Gift ideas

Gift Card / Ghirardelli Holder

Here is another last minute gift idea. This fits a standard gift card or if you are short on cash, you can put a Ghirardelli chocolate in it instead. You start with a piece of cardstock 4 1/4x 6 3/4 and score it at 1 1/8 and 4 1/8 on the long side. Then do the scallop edge on the end of the bigger piece. It is super easy and you can whip these out in just a few minutes.  I used the Deck the Halls designer paper and artichoke cardstock.

Here is an inside view of it. The gift card fits just as well.

Jolly Holiday Christmas Ornament

I made a bunch of these ornaments this month with my clubs and downline and they are so easy. You need the long board chipboard ( pg 205) and the clear circle die (pg 207) to make these. I cut out all of the circles from the chipboard sheets and then covered the back in another old olive cardstock circle. The front is made with scraps of Jolly Holiday designer paper (pg 174) and also scraps of cherry cobbler and old olive cardstock. This is a great way to use up your scraps. THe designer pieces were all 1 inch by 4 inch and the solid colors are 2×4 inches.  I used the border punches to jazz them up a little. You lay all of the pieces across the top how you want them, glue them down and then flip it over and trim around the circle. The hanger is the Decorative Label punch folded over the top. That can be found in the holiday mini or the new Occasions mini.

Here is a close up of the button and the sentiment that I topped with the rhinestone. THere is a little bit of a glare in the photo so I am sorry that it is kind of hard to see.

Want Some Chocolate??

Here is a quick and easy gift you can make for anyone on your list. I started with a piece of 6×6 crumb cake cardstock and folded it in half. Then cut 1 3/4 inches down on that fold line. That makes the little flap in front that I punched with the pinking hearts punch. I put a piece of sticky strip down the side and a little on the bottom to glue it shut. Decorate the front and you are done. The Hershey Bar should fit perfectly inside. I made a TON of these for friends and they all loved them.

Christmas Get Together…..

Earlier this month I had some of my downline over for a Christmas stamping get together and potluck dinner. It was so much fun. We had a pretty small group since everyone is so busy this time of year but that made it even more special for the ones who did get to come.

After we ate an awesome dinner,  we did a gift exchange. There were some awesome gifts. Here are a few of  the pictures. Here are Cyndi and Brenda showing off their presents.

Cyndi got a blanket and stamped necklace.

Brenda got a handmade bag and jar of goodies wrapped in a handmade fabric decoration. These were hand sewn using our Deck the Halls fabric from the Holiday mini.

This is Liz showing off her wreath.

This is Kelly showing off the gifts that she received. I made these. The bag on the left is a sandwich type bag that I decorated and filled with chocolate and the gift on the right is a piece of framed art. 

Rachelle received this gorgeous frame that Kelly made by doing the stencil embossing on there. Kelly came over yesterday and showed us how to make these. I will post mine later.

After the gift exchange, I had a few projects for the girls to make.   We did  those cute notepad holders using the DVD cases that Stampin Up sells. Each girl got to personalize their own.  Then we made those cute Hershey bar  holders. I will post a close up view of that tomorrow. We also made a CHristmas card. I gave all of the girls little gifts too including  a bag of my famous Christmas candy. 

Cute DVD Case Notepad Holder

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a week since I have posted. I have been super busy getting ready for Christmas as I am sure many of you have been too. THere is always so much to do during the month of December and never enough time to do it. Plus my laptop crashed and I spent a week pouting about that since stupid idiot that I am didn't back it up so I lost everything! You just never think it is going to happen to you and then POOF! all of your hard work is gone in a split second. Well. after much thought, I have decided to try an online backup service from Carbonite. It comes highly recommended and you know that once you actually do back up all of your stuff, then your computer is much less likely to break…just Murphy's Law….Oh well…life goes on so I will start putting things back on my newly remodeled computer today. More hours of time that I don't have……why can't we just add about 6 more hours to each day so we can do all of the things that need to be done and also throw in a couple extra hours of sleep in there too! Well, I guess I should stop babbling about myself and actually talk about this project.

My friend Cindy Petersen showed me these cute notepad holders when we were at Founder's Circle a couple of months ago so I decided to make them for CHristmas gifts and also do them at my recent Stamp camp. The cases are the empty Stampin Up DVD cases that come in a pack of 4 for only $4.95! (pg 192). Then I made the front and back covers and slid those in the clear outside covers so you can actually change them out for each season if you want. The notepads do have to be cut down to 7 1/4 inches. They come 5×8 at any office supply store. You can actually get them cut right at the store too. THen I wrapped a ribbon around through the inside and tied on the outside.THe paper is from Deck the Halls and the letter is from our Big Shot alphabet set.

Here is a view of the inside. These are not fancy at all but you could add a clear envelope on the left side to put receipts or coupons in. I am keeping mine in my car because that is always the place I need to write something down and never seem to have any paper.

Candy Cane Christmas Gift Card Holder

Here is a pretty simple Christmas gift card holder I made using the Candy Cane Christmas paper which has totally sold out as of today! Oh no! I hope you got a pack before they were all gone. This was some really cool paper that was textured and shiny, almost gel like. Here is a close up below of what it looked like.

If you would like to try and make one of these, just take a quarter sheet of cardstock  ( 5 1/2 by 4 1/4) and score the longest side at 2 1/2 and 5. Put sticky strip on the little 1/2 inch flap and close. Decorate the front and then punch a hole in the top. Slide your ribbon straight through the 2 holes and then use your gift card to push the ribbon down as you slide the card in. THen tie a knot or bow on top. THe gift card will just slide in and out as you pull the ribbon up.

Christmas Cone Ornaments

Here is one of the projects that we will be making in my Christmas Gift ideas stamp camp this weekend. I saw the original cone idea on my friend Kimberly Van Diepen's site about a month ago and loved it but I wanted to do them for Christmas and then I saw my friend Cindee Wilkinson's blog and I had to copy her ideas. I couldn't find any white tulle so I had to use red.  These are super easy to make and Kimberly has a video on her site (the link is in blue) that shows how to make them. I used the candy cane Christmas designer papers.

November Stamp Camp – Christmas Gift Ideas!

Hey, all of you local Chesapeake / Virginia Beach area stampers……here is what we are making at my November stamp camp this month. Classes are Sunday the 21st at 1pm or 3:30 and Tuesday the 23rd at 10am or 7pm. Cost of the class is $25 and includes all supplies, refreshments and door prizes. We will be making 5 projects in all….a notepad holder made from our DVD cases, a gift card holder, a candy bar,  a gift bag and a cone ornament ( there are 2 designs shown but each class will make 1 of these). I will show more pics of these items (close up) in the next several days.  If you can't make it to class, you can get a bag of the pre-cut and scored supplies to make them at home but you must have the stamps, punches and adhesive to complete them. Or, I can complete all 5 projects for you for $30 total.

Cute Little Gifts….

These cute little treats are so easy to make. You can whip out a ton of them in no time. I used the Candy Wrapper Die (from the Stampin Up Holiday Mini) in the Big Shot to cut them all out for me. Then I just added a little bit of Deck the Halls Designer paper  (also in the holiday mini) and the label on the front (from Winter Post) . I showed both versions of this treat box. You can have it open on both ends or glue one end shut to give it a totally different look. I did these with my stamp clubs last month and my customers loved them.

Christmas Card stamp a stack!

This month I am doing my annual Christmas card stamp a stack. We will be making 2 each of these 5 cards so you will get a great head start if you sending out all handstamped cards this year. Classes are Sunday the 24th at 1pm, Monday the 25th at 7pm and Tuesday the 26th at 10am.  The spots are filling up quickly so email me to sign up before you miss out.  Cost of the class is $20 and includes all supplies, snacks and door prizes.