Category: Tools and Techniques

I was a little surprised when I opened my November 2021 Paper Pumpkin, Gifts Galore. The previews showed a fun color combo of Flirty Flamingo, Pool Party, Old Olive, Real Red, and Evening Evergreen, so it wasn’t the colors that surprised me. It was the size of the snowman, tree, and a pile of presents. But as soon as I started working with the kit, inspiration hit.

As designed, the kit makes nine gift holders. The stamp set included three sentiments in a really fun font, as well as images of snow, a present, and a bow. I plan to fill the bags in these three with an assortment of wrapped chocolates. But they are perfectly sized for a fun pair of socks or a collection of skin care items, or even some loose tea and a tea ball. The bags that fit in these holders are imprinted with snowflakes and absolutely adorable. So, I loved the kit as designed, but look what I made.

Gifts Galore Home Decor

Because the size of the box fronts was so large, I started by measuring them. Turns out they are in the 5″x7″ range. Of course, I immediately thought of photo frames. I found some inexpensive wood options at my local hobby store and in moments had two cute decor options.

To decorate my snowman and tree, I used Shimmer Crystal Effects and some other gold shiny goo I had in my stash. I let that dry and then stamped my sentiments. The sentiment for the tree is from the Love, Santa kit (more on that later). I punched the opposite end of the snowman sentiment banner so that it would look symmetrical and placed a piece of woven Evening Evergreen ribbon underneath. The designer series paper in both frames is from the recent celebration.

For the tree, I also added some stamped, fussy-cut presents at the base. The large striped present is from Gifts Galore and the others are from the stamps in the Love, Santa kit. Super cute, super easy, and ready to be placed on a small table or anywhere that needs a festive touch.

Alternative Christmas Cards

I use a lot more cards than gift wrapping at the holidays, so of course I wanted to make some cards with this kit. For the first card, I used a base of Flirty Flamingo with a layer of white stamped in Pool Party. The way the snow stamp is designed, it creates an even pattern easily without rotating or any other effort. I stamped about two-thirds of the way down the white panel. The sentiment is stamped in Pool Party, too. To lift the snowman and add a little depth, I used Dimensionals to adhere it do the front.

After that, I trimmed off the overhang on the right side and bottom so the card will fit in a standard envelope. For the final touch, I added some inexpensive black rhinestones I found at the hobby store. They are huge and I can’t imagine what else I’ll use them for, but the worked perfectly for the “coal.”

The other card starts with a base of white and a layer of Flirty Flamingo on top. I used the ink in the kit and the striped rectangle to add some visual interest to that Flirty Flamingo layer. My lines are far from perfect, but the presents cover up a lot! To fit the presents on a standard card, I cut them out individually. The Stampin’ Up! paper snips really come in handy for this kind of fussy cutting. If you haven’t tried them, I highly recommend them and have multiple pairs for when I have groups over to craft. The presents are layers on the card using a combination of Stampin’ Seal and Dimensionals.

For the tag, I used the masking technique. I stamped “Merry” with Christmas masked off. Then I reversed that process. To make masking easy, I used removable labeling tape like this. (I don’t receive revenue from this link). The process is: Mask, Ink, Remove mask, Stamp, Clean stamp. Repeat. Don’t forget the remove mask or clean stamp steps or the results will be less than ideal. (Ask me how I know.)

Slimline Gifts Galore Alternative

My last alternative I’m sharing is a slimline card. I use the tutorial from Jenny Card Design for my measurements, mostly. Instead of cutting my base at 7-1/2″ x 8-3/4″, I use 7-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ so I only have to make one cut. (Yes, I’m that lazy of a crafter.) Everyone has their own favorite sizes, but this works for me.

First, I cut the layer of Pool Party a 1/4″ narrower on all sides and stamped in the same ink with the snow stamp. I used the Evergreen Forest 3-D embossing folder to create the next layer with Evening Evergreen cardstock. I tore the edge off the top of the paper to give it a more organic, mountain type appearance.

The Christmas tree is from the kit and cut right down the center. Below that are two layers of white cardstock, also torn across the top, and slathered with Wink of Stella because you can never have too much sparkle.

I used the same masking technique to stamp the sentiment on two halves of one banner in the kit in Evening Evergreen ink.

I told you this kit inspired me. If you have questions about the projects or would like to subscribe to Paper Pumpkin, let me know. Until next time, “Ink up!”