Christmas cracker from A4 card tutorial

Need a quick Christmas Cracker template to make crackers with your own 'larger' gifts?

Well this is what I came up with, it fitted all my oversized cracker gifts, but there was a risk of things falling out :(.

Anyway, these are quick to make and as long as you wrap your gifts in tissue paper they should stay inside...

Score an A4 sheet of card (landscape) 7.5 cm, 8.5cm and 9.5 cm from each of the left and right edges.

Fold in the card at the second (8.5cm) score mark, then mark (with a pencil) and cut at 1cm intervals up to the next fold.

Then cut at 0.5cm, diagonally across to the same point. Pull out and remove the off-cuts.

Fold down the card along the 7.5cm and 9.5cm score lines so that they create a valley fold.

Repeat on the other/side and lay flat.

Cut and stick red tape between the 3rd and 4th cm point along the edge of the card.

Peel off the backing of the tape, along the centre section and roll the card lining up the fold at the 4cm section along the fold at the top of the centre section. Stick down once you are happy it is in place and repeat at the bottom before doing the ends.

You can now decorate your completed cracker.

I created some simple stamped tags:

And here are some of my completed crackers...

... I'd love to hear your feedback if you make any crackers using this tutorial :).

Witches hat, made on the road

OK, so it's not a card but it is my latest attempt at being crafty.

I've been taking a few days of rest in Labuan, just off the coast of Malaysian Borneo. At the weekend we were invited to a Halloween party. So of course I had to make my costume.

Keeping it simple and with just some black paper/card' scissors and sticky rape here's what I came up with.

It was reasonably quick to make so I thought I'd share a little tutorial in case you have a party to attend and still need a last minute costume idea.

1. Take a large piece of black card/paper, I think I used an A3 sized piece and cut it down to a square to make cutting easier. Draw a circle in the centre using a small plate or other circular object and the cut out. Note: you may need to trim the edge to fit your head, do this and check it fits before the next step.

2. Roll a sheet of card/paper to create a cone, ensuring the base fits inside the hole you cut for step 1. Fix with a small piece of tape.

3. Mark the base of the cone to allow for surplus paper/card to be hidden inside the hat rim, cut into the base and fold back.

4. Fold back and stick the flaps to the underneath of the rim, using sticky tape.

5. Trim the rim to suit.

Your completed hat can now be decorated. I chose to hide the sticky tape with a belt and then added a couple of bats and a spider.

I'd love to see what you come up with for Halloween this year - have a good one!

PS if you're interested don't forget to check out my travel blog for the latest on my travels and other travel info http://tiggerbird.blogspot.com

Give a gift card holder

I think people are becoming more reliant on gift cards these days rather than buying presents.  It's more convenient... but could also be thought of as impersonal maybe.  So why not personalise the gift card holder and give them something handmade in their favourite colours or with an appropriate theme.  Here's a simple gift card holder idea...

I've used Blushing Bride and Wisteria Wonder for the colour theme and the sentiment is from the Petite Pairs stamp set.

• Cut a piece of card stock 4.5" x 6.75". Score at 1.75" and 4.5".
• Turn and score 0.25" from the edges.
• Cut off all of the 0.25" section that you scored except for the sections along the 1.75" side (these will be the flaps to make the pocket in which the gift card will sit).
• Fold the 0.25" sections inward, apply adhesive to the backs of them, and then fold the 1.75" section up to create the pocket.
• Apply a 1/2" x 4" decorative strip of designer paper to the edge of the pocket.
• Cut the corners of your flap.
• Add a 1.25" x 4" decorative strip of designer paper to outside of the flap.
• Add a strip of cardstock punched with a border punch or ribbon to the top/front of the flap. Then close the flap.
• Cut 2 pieces of magnet strip and stick together and then stick one side to the flap before closing the flap to stick the other side so that you can line both pieces up correctly.
• Decorate the front with a tag.  I have used a 1 3/4" scallop circle punch and 1 3/8" circle punch.
• Attach the tag and you're done!

I've almost done a 14 hour day today and still have a call with Oz shortly... see you back here tomorrow hopefully x

Bottle tags

Tick tock... Christmas is nearly here! I'm planning to put my tree up for just a few days before I depart for my holiday... although I'm not celebrating this year. I have to see it in all it's glory in my house as it will be the first year that I have been here, now that the building works are all complete and it only seems right :).

Anyway, now for some gift related ideas...

I've posted a couple of ideas for bottle tags before, but these are so easy to make and there are so many ways to decorate them using Stampin' Up! products. 

As the festive period is fast approaching there will be plenty of occasions when one of these lovely tags can be used to decorate a bottle of vino for a friend or relative...

The dimensions are as follows:

Cardstock measuring 7.5 x 21cm

Score at 7.5cm's

I have used Basic Black cardstock for this tag and then cut a piece of brights DSP and mounted a panel of Whisper White stamped with the 'large flower' image from the Just Believe stampset in Old Olive.  Note that I have stamped the flowers on a scrap of Whisper White in Tempting Turquoise and then cut these out and raised them with a dimensional sticky pad.

Before fixing the panel to the tag I have punched out the corners of the DSP with the Boho Blossoms punch (middle sized flower) with one of the petals, I love this technique and use it all the time.  To finish a few Basic Rhinestones in the gaps created by the punch and a sentiment (also from the Just Believe stampset) inked in Old Olive.

Boxes for little gifts

I've been away all week, house/cat sitting again, so have been trying to catch up on a bit of crafting in the evenings!

Rather than cards I've been working on some little gift boxes and a variety of gifts to go inside them... 

These boxes are so easy to make.  I designed them to fit 3 tea lights initially, but have been using them for other things too.  Each of the boxes in the photo has been decorated using the Clearly for You stampset 'flower' image in 2 different colours, simply stamped all over the sleeve before assembling it round the drawer.

The drawer dimensions are 3 x 6 1/16 inches for the insert.  Scored at 3/4 inch on all 4 sides.  You then need to snip to create the tabs on 2 opposite sides and fix with red tape.  I find that normal double sided tape or glue just isn't strong enough so make sure you use the red tape.

For the sleeve the dimensions are 5 1/2 x 4 1/2 scored at 3/4, 2 3/8, 3 1/8 and 4 3/4.  Make sure you stamp the sleeve before assembling this and place it around the drawer to ensure it fits before sticking with red tape.

Here is one with a gift inside, although the stamping on the sleeve hasn't come out very well in the photo... but you can see how it works :).

Check back over the next few days as I will be sharing with you some of the ideas for gifts to make to go inside.

A tissue a tissue...

Having been suffering from a cold since I was in Romania... I'm debating whether I might just be suffering from hayfever instead, given the warm weather there and the fact that we have been having hot weather too in the UK...

Here is another tissue box as I have been using a lot of kleenex recently and also as I have had a couple of requests for the instructions.

Take a piece of Crumbcake card 4 5/8 x 8 and score at 1 1/2, 2 5/8, 5 1/4 and 6 3/8.  Stamp the butterfly image (from the Clearly for You set) over the card.  Then cut a piece of Daffodil Delight 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 and score all 4 sides at 1 inch.  Cut slits into the opposite sides and fix with sticky tape. 

Once the inner box is complete you will need to cut a 1 x 2 3/8 piece of card to fit over the inside end of the box where the ribbon tab needs to be stuck.  Once done you can fit the outer sleeve around the drawer so that it fits comfortably and opens, and then stick together.

I decorated the top with a piece of card stamped with the background image from the Clearly for you set and then added the sentiment to a oval punch shape but this can be adapted to suit.

Let me know if you make any of these as I would love to see your ideas.

Just Believe... it's a bookmark!

Today something a little different which I wanted to share specifically with those ladies that purchased the Just Believe stamp set from me in August.  It's a corner bookmark using one of the stamps from the Just Believe stamp set...

• Cut a 10.2 x 10.2cm square of the A4 Crumbcake.
• Measure and lightly mark the halfway point on 3 of the sides (ie 5.1cm).
• Score between 2 of the points diagonally and repeat on the other side, then fold in each corner to create the triangular point.
• Use the border punch along the straight bottom edge to decorate (*optional).
• Cut a 7 x 7cm square of DSP and cut diagonally so that you have 2 triangles.  Stick one to the front and one to the back of the bookmark.
• Cut a 2.5cm strip of Rich Razzleberry cardstock and stamp with versamark ink, then once dry stick underneath the triangle on the front of the bookmark.
• Ink up the image with the Rich Razzleberry and Marina Mist marker pens and stamp onto the Whisper White cardstock.  Punch out with the circle punch (*circle can be drawn with a protractor and cut out by hand) and mount on a scalloped circle (*use scalloped scissors as an alternative or just cut round the circle leaving a 0.25cm strip) of Crumbcake cardstock.  Then stick to the bookmark using a dimensional.
• Finish with jewels on the scallops (optional).

Materials:

Just Believe stamp set (120453);

Patterns DSP stack - brights (117155);

Marina Mist marker pen (119679);

Rich Razzleberry marker pen (120970);

A4 smooth cardstock - Crumbcake (121685);

A4 smooth cardstock – Whisper White (106549);

A4 smooth cardstock – Rich Razzleberry (119981);

Versamark ink (102283);

*Eyelet border punch (119853);

*3.5cm circle punch (119860);

*4.4cm scalloped circle punch (119854);

Stampin' dimensionals (104430);

Sticky strip or adhesive.

If you want to order the Just Believe stamp set from me I will provide you with the full instructions for the Just Believe cards and box set that I have been using in my recent demo's.  The full details for each of the cards can be found in my earlier posts (just go to the Just Believe lable option from the list to find them all) but I have saved the instructions for the box for those that order the stamp set from me ;).  So if you haven't got this set yet and want to place an order this month best to do it now as I will be off on my travels for 3 weeks from 9th September.