Beautiful Cards Deserve Beautiful Packaging!

Hi Stampers,

Today I want to show you how to make a simple box to hold a set of six A2 sized cards and envelopes.  This box would make a lovely presentation for a gift set of cards!

You'll need the Envelope Punch Board and a 9" square piece of cardstock.  Line up one edge at the
3-1/2" mark; score & punch.  Slide the cardstock to the 4-1/2" mark; score & punch.  Rotate the cardstock 90 degrees and repeat, lining up your previous score lines with the marker on the punch board.  Repeat for the remaining two sides.  Your cardstock should look like this:

Don't forget to use the corner rounder feature of the punch board to give your project a polished look.

Fold and burnish on all score lines.  Cut all four corners as shown here and place a small bit of tape adhesive on the outside of the box as indicated.

Place tape adhesive on the inside of the box flaps as shown here:

Now is the time to decorate the front of your box.  I used a piece of Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper cut at 4-1/4" x 5-5/8".  Next, remove the backing from the tape adhesive and carefully fold & assemble the box, being careful to "square up" all four corners.

To make the belly band, cut a strip of coordinating DSP or cardstock 1-1/2" x 11".  Carefully wrap it around your box, making creases at the four corners.  You may find this easiest if your box is filled with cards so it won't collapse if you press too hard.  Remove the belly band and burnish the creases with your bone folder.  Place the band back on the cardbox and adhere the ends with tape adhesive, but not too tightly - you need this to slide on & off easily!

Decorate the belly band as desired.  I used a 2-1/2" plus a 2-3/4" circle cut from Crumb Cake and Real Red cardstocks.  "Happy Christmas" from the Oh, What Fun stamp set is stamped in Versamark and embossed with Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder.  The bow from Holly Berry Happiness is stamped in Early Espresso and punched with the matching punch.

Don't forget the Designer Paper Sale starts on Saturday, October 1 - buy 3, get 1 free!  What a great time to stock up on papers for projects like this!  

Have a wonderful day,

Pat

Keeping it Simple with Cookie Cutter Christmas

Hi Stampers!

Here's a sweet & simple card I put together using Cookie Cutter Christmas & Oh What Fun!

This card goes together so quickly that it would be great for a mass-produced Christmas card this year.  The reindeer on the Crumb Cake card base are stamped randomly in Crumb Cake.  Rudolph (see that shiny nose?) is stamped in Early Espresso and colored with a Crumb Cake marker, then punched with the matching punch.  His shiny red nose is covered in red Stickles.  Not a Stampin' Up product, but similar to Dazzling Details, only in Red.  (Hint:  Stickles takes a while to dry, so you would be wise to stamp, color, punch & add Stickles as your first step on this card!)

The striped DSP is a 1 1/2" strip from the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper.  The Whisper White banner is 1" wide, flagged at one end with the Triple Banner Punch.  The greeting is stamped in Real Red ink from the Oh What Fun stamp set.  I thought the banner needed a little something extra, so I found the star shape in the Peaceful Pines stamp set and added them randomly in Real Red.

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday weekend!  To see all of the wonderful goodies in the new Holiday Catalog, just click on the image below to go to my online store.

Thanks for stopping by,
Pat

Cozy Window Scene

Good Monday morning!

I've been anxious to start designing Christmas cards ever since I got my first order from the new Stampin' Up Holiday catalog, but I've been patiently waiting to receive the backordered Brick Wall embossing folder for the card I had in mind.  Well, the folder has shipped and is on its way, but my patience ran out yesterday so I pulled out my good old Tim Holtz brick wall folder from my stash and got busy.  Here's the result:

I love the warm cozy feeling of looking through this frosty window and seeing the glow of a sparkling Christmas tree.  I used a lot of different products on this project. The brick wall is embossed from Crumb Cake cs and sponged with Crumb Cake. The tree is fussy cut from the gorgeous Home for Christmas dsp.  The window frame is cut using the Hearth & Home framelits, and the frosty snowflakes in the window are stamped in Versamark and embossed with Irridescent Ice. The snowflakes are part of the Happy Scenes stamp set (available as a bundle with the window die!). The pine bough is stamped on Old Olive cs using Always Artichoke and the red bow is die cut from Red Glimmer paper.  Both the pine bough and the bow are from the Festive Fireside bundle.  Finally, the greeting in Real Red is from the Versatile Christmas stamp set and the holly spray on the banner is from the Oh What Fun stamp set.  Whew!  It's no wonder my work table looked like this when I got done...

 This is how I finished the inside of my card and the envelope:

Thanks for looking at my project!  To purchase these or any other Stampin' Up' supplies, head on over to my website! stampwithptecza.stampinup.net

Have a great day,

Pat