Gift Card Box

My exercise teacher celebrates Hanukkah, so I wanted to make her something to hold a gift card.  Hanukkah is at the end of November this year, but it's nice to have things done early -- at least in my little world.  The box I came up with uses the textured 12" x 12" cardstock in Island Indigo and Smoky Slate from the holiday catalog.

 I found many online tutorials on how to make the box, and I combined elements from several of them as well as adding my own touch.  Below is a picture of the top of the box.

See that curly clear ribbon?  Well, it's not ribbon.  It's that plastic strip that Stampin' Up! has around the ribbon to hold it in place.  I cut off the ends and curled it and used it to jazz up the top of the package.

When you open the box, the four sides fall open as pictured below.  The center holds a gift card.  I downloaded clip art for the pictures and typed some Happy Hanukkah sayings and printed these four things on our whisper white card stock. 

I used the new envelope punch board to make the gift card holder that stands up in the center of the gift.  The Festive Flurry stamp set and dies were used for the snowflake on the front of the card as well as on the front of the gift card holder.

Card stock:  textured 12" x 12" cardstock in Island Indigo and Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate

DSP:  Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper

Stamps:  Festive Flurry 

FrameLits:  Labels Collection, Festive Flurry

Embossing Folders:  Stylish Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Punches:  Blossom (used to make the flower on top of the package)

Ribbon:  Okay, I admit I used a retired product here.  The ribbon that was perfect was from Sale-a-bration.  The color was just right--Island Indigo--and it was just what I needed.

Other:  Rhinestone Basic Jewels (in center of snowflake on the inside of package), brad (I used a retired brad for the center of the flower.)

Snowflake Info:  I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder on vellum to emboss the snowflake inside the box.  I used white craft ink to stamp the snowflake on the outside of the box.  I then took each of those snowflakes and mounted them on cardstock that I had also cut out.

My supply list ran long on this one.  If you've read this far, wow, I'm surprised (and thrilled)! 

I have a feeling my exercise teacher will love this gift card holder.  I'll bet she'll reuse it for a gift card for her daughter.  She did that last year, and the card holder I made wasn't as fun as this one. 

I'm already thinking about Christmas

I can't help it.  Try as I might to set my mind on making autumn cards, I find myself making another Christmas card.  I've been coming up with different designs so I can choose what I want to offer at my October stamp camp.  I will offer at least three -- maybe four -- different cards.

I wasn't happy with my snowflake card until I put the Frosted Finished Embellishments in the center of the snowflake.  Perfect!  The silver embossing powder was used both on the snowflake and the sentiment.

Stamp Sets:  Festive Flurry stamp set, More Merry Messages

Big Shot:  Festive Flurry Framelits Dies 

Cardstock:  Night of Navy, Smoky Slate

Other:  Silver Emboss Powder

I had some fun playing with the Circle Card Thinlits Die.  I used Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder on Coastal Cabana cardstock for the snowflake.  Once again, it was the Frosted Finished Embellishments placed in the center of the snowflake to save the day.

Here's the card opened.  I left the right side of the circle (with the saying) blank so I could sign the card there.  By the way, the Merry Christmas is heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

Stamp Sets:  Christmas Messages, More Merry Messages

Big Shot:  Festive Flurry Framelits Dies,  Circle Card Thinlits Die

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Coastal Cabana

DSP:  Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper

Other:  Silver Emboss Powder

The card below is a tried and true design, but I think it will be fun to do in class.  Besides, that stamp set sentiment is perfect for this card.

Stamp Sets:  More Merry Messages

Cardstock:  Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Gumball Green, Pacific Point, Melon Mambo

Other:  Dazzling Details (on the light bulbs)

Thanks for coming by to see the cards.
Tina

Circle Card Thinlit Die

I was very excited to win the new Circle Card Thinlit Die at the convention.  It cuts and scores the card all in one step.  Amazing -- and fun to use.

The Christmas card above has some silver glimmer paper to add a little pizzazz .

Cardstock:  Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, and Basic Gray cardstock

DSP:  Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack

Stamps:  Christmas Collectibles, Christmas Messages

Punches:  Scallop Edge Border, Christmas Ornament Punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle

Framelits:  Circles Collection, Circle Card Thinlits Die

Another swing card made from the Circle Card Thinlits Die.

Cardstock:  Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Naturals Ivory

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Gorgeous Grunge

Punches:  Chevron Border Punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle

Framelits:  Circle Card Thinlits Die

Just a few pictures that aren't of cards...

I had a wonderful time at the Stampin' Up! convention and decided to share a few more photos.

Pennie when she won a prize.  Pennie introduced me to stamping just over a year and a half ago.  She not only recruited me to join Stampin' Up!, but she is now a good friend.

 I was thrilled to meet Justin Krieger and Brian King at the Stampin' Up! offices.  They both design wonderful cards and have great blogs.

I met Mary at convention.  She is also part of Pennie's downline.  I hope to see her again at future conventions (since we live on opposite coasts).

The picture above is of one of the screens showing what was happening on stage.  Pennie is on the far left.  She was on stage for having earned a trip.  

I got to finally meet Sherill Graff one evening.

Carol and I are both in Pennie's downline.  She and I are both Italian, and I told Carol that she could walk into one of my family reunions and fit right in with everyone there.

Of course, I met many other people, too, but either forgot to take pictures or the pictures didn't turn out (blurry).   While I was at convention for three days, my husband, Tom, did some genealogy research and some hiking.  He had a good time in Salt Lake City, too.

A New Look to My Blog

I wanted a whole new look to my blog -- something clean and simple.  You know how it goes, though.  Change one thing and it snowballs.  I ended up creating a new header in My Digital Studio.  The more I use it, the more I love MDS.  Then, I redesigned a few other things.  Several hours later, I was done.

Okay, so I can't post without putting at least one picture of a card.  Several months ago I made the card below for my friend, Judy, when her grandchild was born.  It's called a double-fold gate card (as well as double-gate card).

Unfortunately, the Designer Series Paper I used is no longer available since I made the card last spring, but it's still a fun card.

Convention and Cards

The photo below is a picture of the convention crowd of demonstrators when the doors opened.  Yes, it made me think of sardines.  We certainly were packed in there -- and I was somewhere in the midst of that crowd.  There were almost 6,000 demonstrators at the convention.

Before the convention began, I did a tour of the Stampin' Up! home office.  I took the photo below there. 

The kite card below is one we made in my stamp camp last month. I used the directions a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Kelly Gettelfinger, provided.  Her website is filled with many great ideas and videos:  http://alwaysstampin.blogspot.com/

I love the sympathy card below.  I totally copied it from Brian King, a Stampin' Up! demo.  I met Brian at the convention and told him how I had a downline meeting and we made the card exactly like his example.  He told me that he got a lot of great feedback about this card -- simple and gorgeous.  His website is at http://stampwithbrian.com/  if you want to see more of his work.

That's all I have for you today.  I'm looking forward to getting together with my my wonderful upline (I so appreciate all you've taught me, Pennie) today to look at all the swaps we both got from convention. 

Tina

Home from Convention

I recently returned from a convention in Salt Lake City.  It was the 25th anniversary for Stampin' Up!  I had a wonderful time and left with many great ideas--not to mention all the giveaways and prizes.  What an experience it was!

I made the card below for my niece for her baby shower.  I happened to notice on her gift registry that the colors she chose were very much like the Stampin' Up! colors Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry Slush.

I love (it's one of my favorite stamp sets in the new catalog) the Perfect Blend stamp set that I used to make the card below.  I made the card for my daughter.  The more I use the Natural Composition Specialty paper (that's the background paper with the music), the more I like it.  

The guitar card below is copied from a card done by Heidi Tekunoff.  You can see her original card on her website at http://twohappystampers.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-card-for-my-son.html .  I made the card below for my son's birthday. 

 I have more photos to share, so I hope to share them over the next couple weeks.

Thanks for taking a look at my cards.

Tina