Christmas Tags in July

Can I confess something? I ordered the Mehndi Medallions set from Papertrey for one reason and one reason only: to make Christmas tags.

These tags are old, old, old from StampinUp. Remember when SU had the tag sets? You know, 12x12 pages of die cut shapes (tags, library pockets, slides, etc.) that you could punch out and use? Yeah, sounded like a great idea, but mine just sat, largely unused. I eventually threw a bunch of them away in frustration, but I kept these fairly standard tags with the expectation of using them for the holidays but just never got around to it. Until now.

This weekend, see if there's something lying around your craft room unused...just waiting to be given a purpose. Then use it. Use it up. The world won't end, and you just might get a head start on your Christmas gift packaging!

Don't forget to check out the sets I've already posted for sale. And Darla, please send me an email with a valid address.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey mehndi medallions; Hero Arts sentiment
ink: Memento
paper: SU die cuts
accessories: DMC floss

Fun Gifts for Lots of Kids

Okay, what do you give all the little kids who hang with your kids, who live on your street, who are important to you but for whom you cannot or should not buy expensive gifts?

Candy, of course.

And you can make that candy festive and special by packaging it in fun ways. Here are two cool ideas for small packages of holiday candy for the kids in your life.

Idea #1: Tiny Stockings

These adorably small stockings came from Hobby Lobby and were on sale for cheap, cheap, cheap. But they are soft and fuzzy, red and white, and beyond cute.

Side Note: The white plastic basket is one of several I use to organize my projects in the craft room. They are also cheap, cheap, cheap at Target. If you're AR/OC, too, go get some. They're quite handy.

Idea #2: Small Paper Sacks

If you're feeling a little crafty (but not too much), here's an idea. I bought these white paper bags with a coupon at Michael's in the cake/candy section, I think. They are small...just tall enough to hold a standard candy cane. I stamped this PSX Merry Christmas on them, punched two holes in the tops and threaded ribbon through them.

These two tips are amazingly easy and quick. Just grab a few bags of holiday candy on your trip at the grocery, and in a few easy steps, you can hand out little pressies (as my family calls them) to all the little ones in your world.

In the comments, feel free to share your super-easy, inexpensive packaging tips for store-bought, wrapped candy.

Bookmarks--Edited

Edited to add...PTI = Papertrey Ink. The set used on these bookmarks is PTI's All Booked Up. Sorry that wasn't clear.

When I first sat down to make bookmarks, I pulled out a bunch of patterned paper, including PTI's polka dot pad and some girly Basic Grey. And I started punching and cutting and matching and trimming and hemming and hawwing.

Basically, I ruined a bunch of perfectly good paper.

I walked away from my desk in disgust...twice. I think it was Einstein who said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

When I returned to sanity, this is what I made:

Hello! That's more like it. These look like they belong on Simplicity. Why? These have white white space, super simple colors that pop, off-the-edge stamping, rule of thirds, simple ribbon treatment, understated finishing touch with scalloped scissors to round the corners, and NO PATTERNED PAPER!

Generally speaking, patterned paper is just not me. I wish it were. But it's just not. And when I abandoned it, good things happened. Well, I think they're good. This doesn't mean I should never work with patterned paper again, of course. It just means that as soon as I realize things aren't coming together with it, I should flex to what I do best, which is basically taking nothing and making it look good.

Well, that is the goal, anyway.

A variation on the above bookmarks came to me as I was looking at the gingham ribbon scraps in my scrap ribbon jar. All these little pieces looked great, and the ribbon, though wide, is quite thin and unbulky. Is unbulky a word? Whatever. The point is, these will be easy to tuck into Christmas cards.

I used the sentiment "Life is short...read fast." I love this sentiment and have a number of friends and family who completely agree with it.

The final set of bookmarks varied the treatment of the gingham ribbon and wackily covered some of the white space. The sentiment on these says, "This is where I fell asleep." That's perfect for my mother and one of my uncles!

How-To Tips: The ribbon treatments are very simple and use some SU punches I've neglected. The first set uses the two-hole punch, which gives pretty small holes, so I used thinner ribbon. Thread both ends from front to back through each hole, then thread the ends back to the front through opposite holes. Trim the ends as shown. The second set of bookmarks uses the slit punch and a very simple knot. All the corners were rounded with scalloped scissors. The third set is pretty self-explanatory. The punched circle is adhered with a glue dot and pretty flat. Bookmarks are a perfect project for getting rid of off-cuts of cardstock and ribbon scraps. The first two sets are 5.5" tall and 1.75" wide. The third set is 4" tall and 1.75" wide.

Design Discussion: As a bibliophile, I am very picky about bookmarks. Bulky, bumpy, lumpy bookmarks can damage books. I've seen some pictured in magazines and online that have gemstones or brads or bows on the part of the bookmark that goes inside the book.

"The horror! The horror!"

Okay, so I'm a bit melodramatic about it, quoting Kurtz and all, but seriously, real book lovers don't want lumps and bumps on their bookmarks.

Happy Monday, y'all.

Three Things

1. Thanks so much for all your kind comments about my son Jack's progress last week. Y'all are so sweet!

2. Several of you commented that you liked the clean look of Simplicity, with no blinkies, wallpaper, or music. Blogs are a very personal representation of an individual's vision, and I'm so grateful there are so many different, individual looks out there. Everyone is bound to find something that's appealing to them in the world of stamping blogs! Simplicity's minimalism is extremely deliberate, so thank you for noticing.

3. Edie3 asked how I decide color choices. There are lots of things I think of when it comes to color: mood, energy, appropriateness to theme of the card, etc. For instance, every time I make a red and white Christmas card with the word Peace on it, I wonder if red is a color of peace. I actually fret over it. Happy cards usually get happy colors (brights), sympathy/thinking of you cards get soft colors, thank you cards can be anything. Also, I get color inspiration from all over the place (nature, Target, magazines...especially the ads and covers, etc.) and enjoy playing with unexpected colors (such as my pink Christmas card). Mostly, I keep cards either monochromatic (multiple shades of a single color) paired with a neutral or two colors and a neutral. More colors than that, and I start getting hives. Although...doing rainbow cards (six different brads in a row, for instance) is fun. Hope that answers your question, edie3!

Proportional Matting

Question from Yesterday: DonnaK asked where I buy Twinkling H2Os. I bought mine at Marco's Paper, a brick and mortar store in the Dayton area. But you can find them at the big craft stores (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's) and buy with a coupon!

Now on to today's post, which hopefully Blogger will post in a timely fashion....

Today's Tip is one of those that, on the one hand, seems like a no-brainer, but, on the other hand, makes life so much easier!

After getting sick of doing the same math over and over, I made a simple, handwritten index card, which I posted on my bulletin board right over my workspace, with a list of dimensions for cutting stamped panels to matte evenly on a standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card. It lists the sizes for cutting panels in quarter-inch increments. (Those of you who live in countries where "standard" is different can easily adapt this idea for yourselves.)

I typed it up for those of you using American measures. Hopefully, you can save it and print it for your own use.

If I cut a 4 1/4" x 3" stamped, panel, for instance, all I have to do is move up a quarter inch to get the measurements for a 1/8" matte all the way around the stamped panel. For a thinner 1/16" matte (as on yesterday's card), it's easy enough to just add 1/8" to the dimensions of the stamped panel.

I hope this makes sense.

And here is a happy CAS card that utilized this little chart.

Design Discussion: Please note how I rooted the flowers in the open space provided by the sentiment. I just love the way that looks!!!!
Supplies
stamps: Shady Tree Studio
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU brilliant blue
accessories: dimensionals.

Personal News: My son Jack, who has high-functioning autism, was released from private occupational therapy Wednesday! After four years, he's finally functionally appropriate for fine motor and hand-eye coordination! YIPPYYYYY! He continues to receive OT through our school district, but this is a wonderful milestone for him to meet...and one less regular therapy session to cart him to! His developmental pediatrician saw Jack yesterday and is blown away by his progress. Jack truly has blossomed in the past six months. He's even one of the best readers in his regular 2nd grade class! Needless to say, we're on Cloud 9 around here right now, and I just had to share!!!

Extreme Papercrafting

This weekend, let's take a look at something completely different...a sort of walk down my memory lane of crafting.

I made reference in my last post to making over 100 ornaments a few years ago (four, I think). Anyway, these were miniature books because, for some crazy reason, I figured people would appreciate little, tiny Christmas books to hang on their trees, handmade by me, the Book Worm. These were actually a gigantic hit with my family, but I was crippled for months afterward with wrist pain and numbness in my hands.

Sometimes, extreme crafting is hazardous to your health.

I kept a sample of each ornament for my own tree. Some are, well, embarrassing. Others are pretty cool, like this one:



It was the most technical of all the books I made. I used different papers for the covers because what's the point of making them all the same? I loved the swirly green paper and the sparkly sheer ribbon, until I hung it on the green tree and it disappeared. The holly paper below shows up much better.


Inside, these are accordion folded with pockets holding little cards stamped with words like love, hope, manger, star, etc. The idea is to meditate on one word for each day of the 12 days of Christmas. I made these long before the scor-pal was available. They'd be easier now, but not by much.



Having to tie and untie the bow, however, is a pain in the tookus, so on the remote chance I ever do book ornaments again (on a much smaller scale, of course!) I will use other types of closures, like elastic loops.

Next are little stab-bound books for collecting each year's Christmas postage stamps. These use scraps of ultrasuede for the binding. The idea comes straight from a book on book binding. Ultrasuede is expensive, but a fabric company my MIL told me about sells bags of random small cut scraps for cheap. I had to match paper to the grab-bag fabric, so some were pretty funky colors for Christmas. I like this orange one, though.

I had a pretty big scrap of black ultrasuede, so I made about five or six like this gold and black one:


Here's the inside, so you can see the point of the book.

Can you believe that we used to pay just 34 cents to mail a first-class letter?

Book binding is fun, but it is much more technical and complicated to learn than card making. The stab binding above requires an awl (danger! danger!), and the gluing of paper on bookboards is tricky and messy. You have to align the grain in the matte board and papers and fabric to keep boards from warping, and everything is glued using PVA glue completely covering the paper, which curls awkwardly when wet. Mitered corners, end papers, needles, and lots of cutting...definitely not clean and simple.

If anyone is interested in giving book binding a try, let me know and I'll post titles of the books that helped me the most. It is both challenging and fun, and once you master the basic techniques, it's really not that hard...if you're a detail-oriented AR/OC type. *wink*

I'll post a couple more of these tomorrow, and then we'll resume CLEAN AND SIMPLE CARDS, because I have a few new cards to share that I hope you'll like!

More Shadowbox Ornaments

As promised yesterday, here's my sparkly circular shadowbox snowflake ornament.



Isn't it beautiful! The glitter paper is from Doodlebug (bought at Hobby Lobby) and is the perfect weight--heavy enough for an ornament, but not too heavy for the punch.

The shimmer paper used on the ornament below is also lovely, if not quite so blingy.

Is blingy a word? I need more coffee.



Unfortunately, this particular shimmer paper (don't know the brand) is way too thick for my punches. I almost broke the scalloped punch on it. THAT would be tragic.

At 11:30 last night, I had to admit to myself that I've become a bit obsessed with making variations of these and need to rein myself in. Sheesh. Here are a few thoughts that have come out of making bunches of these.

1. If the top scalloped shape is a radically different color than the base, it bothers AR/OC me. I've made a few red and white ones, but the fact that the white base peeks out behind the real red top layer distracts. If you are not AR/OC, you are soooo lucky.

2. Having Nesties would make this SO much easier. Also, those cool Nestie label shapes would make great ornaments, don't you think? Not having just the right size punches and a fun variety of shapes is frustrating and limits what I've been able to do.

3. Limits are good things.

4. Disregard #3. I'm just trying to comfort myself.

5. Green ornaments don't show up on green trees. Yes, I'm a master of the obvious, but when the tree isn't right in front of you, this truth is easy to forget. Several years ago, I made over 100 ornaments for gifts, and at least half were green. I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but I rarely make the same mistake twice. [My husband would disagree. But he's a dude. What does he know?]

6. Just in case you think I've forgotten about cards, consider this very CAS Noel card I made months ago and forgot to post. I used Elegant Eggplant because I had a scalloped oval already punched and begging to be used.



I intended to put gemstones on the dots, but all my purple gems were too big, and my purple Stickles is the wrong shade. What was I saying about limits? The tiny clear gems looked too garish, so I left it alone. You could easily mass-produce these for Christmas thank you notes. I always need tons of those.

Thanks for sticking with this post all the way through. If you make variations on these oranments, I'd love it if you link to them in the comments here. I really do think the sky's the limits with this very basic idea. Adding a transparency layer to make shaker ornaments, varying shapes and colors and focal points, getting creative with the hanger.... The possibilities boggle the mind!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies for Card
stamp: PTI Merry and Bright Additions
ink: elegant eggplant
paper: PTI white, SU elegant eggplant
accessories: SU scalloped and oval punches, dimensionals

Shadowbox Ornament Tutorial

Prepare to be dazzled by my awesome photographic skillz, folks.


Isn't sarcasm fun?


What We're Making

Supplies You'll Need
punches:
pink marvy scalloped square
1 1/4" square
holly

paper:
whisper white
textured green

accessories:
red gemstones
glue pen
dimensional tape
waxed paper
white embroidery floss

STEP ONE
Punch a 1 1/4" square in white cardstock. Make sure to punch the square in far enough that the scalloped punch will fit around it.



STEP TWO
Turn the scalloped punch upside down and center the punched square inside the scalloped punch and punch it out. If you punched the straight square too far in from the edge, simply trim the paper slightly until you can get it centered properly. It helps to have good light directly over the punch so there are no shadows, which can cause you to punch off-center. Ask me how I know.




STEP THREE
Punch a scalloped square from white cardstock.


STEP FOUR
To keep the dimensional tape as sticky as possible and make it easier to cut and handle, put a small strip on a piece of waxed paper. Using scissors, cut the strip into four thin strips, and tear each strip off, line it up on the double-punched square and trim to fit, then remove the waxed paper and adhere. Technically, I suppose you don't have to do this, but the tape is much easier to handle this way, and you don't have to be so precise in measuring.




STEP FIVE
Apply each strip to one side of the square with the center punched out. Peel off one strip's backing and adhere the ends of the white floss to the center of the ornament. I used the end of the tweezers to push the floss down into the tape firmly.


STEP SIX
Remove the remaining backing and adhere to the solid scalloped square, making sure to align the scallops.



STEP SEVEN
Punch the holly from green textured cardstock, and using a glue pen, glue it to the solid scalloped square.



STEP EIGHT
Add two small red rhinestones.



STEP NINE
Admire your lovely work!

Variations: The other holly ornament I made had two layers of tape, which I really don't feel is necessary unless your focal point is very, very dimensional. This ornament works with circles as well (though the square looks better with this holly punch...trust me, I tried!). Tomorrow I'll post a snowflake ornament made with circle punches and sparkly paper. Sweet!!!

A Mess and a Very Clean Ornament

Some people seem to have the mistaken impression that my craft area is all, like, you know, CLEAN all the time. Here's what it looked like yesterday afternoon:

Still think I'm hopelessly AR/OCD? Of course not. I tell you in all honesty that I'm only a LITTLE BIT AR/OCD. Years of living with my DH, aka "Pig Pen" have had their effect. Here's the proof.

The details of this mess would take a year to explain, so I'll just point out that what looks like harvest candy corn in the foreground (near the purple marvy punch) is, indeed, candy corn. Sugar-flavored wax is one of my many bad habits, but I don't like the fake chocolate flavored ones in the mix. That's why those are still sitting on my desk this morning, along with the rest of this mess.

Out of all this chaos and sugar rush came this shadowbox ornament:



Be still, my heart! Wouldn't a set of these make the perfect accompaniment for the Ode to Holly card? Of course it would! I'll just make sure to use the same textured CS for the ornaments and curl up the edges of the holly. Happy sigh.

I'm going to post a tutorial on these later this week, after I manage to buy some decent straight square punches. My stash contains the Creative Memories punches for 3/4", 1", 1 1/4", and 1 1/2". Until now, I've been happy with them, but they don't punch deeply enough into the paper to work for this technique, so I had to cut this square by hand with a quilt ruler and craft knife.

You can imagine how this irritated me.

Must. Make. It. Easier!

And then I'll share. Isn't it just so CAS?!?