Addicted to Stamping

Illuminated Milk Carton Ornament

When I first saw this die I couldn't wait to make a birdhouse. I cut an x in the bottom and inserted a battery operated tea light (you can just see the silver base below the ribbon)

I cut the top of the milk carton off at the score line so the roof would fit flush. Cut 3 pieces for the roof. 1 3/4" wide by 4",3" & 2" long folded in the middle. Scollop the ends with the scallop edge punch. I laid the roof on a wax sheet and used crystal effects sprinkled with dazzling diamonds along the egdes.

The gable looked a too plain so I added a heart and a little strip of Whisper White punched with the pinked heart edge punch.

To make the cardinal punch and extra wing to use for the point on the top of his head and color the face black. Scroll down for a close up. The greenery was made from the snowfalke punch.

Milk Carton Birdhouses

 I made these birdhouses for swaps at our Demo Christmas dinner last night and a few extra for neighbours who don't celebrate Christmas.

I discovered that if you make the roof in two pieces and stick it together like I did in the photo, it will hold your milk carton shut. For the roof I cut 2 peices of cardstock 2 3/4" x 1 3/4". Score the two short sides at 1/2" and punch the corners with the pinking hearts punch.

Before assembling the birdhouse, use the 3/4" punch to make the hole for the bird.

Gingerbread Milk Carton

Well Stampin' Up has come out with another great mini catalouge with loads of new products. The Mini Milk Carton die was the first item on my wish list that I couldn't wait to try. I'm making some of these Gingerbread houses for friends and neighbours. This was my trial run. The next ones have a hole in the roof for a gold cord so it can be hung on the Christmas tree.  

I cut the top of the box off at the score line so I could attach the roof. The Roof is a piece of whisper white 4" x 2 3/4" folded in half and scored the width of the box. I used the eyelet punch for the roof edge but I think the new pinking hearts punch would be perfect for this (it's next on my wish list) The medallion is from the Delightful Decorations stamp set. The "Merry" looks a little blurry in the photo because there's a ridge of glue and dazzling diamonds dripping over the top edge.

The shrubbery is made from the Snowflake punch. The candy corners are 1/2" scraps of whisper white. I drew half circles with Real Red and Glorious Green markers, sponged the edges with red then embossed them with clear. The chimney was cut from a scrap of Creamy Caramel that I trimmed until it fit. I stamped the dogs from Loads of Love in the window.

Mover's & Shapers Pizza Box

Use Stampin' Up's Movers and Shapers die to make a quick and easy pizza box. You can download the free tutorial here. I found the chocolates at COSTCO and wrapped them in scraps of Designer Series Paper. 8 of them fit nicely inside the box.  

 

Origami Pennant Angel

I can't remember what this started out to be but I cut a pennant and started folding until it looked like something. So here we are. You can download the free tutorial here.

To add wings cut a large butterfly using Stampin' Ups Beautiful Butterflies die.

 

 

  

Snowman Treat Ornament

This little snowman treat ornament is made from a 3" x 3" envelope. You can fill it with treats or a gift card and hang it on your Christmas tree.

1. Seal a 3" x 3" whisper white envelope and cut the top off.

2. Fold the two bottom corners to the back and glue (or use sticky strip) to hold in place.

3. Make a hat band 6.5" long from a scrap of cardstock or Designer Series Paper and attach it to the top edge of the envelope.

4. Cut an orange triangle, fold it in half and attach it to the face with a glue dot.

5. Punch two eyes using the 1/2" circle punch and highlight with a white gel pen. To make the grey shadow use a blender pen to pick up some white gel and draw in a shadow at the bottom of the eye.

6. Draw on the face with a Black Stampin' Write marker and add some pink to the cheeks with a sponge daubler.

7. Punch 2 holes in sides of the hat band and insert a wire (I added some beads from the Pretties kit to the wire before inserting it).

8. Attach some ribbon to the bottom edge of the envelope with sticky strip and tie the ends in a knot to form a scarf. It doesn't show in the photo but I frayed the ribbon ends to they looked like tassles on the scarf.

Now you're ready to fill it and hang it in your tree.

Album in a Box Ornament

I have several of these little ornament albums hanging in my tree. Just slide the lid up the string to reveal the photo album inside. I add a little tag with the year, jounaling and some photos of some of the year's highlights. They're fun to look at each Christmas.

I also make a pink or blue version as a gift for "Baby's first Christmas. You can download the instructions here .

This project was a remake of a workshop wow I presented at a demo meeting 3 years ago when I first started as a demo. At the bottom of this post I added the samples I made for the meeting as well as the directions I drew up and scanned (yikes). My computer skills are still NOT great but I guess I've come farther than I thought. To personalize the ornament box, print it on a sheet of vellum and emboss it with embossing powder as soon as it comes out of the printer while the ink is still wet. With the new MDS this opens up a whole world of possiblilities.

 

Santa Pillowbox

I filled these Santa pillowbox ornaments with treats to hang in the Christmas Tree. Cut a pillowbox out of Real Red cardstock. Cut a scallop circle from Whisper White and fold the top over to make the hat band.

To make the face, punch a wide oval and 1/2" circle from Blush Blossom. Sponge on some pink for colour. Cut two of the petals from the 5 petal punch to make the mustache.  

Sweet Treats

  This was my first chance to play with my sweet treat cups. To make the gingerbread man I traced the shape from a cookie cutter. The card ended up being a little top heavy so I made some 3D cardstock gifts at the bottom of the card for support. Next time I'll fold my card at the top instead of the side.

 

My Little Piggy card was made with SU punches and some Designer Series Paper. 

Head - 1-1/4" circle punch, snout - 3/4" circle, feet - heart to heart, ears - 5 petal flower, Body - movers and shapers circle die and the 1-3/4" circle punch

   
  
  

 

Easy Trees

I've seen a lot of requests lately for easy Christmas tree patterns. One of my favorites is the origami trees pictured on page 161 in the Stampin' Up cataloque.  Here's a tutorial for an Origami Tree

Below are a couple more easy trees made with the pop up Tree die. For the first tree I used just the 2 largest pieces and tied on some elastic cord after stringing it with 1/2" circles. The other tree is made using the large tree shape from the die as a pattern. Trace 4 trees, fold them in half and glue them together.