Christmas Character Boxes & Reindeer Kits

I promise this will be the last of the 'Christmas posts'.

For my friends kids I decided to make character boxes filled with goodies to go on the table for our Christmas get together. I got the idea from Renee (see here).

Inside the boxes I included a little toy (teddy or toy car) and a Reindeer Kit. The Reindeer Kits were made up of Rudolph's Red Nose Repair Kits and Reindeer Poop.

To make them I put two cellophane bags together with one bag topper and added the appropriate label on each side with the Reindeer image from the Holiday Line stamp set from SU.

For the Red Nose Repair Kits I managed to find some perfect chocolates wrapped in red in Big W (a store in Australia) and for the Reindeer Poop I used Maltesers. They loved them, and didn't seem phased at all about eating Reindeer Poop!!!

I have set this to post automatically on New Year's eve, as I wanted to get the Christmas posts done before the New Year. I hope you are having (or had) a great New Year's Eve.

Cake Kit

I got this idea for a Christmas present for my friend from Becky Roberts (see here). My friend (who now has 3 kids) is really getting into making cakes (from Birthday Cakes to gorgeous cupcakes for kids), so for Christmas I decided her present would have a Cake Theme, and this packaging for the cake mix and accessories was perfect.

Inside the box was a Betty Crocker Cake Mix and 2 different icing tubes and a 3 pack of small icing tubes. To go with this box was a Cupcake Carrier and kids party cookbook. I think she loved it (apparently a cake carrier had been on her list for a while) - love it when a plan comes together.

I didn't have a lot of time to decorate the package so I used a Magnolia image that I had coloured in some time ago and the Yummy stamp from last years Sale-A-Bration. Ohhh that reminds me, Sale-A-Bration starts again soon (25th January), and is a great opportunity to get a free stamp set with every order of $100.

To go with the pack I did up a quick Christmas Card using a Christmas Magnolia stamp and Stampin' Up! Real Red cardstock and ribbon, teamed with some Ski Slope DSP from the now ended Spring Mini (loved that paper). I added some dazzling diamonds to her hat (but it often doesn't show up well in photos).

I am loving being on holidays from my full time job at the moment, I am reorganising my craft room (I reorganise my craft room every year, and helps to get me inspired to create when I can actually find everything). Better get back to it.

Handmade Memory Game

This is a little gift I made for my friends kids. I had collected the Cuttlekids animals some time back and had started to them into a memory game. The other night I decided to finish it off.

There are 9 animals altogether and I made 2 cards of each. I started out with jungle animals (lion, zebra, hippo, elephant, but drifted into others like pigs and penguins!).

I made the cards out of Kraft and Vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up! and made a little box to put them in. I was really pleased in the way they came up.

A Belated Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All

I hope you have all had a very merry christmas and that you have had the chance to enjoy the season (amidst the chaos). I had some friends over today for the last of the 'Christmas' festivities. I did roast chicken instead of turkey - would you believe it is a little hard to find turkey straight after christmas, but I think they enjoyed it and their kids had a ball. It's off to the shops tomorrow - Stocktake Sales (a girls dream). I will be back again soon with a couple more things I made for Christmas.

All the best for the New Year.

Christmas Card/Box

Just a quick post today.

Here is another Christmas 'project' I have made. It is a card/box and I got the template from an earlier UStamp (you can see my earlier version here). It is so quick and easy to put together.

I really wanted to do a Christmas version, so this has been made with the Tree Trimmings Stamp Set from the now ended Spring Mini Catalogue (loved that catalogue). It is perfect when you want to give a little gift, you can just pop it in the little drawer (even Chocolate will fit!).

Can you believe that it is only 8 more sleeps to Christmas - where did the days go???

Christmas Bags

I love these Kraft Bags they are so versatile and go brilliantly with our Kraft cardstock. You can pick them up at various craft stores.

I had made cards similar to the fronts of these bags and thought I would do some bags to match. One of them was my Regional Swap (see here), and the other I had done some time (see here).

Christmas Pillowboxes

Pillowboxes are cute and versatile (I made one for the shoebox swap for the Stamp Camp - I will show you this one soon). To make these for Christmas I added the Riding Hood Red striped ribbon that was in the Spring Mini Catalogue (love that ribbon), and the Do not open 'til Dec 25 Stamp from the Winter Post Stamp Set (love that stamp set). I stamped it a second time and cut the centre part out to pop it up on Stampin' Dimensionals.

Christmas Sunnyboy Containers

I have made sunnyboy containers before, but these ones were inspired by Margaret on our Stamp Camp, they use DSP measuring 6 x 4 inches, and they end up as these cute little packages, at this size they could be hung on the tree or placed on a table setting.

I left the double sided tape at the top so that people could put in whatever they wanted and seal them up.

More Christmas Boxes

I love these 2.5 inch boxes, they are so easy to make, and look so cute. They only problem is trying to work out what to put in them (when all else fails - Chocolate).

Hope you are not letting the craziness of this time of year overwhelm you.

Christmas Boxes

I love boxes, in fact I remember I was always getting into trouble growing up for keeping all the boxes that things came in, be it gifts, shoes, chocolates, or anything else. I did UStamp Holidays 09 and one of the projects were these Christmas Cake Boxes.

I wasn't sure about the colour combination of Real Red and Baja Breeze, but I was pleased with the way it turned out.

You can find details of the current UStamp here.

Christmas Fair Goodies

Just thought I would show you what some of what I had created for the Craft Fair looked like (it's late and I'm sure my grammar is a bit amiss).

Silly me forgot to take a photo of all the Christmas Cards (there were about 60 cards).

Snowman Soup

There have been lots of versions of Snowman Soup on many blogs, and (being the Chocolate Addict that I am) I loved the idea of it. My version is a little bit similar to Renee's (click here for hers).

I loved the Holiday Lineup Stamp Set and the snowmen were perfect for these packets.

What do you do when the Hot Chocolate packet just doesn't go with the colour scheme you have chosen? Answer - Create a pocket for the Hot Chocolate. I used some Whisper White cardstock and stamped it with snowflakes in Baja Breeze and Close to Cocoa.

The same went for the chocolates, so I wrapped them in Stampin' Up! DSP.

I used the Stampin' Up! cellophane bags to package it all up - the medium size for the packet and the small size for the marshmallows.

They were very popular at the Craft Fair and at my work (in fact, I need to make some more).

Christmas Boots

Hi all, it has certainly been a while and a lot has been going on, so let me fill you in on couple of them.

- Stamp Camp - a couple of weekends ago I went on a Stamp Camp with a bunch of very talented ladies. It was so much fun, and a big thank you goes to Yvonne and the rest of the girls for sharing such a fabulous time (although I can't quite say the same about the Huntsmen Spiders, that also joined us). You can check out an awesome video of the camp created by the talented Paula here.

- Craft Fair - I have been busy preparing for a craft fair (which was held last weekend). I was asked to have a stall with handmade cards and papercraft items and provide some make & takes. Having the Stamp Camp just before the Fair gave me the opportunity to get a lot of things made for it (I think I completed approx 55 items on the weekend).

One of the things I made for the Fair were these cute little Christmas Boots. I got the free template from Papertrey Ink.

I got inspiration for the red and white version from Paula.

I'll be back soon with more from the Fair.

Christmas Classics Cards

Christmas is coming......

I got the inspiration for these cards from the talented Kerri Hunter (see here), they look so clean and classic. The Christmas Classics set is so easy to use, for these first cards I used Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. The lines are created with the Crimper (by SU), and gives such a great affect.

These next couple I did with Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip.

Hope you are have a good week (we are currently sweltering here in 35 degrees celcius, thank goodness for air conditioning).

Another Watering Can

I love these watering cans - they are so easy to put together. You will be pleased to know I have also branched out from by 'usual' colour scheme (I decided I need to try some variety).

See my previous post for the link to Splitcoast Stampers for the template.

Holiday Line Up - Gift Card Holders

As promised I am posting my Holiday Lineup Gift Card Holders (I do love this set). All supplies used Stampin Up.

These guys are so cute, I have coloured them in using a blender pen and the Stampin Up inks (you can also use the blender pen with markers too - I colour the marker on an acrylic block and then pick up the colour from the block).

On the inside of the cards I included a panel with the Christmas sentiment, and added more of the DSP with a circle punch of the 'guys' on the back panel.

Hope you are having a great week.

Workshop Christmas Card

I wanted a simple Christmas Card for an upcoming workshop that utilised stamps (rather than DSP). This is what I came up with (all supplies Stampin Up), its a clean look but I like it.

I used the snowflakes from the Winter Post set and the Short & Sweet set and the sentiments from Many Merry Messages set. I will have this available for the girls to do in the colour of their choice - Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, and Old Olive. (Apologies for the blurry picture!)

I am waiting on my Snow Swirled set to arrive, so when it does I might add another card using that set if I have time.

I tried out the scheduling function with this post - hope it works!!

Workshop Christmas Gift Card Holders

For an upcoming Workshop I decided to do Gift Card Holders. Here are the two versions I made:

The measurements I got from the talented Dawn Griffith, but I changed them slightly so I could get 2 out of standard A4 sheet of cardstock (its 11" x 4 1/8", scored at 3", 5 1/2" and 8").

These were so easy to make that I have made some others using the Holiday Lineup set - they are really cute (I will post them later this week).

Well back to work tomorrow : (

Watering Can

I first saw this cute watering can on Philippa's site (Cards from the Cauldron). The template is from Splitcoast Stampers (see here). As you can see I have used my favourite colour scheme again (I am starting to think I need to branch out a little!!!).



They are so cute and sooo easy to make - you could fill them with anything - some paper flowers, or chocolates!

Regional Swaps & Milk Carton Box

I'm back. I was starting to have serious withdrawal symptoms from not having my trusty computer - there are so many blogs to catch up on.

As I mentioned I attended the Stampin Up Regionals, and here are my Regional Swaps. I love this colour scheme - Kraft, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip - YUM.

I only managed to make approx 26 swaps, here is what they look like all packaged up in cellophane bags.

This next picture is of a matching Milk Carton Box set (I got the template from Becky Roberts). There was one of these milk cartons in this colour scheme at the Regionals (unfortunately I didn't get the name of the person who had made it), and as it matched my card, I thought I would do a matching set.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Will be back soon

Just a quick post to let you know I haven't fallen off the planet - however I am without my trusty Apple Mac notebook at the moment : (

I think I am starting to get withdrawals from my usual evening blog hopping - it's all very sad. I hope to be back online by end of next week (fingers crossed).

BTW I had a great time at the Regionals last weekend with the girls, it was my first time and it was lots of fun - I will be sure to post my swap when I get up and running again.

Well - "I'll Be Back" (as Arnie would say).

Simply Holidays Project

I have been doing a number of classes recently, these are a great way to get inspiration. The talented Heather Summers is running Simply Holidays (20 projects over 20 days), each project has a video and pdf (click here for more information).

This was Project #2, Box of Tags. Each box contains 6 tags that sit in a slotted base.


I love the soft blues and browns (its a little bit non-traditional).

Had to try it in traditional colours too.

Coffee Treat Box - UStamp

YEAH its Friday. I love it when it gets to Friday (and even more when it gets to Friday night).

You may have guessed that I have been doing UStamp. This next project was based on the Coffee Treat Box designed by Tracey Old for UStamp Fall (see hers here).


When you take off the belly band it opens up to a box with two sections. I added some Cappuccino sachets, some chocolate (have to have chocolate) and some sugar (or sweetner to compensate for the chocolate!). I have to say the chocolate only lasted long enough to take the picture - LOL.


Hope you have a great weekend.

All in One Card Box - Another UStamp project

Here is another project I did from UStamp. It is a really cute little card/box which was designed by Dawn Rapsas. I made it using kraft and baja breeze cardstock, with the ever so cute bunny from the Forest Friends stamp set from SU.


When you undo the ribbon you can open up the card, or pull the corduroy button to open a little drawer that you can fill with treats or cards. I was going to get some treats (which is really code for chocolate!!!), to show this project and another one that I will show later this week, but being a chocoholic I was afraid that I would just eat them!!!


UStamp with Dawn and Friends Fall 09 is almost over, but they are starting another one mid October, this time based around the Holidays - I've joined up already!

Have a good week.

Notes & Treats UStamp Project

I have been having heaps of fun doing UStamp at them moment. This is the Notes & Treats project designed by Becky Roberts, it has a box at the top and a drawer at the bottom. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to make the cards yet to go with it. I used the Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper (love this paper), and the Yummy Stamp Set (no longer available).


I embellished with the cute butterflies made with the 5 petal punch.


Almost the weekend - Yeah.

Kellie's Sketch Challenge #3

Yay, I managed to do another challenge. This one is Kellie's Sketch Challenge #3, love these. I have used a digital stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil, she has so many cute stamps, but I am still working out how to colour digital stamps. I usually watercolour but my printer ink seems to be water soluble and just runs everywhere. What a conundrum - so I pulled out the Stampin Up chalks, the effect is a lot softer (and I did use vanilla cardstock, so it probably doesn't stand out as much as it would have on white cardstock - oh well).



PS: I had to remove my visitor counter as it seemed to go a bit haywire. Just a week ago I was getting very excited as I was getting close to 1,000 (I was even thinking of doing some blog candy), then the next day I checked, it was 19,000+ WHAT THE?
: )