Boxy Bags CASE

A big thank you goes out to Sam at Ryemilan's for this great project - I think I CASE'd practically the whole project from her - the idea, the colours and the designer paper - thanx Sam, you are such a talented lady!! Some of the boxes were given the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug treatment just to add variety.

I made these because we were getting a little concerned at the lack of craft appearing for the fete from parents at my son's school, so I decided to whip up a few of these (with some Christmas mints inside) to help fill up the stall. I had a few extra boxes as I had used the idea at my workshop last weekend and had gone a little crazy cutting them out for whenever they were needed - must have known!! I used the snowflake from the Season of Joy set and added some Dazzling Diamonds to the centre and the ends - they looked very cute. It's such an easy yet elegant project!

Also, a special note to Wendy and Cheryl, I'm off to put a few scallop spiders together too - I found some Christmas Mint Patties by Ernest Hillier that should work wonderfully! Will try and take some pics and post them before I hand my box of goodies in!

And here are the boxy bags I did for my workshop, one was the door prize and the other was for the hostess. As you can see, I also used a cuttlebug folder on the blue boxy bag, although this one was the snowflakes folder. They are also stamped with Season of Joy stamps - and I've popped a gold star brad on the top of the tree for extra effect.

Bag, Tags and Cards

I recently held a couple of classes teaching this little set - and it's really rewarding to see people leave your house happy with what they've achieved. On a previous post I put the links down for making these cute little bags so check it out there. This stamp set does have the added tags and I just couldn't resist using them as individuals. The stamp set I used was Festive Favorites - they are such cute stamps. They were subtly coloured using blender pens (aren't these the BEST!) and a mix of watercolor pencils, markers and inks. The tag holder was made using a 4 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock. The actual pocket was made by cutting a piece of River Rock card to 4 1/2" x 4". I then scored at 1 1/2" with the card in landscape position, and folded it up to form a pocket. I was in a bit of a rush the day I made this and stapled the edges together - most of the ladies in my classes opted for using brads instead once I showed them the difference.

Colours - Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and River Rock


DP - Holiday Harmony

A Couple of Card Sets

Anyone who knows me well knows I love "sets" of things. I also love boxes or containers - so you put the 2 things together and add some cardstock, rubber stamps and ink - this is the sort of thing you end up with!

This set was made before I joined the Stampin' Up team. I had ordered the Rich Regals mixed cardstock and the Garden Whimsy stamp set. I had also found a great little tutorial for this 3"x3" Note Card Box on Splitcoaststampers. I decided to challenge myself with colours I wouldn't usually use together - Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard and Old Olive. I inked the box with Versamark and decided it was a little too light - so used the only other inkpad I had for the cards that was a close match - Really Rust! A bit of cuttlebug embossing, a few pearl stick on embellisments and some punching with the scallop punch and circle punch and I was done. I wasn't completely sure if I liked the combination at first so I put it away for a bit before I decided it wasn't too bad!http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

This next set is one of several I have made over the past few weeks. Firstly because I just love the little Double Pocket Bag, and secondly because my son's school is having a fete next month and 2 of my dear friends are running the craft stall. The Double Pocket Bag tutorial comes from the Spiltcoaststampers website and the cards are cut at 4"x width of A4, and then folded in half. You can easily fit 6 to a bag - I first saw the idea to pop the cards in the bag when Yvonne Campbell showed her version at the workshop she was doing for me before I joined her team. I used the Season of Joy stamp set with the Holiday Harmony DP. The colours are Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla and River Rock.

I'll post pictures of another set soon using the Festive Favorites stamp set and the Holiday Harmony DP again.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/double_pocket_bag/

Back pack

I just can't tell you how cute I thought this little backpack was when I first saw it on the very talented Nicole Stalker's blog - I just HAD to make one. I tracked down a video tutorial at Stamp Happens (click on the link below if you want to make one of these too!) Beware though - this will become another of your favourite blogs!

My daughter was watching me put all the bits together - she was fascinated to see what I was up to and loved the result. I also made a matching card to pop in the front pocket. My plan is to make one in Christmas colors and fill it with yummy chocolates or homemade fudge for my children's teachers.

I used Pink Passion cardstock and Berry Bliss DP. The little accents used Boho Blossoms and Choc Chip Cardstock.

I also have a great recipe for Bailey's Fudge - which is what I might make to fill these little bags up - here's the recipe if you want to try it out yourself, I'm not exactly sure where it came from - I pulled it out of a magazine ages ago. I'd recommend wrapping the pieces individually and keeping them in the fridge until you need to put them in the box. I'm also planning to include a copy of the recipe with the gift - it's always nice to be able to make it yourself if you like it!

Baileys Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk
100g butter, cubed
255g (1 ¼ cups firmly packed) brown sugar
2 tblsp glucose syrup
150g finely chopped dark chocolate (not cooking choc)
¼ cup Baileys

Method
Brush a 20cm square cake pan with melted butter. Line base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper allowing it to overhang.
Combine the condensed milk, butter, sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves (~ 3min). Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, for ~15mins or until mixtures thickens and turns a deep caramel colour. Remove from heat.
Add the chocolate and liqueur, stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Set aside to cool.
Remove fudge from pan and cut into portions – you may need to keep fudge refrigerated.
Enjoy!

http://www.stamphappens.com/stamp_happens/2008/08/mini-backpack-v.html