Christmas-y Notes in a Little Box

Hello hello! It’s like 2 weeks ’til Christmas, and 2 days ’til Hanukkah  – how’s your holiday crafting going?? A while ago, in the thick of my card-production haze, I decided that what I absolutely needed to do–at that very moment–was to make something different. And then the Power Poppy 12 Days of Christmas December Challenge rolled in with some fabulous not-the-usual-cards-and-stuff inspiration. (Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out–click that link!)

So I’ve been dying to play with the Under Glass: Christmas Traditions set from Power Poppy, and what I came up with were some little holiday-adjacent notes that can be used for post-holiday thank yous, or for tucking into a gift, or as just something to send when you get an unexpected card and need to reciprocate (!!) I love the little scenes that you can put into the cloches, to create your own little world in there…

I colored these cards with colored pencils, in that same color palette I’ve been working with lately (below).

I’ve really enjoyed working with a few select colors. It seems to streamline how I choose to color each element of my projects (limited choices!), and I’ve learned a lot about shading/under coloring, because I can’t go looking for more colors to add in. Bonus: I can be lazy and just leave the pencils out on my table for a few weeks 😉

Once these cards were colored, I added sparkle with Stickles and Wink of Stella, but these cards can also be colored very simply. I just like to get all extra sometimes.

Oh, and the “Holiday Hello” sentiment is from Power Poppy.  The others are from a Waffle Flower set (“Heartfelt Thanks”) and Simon Says Stamp (“Thanking you for thanking me”). My notecards and envelopes came from Paper Source.

To contain and present my cards, I finally got to use my Gift Box die from Lawn Fawn.  While I’m only showing off three card designs in this post, the completed box is sized to hold six 4 bar-sized notecards and envelopes (that’s 3-1/2″ x 4-7/8″ or 8.9 cm x 12.4 cm). What’s really ingenious about the die set is that you use one die for both the bottom of the box and the lid! That’s because you also cut some paper corners for assembling the top, and therefore ensure a perfect fit! If that sounds confusing, Lawn Fawn has a video demonstrating how to use the set, and it’s really much simpler than it sounds.

I stamped Flowering Santa onto some grey cardstock, and colored him in with that same color palette. Of course, I needed some more sparkle, so I sprayed the whole thing with some shimmer spray, as well as stenciled on shiny aqua embellishment mousse around my Santa.  I also added some glittery Nuvo drops to the flower centers, and a glittery heat-embossed “Merry” sentiment.  Then I assembled the box lid and bottom, and packed it with the note cards.

This was a fun project to put together.  You can go as simple or as all-out as you want for decorating and coloring, and customize the contents for any recipient.

Peep-in-chief is Getting Hitched!

I’m so excited to be share the news: Marcella Hawley -creatrix of Power Poppy Stamps– is getting married to her beau Doug tomorrow!  The design team thought it would be fun to have a blog hop to wish her great happiness on her special day, as well as for future bliss together.

Marcella loves her gardens around her home: she affectionately calls them her “terrarium.” So there definitely needed to be plenty of blooms in what I made for the occasion.  As inspiration, I thought of a perfect late-summer day: sunny, gold-tinged skies and richly-colored foliage and flowers. The Power Poppy digital stamp Luminous Bouquet came to mind, so I printed that off and got to creating.

I ended up making two things! A sweet little keepsake box and a gilt-edged card.

For the box, I colored up that beautiful bouquet with colored pencils on kraft-colored cardstock, and then die-cut the image with Lawn Fawn’s Fancy Box die. I thought this made a perfectly-sized little token that could be used to hold a few dried petals from the bride’s bouquet or groom’s boutonnière, or maybe a few beads or bit of lace that got snagged during all of the merry making.  I lined the interior of the box with some thin aqua paper. Before I assembled the box, I heat-embossed the wedding date with gold on the inside of the lid.

Once the box was put together, I added a little more shine by swiping all of the edges with a gold-leafing pen.

The card has a border of bright gilding flakes, reminiscent of the rings exchanged during the wedding vows. The bouquet is colored with the same bright colors, and accented with some gold stenciling, and everything is glowy against the kraft; just like I imagine Marcella and Doug will be glowing on their special day.

I’ll be sending these paper crafts along to the couple, as soon as I finish this blog post! I had so much fun creating for the lady who makes such beautiful designs for us. Congratulations to Marcella and Doug, and to their family. Please take and share millions of photos!

Marriage is an amazing adventure,
even when you already 
know each other by heart…
Best wishes for all you have yet
to discover together!

Be sure to stop and see what lovely things the rest of the design team has crafted and penned to wish the Newlyweds-to-be the best wedding ever!  If you’d love to leave Marcy and Doug a special message, please leave that on the Power Poppy Blog – I know they will read each and every one of them!
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker
Jennifer Dove
Broni Holcombe
Cheryl Scrivens
Barb Walker
Nancy Sheads
Jessie Banks

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Mini Easter Bunny Boxes

I was inspired by an amazing diorama on Kittie Kraft to make these sweet little treats for Easter. As I was mass-producing and mailing these, I made my scenes a little simpler but you can go as detailed as you like.

I die-cut a small gable box as my base (specifically the Sizzix Carry-all Bigz XL, but Papertrey Ink, Clear & Simple Stamps and I sure other companies have similar dies), but the Treat Bag or the Candy Box from Lawn Fawn would look totally cute decorated in this way as well.

I cut out and assembled my boxes before decorating, using different pastel shades of 12 x 12″ Bazzil paper. I found that Sookwang tape (aka Scor-Tape) was the best adhesive for assembling these boxes: no mess and holds tight!

Next, I got to die cutting: bunnies, grass, flowers, eggs, butterflies and birds.  I used dies from Impression Obsession, Lawn Fawn, and a tiny EK success punch for the eggs.

Glitter paper made for sparkly chocolate bunnies. Patterened paper became already-decorated easter eggs.

I glued the components of each scene onto the sides of the boxes, and trimmed any overhanging grass or leaves.  I found that Glossy Accents held well, and even the tiny flowers stayed on through the mail. For tiny pieces, I applied the glue with a toothpick.

The large tags were cut from the Lawn Fawn Tag You’re It die, and attached with vintage seam binding. The stamp is from my LSS Paper Tales.

Dies Used:
Impression Obsession: Rabbit set, Stems & leaves, Tiny flowers, Small bird set, Butterfly set, Grass border, Hollyhocks, Tall grass
Lawn Fawn: Grassy border

Spooky Halloween Matchbook Candy Holders

I’ve made an exciting discovery:  the Sizzix Matchbook Notebook die makes a box that’s the perfect fit for a Ghirardelli square! I immediately gathered halloween papers and trims and set to creating.

I really got a lot of use out of my Tim Holtz rub-ons.  I like adding some spooky words and phrases to make sure the recipient knows that this is a scary treat.

To close the boxes, I attached eyelets and then tied a bow with some Lawn Fawn twine.

Glitter!

I’ve been waiting for a reason to use this 3D eyeball!

I actually hate siders, but put fear aside to decorate one box.  Maybe the “Poison” box will provide the bug spray??

Here’s a wicked witch, stamped and heat-embossed on plain card stock. Stamps are by Waltzingmouse.

My favorite “inside” decoration. The background is Distress ink.

 Ghirardelli makes a Pumpkin Spice Caramel square (delicious, btw) that would be seasonally appropriate, but any flavor square would make a nice “grown-up” treat for a friend.

Peep of the Week: Farmer’s Market Matchbox

Author Note: my matchbox was a Peep of the Week for August 22, 2014!

My entry for Power Poppy’s Peep of the Week is a little paper matchbox that features the Power Poppy Farmer’s Market stamp set.  Look at those gorgeous veggies!

The matchbox opens up to reveal a tiny glassine envelope full of seeds. You could, of course, put other small/flat gifts in there.  Maybe a set of labels or stickers? Or perhaps a card-making friend would love a handy box full of Vintage Seed Packet stamps?

I used the new Matchbox Die from Tim Holtz to cut the wrapper from Recollections 110lb card stock (I’m really liking this heavier paper that I can just grab from Michaels with a coupon. Coloring on it with my Copics has been a pleasure). I cut the little drawer from green Bazzil card stock.  I assembled the bottom part right away, but I wanted to stamp and color the wrapper before assembling.

The swiss chard was a blast to color—I chose to make them look like Bright Lights variety, which can have veins of shocking pink or bright yellow. Shading the eggplant was new to me, and I’m still not sure I have the hang of it. The biggest challenge was coloring the  turnips! I tried tip-to-tip blending (V04 on V000) for the first time to get the effect I wanted:  purplish tops that shaded to creamy bottoms. My dad had brought us a few garden tomatoes when he visited, so I lined them up for some inspiration as well.

I think that the tiny sentiments in the Farmer’s Market set are so great.  While they are the perfect fit for the sign that tops the cauliflower stamp, they are also just the right size for tags and other small applications.  I used “EAT your veggies,” but I predict that “Just for you” will see a lot of use too.

To finish my little seed packet, I stamped just a sprig from the Springtime Love set onto the tiny tag and then colored and wrote out the label. Just a bit of twine around the package, and my little gift of cilantro seeds is tucked in and ready to go!

I’m popping one last picture down here, to show the scale of this matchbox.  My husband was surprised that it was much smaller than it looked in photos!

 

Box-making Fun with the WRMK Envelope Punch Board

I was very interested to read the post on Ellen Hutson’s The CLASSroom blog, all about the WRMK Gift Box Punch Board (which I don’t yet own), because there were also instructions for creating a little gift box using the WRMK Envelope Punch Board (which I do own). I made my own gift box and was delighted by the possibilities.