Constantly Stamping

Jingle All The Way Plate

This is a plate that I picked up a few years ago at the Lillian Vernon outlet store here in Nashville. I added a beautiful red silk wired ribbon that I purchased from Trees N' Trends around the edges and small red "Jingle All The Way" (#114707) from Decor Elements for only $4.25. The words look like they are pink in the photo, but in reality are are Real Red. I finished it off with some beautiful picks that I purchased at various local craft stores and set it on a plate stand. I think I am giving this one away as a Christmas gift.

This was a super easy project. Note: Southern Living at Home used to carry a similar "Dress Me Up Plate", but I am not sure if they still have it available.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tree Triangle Ornament

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so excited to have my husband home with us. This time last year he was serving with the Army National Guard in Iraq. We are truly thankful for the many blessing that God has given us and especially for his safe return.

I know you are probably getting tired of these triangle boxes, but I just had to show you just one more. This box was made from 1/2 sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" Old Olive CS. This is probably the most challenging of the boxes that I have made. It is difficult to see, but the layers of the tree are puffed up using dimensionals. Each layer was punched with the Scallop border punch and sponged with Old Olive ink on the edges. The star is punched with the small star punch from More Mustard CS.

The box was cute without anything, but I decided to add several multi-colored rhinestones that I picked up at Michael's Arts & Crafts a few weeks ago. You can't tell from the picture, but it really makes the box twinkle just like Christmas tree lights. I have to admit, although this box took a little more effort, I think it is my favorite of all the triangle boxes that I made so far.

Happy Holidays!

Santa Clause Triangle Ornament

A few weeks ago I showed you how to make a triangle box. Well, I was out on Splitcoast looking around and found this cute little santa box by Samantha Parisi just begging to be CASED. I used 1/3 of a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11 Real Red Cardstock to make the base. You can see the triangle box tutorial on SCS here. My box is slightly different. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put wiggly eyes on him.

You should check out Samantha's blog. She has some of the cutest things I have seen all made with punches.

Top Note Pumpkin Centerpiece

I was out on Splitcoast last night and found this cute treat bag my mochagirl and it inspired me to make this centerpiece.

I will just tell you from the start that this isn't a difficult project, but it is somewhat supply and labor intensive. This pumpkin uses 4 sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" Pumpkin Pie card stock. You will need to cut 16 top notes and score 8 of them in half. Then cut about 1" from the center of the other eight (this will give you 16 half pieces). Before you begin assembling this project, you will want to sponge all the fronts with Really Rust ink. (This is what takes the most time.)

After everything is ready, use Tombow Multi adhesive to put the top notes together in sections and allow time for each section to "set" before adding the next piece. To do this, put adhesive on the back of half of a folded section and glue it to the back of half of the next section. If you are unsure about how to do this, you might use temporary adhesive to temporarily assemble your pumpkin. Use clips to hold everything in place while you move on to the next section. I put mine together in two sections. This way I could insert the stem, leaf, and vine before putting it all together.

Before you put the two sections together, you will want to add the center sections of each piece. I aligned these pieces with the bottom tips of the pumpkin to give the finished pumpkin stability. Now you are ready to assemble the two pieces together. Be sure to insert the stem, leaf, and vine first. The stem is cut from Close to Cocoa CS and sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. The leaves are cut and sponged from Old Olive using the Leaves #2 die. Your first pumpkin will take about one hour from start to finish. As you gain confidence, you could make more of these in a shorter amount of time.

Holiday Treasures Envelop Box with Cards

I found a tutorial a few weeks ago on how to use the SU scallop envelop die to make a box. I had already been toying around with the idea myself, so I figured I would try this box and I was very pleased with the results. Here is a link to the tutorial by Dannie Graves.

I used Old Olive CS and the beautiful paper from the Holiday Treasures Collection for my box. I also added a handle using a 1 1/4" x 12" strip of card stock with some of the wide Rose Red double stitched grosgrain ribbon. The box went together fairly quickly, but I ran out of sticky strip about the time I finished putting the box together (whew).

In addition to the box, I made three cute little 3x3" gift tags to give as gifts.

Have a Great Day!
Connie

 

Holiday Treasures Pennant Cone

This is another pennant cone that I made using Not Quite Navy card stock and Holiday Treasures designer series paper. For a tutorial on how to make this cone from the SU Pennant Banner die you can go here.

For this cone I added Rose Red and Old Olive felt flowers from the Flower Fusion Kit. I used Rhinestone Brads for the flower centers and attached them to the cone with dimensionals.  Pop-up Glue Dots would probably work better on felt, but I was out so I used the next best thing.

I set my Crop-a-dile depth to about 1/4" on the smaller of the two punches for evenly spaced holes on the scallops. I added some of the Double-stitched Rose Red 1" ribbon for the handle and cut some thin strips of Old Olive CS for the excelsior.

I stamped "A Very Merry Christmas" in Rose Red from the "Punches Three" Level 1 Hostess Set and punched it out with the Square Scallop Punch.
I cheated and used my Paper Shapers 1 1/2" square scallop punch (not SU) to layer the sentiment in Rose Red CS. I attached it to the bottom of the cone using a jump ring. I also added some small sticky back rhinestones to the sentiment (not SU) to add just a little more  "bling" and to mimic the rhinestone flower centers.
Have a Blessed Day!
Connie

Pennant Banner Cone Tutorial

I was thinking about Christmas and how wonderful it would be to have some type of cone to hang on the tree when I came up with this idea. This cone is actually cut entirely with my Big Shot Machine and the SU Pennant Die.

I wanted to have a nice sized cone without using up a ton of paper. Here I used three sheets of my Real Red Designer Series Paper that were already cut 6"x6". This is a great way to use up those pads of paper that I had laying around from last year's level one hostess benefits.

Below I will show you how to make this adorable cone for Christmas or any other special occasion or holiday. These would be beautiful hanging on a tree, as a table favor, or hanging from the back of a chair or door knob.

Begin with three 6"x6" pieces of Designer Series Paper or Card Stock folded in half. (Note: if there is a pattern to the paper, be sure to fold paper in the proper direction to get the finished design you would like.)

Use your Pennant Die to cut two matching pieces of DSP from the bottom half of the larger pennant and one coordinating piece of DSP from the smaller pennant.

(Note: If you were to use the entire large pennant for this cone, it would be a very large cone and consume a tremendous amount of paper. That is why I chose to use only the bottom portion of the large pennant.)

Score the smaller pennant two (2) scallops from the top of the cone. This will be the portion that fold over and attaches to the inside of the larger pennant. Be sure to trim the excess portion of the flap before attaching it to the larger cone.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to trim the excess scallop portion of the two larger triangles so that the front and back are the same. I forgot to take a photo of this step, but it is an important one.

At this point, use some type of adhesive to attach the flap of the smaller triangle to the inside of the larger front portion of the cone. (I used Snail.) Be sure to add your eyelets at this next. It will be almost impossible to add them after the cone is put together. I used jumbo eyelets and my Crop-a-dial to attach them.

Now you are ready to attach the front of the cone to the back portion of the cone. Run a small bead of Tombo Multi Adhesive down the outside of the perforation marks and small dots of glue on each scallop and attach the front portion of the cone to the back portion.

 Once you have the scallops lined up perfectly, you will need to clip them in some way so that they don't move while the glue is drying. I think it is important to use the liquid glue because it gives you time to line up everything just perfectly and it is a really strong bond once it is dry.

Now you are ready to embellish your cone with ribbon and other goodies. I stamped a greeting and attached it to the bottom of the cone with a jump ring. I realized after I completed the cone that I didn't have any white ribbon (gasp) for a hanger so I used some 6" tulle (about 1 1/3 yards) for the bow. I really loved the festive look of tulle...so pretty.

Now, let's see what you can do. Leave me a comment and a link to your completed cone. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Connie

Season of Thanks Shadow Box

This is a shadow box that I created using Home Decor Elements. I purchased the box from Hobby Lobby and lined the back of the box with paper from the Juntos DSP collection. I was a little concerned that there isn't enough contrast between the background and the lettering. I think I should have chosen a lighter color of lettering or a lighter background...but we learn from our mistakes...so I just chalk this one up to experience.

If I had it to do all over again, I think I would choose the smallest sentiment and place it in the upper right corner of the frame. I would also have somebody hold the frame down for me too. Although this looks like a wooden frame, it is actually metal and is very lightweight. I had a little difficulty removing the transfer paper from the smaller letters because I had to use one hand to hold the box in place. With all my complaining, this is still a beautiful home decor piece. I can't take credit for the idea. I actually got the idea this summer at SU Convention.