Christmas Gifts 1

Each year I try and make a Christmas treat for the people I work with.  This year was a bit more difficult as I now work in an inpatient unit at the hospital and there are about 80 staff!  

Unfortunately I didn't have the time in the lead up to Christmas to make everyone something, so I compromised by making some little Christmas Bon Bons for the senior nurses and admin staff.  Each contains two Ferrero Rocher chocolates (although I did think about making a couple with lumps of coal and ticking the naughty box!).  They were so cute and very well received.

These follow the basic instructions you can find on my previous post HERE.  The dimensions for these were figured out by my friend Cathy and are:

• DSP 6"x6"
• Score every 1-3/8" along one side
• Punch on the fold at 1-1/4" from each end

I made something for the nurses working on Christmas Day and will post a pick of that soon.

Happy Stamping

Envelope Punch Board - Christmas Bon Bon

Don't you just love it when you find a new way to use a tool? I know I do, and was so excited when I found a video tutorial to make a Christmas Bon Bon using the Envelope Punch Board. I can't find the original link at the moment, but it used a 6-1/2" x 8" piece of DSP, however I wanted to adjust the size so that I could get two from a single sheet of 12"x12" DSP.  I have taken some pictures to show how I made the Bon Bon, isn't it cute?

• Take a 6" x 8" piece of DSP and score at 1-3/8", 2-3/4". 4-1/8" and 5-1/2"
• Using a bone folder crease all of the score lines

•  Using the Envelope Punch Board, place the 8" side of the DSP against the top and put the end of the DSP at the 2-1/8" mark, punch the first notch.

• The result will look like this

• Fold the DSP on the first score line, place the fold against the top of the board, and punch at the 2-1/8" mark.
• Repeat this for all the folds

•  You should have a piece of DSP that looks like this

• Use the Scallop Trim Border Punch on each of the short ends
• Trim off the edge on the small side only, this will be folded in and makes the finished item look neater

• Using the Score Board Score line up the centre of the punch outs with a groove (I have drawn a line down my 6" groove to make it easier to do things like this)
• Score the DSP along this line.
• Score 1/2" either side of this centre line
• These need to be done gently so as not to rip the DSP

• Do this for both ends of the Bon Bon.
• I found it easier to fold along the centre line first.

• Then fold both sides back to create a fold as shown.

• You can use TomBow glue or Sticky Strip along the small folded edge - you will want something that is quite strong.

• I found it easier to line up by lying the Bon Bon flat, so the edge overlaps the glued tab.

• Open the Bon Bon up and gently push the ends in toward the centre to create the Bon Bon shape.
• Decorate as desired and fill with treats!

Following making this one, a fellow demo and friend of mine Cathy, tweaked with the sizing again so that you can get a bon bon out of a 6"x6" piece of DSP (that is 4 from a piece of 12x12).  Better still the reduced size is just perfect for two Ferrero Rocher Chocolates!  What a perfect Christmas gift for someone special.  You could also use a Framelit Die to cut a window in one side of the bon bon and cover on the inside with acetate so you can get a peek of the treat inside.

• Score at 1-3/8", 2-3/4". 4-1/8" and 5-1/2"
• Line up on the Envelope Punch Board at 1-1/4" mark (instead of 2-1/8")
• All other steps are the same

Happy Stamping

ESAD Blog Hop - Holiday Packaging

Well it's time for another ESAD Blog Hop to celebrate the start of the new Seasonal Catalogue in Australia and New Zealand.  Whether you have come from visiting Keryn's blog Keryn's Cards, or are starting here, just follow the link at the bottom of each post to hop around the wonderful creations with some of these new products.

I thought I would show you two of the new Gift Boxes available in the new catalogue, these are similar to the boxes available in the main catalogue but come in different sizes, and this first one, Decorative Window Gift Box (p36) comes with a built in window!  I have used DSP from the Winter Frost DSP Stack and the smallest snowflake from Festive Flurry stamp set.  These are so pretty and come with a matching set of Framelits, so no need for fussy cutting!!! In the centre of the snowflake is one of the most beautiful embellishments so far Frosted Finishes Embellishments.  I have added some seam binding and a couple of tags punched from That's the Ticket.

My second project is made using one of the Extra-Large Gift Boxes (p37), all of the boxes come flat and ready to assemble, which makes adjusting their size really easy.  For this project I cut the box into two separate pieces,  by doing this you get two boxes for the price of one! I have used the smaller box to make a gift set of Christmas cards and tags. By cutting the box 1" from the bottom and making a clear lid from Window Sheet I was able to fit in a set of 6 cards and about 14 tags.  The belly band is made using Winter Frost Specialty DSP with some added bling, and an embellishment using the Festive Flurry stamp and die.

This is the first card in the set, made using the sunburst technique to show off the pretty papers in the Winter Frost DSP stack. The embossing is from Northern Flurry embossing folder and the sentiment from Greetings of the Season which is part of the Autumn Winter Carryover List, check out some of the favourites from last Holiday Catalogue that are still available. 

 This next card is similar to one I made a few weeks ago, however this time I have kept with the monochromatic theme of the gift box, and also used the ornament from the new Very Merry Tags stamp set.  This is a great set with stamps that match a number of our punches (again no fussy cutting)!  I stamped two of the ornaments from two of the snowflakes from Festive Flurry, adding a little rhinestone to the centre of each.

 My final card in the set again uses Festive Flurry stamp and framelits combo, and this time paired with one of the pretty DSP sheets from the paper stack. These paper stacks are a great way to get card-sized sheets of DSP at a really economical price, you don't get as many patterns as in a pack of 12x12 DSP but the quality is just the same and you do get four different patterns so still have lots of options.  Again on this card I have used a Frosted Finishes Embellishment and a strip of silver glimmer paper.

Finally in the box are two sections that hold these cute little gift tags.  The tags are made with the Chalk Talk Framelits trimmed down on one end, punched through and some Baker's Twine added. Remember how I said Very Merry Tags matched a number of our punches?  Well these are just two of the stamps in the set, both of these are stamped in VersaMark then embossed with white (left) and silver (right) embossing powders.  In the Very Merry Tags there is also a cute "To:   From:" stamp that has been stamped on the inside of the tags.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my projects, I certainly enjoyed making them!  Time now to hop over to visit Amity's blog Stampinamity to see what she has created using some of the scrapbooking products available in the catalogue.

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up! demonstrators. We love what we do & love to share with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors. We also share what we love in our ESAD Demonstrator community, through swaps, challenges, sharing knowledge, ideas & friendship, and we're always there to help and support each other.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to leave me a comment with your email address and I'll contact you with information on how to join our wonderful group.

Happy Stamping