- a little of this, a little of that, but mostly stamping and Copics

During the holiday season a lot of traditions get dusted off and brought into the light. One of mine is to create handmade little gifts for co-workers, neighbors (old and new), and the customer service folks I use (post office, UPS, my favorite grocery store clerks, my pedicure diva). Some of you might give gifts to your children’s bus drivers and school teachers. Those little gifts can add up, so any time I can find a bargain, I am a happy stamper.

These tins were a find at only 23 cents for six. The mega scalloped circle just fit on the lid. I will fill some with a little candy and others with small embellishments.

Stamps: TAC Christmas Circles; Paper: TAC Penelope patterned paper and cardstock; Inks: Palette Jardin Moss (for the tag) and Violette (for sponging the edges of EVERYTHING); Accessories: Mega (pink) Scalloped Circle, Super Jumbo (blue) Scalloped Circle, and Extra Jumbo (yellow) Circle punches; Stickles (Holly, Gold, and Icicles); TAC Penelope ribbon; pop dots.

Stamps: TAC Joy of Christmas and TAC Sweet Goodies; Paper: TAC Amelia patterned paper (bottom square layer) and cardstock (everything else); Inks: Palette Jardin Moss; Accessories: Mega (pink) Square and Super Jumbo (blue) Square punches; TAC Antique Copper hardware; Crop-A-Dile; bling from my stash; TAC Amelia satin ribbon; Technique: create a one sheet box from a 6×12 piece of cardstock (instructions used were from Teresa Payne’s contribution to the Halloween issue of the Scor-Pals newsletter found here).

I know, I know, this doesn’t look very Christmas-y. However, it is a darling tag for a gift bag and by merely changing the colors of papers and ink used, this tag will suit any occasion. The splitcoast stampers website has a tutorial for the dahlia fold, but I recently visited a local stamp convention and the After Midnight booth used a different technique to create their dahlia petals (using the Spellbinder Wizard and Nestabilities scalloped circle dies). I promise I will have a step by step tutorial of that version posted in a couple of days (but using punched scalloped circles as I do not have the nestabilities).

Stamps: TAC Fancy Curls and TAC Just Because; Paper: TAC Brighten My Day 8×8 patterned paper; Inks: Palette Claret; Accessories: Mega (pink) Scalloped Circle and Extra Jumbo (yellow) Circle punches; CropADile II Big Bite; Super Tacky Red Tape; large brass brad; adhesive rhinestone; misc manilla tag from my stash; Technique: Use the yellow circle punch on scrap cardstock to create a small circle to which the dahlia petals will attach; fold the circle into quarters and then unfold (the folds will help to identify placement of the individual flower petals). Use the pink scalloped circle punch to punch out 4 scallop circles; after folding the 4 circles into petals (tutorial I PROMISE to follow in a few days), cut them in half to have a total of 8 petals to arrange on the small circle.  Attach the brad through the center of the arranged petals; attach the flower to the tag using the Super Tacky Red tape.

Another tradition (which actually should be a  year-long tradition, not just used during the holidays) is to create and send thank you cards for gifts received from friends and relatives. If someone is fortunate to receive a lot of gifts, that means a lot of thank you cards. In my blurfing, I discovered a fabulous trick that does not empty your bank account when creating a lot of cards. Patty Bennett creates 4×4 cards and sends them in regular A2 sized envelopes (not square envelopes). She saves $$$ on postage by using a normal envelope and she saves $$$ by creating four 4×4 cards from a 12×12 piece of cardstock. Use up the scraps of paper and cardstock that you cannot bring yourself to toss, and make your mom (and Emily Post) proud.

Stamps: TAC Holiday Collages and TAC Just Because (words); Paper: TAC Reece patterned paper and cardstock; Inks: Palette Bordeaux; Tsuineko Versamark; Accessories: Super Jumbo (blue) Square punch (to create the faux ribbon tail using Heather Scott’s trick from this post); Perfect Pearls (Metallics set); pop dots; postage stamp scissors from my stash; misc eyelets from my stash and the CropADile to set them; Technique: stamp the main image using Versamark ink, then brush on the Perfect Pearls color(s) of choice; lightly buff the image with a used dryer sheet.

But I have a confession regarding those 4×4 cards. I just could not get my act together before my first class. So I threw myself in front of the bus and asked the first class to take my supplies from my project box and create. Click here to see what they (my heroines) created for me. 

Posted on November 17th, 2008 by kellyrae
Filed under: Card samples