Author Archives: Karen Fontinelle

Stampin’ Up! News You Can Use!

2018 Stampin’ Up! Online Extravaganza is coming soon!

Beginning Friday, Nov. 23 Stampin’ Up! will offer its special online sale! This year it will be certain products available on certain days – so every two days a new list of select products will be on sale from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Stay tuned for details! Just remember it starts on Black Friday, Nov. 23.

Don’t Forget! The beautiful Snowflake Showcase comes to an end on November 30!

Click to view in Online Store!

This beautiful suite of products is only available until November 30th and only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! (You will notice, unfortunately, the Velveteen Paper is sold out!) The end of the month is coming!!

WATCH THE VIDEO!

Coming December 5, 2018! New Craft & Carry Stamparatus Bag

You’re welcome to put this Stamparatus Bag (and maybe the Stamparatus® if you don’t have one!) on your Christmas List if someone special is looking for ideas for you! Just give them my email address with your Wish List of Stampin’ Up! products so they can contact me!

Have Fun Shopping Stampin’ Up! Online!

Snowman Gift Bag

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One of my favorite stamping projects to do is to recycle a gift bag I may have received in a store and decorate it for a certain occasion. You can also buy a package of these handled gift bags at the craft store. This white bag was perfect to make a Snowman Gift Bag!

I made this bag just a little fancier than you would need to, but I was having fun! Depending on your bag size, you will have to figure out your own measurements for the pieces on the bag. I punched two eyes with the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch and the mouth pieces with the 3/4″ Circle Punch. I snipped off edges of the circles to make them look a little bit like pieces of coal. The carrot nose is just cut by hand from a Pumpkin Pie Cardstock scrap.

For the scarf and the hat band, I used the Buffalo Check Stamp (a large background stamp). It is black ink stamped on Real Red Cardstock. Yes, it is a little tricky to get the larger piece of cardstock stamped with the Buffalo Check stamp and keep everything lined up but just fool around with it, you can do it! And it doesn’t have to be perfect! My snowman’s scarf is 1 1/4″ x 7 3/4″. Then I cut two smaller pieces and a circle to make something that looks like the scarf tied in a knot. I added one of the Gold Faceted Gems just for some bling.

The snowman’s cheeks are two 1 1/2″ circles punched from the Sparkle Glimmer Paper. To make it pink, I picked up some Real Red ink with a lot of water from my Aqua Painter and colored the Glimmer Paper.

I really wanted a hat on my snowman bag so I cut a 2 1/2″ x 9″ piece of Basic Black Cardstock for the brim and another smaller piece, 4 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ for the hat. It extends beyond the top of the bag, but there is still room to grab the handles. I added a strip of the stamped Buffalo Check Real Red Cardstock for the hat bang and a few sprigs of Garden Green Cardstock from the Sprig Punch. A few berries are punched with the small circles on the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.

Look through your bag of bags or in your craft stash and see if you don’t have some kraft shopping bags that you can decorate one way or another. Even if they have the store printing on them, you likely will cover that up with paper anyway.

Here is a Rudolph Gift Bag I made a while back and has been quite popular in this post. This gives you another idea for something you can make for the holidays.

Try decorating a few gift bags, maybe like this Snowman Gift Bag, to give to special people who will appreciate your efforts!!

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Thanksgiving Turkey Treats, Candy & Papercrafts Ideas

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When I think of Thanksgiving, I always think of these Thanksgiving Candy Turkey Cookie Favors I used to make back in the day when my kids were little……and even a few times in recent years when my kids were big! It was always an easy and fun thing to make for the Thanksgiving lunch at preschool for the whole class. Click on the link to find out how to make them!

Here are some fun Thanksgiving crafts and favors I made in past years! They may give you some ideas for things you might want to make to give away or have at each place for Thanksgiving. Just click the link below to go to that blog post with more information.

Thanksgiving Turkey Candy Favor

Thanksgiving Wine Bottle Tag

Thanksgiving Punch Art Turkey Candy Bar Wrapper

A Paper & Ribbon Thanksgiving Turkey Ornament

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Box

I hope you get some inspiration at the last minute with some of these ideas. You can substitute whatever paper you currently have.

ONLINE EXTRAVAGANZA STARTS SOON!

Online Extravaganza is coming next week! Deals start November 23 (Black Friday) through November 28. Check back on November 20 for more details.

Turkey Sour Cream Treat Holder For Thanksgiving

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I believe “sour cream treat holders” have been a staple since I started stamping so here is my Turkey Sour Cream Treat Holder! The basic concept is that this simple little treat holder is shaped like sour cream packets come in/used to come in?? The top side is closed one direction and the bottom side is closed another direction. They are very simple to make and very popular in the papercrafting world! You can make them for lots of occasions and decorate them to look like lots of different characters like this turkey. On Pinterest (of course!) I also saw a Pilgrim and an Indian that were very cute for Thanksgiving.

Here is the turkey sour cream treat holder from the side. Just be sure to put your treat inside before you seal up each end! If you have a paper crimper like we used to sell but you can probably still buy in a craft store, it is handy to use that along with adhesive to close up those ends, and it looks very decorative. I didn’t use mine on this turkey.

Here is a diagram from a past sour cream container in this post if you need more directions:

Make a roll out of the paper and adhere along the side.

After adhering one end, pinch closed the opposite end going the other direction (after putting in your treat!).

To decorate the turkey, die cut or punch some paper feathers. I used the leaf die in the Nature’s Roots dies. You can use any left shape or punch out ovals in different colors. The beak is just a hand-cut triangle over a fold. The waddle is just a die-cut heart or you can use a punch or just cut one out! For the eyes, just punch out two circles, like with the 1/2″ Circle Punch and then two smaller circles from the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.

So simple and yet you end up with a cute treat for Thanksgiving!

Be sure to check out the list of “Low Inventory” products from the Holiday Catalog that could potentially sell out soon.

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Thanksgiving Pumpkin Favor

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If you are looking for a cute little favor for Thanksgiving, look no further than this Thanksgiving Pumpkin Favor. It is just a little box in between two of the largest scalloped circle die-cuts and then decorated.

I started with making the little box. This is the size that worked to fit behind the scalloped circles die cut with the Layering Circle Framelits Dies. When the Big Shot first came out, we had a BIG scalloped circle steel die, so if you used that your box would need to be larger but I think you could easily do the calculations from this template. You could also use any circle if you didn’t have these dies. Here is the template for the little box. The paper is 4 1/2″ x 4 1/4″.

With the 4 1/4″ side up at the top of your Stampin’ Trimmer or Simply Scored Tool, score at 1″ from each side. Turn the paper so the 4 1/2″ side is up at the top. Score at 1 3/4″ and 2 3/4″. Then cut those flaps just up to the score line as you see in the photo. I like to cut mine on a slight angle to that bulky scored area doesn’t interfere with how the flaps fit together.

For the pumpkin pieces, as you see in the photo, I first die cut with the largest scallop circle, then ran it through the Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder. I think you could use almost any embossing folder, just to give the paper a little texture and interest. To get the flat bottom, although perhaps you could leave the circle whole, I marked one scallop and then I counted over 14 scallops and cut from one mark to another. That made the two circles even and matching.

After assembling the box, just glue the pumpkin pieces on each side. The handle was about 7″ long. I just glued inside but it might be nicer to adhere it to the box before adhering the pumpkin sides. Or use ribbon!

To embellish, I die cut various leaves in a couple of green colors, yellow, and orange, even Gold Shimmer Paper. I used the Seasonal Layers Dies and the Rooted in Nature Dies. Use whatever you have. I cut a variety so I could play and see which leaves I wanted to put on the pumpkin. If I made another favor I can use my extra leaves. I tied a bow with the new 3/16″ Braided Linen Trim and adhered it with a Mini Glue Dot.

For a Thanksgiving greeting, I turned to the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set, invaluable, in my opinion! I stamped the “gratitude” saying and cut out with the Classic Label Punch. I also made a flagged end with that punch. Then I just put some glue on the back of the one end and stuck it underneath the leaf.

I’m really happy how my Thanksgiving Pumpkin Favor turned out and I have filled it with candy and am taking it to someone this afternoon!

All Is Bright Christmas Handmade Tags

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Today I thought it would be fun to just make these All Is Bright Christmas Handmade Tags! Make it easy on yourself and just pull out a pack of designer paper where you have a lot of scraps and some coordinating cardstock. Get out a stamp set of greetings and go for it, maybe with a few punches and embellishments if you like.

I chose the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper from the Holiday Catalog just to use in small and little pieces to decorate the tags. For the tags, I punched narrow strips of cardstock (a smidge less than 2″ wide) with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch. I only chose Real Red and Garden Green Cardstock to use to keep it simple.

For the greeting, I only used the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set. This set coordinates with the Sincerely Santa Project Kit, but you can put it to good use without the kit. Or look in your stash and I’m sure you will find appropriate holiday greetings for making tags.

The first tag has three punched Christmas light bulbs made with the Christmas Bulb Builder Punch. The middle white bulb didn’t photograph well, but it is there! I used Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush on it, but then I couldn’t stop myself and put it on the red and green bulbs also. I added a little bit of twine for the string on the bulbs, glued down with teeny drops of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. The top of the bulb has Gold Foil punched with the same Bulb Punch. The background paper is the light bulb pattern in All Is Bright. And I stamped the “To: and From:” on a scrap of Whisper White.

The second tag is just stamped with the candy cane, snowflake and star stamp in the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set. I colored each design with my Stampin’ Write markers so each one could be a different color. Just “huff” (breathe) on the stamp after coloring on the stamp to remoisten so it stamps well.

The third tag is probably the easiest. Just stamp the greeting and adhere a tiny strip of designer paper at the bottom!

For the fourth tag, I stamped that candy cane, snowflake, and star stamp in Real Red on Real Red Cardstock. I stamped the greeting in Real Red, punched out with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, layered on a 2″ punched circle of Gold Foil, and that layered on the Starburst Punch piece (which was already in my scraps!) (The gold foil looks black in the photo!)

The last tag is easy also! Just use a strip of the stocking paper, tie a little ribbon around, depending on the location of the stockings, and stamp a little greeting to place at the bottom.

Then for all the tags, I just tied on some Garden Green & White Baker’s Twine. It could be whatever twine or ribbon or string that you have on hand.

That’s it! Five tags made in just a little while! And I used up scraps of designer paper without cutting into big beautiful sheets of paper!! You might want to make some extra fancy tags for certain gifts or people, but you might also remember that some people will not pay much attention to the tag on the gift and will just throw it away! So while you can make something pleasing to yourself and hopefully to them, don’t put all your effort into just gift tags!

If you want a whole coordinated fancier set of Christmas tags, purchase the Sincerely Santa Project Kit! Everything you need to make 30 tags is in the cute little tin, except for the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set. If you do not want to purchase the stamp set, you probably have a stamp set you can use of Christmas greetings.

Have fun making some Christmas tags!! Use what you have! Use it up! Then you can buy more!

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Santa’s Workshop Flocked Paper Christmas Card

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The Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Paper is special with the white flocking on one side of four of the sheets, so many cards you make are going to have that special effect! What a treat for the recipient!

This card starts with Poppy Parade Cardstock for the card base. You might wonder about Poppy Parade for a Christmas card, but it works! I cut just this little strip of elves carrying packages out of one of the sheets and placed it at the bottom of the card, layered on a piece of Garden Green Cardstock. The candy cane paper is actually the opposite side of the elves paper.

I used a greeting out of the coordinating stamp set, Signs of Santa Photopolymer Stamp Set, die-cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and layered it on a die cut scalloped oval from the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies. It seemed like the card still needed “something”, so I added a little bow with the Whisper White 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon and a couple of Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

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Stampin’ Up! “Shop By Project”

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Stampin’ Up! is testing a new feature called “Shop By Project” in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store! You can check out a project you like, and then find all the products you need to make that project right there on the page! This will make for a little easier shopping and give you card ideas or simply let you know the products that they used for that card.

You will find the “Shop By Project” category listed on the left side of the Online Store.

Stampin’ Up! OnStage (what used to be called Convention) over the past few days in Orlando has ended. Although I didn’t attend, I’ve been following some of the news coming out, photos, new stamp sets, make & takes! For a good time you should certainly consider signing up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and then attend these events! The ones I have attended over the years have always been fun and funny, friendly, exhausting and exhilarating, and mostly inspiring to see and be around so many creative ideas and people! The upcoming Occasions and Sale-A-Bration Catalogs look beautiful! If you want to look into joining Stampin’ Up!, just read HERE and HERE and ask me any questions you have! A good time to join will likely be after the holidays during Sale-A-Bration. Of course, any day is a good day to become part of Stampin’ Up!

Santa’s Workshop Snowman Christmas Card

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I was surprised to come across this snowman paper in the Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Series Paper, so I thought I would use it to make this Santa’s Workshop Snowman Christmas Card. I really liked making this card! This Santa’s Workshop paper has flocking on four of the sheets so that makes it extra special. The snowflakes in the die cut circle with the snowman are flocked as are the white stripes on the candy cane striped paper on the side of the card.

To make this snowman card, I had to cut into the sheet of paper to get this particular snowman so that I could use the Layering Circle Framelits Dies to cut it out. It was one of those necessary evils! Then I layered the snowman on a Poppy Parade Cardstock circle and layered that on a scalloped circle piece. That helped it stand out on the Poppy Parade dotted paper in the Santa’s Workshop package. The card base is Whisper White, but you could also use Poppy Parade.

I had this scrap of the striped pattern in the Santa’s Workshop Paper so I cut it for a little accent on the side of the card. I felt like it matched everything else on the card. The greeting is stamped from Itty Bitty Greetings and punched out with the Classic Label Punch.

The extra snowflakes are die cut from the Santa’s Signpost Framelit Dies. And for a final touch on the card, I added some Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels. They are listed as “Low Inventory” so if you want them, better order soon.

The Santa’s Workshop Paper is backordered, unfortunately, but should be in after Thanksgiving. When something is backordered you can still order it and they will send it out to you as soon as it is available. I think it is better to go ahead and order it then rather than wait until you hear it is back in stock.

Maybe this card will give you an idea for a cute Christmas card. You could change paper and images and use the same design. It’s time to make those holiday cards and projects!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online Today!

First Frost Flowers Holiday Card

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This First Frost Flowers Holiday Card is made for Christmas, perhaps a little untraditional looking, but just change the greeting and the same card could be for many other occasions! With the First Frost Bundle of stamp set and dies plus the beautiful Frosted Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper you will be making gorgeous cards and projects!

For this card, I started with the Gray Granite Cardstock for the base since I had already picked out this pattern of designer paper. All of this designer paper has a shimmer to it so it is gorgeous! I stamped some flowers with the First Frost Stamp Set and die cut with the Frosted Bouquet Framelits Dies. The flowers are stamped on Shimmery White paper to go along with the shimmer on the designer paper. The Shimmery White Cardstock is one of my absolute favorites!

Behind the flowers I have a Pearlized Doily. I also die cut some little sprigs with the Green Garden Cardstock. The greeting comes in the First Frost Stamp Set. Then you can die cut the shape with one of the Frosted Bouquet Dies. There’s even a tiny piece in the same shape that fits inside and merely embosses the shape. For a layer I just adhered the stamped piece onto Merry Merlot and trimmed it down myself.

I thought about adding a little pearl or something on the greeting but remembered that old rule, “Know when to stop!”

You can easily grab this Frosted Floral Specialty Paper and Bundle to make holiday cards or many other cards past the Christmas holidays!

Don’t forget!! Today, November 10th is the LAST DAY to sign up to get this November Paper Pumpkin Kit! This one is special in its plaid holiday box! It will make holiday crafting fun! Easy for you! Just open the box!

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN TODAY!

Don’t Forget! Sign Up For Paper Pumpkin To Get This Holiday Kit!

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The deadline is tomorrow, November 10th, to sign up for Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit that comes to you monthly in the mail! Each month is a surprise, but the majority of the kits are cards. When they design a special box like this, you KNOW it is going to be something good! This kit is the way to easy Christmas crafting!

If you want to know something about this kit, just email me at Karen@Karenstamps.com. Not sure it is a secret, but in case other people want to be surprised, I’ll tell you privately.

Join Paper Pumpkin and your kit will be mailed out mid-month. You hardly have to wait at all!

Each kit is $19.95 per month, and that amount includes the shipping. You get an exclusive stamp set with each kit, an ink spot for stamping, and all the supplies you need for the project. With your first kit, you will be sent a special acrylic block with which to mount your stamps. If you don’t care for the project, use the pieces to make something else! Each month other people post alternative ideas for the kits on the internet, so the ideas are endless. I often make some of the cards or whatever the way the kit is designed and then maybe I use the pieces to make something else or just a different design. It’s YOUR kit, you can craft how you like!

No risk, no obligation to continue for any amount of time. You can skip a month if you like without losing your account. You can even ADD kits if you want to gift someone with one or invite a friend over to craft with you!

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN TODAY!

YOUR NOVEMBER HOLIDAY KIT WILL BE MAILED OUT SOON!

Santa Clear Tiny Treat Box

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Looking for an easy way to make a little treat box? Look no farther than this Santa Clear Tiny Treat Box! I love the little Clear Tiny Treat Boxes that are so easy to decorate! Have them for a little table favor at each place setting, as a party favor, as a little decoration, or to hold a small gift or treat. So many ideas and you can decorate for any occasion!

For this treat box, I used the Santa’s Workshop 12″ x 12″ Specialty Designer Series Paper. This paper is called “Specialty” because it has some flocking on many of the images! It just adds a nice, surprise touch to the paper. You might be able to see in the photo that the Santa hat has some flocking on the little ball on the hat and on the brim.

These Clear Tiny Treat Boxes come flat and protected by a piece of plastic that you pull off. Then just crease the score lines and assemble the box. I cut a strip of a plainer pattern of the paper to wrap around the box. I find it best to estimate the length of the strip you need, then just wrap it around the box, holding it tightly while kind of creasing it with your fingers around each side of the box. THEN I use my Bone Folder to properly crease the lines. Sometimes this assures a better fit than prescoring it.

The particular Santa I chose can be die-cut with one of the Santa’s Signpost Framelits Dies. If you don’t own the dies, just cut out the Santa by hand with the Paper Snips. Adhere to the front of the box. I also added a ribbon tied around the box, the Poppy Parade 1/2″ Textured Weave Ribbon.

One of the fun things that happened accidentally was that if you look closely at the photo, you can see the images from inside the box on the opposite side of the paper band! It just happens to be cute little images that I happened to cut so that they would show.

Now all that’s left is to put some Christmas candy in the box or some shred and a little gift. Put a Thanksgiving image on the front and put at each place setting for your Thanksgiving dinner. It will be both a table decoration and party favor. Put a package or two of the Clear Tiny Treat Boxes on your order and have them on hand. You will be glad you did!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card

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If you are looking for a simple design for a Christmas card, this All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card is one idea. It’s simply a piece of designer paper, a greeting, and some gold embellishments. When you are making a stack of the same card to send out, you need something easy to duplicate over and over.

The card base is Shimmery White Cardstock with a layer of the Ornament pattern in the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper. I chose the Shimmery White Cardstock because it is not SO white, which I thought went better with the designer paper and the ribbon. I originally planned to have a layer of Gold Foil but I only had scraps left! Time to order more! However, that made for a slightly simpler card and I was able to use a scrap for just the right touch as an accent on the side. The Gold 3/8″ Metallic Edge-Ribbon is so pretty to use for a festive card.

The greeting is from the Merry Christmas To All Stamp Set. This set has so many holiday greetings and combinations of words to use for greetings. I chose the scripted “Merry” and a separate stamp “Christmas”. You can do that with this set! I stamped with Versamark Ink and embossed with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and the Heat Tool. Then I die-cut the greeting using the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. Just for something extra, put some Gold Metallic Thread behind the greeting and popped it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

If you just look at this card, at the basic design, you will see that it is an easy one to make. You could even turn it vertically, with a layer of designer paper, a strip of cardstock across the bottom or even down the side and a greeting in the middle. Try this exact All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card or make a similar design with different paper and greeting.

SHOP THE HOLIDAY CATALOG AT STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

Granny Apple Green Gift Bag For Thanksgiving

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As I was getting out my Thanksgiving decorations the other day, I came across a little gift bag I’d made last year out of designer paper. It was a little crushed so I decided to make a new one so here is my Granny Apple Green Gift Bag For Thanksgiving.

Part of my purpose was to use up this polka dot paper in the Halloween paper, Toil & Trouble Designer Series Paper. But if I made the bag with this paper, then the inside would have the Halloween designs. Maybe it doesn’t matter too much, but I decided to make this bag out of cardstock and then decorate with the designer paper because the design is not at all Halloween!

This is just a small little bag (and could be an open box) so it is perfect for just a little treat or maybe as a table favor at Thanksgiving or a hostess gift. It’s really just a basic template we have all probably used before. You can squeeze the sides in like I did in order to close the top. I punched two holes in the top for some ribbon to tie it closed. You could use a little clip like the Gold Library Clips or any of the other kinds of clips in the Stampin’ Up! Store.

The paper is 12″ x 6″. I used Granny Apple Green in the Brights 12″ x 12″ Cardstock Assortment package. It’s a little harder to get your hands on 12″ x 12″ paper today but you can buy the assortments and of course a big package of Whisper White 12″ x 12“. I scored the long side at 1″, 3 3/4″, 6 1/2″ and 9 1/4″. Then I turned the paper and scored at 2″ which makes the bottom flap. If you are using a patterned paper, pay attention to which direction the pattern is going! For the front and back sides, I adhered pieces of the Toil & Trouble DSP cut at 2 3/4″ x 4″. You could stamp on the cardstock without adding designer paper. Just do it before you assemble the box!

You’ll notice on the flaps I cut them on a diagonal a little bit. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but sometimes it makes it easier to fold things in if the tabs are just a little narrower. Sometimes that scored area gets things off kilter a little. After stamping or decorating the paper how you like, use something strong like Tear & Tape Adhesive on that side tab. Then fold the rest of the paper over to meet it so you can adhere it flat and not hold it up in the air to try to line everything up! Also adhere the bottom tabs.

Then just squeeze in the sides, put in your treat, and tie on some ribbon to close. This is what it should look like from the top.

For the front, I stamped a label outline from the Labels To Love Stamp Set on Granny Apple Green Cardstock and punched out with the Everyday Label Punch. I also stamped the greeting in the same set and punched with the 1 1/2″ Circle Punch. To add a little embellishment, added two Metallic Pearls to the sides of the label. I adhered the label with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

If you don’t want to make it a bag, don’t pinch in the sides and leave the sides all straight. You could add a handle or just put some “shred” inside and your treat or gift or insert a cello bag of candy or whatever! Lots of possibilities and all of them fun and easy when you make something like this Granny Apple Green Gift Bag For Thanksgiving.

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Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card

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Here’s my Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card that I made with the Winter Woods Stamp Set, the In the Woods Framelits Dies, and the Buffalo Check Stamp. I think it turned out kind of antique-looking or old-fashioned and I think I like the look for something different!

The card base is Garden Green Cardstock. The Real Red layer is stamped with the Buffalo Check Stamp, which is one big background stamp, as we used to call them. I usually find with these background stamps that it is better to lay the cardstock face down on the stamp itself which is laying on the table, stamp side up. Then I take a scrap of computer paper and place that over the cardstock being stamped. This way I can run my fingers all over the paper without getting inky fingers and I can make sure every portion of the large stamp inks the paper. I could also use the Stamparatus and stamp more than once if necessary to make sure everything was stamped well. If you stamp black ink on a piece of Real Red Cardstock, you get this red plaid design!

The tree from Winter Woods is stamped in Garden Green Ink and then die cut with the Big Shot and the tree framelit die. Of course the die leaves a narrow white border around the die cut tree, which I didn’t like against this red plaid background. I took a piece of Sponge and Crumb Cake Ink and lightly sponged the edges of the tree and even on top of the tree. This gave it a antique or aged look, not bright white. I also tied on some 3/16″ Braided Linen Trim to also give it that antique or country look. I added just three tiny little Red Rhinestone Jewels to the tree. I thought it needed a tiny bit of pizzazz but not much bling. These little tiny red rhinestones fit the bill!

The greeting is in the Winter Woods Stamp Set and is die cut with a Layering Oval Die and that layered on top of a scalloped Oval Die. I stamped it with Real Red Ink and also sponged a bit of Crumb Cake Ink to take away some of that bright white.

If you are looking for an easy card to make, something like this Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card will fit the bill!

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