Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration Blog: Gift Bags and Wrapping

Happy Wednesday!  I know we're all busy getting ready for the holidays and of course that means gift giving and wrapping.  Today over on the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration blog we're sharing some fun and easy gift wrapping ideas that are sure to WOW any recipient.  Today I'm sharing two of the projects we made at last months Gift Wrapping class.  The first box uses the Tag A Bag Boxes along with the Winter Frost Specialty DSP.  I love that these boxes come with the clear plastic sleeves so they make gift giving so easy.  For the decorative belly band I wrapped a piece of the DSP around the box and then added a lolly made with the Simply Scored Board and DSP, Silver Foil, and two snowflakes stamped with the Festive Flurry stamp set and coordinating Festive Flurry Framelits.  I added some Smoky Slate Chevron Ribbon and Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon as accents.  The tag uses the Tags 4 You stamp set and was punched out with the coordinating Label Bracket Punch.

The second item is a decorative gift bag and gift bags really are such a perfect item for wrapping all those odd shaped gifts.  I started with just a plain white gift bag and added a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock, Old Olive Cardstock (that was embossed with the Big Shot and Snow Flurry Embossing folder, and the Season of Style Designer Series Paper.  A piece of Baked Brown Sugar Ruffled Ribbon is a perfect way to cover up the paper edges and adds a perfect accent.  The little reindeer is stamped with the Color Me Christmas stamp set and colored in with Stampin' Write Markers (this would be a great project for your kids to help out with and would make the bags extra special).  I used the Big Shot and Deco Labels Framelits to cut out the reindeer piece and the coordinating mat.  The final touch was to make the tag, which was stamped with the Joy to the World stamp set, cut out with the Chalk Talk Framelits and tied to the gift bag handle with Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon.

 

I hope this gives you a few ideas to help take your gift wrapping over the top this year and reduce your stress.  Still looking for more ideas, make sure to check out the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration Blog for other ideas.

 

Enjoy,

 

Diana

 

 

Stylin' Stampin' Squad September Blog Hop: Favorite Tools

 Thank you so much for joining us for the September Stylin’ Stampin’ Squad Blog Hop! This month we are focusing on the tools of the stampin’ trade. Specifically, each of our favorite stamping tools. It’s amazing the kinds of tools that have been created to help us along in our paper-crafting addictions. This month’s blog hop will showcase many of the Stampin’ Up! tools that are now available to us in the 2013-2014 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Holiday Catalog and even a couple of products that are so new they aren’t in either catalog. We hope you enjoy seeing how we use the old and new tools and are inspired to come up with some great projects of your own.

You should have just left stop number 11 on the Stylin’ Stampin’ Squad blog hop – Bree R. of Craft-somnia.  If so, you are in the right spot. If a link doesn’t work or you get off track, you will find the full blog hop lineup below.

My favorite SU tool is by far the Big Shot and when they released the new Thinlet card dies earlier this summer I knew I was in heaven!  I instantly decided I was going to use these for our family Christmas card and I've already finished making 70 of them. Shortly after the dies were released Patty Bennett, a fellow demonstrator came up with a great way to use the die to make an extended card (see Patty's card and tutorial HERE).   There are two different Thinlet card dies, the circle and label cards.  In addition to the card cut out, each set as several other thinlet pieces, including sayings, arrows, banners, etc.

 

For my first card I used Patty's technique and the Circle Thinlet card die to make this cute birthday card.  The cardbase is Melon Mambo and I added a piece of designer series paper from the Quatrafancy Speciality DSP package to the right side, along with strips of Silver Glimmer paper on both panels.  I also added a stripe of Island Indigo cardstock that was embossed with the Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder.  The greeting is from the Make a Wish stamp set and was punched out with the 2 1/2" circle punch.  I also added a cute little cupcake using the Create a Cupcake stamp set and coordinating Cupcake punch.

When you open up the card there's a cute birthday cake from the Bring on the Cake stamp set and I used the Photopolymer stamp set to stamp the recipients name on the card.  The birthday greeting is also from the Bring on the Cake stamp set.  I have to say these cards are a lot of fun and it gets really addictive to keep adding little elements to is, love it!

The second card I have for you uses the Label Thinlet card die and is a really simple Christmas Card.  After cutting out the card with the die I embossed the right side with the Snowflake Embossing folder.  I added a strip of Winter Frost Specialty DSP to the left side.  The greeting is from the Joy to the World stamp set and the thinlet card die set includes the framelit to cut out the insert for the flip piece.

 I kept it really simple on the inside and just stamped a snowflake on the inside flip piece with the Festive Flurry stamp set and added a rhinestone to the center of the snowflake.  This shows how the second card looks but you can really keep them as simple or as detailed as you want.

I hope you enjoyed my projects for this months hop and you've fallen in love with the Thinlet card dies as much as I have.  They're so much fun, you'll want to use them for every card.

Make sure to continue on to the hop, Jennifer is next and you won't want to miss what she's created.

Enjoy!

Blog Hop Participants:

1. Shellie G. of Craft Smashup
2. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
3. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
4. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
5. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
6. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
7. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
8. Justin K. of JK Cards
9. Heidi B of Stuck on Stampin'
10. Jennifer B. of NW Stamper
11. Bree R. of Craft-somnia
12. Diana E. of Stampin' Fun with Diana
13. Jennifer C. of Happy 2 Scrap 4 Life
14. Jamie H. of Unique Ink
15. Kristina M. of Mama's Sanity
    
    
     

Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration: Scrapbook Sketch Challenge

Good evening friends!  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend, we've officially started our beach vacation and are so excited for a nice, restful getaway.  Don't worry, I'll be sharing several projects with you this week so you'll still have lots of inspiration.  Today I'm sharing the a scrapbook page I made for this month's scrapbook sketch challenge on the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration blog.  There are some great ideas on the blog so make sure to take the time to check out the other ideas.  I stayed pretty close to the sketch design for this one since it worked perfectly for a Christmas page from Aidan making his annual gingerbread house. 

 

The cardbase is Crumb Cake and I used the Six Sided Sampler stamp set to randomly stamp the hexagons all over the background. I also used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and Early Espresso ink to stamp the little splatter.  The designer series paper is the Season of Style DSP and has some wonderful non-holiday specific images.  I used the DSP for the flags in the top left corner along with the decorative strip cut from the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die.  The pictures are matted on Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler cardstock and the journaling block is Whisper White.  I also added an Old Olive button with an Early Espresso Baker's Twine bow as an accent to the journaling block.

For the title I used the new Joy to the World stamp set and cut it out with the Apothecary Accents framelits, and trimmed along the top and bottom to make it a little shorter.  Cute little Neutrals candy dots accent the edges.  Isn't that little banner accent cute?  I used the new Label Thinlit die to cut it out and it's great since it includes the score lines so it makes it a breeze to cut and fold.  The final touch was to add three rhinestones in different sizes since everyone loves a little bling (Aidan loves to use rhinestones on his projects!)

This page turned out so fun, I love it.  I have to admit I don't scrapbook nearly enough and it's one of the things I've been working this year, I would love to get "caught up" if that's possible.  I hope you enjoyed this page and you could certainly use this sketch for a card or other project just as easily.

 

Happy stamping,

 

Diana

August Just Cards Class Projects

Good morning friends!  I'm loving the continued cooler weather we're experiencing this month (very rare for August) so I want to make sure to enjoy it while it lasts (lots of walks/runs outside, working in the garden, and enjoying time with friends and family).  I'm also really excited to share with you the projects for this months Just Cards class which will be this Sunday, August 11 at 2:00 PM.  We'll be making lots of fun card using items from the newly released Holiday catalog as well as all occasion cards.   

 

There is still time to RSVP so please let me know no later than Friday, August 9 if you want to come to reserve your spot.  When you register please don't forget to let me know if want the Christmas card add on option.  It'll be a fun, relaxing afternoon of stamping, can't wait!

Hope to see you Sunday!

Diana