Christmas Gift Packaging, Voucher holders, Gifts and Fairs

Early December always brings a few Christmas Fairs for me to attend and this year was no exception. I had my annual attendance at the School Fair in our village here and this year, our son's former pre school fair the following day.

I like to make a few different things each year and here are just a few things that I added this year to my usual selection.

These Cutie Pie boxes, turned to stand up, look like festive trees and were filled with wrapped chocolates.The ribbon although now retired, was one that I found on Clearance Rack following Christmas last year. It's a great time to stock up on things like this and as we speak, there are some great ribbons that have been added to the End of Year Sale that is worth a look.

I embellished with the gorgeous wooden snowflakes that I've loved so much this year and stamped quite simply with a larger snowflake and the word Peace.

These Rudolph Gift Bags were inspired by a German Demonstrator, Danny Hikade. Her Rudolph wasn't made using punch art, so I created him using the ever so popular Owl Punch that we're seeing so much of on Pinterest. Isn't he just so cute?!

The Gift Bag Punch Board that I used to create these, is ever so simple to use and this medium sized bag, held a whole bag of Thornton's Chocolates beautifully.

 These Pillow Boxes were a must make when I saw a Pin on Pinterest of Nadine Köller's creation. Hers were very similar but I switched her red for Gold, used up some retired Soft Suede ribbon and embellished simply with a gold Glitter Star. I just love Pillow Boxes, they are so elegant for smaller gifts … in fact, I shall be mourning the retirement of the framelits that I used to make these, as they will be retiring at the end of the month, so if you fancy getting your hands on them before they go, then you'd better act quickly.

Many people give Gift Vouchers or Cash at Christmas and these little wallets were made using the Gift Card Envelope & Trims Thinlits.

Again, simply embellished with a single stamped snowflake and some wording from a retired Festive Project Life set, I then held it together with elasticated thread, tied through another wooden snowflake. I so love these.

I topped some Punch Art animal bookmarks with Santa Hats and made my usual Snowman Soups and Santa Boxes.

All in all my offerings were well received and I hope you like what I've shared with you today. 

I trust your Christmas preparations are coming together nicely and that your gift packaging looks beautiful. 

Have a great Christmas

Mikaela x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Holly Jolly Christmas Greetings

It's been a while since I managed to post some of my creations for you, but having finally written a whole stack of these last night, I thought I'd share them with you here. 

I love how sometimes it's the smaller, incidental Stamps that form a stamp set, that can actually play the leading role.

Here I've used a variety of Stamp Sets to create a splattered background (Gorgeous Grunge) with the addition of a few little stars (Jingle all the way). Many of you will know that I'm not so much a girl who favours much bling, but I have been rather partial to this gorgeous Red Glimmer Paper this year and have found it to be …. well …. quite Jolly. 

The same card could be created using just the Holly Jolly Greetings Stamp set and Framelits bundle … all except for the little heart. I had just pulled together whatever was on my desk at the time.

Other than die cutting and the careful adhesion with the Fine Tip Glue, this was such a quick card to create. 

I hope you like it. 

Mikaela x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Stampin' Creative Blog Hop - Festive Frenzy

Welcome to this month's Stampin' Creative Blog Hop and being on the build up to the Festive Celebrations, we thought we'd theme this month's Hop … Festive Frenzy. 

You may have just hopped over from the lovely Kim, where you'll have been spoilt to an undeniable Festive Frenzy, yes, the big fella himself … well, whether you have hopped over from Kim or have joined the hop here, welcome and enjoy the rest of the hop. 

We don't really celebrate the start of a New Year in this house, although this year, we may well be having some dear, close friends round for a quiet meal … which had me thinking ...

… create a little table setting for a New Year's Eve meal. 

I had seen the Square Pillow Box used to hold cutlery before, so decided to come up with my own embellished version, accompanied by a coordinating cracker and Chocolate table favour.

Firstly I cut the Pillow Box from Smoky Slate Card Stock and cut off the end flaps to one side, before Embossing it using the elegant Softly Falling Textured Embossing Folder. I love both of these products.

I then wrapped the box with the gorgeously soft Silver Satin Ribbon. Stars just seemed so fitting and besides, we have some beautiful silver star charger plates that sparked my inspiration, so I die cut some Stars from some Filter Paper, before creating this beautiful ruffled star flower.

I decided to wrap some silver metallic thread around the flower that I attached tiny stars to, made using the Confetti Star Punch and some Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. I made the little coordinating mock cracker with a centre of filter paper to hold in the surprise gift.

I'm not sure if you can actually see here, but the tiny stars are literally suspended on the thread and not sticking the thread to the cardstock, as perhaps a little clearer on the chocolate below.

It didn't seem right to leave it at just the cutlery holder and the cracker … a chocolate seemed only right and fitting to add to the table. 

I just love how the little chocolate turned out … so much so, that I'd actually find it hard to unwrap it to eat … now THAT my friends, is the flaw in this design.

Sadly the Square Pillow Box Die is on the Retirement list of the current Autumn/Winter Seasonal Catalogue, so if you are wanting to recreate some Cutler Holders like this of your own, then you'll need to act quickly to avoid disappointment. 

I hope you liked the creations I have shared with you this month and I hope when your New Year's Eve Celebrations come, that they are greeted with a healthy and prosperous year ahead … 

… but for now, hop on over to see what gorgeous work the lovely Louise has in store for you. She never ceases to delight. 

Enjoy the rest of the hop and of course the festive season.

Mikaela x

This months blog hop line up:

Emily - http://stampinmermaid.blogspot.co.uk

Eimear - http://stampincolour.com/stampin-creative-blog-hop-november-blog-hop

Caroline - http://wp.me/p4UAKf-6T

Kim - http://kimfeecrafter.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/santas-pants-stampin-creative blog-hop.html

Mikaela - YOU ARE HERE

Louise - http://stampindelight.co.uk/stampin-creative-blog-hop-festive-frenzy

Emma - http://www.coastalcrafter.com/stampin-creative-nov-blog-hop-festive-frenzy

** To purchase the items used to create these pieces, just click on the images below **

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

20% discount on Selected Stampin' Up Stamp Sets ONLY until 20th Nov

I've had an amazing time in Brussels at our OnStage Live event and I've plenty to share with you, but it all starts with this amazing offer that's only available this week and on selected Stamp Sets too.

If you'd rather see this in a PDF format that you can enlarge or print out, then you can do so HERE. 

Online orders can be made though my online SHOP up until 22:50 GMT on Friday 20th November, so don't delay, get your order in today. 

Have you seen your favourite here? … or perhaps one that you hadn't thought of for making your Christmas cards with?

Along with this amazing deal, a Retirement List has just been published of all those products that will be leaving us at the end of December from the current Autumn/Winter Catalogue … so if you see something on this list that you've been considering buying, then you might be wise to add this to your order now. 

NOTE: Remember to use my current Hostess Code 9TTEZ4DK (on orders between £15 and £150) and receive a little gift from me the following month. 

Click on this picture to be taken to the list

Now for Brussels … I've just uploaded a whole host of photos to the computer and will set to typing up another blog post to share more with you now … so be sure to pop back for more delights. It was a fabulous few days. 

Mikaela x