front and take away from the foiled splatter look. Happy to find another way to use the striped foil from the stash for another pretty hot foiled card. 

Craft room Christmas

Will start with what Santa brought me..... YAY   DH asked me what I wanted this year and he knew I would say something for the craft room so he said he thought he better let me tell him what I wanted and where he could get it from.....  In October my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I sold craft room items at the Customer Yard Sale that Enchanted Cottage in Lewisville holds each year. After that sale I had enough money to buy some pricey items for my craft room -- I decided on the new Sizzix Big Shot die cutting machine to replace my present Big Shot machine. The machine I was using I had bought new but from day 1 I had issues with the handle working itself loose with use and coming off in my hand. Since this was normal for this machine I always made sure I had the Allen wrench that comes with the machine nearby..... the new Sizzix Big Shot machines have a handle that clicks into place and you do not have to tighten it down so I wanted to buy the new machine with my sale monies...... the new machine also had some new features that I liked as well. I had also seen crafters on YouTube raving about their new Glassboard Magnetic craft mats but the machine came first.....

With DH asking what I wanted I thought I would mention the Glassboard Magnetic Craft mat and I told him I found a 20% coupon and I would split the cost with him - he said to order it but that he would pay for the whole thing..... no fight here..... haha....  I picked out the mat I wanted in the size I wanted to replace my older black Altenew craft mat that has seen better days but it is now on the counter by the ink pads for use over there..... Here is the 18" x 24" Glassboard Magnetic Mat he bought:

Fresh out of the box and I bought a set of pink magnets to go with it for the pink flowers on it. I love the change from my black mat to the white one and you can easily see all the ruler markings and the lines on the grid as well.

I have used this mat for two days and am in love.... got a Sharpie marker mark on it and that wiped right off with rubbing alcohol..... got liquid glue and that wiped right off with a baby wipe and micro towel... this mat is great and I am sooooo happy to have one finally so a BIG thank you to DH for gifting me my new craft mat!!

Now to what my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) gifted me for my craft room --- 

Cute candies that are stacked into a Christmas Tree treat! A box with approx 20 rolls of Spellbinders Hot Foil:

Pens and markers and washi tapes:

Spellbinder Hot Foil alphabet plate with matching die set:

Two pads of smooth card stock that will foil well:

Altenew 3D embossing folder - which I have already used:

Not shown is a mini red tool box she gifted me and I plan on using that for tools for beads and such so that will be on that counter... Also a food gift card -- yum -- and a Brrrr Basket with blanket, sox, hot cocoa with a mug, hand cream, etc. I had never seen these before so cute idea:

Happy additions to this craft room and soooo surprised with all that my PIC gifted me!!! A huge thanks to her and DH for great additions to this craft room!

Santa Candy Bar Wrap Treat Holder

This year I am giving a Hershey Mr. Goodbar candy bar as a holiday treat. This is a thicker candy bar than the regular Hershey Chocolate candy bar. Here is a photo of some of the treat holders I made:

This holder was made measuring one of the candy bars and then I cut the red card stock large enough to cover this thicker candy bar. I did only one score on the side of the card stock - 1/2" inch. To form this holder I just put the card stock around the candy bar - leaving some room so you can easily remove the candy bar from the holder - and pressed the sides with my hand. Used tear and tape on the scored side to close the holder. Then I removed the candy bar from the holder and worked on that .... Wanted the holder to look like the front of Santa's coat so I cut a piece of white card stock 1 inch wide and the length of the red card stock. Used a 3/8" circle punch and punched out three circles from black glittered card stock for the buttons. Used a square punch for the gold piece and then a smaller square punch for the black square in the center of the gold square as a buckle:

While the candy bar was not in the holder I used a smaller circle punch and punched a circle 1/2" from the top of the front and the back in the center for the ribbon to go through. Used liquid glue at the bottom of the holder and dug out my old Fiskars crimper tool and crimped the bottom of the holder. Cut my ribbon long enough to go the length of the candy bar and be tied at the top so the recipient just pulls on the ribbon at the top to remove the candy bar from the holder. Easy treat holder to assemble. More of these are finished:

Pillow Box Treat Holders

Went through the stash and found an old Sizzix Pillow Box die so I used that for my treat holders. This year I am trying to use lots from the stash and as much card stock printed scraps that I can. Here is a photo of some of the pillow boxes I made:

Cut all the pillow boxes out of kraft card stock. Used various printed card stock scraps and I die cut a rectangle die out of the prints. Used liquid glue to assemble the pillow boxes. Used liquid glue for all the prints I die cut for the fronts of the boxes. Dug out some white paper doilies from the stash and put one on each box. For the poinsettias and the greenery I used Impression Obsession dies from the stash. The poinsettia is their small poinsettia die set:

Cut all the poinsettias out of scrap red card stock and used liquid glue to layer those. Set those aside to dry and cut out two greenery dies from scrap green card stocks:

Once the flowers and greenery were all cut out I put them in a box and used the gold Shimmer Mist from the stash and spritzed them with that for the gold specks on them - the photos do not show this well but IRL they are sparkly:

Once these all dried I used hot glue and added a gold crystal gem to the center of the flowers. Used liquid glue and added the doilies to the boxes. Then used liquid glue for the greenery pieces. To add the flowers and the sentiments I used hot glue. Once again the hot foil sentiments on the pillow boxes I had hot foiled earlier this year and I have all these foiled sentiments sorted into small boxes by foil colour. This way when I need a sentiment for my projects I look through the boxes to see what I can use. This is a time saver for sure -

Easy treat holders to put together and inside the boxes is some paper shred with a few chocolates for a treat. Happy to be able to use more of the card stock scraps and also happy to use products in the stash for this holiday treat holder!

Various Thanksgiving Projects

This post shows some of the items I had made for Thanksgiving but was not able to post them. I made them in October and so here they are:

These are the bag fronts I made. This is a photo to show some of the treat holders I had made:

Made a treat holder using a small kraft envelope and made a rosette for the front of that. Then I used the ScrapDivaDesigns Kiss holder die to hold Hershey kisses. Made a mini Post It Note holder. Also made a holder for Hershey nugget candies - spelled out Thankful or Grateful and I used a stamp set I picked up at Ollie's for a dollar for the letters:

Here is a photo of some of the nugget holders:

Fun Thanksgiving projects! Happy to add the Kisses die set to the stash as I am sure that die set will get lots of use - esp with Valentine's Day up and coming......

Lunch Bag Hot Cocoa Treat Holder

Used lunch bags from the Dollar Tree I had in my stash for this treat holder. The grocery store had the Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa packets on sale this week so I used them for this treat holder. I also used various card stocks from the stash for my bags. I had seen this treat holder made long ago using lunch bags on YouTube and there are a lot of crafters that have made them up and they are easy to assemble and decorate. Here is a photo of one of my lunch bag treat holders:

All these bags measure differently so when I was cutting my printed card stocks I did one bag at a time - I cut the full back piece, the front piece, and then the pocket piece. I put the printed card stocks onto the bags using liquid glue. To make the pocket using the bottom of the bag I used hot glue for that. I added a doily from the stash for the front of the bag. In the pockets I put some chocolates and a candy cane. Inside the bag are two packs of the Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa packs. I used various ribbons from the stash and tied that around the pocket and tied a bow. Used hot glue under the bow to keep it in place and tied. For the greeting on the bags:

The greeting I had hot foiled earlier this year when I hot foiled all my holiday greetings and sorted those for use on projects this year:

I keep the holiday sentiments in small boxes and I sort them by whatever colour foil they are. These sentiment strips have been used on my Christmas cards this year as well as on projects I am making for Christmas so a time saver for sure to have these already foiled, die cut, and sorted. 

I put the hot cocoa treat holders into zip lock bags I had in my stash and they are ready to go - here are more of these I made:

Here is a photo to show the card stock I put on the back of the lunch bag - all the bags have a different print - and this extra card stock makes the cheaper lunch bag more sturdy:

Easy project to put together and there are a lot of versions done of these on YouTube. Just do not expect perfection with using these lunch bags as they are not put together perfectly so they could be different sizes in your pack. 

Nugget Candy Carrier Treat Holder

Used the Candy Carrier die set from Divinity Designs to make the carrier for 6 Hershey Nuggets for my treat holders:

 The die set has the carrier pieces as well as a small tag die so you can make your carrier, wrap your chocolate nugget candies, and make a tag with only this one die set! Here is a photo of some of the carriers I made:

This die set has a die to cut all the wrappers for the nuggets but I just used my trimmer and cut all my wrappers from scrap card stocks from the stash. Here are photos of each of these carriers:

I used a "Merry Christmas" stamp from the Taylored Expressions stamp set "Itty Bitty Sentiments - Holiday" and I stamped this with red ink. Once dried I used the tag die in the die set and cut out the greeting and tied them onto the holders using red and white twine from the stash. Here is a photo to show these packaged:

Easy carrier to assemble and great use for scrap card stocks since it is not very big and the scraps were also used for my nugget wrappers. Fun project!