Snowflake Stamped Box

I created this blog several months ago as a place to post further instructions for some of the projects that I have already made and posted at splitcoaststampers.com and Stampin' Connection. This is one of those projects - from four years ago !

This is the only photograph I have of the box; I gave it away as part of a gift.



It is so easy to make custom sized boxes out of card stock and decorative papers.
I do not remember the actual measurements on this particular box and lid .


All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Whisper White and Bliss Blue card stock
Bliss Blue classic ink
Snowflake Spot stamp set, retired
1" White satin ribbon, Offray
silver cord
metal edge tag
snowflake punch, retired
Dazzling Diamonds glitter
Brass template for dry embossing and paper piercing the snowflake on the lid, made by American Traditions
Scoring and cutting tools
adhesive


Making these basic boxes really is quite simple. You can make them in so many sizes. They are perfect for giving small gifts in such as sets of hand made cards.

I was going to write instructions, but decided to check http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/  and found this tutorial that will give you an idea of how to make this type of box, complete with photos and a video !

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/Crafterscompanionboxes/



I stamped the Whisper White card stock before scoring.

I brushed clear drying liquid glue on the tag, sprinkled on Dazzling Diamonds glitter then adhered the snowflake punched circle on top.

I scored the lid before placing the brass template on so I was able to center it.

This is another box I made the same way, only I scalloped the edge of the lid. There are so many fun things you can do with these simple boxes to personalize them. I used Roses In Winter (LOVE that set!) for this box.

Thanks for looking =)

Let It Snow Topiary Trio

I had intended on using miniature terra cotta flower pots or large wooden spools for the base on these little "topiaries". I didn't have three of either item in my stash like I thought, but there were plenty of these wood candle cups. The shape of them reminds me of a pot of gold - or a witches cauldron !

SUPPLIES:

wood candle cups (or small container of your choice)

wood dowel rod, 1/4" diameter

acrylic craft paints (Sky Blue and Wicker White from Folk Art)

snow texture medium

die cut snowflakes (Northern Frost decorative strip die from Sizzix/Stampin' Up! used with the leftover strip of 2" x 12" heavy weight card stock from my Snowman ox project posted yesterday)

Modge Podge (any clear drying liquid glue or a Xyron)

Glitter (Dazzling Diamonds from Stampin' Up! and Martha Stewart Crafts coarse glitter)

Ribbon (Baja Breeze stripe from Stampin' Up!, retired)

brads, rhinestones, etc to embellish snowflakes (I created faux shimmer brads for this project by using Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter on 1/4" circles of Baja Breeze card stock)

hot glue

Crystal Effects, Stampin' Up!

small snowflake stamp from Holiday Collection stamp set, Stampin' Up!

Calendar Alphabet, Stampin' Up!

small oval punch, Stampin' Up!

1/4" circle punch, Stampin' Up!

paintbrushes









Paint the dowel rods Wicker White.



Paint the candle cups Sky Blue.



Stamp candle cups with snowflakes using Wicker White acrylic craft paint. I create a little stamp pad out of a scrap of felt, pour a tiny amount of paint on the felt and work it in.

Once dry, stick the dowel rod into the candle cup. Cut a circle of lightweight chipboard to cover the top of the cup for the snow texture medium to stick to.

Apply snow texture medium, sprinkle on glitter, set aside to dry.

Brush clear drying liquid glue (or use a Xyron machine) onto the die cut snowflakes. Sprinkle with Martha Stewart coarse glitter, set aside to dry.


Punch 1/4" circles of Baja Breeze card stock, cover with Crystal Effects, sprinkle with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and set aside to dry (or use brads, rhinestones, etc to decorate the snowflakes with)

Punch three small ovals from Whisper White card stock. Stamp with alphabet. Outline the edge of the tags with Crystal Effects, sprinkle with Martha Stewart coarse glitter and set aside to dry.

Make three knots of ribbon. I apply a light coat of fray check to the ends of the ribbons to keep them from raveling.




Once all of the pieces are dry, attach them to the dowel rods as you like using hot glue (or your heavy duty, quick drying adhesive of choice).





Thanks for looking =)

Snowman Box

Made from a single piece of 12" x 12" card stock. This idea kept evolving, first starting out as an idea to try to alter the Scallop Bag Sizzix die into a snowman. I do not know how to make diagrams on the computer, so I drew one and took a photo to share. It is a simple enough box to make. You could  change the front piece to another shape, too !

SUPPLIES:
12" x 12" Whisper White card stock, Stampin' Up!

scrap of Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie card stocks, Stampin' Up!

Soft Sky and Pumpkin Pie classic ink from Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Sponge, Stampin' Up!

Scoring and cutting tools

Scissors

Small Oval punch, Stampin' Up!

Snowflake punch, retired Stampin' Up!

1/4" circle punch, Stampin' Up!

piercing tool, Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Pastels,Stampin' Up!

Ribbon or fabric scrap

Button from Stampin' Up!, Playground assortment

Linen thread, Stampin' Up!

Tombow liquid glue, Stampin' Up!

Glitter, Dazzling Diamonds from Stampin' Up!

Cut and score along the lines as indicated. You could adjust this pattern to make a different size box. This pattern was designed to leave a 2" x 12" strip for use on another project ( the Snowflake Topiary Trio that will be posted tomorrow). The box size is 4" x 3" with the snowman being approximately 5.5" tall, 4" wide.

Lightly sponge Soft Sky ink along the edges of the snowman.


Swipe Stampin' Pastels on with a cotton ball to blush the snowman's cheeks.

Punch five 1/4" circles from Basic Black with the paper punch from Stampin' Up! Use the white Signo gel pen to add highlights to two of them for the eyes. Pierce two holes per circle on the remaining three with the paper piercer to create buttons.

Punch a small oval from Pumpkin Pie card stock. Lightly glue a short end of the oval to a strip of scrap paper. This thin strip will help you guide the punched oval back into the paper punch to punch off another section to make it smaller with a pointy end, more carrot like. Hold the punch upside down so you can see what you are doing. You could easily cut the same shape with a pair of scissors.



Sponge Pumpkin Pie ink along the bottom of the nose (oval) punched piece.


Brush liquid glue (or use a Xyron machine) onto the snowflake and sprinkle with glitter. Attach button.


Glue on each of the pieces, decorating him as you wish.



Fold the four 1/2" x 3" flaps inside and adhere.

TIP: You can fold the snowman box up to mail !

 It folds down fairly flat and could fit snugly in a normal A2 / Invitation sized envelope ( 4 3/8" x 5 3/4" ) if you cut the snowman  5" tall and do not have many bulky embellishments on him. He would need to be 5" tall to fit in the envelope because the 1/2" flap on the side pieces that are folded over lengthen it when it is folded flat (unless you fold those flaps back on themselves). Use a double stick tape with liner on the flaps, sticking the tape to the flaps but leaving the top protective liner intact. The recipient can easily assemble to box. I would personally send it in a slightly larger envelope and place a scrap piece of card stock or lightweight chipboard on either side of it inside the envelope, or use a padded envelope.

Thanks for looking =)



Snowflake Pin / Card

4.25" x 4.25" card with removable felt snowflake pin

The Whisper White is embossed with the large polka dot

Texturz plate although it doesn't show in the photo.





It would also make a nice gift package embellishment

(or napkin ring doodad, magnet, etc).

SUPPLIES:

All supplies (except the brad) are from Stampin' Up!

Bashful Blue, Whisper White and Metallic Silver card stock

Large Polka Dot Texturz plate

Northern Flurry embossing folder

Bigz Snowflake #2 die, Sizzix

Double stitched 1" grosgrain ribbon, Bashful Blue (retired)

Felt

Pin back

Hot glue

SNAIL adhesive ( or your favorite adhesive for paper)

Sparkly brad, unknown (I used this brad rather than a rhinestone brad from Stampin' Up! because it was larger)

Cropadile  (or another heavy duty hole punch tool of some sort)

This is the first time I made something like this; I used regular felt. I think if there is such a thing, you may want to look for stiff felt or maybe iron on something (fusible interfacing?) to the back of the felt before die cutting to stiffen it. Mine seems too "floppy".

Cut two snowflakes from the felt.

Use one snowflake as is for the base. Snip the other snowflakes into 6 pieces to layer on top of the whole snowflake. I made two layers of three parts each. The 1 designates the whole snowflake, bottom layer.  The 2 is the second layer and the 3 is the top layer.

Punch a hole with the Cropadile through all layers to attach brad.

Cut out a circle of felt, chipboard, etc to adhere the snowflakes to. Attach pin back (or magnet or napkin ring or....) to this. I used hot glue for gluing all pieces together.

Cut a piece of Bashful Blue card stock 4.25" x 8.5"; fold in half to create a 4.25" square card.

Cut two pieces of 4" square metallic silver card stock.

Cut two pieces of 3.75" square Whisper White card stock. Run one piece through the Big Shot with the large polka dot Texturz plate. Run the other piece through with the Northern Flurry embossing folder - be sure to leave an area that is not embossed for writing on !

Glue the Northern Flurry embossed Whisper White piece to one silver piece then on to the inside of the Bashful Blue card.



Wrap a piece of Bashful Blue double stitched 1" ribbon around the polka dot embossed Whisper White card stock and metallic silver card stock. Adhere to card front.

Pin the snowflake brooch onto the front of the card through the ribbon.

This card will require a padded envelope and extra postage if you wish to mail it.

Thanks for looking =)

Blog Hop Projects

The following three projects were created for a Blog Hop I participated in. Instructions will be posted in the next few days. Thanks for looking =)

The felt snowflake on this 4.25" x 4.25" card is a removable pin.

The Whisper White layer is embossed with the large polka dot Texturz plate; the inside is embossed with the Northern Frost embossing folder.

Instructions will be posted

January 10th.

Snowman box created from one piece of 12x12 card stock !

Pattern and instructions will be posted January 11th.

Let It Snow "topiary trio"
Instructions will be posted

 January 12th.

BONUS PROJECT: I thought I should include a project for the scrap bookers that may be stopping by during our blog hop ! This is an old project, a progressive scrapbook page, that I demonstrated several years ago. It starts as a 6" x6" scrapbook page (the small blue square), progresses to an 8.5" x 11" page (the light blue rectangle) which can then easily be turned into a 12" x 12" page if you prefer to scrap that size.

Happy New Year !

Cake Pop Up Die - Snowman

As soon as I saw this pop up cake die a  couple of years ago from Stampin' Up! / Sizzix, I thought of a snowman !

I used the tree image from the Season of Friendship stamp set to make his arms. The face and buttons are hand drawn.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, snowflake punch and circle punch from Stampin' Up!

Snowman colored with Stampin' Pastels from Stampin' Up!

All supplies from Stampin' Up!

Pop Up Cake die from Sizzix

Whisper White and Bashful Blue  card stock

Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie markers

Chocolate Chip and  Bashful Blue classic ink

Season Of Friendship stamp set, Stampin' Up!

 

 

Thanks for looking =)

Punchy The Snowman

When I saw the Season Of  Friendship stamp set from Stampin' Up! a couple of years ago, I immediately thought "snowman arms!"

I created this snowman out of punches and the Season of Friendship stamp set to submit to Stampin' Up! for one of the demonstrator challenges. It was not a winner, but it was featured on Stampers Showcase two years ago.

All supplies Stampin' Up!

Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie card stock

Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze classic ink

Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Brad

various punches, all from Stampin' Up!

Paper Piercer - to punch holes in the "buttons"

Season Of Friendship stamp set, Stampin' Up!

adhesive
 
sponge - to sponge white ink on the hat (snow) and edges of Baja Breeze
 
 
Thanks for looking =)

My Digital Studio Contest - Scrapbook page 2

** Winners announced here January 4th, 2011! **

Five customers and five demonstrators were chosen as winners of

$400 worth of digital downloads !

Below is the second digitally created scrapbook page that I submitted to the contest Stampin' Up! held in November 2010 for demonstrators and customers alike. We were to enter a single card and two different scrapbook pages, created completely with My Digital Studio.


I don't scrapbook as it is (gasp!) and had used My Digital Studio just a few times when the contest was announced (GASP!!). I thought I'd give this challenge a try, and a challenge it was. Not that the software is all that difficult to use, but it is difficult for me to make up my mind on what I want a finished project to look like ! This is one of the reasons why I like the My Digital Studio software, I can change my mind over and over without wasting real supplies. Plus, once I have a project completed, if I have saved all of the components to the project (not just the final .jpeg file), I can go back in and change it again if I want. For example, at the time I create a project there may not be a particular stamp set, embellishment or designer paper available digitally. If there is a fun new digital image released that I "must have", such as the perfect background paper, I can purchase it for a small fee then go add it to my previously completed project.


Another reason to save your complete files, you may take a better photograph of a particular subject or be given photographs someone else has taken of a particular event that are better than the photos you already digitally scrapped with. With My Digital Studio digital projects, you are able to go back in and change out the photographs, how cool is that ?!

MY SNOWFLAKES

This scrapbook page was really fun - and uses many digital punches to create a snowman, landscape and falling snowflake photo mats !

This was a little tricky to do because I needed to "erase" parts of the snowflake punch that I did not want to use in order to make twig arms for my snowman. I covered up bits of the brown snowflake punch with punches that were filled with coordinating designer background paper. The tricky part was to find the correct punch to cover what needed to be erased then fill it with paper that would line up with the background paper to make it invisible.

I'm not sure, but I may have reduced the opacity on the background paper on this finished project. I know I did as I was creating it, but not sure if I kept it reduced. The snowflake stamps from Snowburst (and another set or two, Winter Post and ....) were reduced in opacity.



SUPPLIES:

MyDigital Studio Software 118108 $79.95
Satin Ribbon 121063 $3.95
Striped Grosgrain Ribbon 122147 $3.95
Button Latte
Various Punches
Snowburst stamp set
Brads
Background papers




For more amazing ideas using My Digital Studio, be sure to check out My Digital Studio online ! There are sure to be hundreds of ideas posted in the next few days now that the contest is officially over and the winners (I am not one of those lucky, super talented few) have been notified.




My Digital Studio 118108
Catalog Price: $79.95

Use the same great artwork, colors, and accessory images found in our current product line to create personalized digital projects. The options are endless: create photo albums, calendars, and greeting cards using My Digital Studio. Once you've created your personalized gift or heirloom, have it printed in our high-quality print facility and delivered to your door or print it at home.
■ Available in English only


Click here for a list of the digital contents that are included with your initial software purchase.


For more information about My Digital Studio, click here. This web page has everything you need to know about the software, additional digital downloads (prices vary), free updates, printing prices and there are video tutorials.


Thank you for looking and commenting =) Happy New Year !



My Digital Studio Contest - Card

** Winners announced here January 4th, 2011! **

Five customers and five demonstrators were chosen as winners of
$400 worth of digital downloads !

Below is the digitally created card that I submitted to the contest Stampin' Up! held in November 2010 for demonstrators and customers alike. We were to enter a single card and two different scrapbook pages, created completely with My Digital Studio.

I don't scrapbook as it is (gasp!) and had used My Digital Studio just a few times when the contest was announced (GASP!!). I thought I'd give this challenge a try, and a challenge it was. Not that the software is all that difficult to use, but it is difficult for me to make up my mind on what I want a finished project to look like ! This is one of the reasons why I like the My Digital Studio software, I can change my mind over and over without wasting real supplies. Plus, once I have a project completed, if I have saved all of the components to the project (not just the final .jpeg file), I can go back in and change it again if I want. For example, at the time I create a project there may not be a particular stamp set, embellishment or designer paper available digitally. If there is a fun new digital image released that I "must have", such as the perfect background paper, I can purchase it for a small fee then go add it to my previously completed project.

Another reason to save your complete files, you may take a better photograph of a particular subject or be given photographs someone else has taken of a particular event that are better than the photos you already digitally scrapped with.  With My Digital Studio digital projects, you are able to go back in and change out the photographs, how cool is that ?!

JOY  CARD

The card was created with the new trifold card. It is part of a free update for owners of My Digital Studio digital crafting software from Stampin' Up!.

I used various elements, most of which were purchased extra. The My Digital Studio software comes with many fantastic images, papers, embellishments, punches, layouts, etc when you initially purchase it. Once you have the software installed, you can purchase additional content, picking which items you would like to add to your software. The prices of the additional content varies.


The greeting at the bottom was "custom" made from one of the stamp images from the Wishes and Greetings digital stamp set. I digitally stamped it on each panel, moving it into position so each line of the three line image lined up to become one long horizontal stamp. To "erase" the portions of the stamp that I didn't want, I used custom sized punches of Very Vanilla card stock to cover them. The resized Very Vanilla punches become invisible on the Very Vanilla background, totally erasing the part of the stamp image that I do not want. I used this technique on all three of my contest entries.
There is a large gap between each portion of the greeting. I did this because it is a trifold card; if I had it printed I didn't want the folds to be on the greeting.

The heart punch was reduced in size then layered over the "O" in Love.

There are so many bits and pieces to this card, I honestly do not remember everything that I used. The following are what I remember; if they are extras that I bought, I'll note the item number and additional cost.



My Digital Studio Software 118108 $79.95

Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla card stock
Designer Paper from the Christmas Cocoa II Digital Kit  120880  $9.95
         and Christmas Jingle Kit
Satin Ribbon   121063  $3.95
Antique Brads 122164   $1.95
Brads
Snowburst, Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Torn Edges, Wishes and Greetings
  digital stamps
Various punches
Staples for "stitching" on the buttons (this is one of those things I wish came with   the initial software purchase: stitching or knotted linen thread to layer on top of the buttons to make them look more finished)
Embellishments from Christmas Jingle digital kit



For more amazing ideas using My Digital Studio, be sure to check out My Digital Studio online ! There are sure to be hundreds of ideas posted in the next few days now that the contest is officially over, winners have been notified.



My Digital Studio 118108
Catalog Price: $79.95

Use the same great artwork, colors, and accessory images found in our current product line to create personalized digital projects. The options are endless: create photo albums, calendars, and greeting cards using My Digital Studio. Once you've created your personalized gift or heirloom, have it printed in our high-quality print facility and delivered to your door or print it at home.

■ Available in English only


Click here for a list of the digital contents that are included with your initial software purchase.

For more information about My Digital Studio, click here. This web page has everything you need to know about the software, additional digital downloads (prices vary), free updates, printing prices and there are video tutorials.



Thank you for looking and commenting  =)  Happy New Year !

Happy New Year 2011 !

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy, Crafty New Year !

Image created with My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!


Come back the next three days to see my entries from the
My Digital Studio Contest
Stampin' Up! recently held for customers and demonstrators.
Winners will be announced on the Stampin' Up! web site January 4th, 2011.
I know that I am not a winner since I did not receive a phone call,
so now I am able to finally share my projects with you !

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce