Artful Avocations

Christmas Cheer(s)!

Don't these look good enough to drink?  Here's a fun little card to up your "Merry" factor! 

I used stamps from ACWP - Cocktail Party, Christmas Sayings, and Christmas Cheer.  The background is a precut card from DCWV's Glittered Christmas collection.  I stamped the glasses, olive, and holly with SU! Green Galore and the straw and candy cane with Pink Passion.  The liquid part of the drink is also stamped with green galore and pink passion, except I stamped them off once.  I colored the olive, holly, and berries with SU!  markers green galore, gable green, and pink passion.  The berries are dotted with crystal Stickels and the liquids are covered with a thin layer of it for sparkle.  The glasses are rimmed with lime green Stickels.  The ribbon is also from SU!  Cheers!  :D

Star Boxes

I just love these little star boxes!  They take some time to cut out and score, but I think they're worth it.  I start by using my printer to copy the patterns onto the backside of the cardstock I'm using.   (I set my ink quality to light for this.)  The next step is to carefully and precisely cut out the star boxes from the cardstock and score it on all the score lines.  Now, the hard part is over and the boxes can be folded up neatly into stars.  The tag was made using the scraps that were cut away when cutting out the stars.  The Merry Christmas and retro snowflake stamps are from the Christmas Sayings set from ACWP.  Now, here is the LINK for the patterns for the star boxes and the tree box from the post on November 17.  They are from Darcie's Country Folk.  The star box pattern pack comes with six patterns to create stacking boxes.  The tree box pattern pack comes with four sizes of tree boxes - note the package says there are three sizes, but there are really four!

The second picture shows the boxes before stacking.  I left one side open on each box to be able to fill them.

I hope you are all enjoying creating handmade gifts for your holiday gift giving this year.  Thanks for looking!

Snowman Gift Can

These clear paint cans from Stampendous are so much fun to decorate!  Here I used Winter Fun from ACWP to create a little snow scene.  The images were all stamped on Whister White cardstock from SU!, watercolored with SU! classic inks, cut out and adhered to the torn edge snow piece of Whisper White cs that is wrapped around the bottom of the can.  The snowflakes are also from Winter Fun and were stamped in SU! white Craft Ink.  (I can't find my white Stazon!!!  Yikes!  Time to clean up my work area.)  I inserted a sheet of light blue background paper, cut to size, and because of the way the lip on the lid area is, the blue liner sits away from the walls of the can.  It looks really cool and lends a 3-D look to the scene.  You can see the shadows of the snowflakes on the liner...I think it looks cool.  ; )
I used some Liquid Applique for the snow effects on all the images.  The ribbon on the handle is simply wrapped around the handle and tied at both ends.  Then a separate piece of ribbon was used for the bows.  The ribbon is from American Crafts.
The second picture shows the back of the can.
I'm not sure what I'm going to put in this can yet.  When I first started to make it I was thinking I would use it to package some hot cocoa mix with marshmallows to give to my neighbors along with homemade Christmas cookies, so I might end up doing that.  Thanks for stopping by.

Gift Box/Bag with Window

Here's another version of the same gift box/bag.  I just made it a little smaller than the dimensions Lauren  gave in her tutorial.  I had these pretty apple blossom soaps I wanted to wrap up for my Secret Santa recipient at work.  Every year for Christmas we draw names to see who we will be the Secret Santa of and during the last week of school before Christmas vacation, we leave a little gift for our person in the teachers' workroom.  Then on Friday, we have a luncheon and give a larger gift to our person and reveal ourselves.  It's a lot of fun and something we look forward to each year.
I used Provo Craft cardstock from their Christmas collection pad.  I used a Nestability to cut and emboss around the oval.  The soaps are in a cello bag, so I didn't need to use a window sheet for the window.  The tag is punched out with the large and small oval punches from SU!  A rectangle punch was used to make the holes to thread the ribbon through and the handle was punched with the keytag punch from SU!  The organdy ribbon is from my stash, but I think I got it at Michael's.  The Merry Christmas is from ACWP.  Thanks for looking!

Polka Dot Gift Bag/Box

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 
Here's a little gift bag/box idea that's super easy.  To make it even easier, Lauren Meader has posted instructions to make it with a Scor-Pal.  The big polka dot cardstock is from Provo Craft.  The other cardstocks are from Stampin' Up!, and the stamped snowflake and Merry Christmas are from the Christmas Cheer set from ACWP.  The little rhinestone stickers on the snowflake are from Amuse.  The scallop and circle punches are from Stampin' Up!
Thanks for looking.

Snowman Tree Box

If you're into exact cutting, scoring, and folding...this tree box is for you!  It takes a little time to cut out, but I think it's worth it.  I will post a link for the template next week.

All images are from ACWP.  I used micro twinkle stickers from Amuse to decorate the trees and dot the star.  Inks are Stampin' Up!  My window sheets are buried somewhere, so I used a transparency sheet for the window.

Have a great weekend!

Candy Cane Gift Card Holder

I'm not sure where the idea for this style of gift card holder came from, but I sure do like it.  My friend, Sue A., brought one over to show me that she made at our last SU! meeting, which I missed to attend a wedding that Jesse was in for one of his friends.

I like it because it's very simple to make.  In fact, I am going to be having some of my young (7 - 12 year old) papercrafting friends make it at our next after school papercrafting class.

I didn't spend too much time embellishing this, as you can tell, but just wanted to share the idea for those of you who haven't seen this one yet.

You get two of these out of one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock.  Start by scoring your card stock at 5-1/2" along the 11" length.  Then score 3" in from each end along the 11" length.  Now, cut the card stock so that you have two pieces 4-1/4 x 11.  Fold according to the second picture and adhere the center part together along the bottom to hold in the gift card.  Use the SU! word punch to punch the opening for the gift card and a small circle punch (3/4" used here) to make a thumb notch.  Round the corners with a corner punch if you like.  Punch some holes for a ribbon tie and you're done!

Images are from A Chemistry With Paper and card stocks and inks are from Stampin' Up!

How do you like my snowman candle holder?  I made this little guy several years ago when I split my time between designing patterns for cutting and painting wood and stamping.  He came in handy to help hold this gift card holder for the pictures.  :)

One more post for today coming up!

Holly Wreath

Here is the Holly Wreath from ACWP's Pointsettia and Holly set.  I love it's clean and simple lines...makes for easy coloring or watercoloring in this case.  The card stocks are from SU! and the striped card base is from Provo Craft. I used red Stickles for the berries and the "faux" brads in the corners.
Thanks for looking!

My Favorite Reindeer!

I just can't stop using this little guy.  I love using a little Twinkle Sticker for his nose too.  I really think they were made for each other.  I also used some red Stickles for the holly berries and the accent dots in the lower corners of the piece.  The stamps are from ACWP's Christmas Cheer and the inks and card stocks are from Stampin' Up!

Happy stamping!

Joy to the World!

It sure is hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here!  I'm getting into the Christmas spirit and playing with the Christmas stamps from A Chemistry With Paper.  I found this great holly ribbon at Michael's the other day and had to purchase a roll in each of the three background colors it comes in...white, as shown here, ivory, and a pale, kind of sage green....very pretty!  I thought it merged well with the DCWV designer papers I picked up on the same trip.  The sentiment stamp is from ACWP's Christmas Sayings set.  I sure am loving using these new stamps!  I have to tell you, I was never a fan of clear stamps until I found out the difference between the imported ones and the ones made in the USA.  The ones made here are actually acrylic and the ones made elsewhere are generally silicone.  The acrylic gives a very crisp image when stamped and holds up to all kinds of inks and cleaners too.  Thanks for looking!