Every Christmas, I struggle with my table centerpiece. I get so tired of the old pine bough and candle theme over and over again. This year, I decided to set my mind to work on something completely different. As I did other things (MANY other things - it's that time of year after all) my brain must have been chewing on that problem, because I suddenly had an idea yesterday! It came in the form of a picture - How about stacks of mini presents scattered in the center of the table? And it even had the colour scheme with it Real Red, Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Early Espresso. I wanted texture and bows and then I saw The Paper Players Challenge for this week. Nance Leedy wanted a Snowflake theme, and I thought, "Yes! Snowflakes would be perfect!!" Here's the challenge banner:
Thanks for the idea, Nance!
It also meets the requirements for the colour challenge over at the Global Design Project this week:
- The Big Hero in this project is the Gift Box Punch Board! I hope you have one. It made all the boxes you see here! All different shapes and sizes using paper squares ranging from 12" x 12" to 6" x 6". For some of these I used 12 x 12 cardstock which I had just stocked up on in all the colour families, which is the only way you can buy it now. The Gift Box Punch Board gives you all the directions and once you've done one or two its a breeze.
- I'm still in love with the Cable Knit Dynamic Embossing Folder. I'm planning on using it for some hot chocolate kits I'm going to give as gifts this year. There is a great blog entry about that on the Stampin' Up! home page.
- I have snowflakes done several ways in this photo. I used the stamp from the Tin of Tags stamp set to stamp them in Real Red on the Crumb Cake Box. I did all the stamping before final assembly of the box. I used the Real Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder to heat emboss that same image on the large Whisper White box. The little snow flake die in the stocking from the Christmas Stocking Thinlits Dies cut several little Whisper White snowflakes to glue dot right on to the smaller Real Red box.and the smallest Early Espresso box and the stamped snowflakes image from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set were also embossed on the smallest white box.
- I several different ribbons and other ideas to make toppers and bows for the boxes to fancy them up a bit:
- The Kraft Rope Trim was perfect for this project and was used here to make a simple double bow and tie.
- The Real Red Stitched Edge Ribbon made a great topper bow for the largest box. I simply made loops of the ribbon, 4 for each layer by stapling them in the center, using gradually shorter pieces of ribbon for each layer. The bottom layer was 8" long, which, when the two ends were brought to the middle and slightly overlapped and stapled made the loop a little less than 4" long. The second layer used pieces 6" long, and the third, 4" long. The final layer was one 2" loop on the top.
- I used the Kraft Rope Trim to make a kind of pompom for the top of the Crumb Cake box. The Stitched Edge Ribbon ties a regular bow, just as the Real Red Stitched Satin Ribbon does on the two smallest presents you see here, and Delicate White Doilies can be layered and scrunched to make a great present topper as well!
Keep your eyes on my Online Store on the Yearend Closeout page for all the wonderful deals up to 60% off! It will never get any better than this! But because of this, some items are, indeed, selling out. Now stamps will be available until Dec. 21, but many of the retiring items will be "while supplies last" and some of my customers have sadly already missed some of the things they really wanted, so you're best to put your orders in sooner rather than later. To see what's retiring at the end of December, click here.
If you'd like me to help you place your order, please email me.
Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.
