It's time to start thinking about Christmas Cards, and Secret Santa Gifts. Every year I search for great Christmas Paper and I don't always find what I am looking for. This year I hit the jackpot when I found 2 great collections of fun christmas paper from One Heart ... One Mind - Merry Merry and Merry Merry too. These papers are absolutely dynamite- tons and tons of Possibilities - Fun Double sided papers, great border papers, tags, invites, pillow boxes - they though of everything. Now add 2 more great products to the mix - Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies and Glitter Cards from Diecuts with A View and Wow!!! You won't be able to leave your craft room for hours!! I made 10 cards with matching envelopes, a Pillow Box and the great gift box in a matter of hours. I just couldn't stop using the leftover pieces to make the next card, tag or envelope. I literally had to pick up my scraps and pack them away so I would stop creating...you'll see what I mean as you visit my blog over the next few days.
What I liked most about these projects is that they were fun, easy and fast. Which means if you have always wanted to make your own Christms Cards but never dared because you didn't have enough time or you were sure you would be bored after the third identical card this is the collection for you. Just get out your cutter, some adhesive, this great paper, your nestabilitie dies and your glitter paper or cards and start the fun!! First I started with their great Pillow Box Paper.
The sheets come die cut and scored you simply punch out the pieces ,fold along the score lines and glue along the edges. Fill with your treats and then fold in the circled flaps. The red polka dotted stripe is the band that goes arround the pilow box. It comes with two slits which you simply interlock and slide around the pillow box. Chose one of the diecuts from the top of the sheet and save all the extra pieces to make cards. For my pillow box I used the Merry Christmas die cut circle. Next I cut a 6 x 6 square of the Retro Squares and Red and Green Polka dotted double sided paper. I then cut these into 6 one inch stripes. I chose for the retro squares to be on the outside of my bow and the polkas dots to be the inside of the bow. I folded 5 strips and adhered then to the pillow box band, remebering to leave room for my finished embellishment. Next I selected a scallop die from my Spellbinders Nestabilities set which was slightly larger than my diecut embellishment. I die cut the shape from a red glittered card from DIecuts with a View.( I love their glittered mat stack, but it doesn't have the red in it) and placed it in the center of my bow.
In my shopping travels I found this great Octangle box already covered in paper. When I took it out to play with I was so excited that it matched the collection so well I could just spend time glamming it up. Since I am not a great bow maker I used the same method to create my ribbon bow. I cut 5 -6" long strips of this great wide Sheer Polka Dotted Ribbon also from One Heart...One Mind. I used the Be jolly die cut leftover from the Pillow Box paper matted it with leftover red glitter paper and added some red polka dotted ribbon from Creative Expressions. Next I added this ribbon to the outside of the box bottom. I recommend using Scotch Tacky Adhesive for adhering the ribbon to the box. It is my favorite adhesive for ribbons, charms, buttons and metal embelllishments. To create the embellishment in the center of the bow. I used the merry from a piece of the merry merry bit-n-pieces paper.(these are not pre diecut) but as you will see soon I was able to use almost every bit -n-piece in my paper crafting marathon. Then I used one of my nested circles from my Spellbinders Nestability Large Classic Circle Set and die cut a red glitter circle. Next I cut a slightly larger Scalloped circle from my Classic Scallop Large Nestability set in green glitted paper and placed it inside my bow. In just a matter of minutes I had created to great gift boxes.
As you will see this was just the beginning of a great papercrafting day. I love it when I find the perfect mix of products to play with!! Just wait till you see all the fun cards and envelopes I made in just one afternoon.
