Merry Christmas
I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, safe and prosperous New Year.
Yesterday afternoon I spent time with my daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren as well as my Mum and Dad and my sister. We opened all our gifts and spent the afternoon swimming in the pool and relaxing together. It was lovely to spend the time with them all. Today my youngest daughter will spend time with her husband’s family.
I am also spending time with my Mum and Dad and sister, as well as my eldest daughter and her family. We are going to go to the beach house at Mum and Dad’s Retirement Village and will spend the day swimming, relaxing and enjoying some good food and a wine or two!
I can’t head off without sharing something with you, so here are some canvas bags that I decorated for my daughters, Mum and Sister using My Digital Studio. I used a journal cover which I believe came with the programme when I purchased it. I removed the “create” that was on the template and added another saying. The image was printed onto T-Shirt Transfer paper and ironed onto the front of the Canvas Bags. I love how well the the detail of the images transfers, as well as how gorgeous the colours are. There is a bit of a trick if you decide to do this and you are using words. You need to create your image and then you needs to flip it over, so that the words are back to front, that way when you iron it onto your t-shirt, bag or whatever, it will be the right way around. Believe me I learned this the hard way!
I also want to share another of the Gift Card Holders create with the Envelope Punch Board. This time I wanted something fun to give to my grandchildren. The colours are Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black and Silver Glimmer Paper. I used the Apothecary Accent Framelits, 1″ Square Punch, Curly Label Punch, Stripes Embossing Folder and the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.
Please enjoy the Christmas Holidays and stay safe.
Bye for now,
Kris
‘Tis the Night Before Christmas
I thought I should pop in and share a few packaging ideas I have used for my Christmas gifts this year.
Firstly I always use the brown paper that Stampin’ Up! provides in our orders to wrap all my presents. This year I used a retired wheel and Always Artichoke ink to add a subtle design to the paper before wrapping my presents. I added some curling ribbon and tags that I made using My Digital Studio. Don’t they look pretty under the tree?
I also made some gift card holders. We always need those don’t we. 
I followed a tutorial I found on Pinterest by Jackie Topa to use the Envelope Punch Board to make these gift card holders for my daughters. The colours are Real Red, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip and a little bit of Silver Glimmer Paper. I also used the Gift Bow Bigz Die. The Season of Style Designer Washi Tape holds the bottom together. The Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder adds texture to the bow and the Whisper White card. I love how when you open these holders, the gift card slides right out so that it is easy to get to. Cute aren’t they?
I needed to house a few golf balls and a gift card for my Dad and the Tag a Bag Gift Boxes were the perfect size. I shredded some Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake to put in the bottom of the box and then I was able to add four golf balls. A gift card from his favourite Golf Club fits on the top. I decorated a piece of Whisper White card using the speckled image from the
Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and stamped Merry Christmas from the More Merry Messages stamp set using Cherry Cobbler ink. The stamped card acts as a cover over the box but inside the clear sleeve. I wrapped the box with Cherry Cobbler 1″ Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon.
I hope that you all are enjoying a lovely day preparing to celebrate Christmas with your family and friends.
Bye for now,
Kris
My Downline Gifts
I have two lovely ladies in my downline – Shirley and Jenny. They came along to celebrate the end of the year at my Christmas Party last weekend. I wanted to get them something special and as usual My Digital Studio came to the rescue. I created a Planner for each of them using the Up To Date Planner Digital Download. I didn’t change anything about the layout, just added the days to the calendars. I had them printed at Harvey Norman online and they turned out really lovely.
I wanted to present them nicely so I found some canvas bags online which I could decorate. I used a card front which came in the Lemonade Stand Digital Download as part of Sale-A-Bration last year. I added some background paper and printed them onto T-Shirt transfer paper which I then ironed onto the front of the bags. I was really pleasantly surprised at how good the detail shows up onto the canvas bags. The background Designer Series Paper is kind of watermarked and you can see in the photo how much variation there is in the print. I added a tag to the bags the same as the ones I added to the gift bags for my customers. My downline received the Sugar Scrub, Passionfruit Butter, Rocky Road and Mug Rugs too.
You can see that My Digital Studio is fast becoming something I cannot live without. If you haven’t given it a try, then please visit my online store and download the 30 day free trial. Visit the My Digital Studio website and sign up (free) so that you can view some of the videos to get you started.
Please don’t forget that if you have created something for the Christmas Season, whether it is a gift, decorative bag, scrap page or even a card, share it with us at Sunny Challenges. We love to see your creations.
Bye for now,
Kris
Happy Birthday Abi
My eldest granddaughter turned nine on Monday. This is the gift bag and card that I made for her.
The card is a case of one I found on Pinterest (I honestly do not know what I did before I discovered this fantastic site). I embossed the Whisper White card using the Chevron Embossing Folder, attached it to Rich Razzleberry card and then scored and folded Whisper White card. I stamped happy birthday from the Bring on the Cake stamp set onto Whisper White card using Rich Razzleberry ink, added strips of Rich Razzleberry punched using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch to both long edges before attaching it to the card front. I stamped the hat from the Sketched Birthday stamp set onto Whisper White card using each of the following inks – Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry. 
I cut the hats out, attached them (using dimensionals) to 1-3/8″ Circles punched from matching card stock and then to the card front. I added a Basic Rhinestone to the pom pom on each of the hats. Thanks so much to Carol for the inspiration.
I decorated the bag to match but this time I used the stamp from the Perfect Pennants stamp set – stamped in the same colour inks and punched using the Perfect Pennants Punch. I attached the pennants to 1-3/4″ circles of matching card using dimensionals. I punched circles from Silver Glimmer Paper using the 3/8″ circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack to the top of the pennants. The Whisper White card is embossed using the Chevron Embossing Folder and the Rich Razzleberry card is punched using the Scallop Trim Border Punch.
I would love to hear what you think of my gift set.
Bye for now,
Kris
Gifts for the Gift Bags
In my last post I shared the gift bags that I decorated for the ladies who attended my Christmas Party which I created using MDS. Well, now I am going to share with you what gifts I placed inside the bags.
I had found a recipe on Pinterest for a Sugar Hand Scrub and thought it might be nice to make this for everyone. I searched the shops and found some cute little jars to hold the scrub and then I used MDS to create a label for the jar. I printed the label onto some nice shiny paper I found at the Newsagent. To make them sticky I used the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets. I used the Made From Scratch Embellishments which are part of the Made From Scratch Recipes Designer Template (129004). I changed the colour to Early Expresso and once I printed them I used the 1-3/4″ Circle Punch to cut them out. 
I also made some Passionfruit Butter using a receipe I got from my Mum. This recipe is a firm family favourite so I thought it would be a great gift. I found some more cute little jars and added the Passionfruit Butter. Again the labels are made using MDS. This time I used the Jolly Christmas Elements. To get the sizing right I added the Decorate Label Punch to my page, then the element and text. Once I had everything placed the way I wanted it I removed the Decorative Label Punch. I knew that when they were printed they would fit perfectly in the Decorative Label Punch to cut them out. Using MDS is fantastic when you have multiples of the one project to make. You just create once and print as many times as you need.
I also made some Rocky Road which I placed into cellophane bags and tied up with ribbon. I did use retired ribbon but I don’t think that spoils the gift at all. Unfortunately I do not have an individual photo of this gift but you can see it in the photo below.
The last thing I added to the bags was a Mug Rug. I had saved a tutorial for making these to my Sewing Board on Pinterest and finally got around to making them. I used the now retired Dresdan Designs Bigz Die to cut my material. I used some quilting quarters that I bought at Spotlight (an Australian store). I got two Mug Rugs from each quarter and also used the Flower Folds Bigz XL Die (also retired) to cut the flowers. I found another hint somewhere to add dimension to the material flowers, you just spray them with fabric starch, scrunch them up and let them dry. I sewed them onto the front of the Mug Rugs and added a Vintage Faceted Designer Button to the centre of the flowers. The Mug Rugs close by using a hair elastic (the kind with no metal) and another Vintage Faceted Designer Button. I packaged them in a cellophane bag and tied them up with Bakers Twine.
I think all the gifts look really cute. My daughter sent me a photo on my phone of her Mug Rug on her coffee mug. She said it looked good and worked really well too. Unfortunately the technology escapes me to transfer the photo from my phone to my blog!
Hope you enjoyed these little projects and just for being so lovely I have added a PDF with the recipes for the Sugar Scrub, Passionfruit Butter and Rocky Road. Enjoy!
Bye for now,
Kris
Christmas Gifts
Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend time with some of the ladies who are my customers but have now become really great friends. We shared lunch and gifts and celebrated the season with a lovely cocktail (thanks to Shirley).
I thought I would share with you the gifts that I made for these lovely ladies.
Firstly I used My Digital Studio to create a decorative panel for the front of my gift bags. I created a new project and set the dimensions to match the width of my bag by the height that I wanted the panel to be. I used the Tree Trimmings Stamp Brush Set to add the ornaments and the strings. I changed the colours of the ornaments to Cherry Cobbler, Baked Brown Sugar and Early Expresso. The strings are Early Expresso as well. 
Then I added a greeting which was one of the Brush stamps from the Season of Style Pocket Cards Download, changed the size and the colours to suit my design. Once I was happy I saved it as a jpeg file which I imported to a word document – two to a page and printed onto Very Vanilla card. Once they were printed I cut the pages down to get my two panels. I added punched strips of Early Expresso card using the Scallop Trim Border punch, added them to the long edges of my MDS panel and then to the bag front.
Of course I needed to add a tag to each bag and again I created them in My Digital Studio, using the same Tree Trimmings Stamp Brush Set as well as the Holly Jolly Christmas Stamp Brush Set to add the “to/from”. I really love the way the bags turned out and they looked so cute when they were all placed under the Christmas Tree.
These were pretty simple to make using the My Digital Studio Programme. If you haven’t given it a try yet, then please visit my online store where you can download a free 30 day trial just to see what all the fuss is about. I am sure you will be so impressed you will purchase the programme. You can see all sorts of videos and samples at My Digital Studio which is a free site to join, open to demonstrators and customers alike.
Of course I had to add some goodies to the bag and these I will share with you another day.
Bye for now,
Kris
Teacher Gifts
I recently participated in a Twilight Market at my grandchildren’s school. They held a night disco for the primary aged children and held the market at the same time. The idea was to have small gifts that could be used for Teachers or perhaps to add a little extra something to someones Christmas gift. I purchased a tutorial from Tanya Bell with lots of different sized boxes which can be created with the Envelope Punch Board. I got to work making little boxes to hold a single serve chocolate bar – like a Snickers or a Mars Bar. They looked so cute once they were wrapped in a cellophane bag and tied with Bakers Twine. I used My Digital Studio to create the tags, which I printed onto Whisper White card and punched with the Decorative Label Punch. The little labels for the front of the boxes were created in MDS – oh how I love using it to create quick little accents for all sorts of projects. There is a little Silver Glimmer Paper behind the greeting just to a little sparkle. 
I also found a tutorial on Pinterest for these really cute Candy Cane Holders, again made using the Envelope Punch Board (what a fantastic tool and certainly not just for envelopes). This tutorial was a video by Sam Donald which you can view here. Once again they look so cute tied up in a cellophane bag. The tag was made using the Single Stamp Be Merry which I stamped using Stazon ink onto Whisper White card and then I cut them out using the matching Chalk Talk Framelit. I did use retired ribbon and designer series paper on these little gifts but only you and I know that.
I hope I have inspired you to get your Envelope Punch Board out and create some cute little stocking fillers for your family and friends this year. Don’t forget these fit the current Sunny Challenge so please share them with Mr. Linky.
Bye for now,
Kris
Clearance Rack Blitz
Starting today you can find some fabulous bargains at up to 80% off. These items will only be available on a while stocks last basis and will change and be updated from time to time. So go visit my online store to see what is available currently and then check back regularly so that you don’t miss out on any new items. Shopping online will be the best way to make sure that you do not miss out on something that you really want.
One of the things I am excited about is that some of the gorgeous fabric is back at a really ridiculously low price of $3.39!.
So off you go and pick up a bargain.
Bye for now,
Kris
Sunny Challenge 94/13
This will be the last challenge for this year at Sunny Challenges and Creations and will run until the New Year. We know how busy everyone gets at this time of the year, so all we want you to do is share anything you have created for the Christmas Season. Maybe you made some new decorations for your tree or a banner or some packaging, anything at all, share it with us. So while you are busy getting ready to enjoy your Christmas celebrations, just add it to our Mr. Linky and share with all of us your wonderful creations.
The project I am sharing with you today is one I have wanted to create for a long time. These fantastic timber Christmas Countdown or Advent Calendars seem to pop up all over the web and I love them. I asked my Dad to make me one and since he is so clever and obliging he did it in record time. Shame on me but it sat on my laundry bench ignored for several weeks until I suddenly realised that it was almost December and I hadn’t decorated it.
I cut down a piece of Crumb Cake 12″ x 12″ card to fit the centre of the calendar and stamped the background using the Dictionary Background stamp and Crumb Cake ink. I wanted the stamping to be random and it certainly didn’t need to be perfect. I stamped the large snowflake from the Festive Flurry stamp set over the top using Cherry Cobbler ink, stamping off first so that it was a little lighter. 
I enlarged the template for the trees and cut them from Season of Style Designer Series Paper. I added dimensionals between the folds to add some extra dimension to the trees. I added strips of Chocolate Chip card for trunks and attached them inside the frame of the calendar. The largest tree is attached with Glue Dots and the smaller tree with dimensionals. I cut Ho, Ho, Ho from Cherry Cobbler card using the Big Shot and the Typeset Alphabet and attached them into the top right hand corner of the frame. The boxes are cut from Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and Baked Brown Sugar card. Using a template that my Dad made for me I was able to determine the correct size and scoring to make them fit into the niches perfectly. I added card cut from one of the same colours (which by the way are the colours of the Season of Style Designer Series Paper) using the 1-1/4″ Scallop Punches and 1″ circles of either Silver, Champagne or Red Glimmer Paper. 
The numbers are a digital download that I purchased just for this project – Calendar Numbers Stamp Brush Set. I created the right size, by adding a circle punch to my page and adjusting the size to 3/4″. Then I added the numbers so that they fitted inside the circle, changed the colours to what I wanted and when I was ready to printed removed the 3/4″ circles. Once the numbers were printed I was able to use the 3/4″ Circle Punch to cut them out and add them to the centre of the Glimmer Paper. I have to say that I am loving being able to use My Digital Studio to add finishing touches to my projects almost instantly. If you haven’t tried it yet, then shoot over to my store and download the free 30 day trial. Join the free online My Digital Studio site and get instant access to videos and tutorials to help you get the most from this fabulous programme. You will be instantly in love.
This calendar now has pride of place in my dining room and the grandchildren love checking the boxes to see what chocolate they might get today. Of course with 6 grandchildren, I have to have some extras stashed in the pantry so everyone gets a chocolate!
I think my Dad did a wonderful job of creating this piece for me and I can’t thank him enough.
For some more inspiration why not pop over to Sunny Challenges and Creations and see what the Design Team has created. AND don’t forget to add your projects to Mr. Linky so we can pin all your great ideas for next year.
Bye for now,
Kris
Christmas Framed Art
This framed art piece was part of my Christmas Decoration Class. I really love blue for Christmas and don’t think you can go past Night of Navy, especially when it is paired with silver. The Sahara Sand card is stamped using the Dictionary Background stamp using Sahara Sand ink. It is stamped randomly and I wasn’t particularly concerned if the image wasn’t perfect. I stamped the largest snowflake from the Festive Flurries stamp set using Marina Mist ink which I stamped off onto scrap paper first. Again it is stamped randomly and sometimes not so perfectly. I stamped the image from the Ornament Keepsakes stampset onto Night of Navy card using Versamark ink added Silver Embossing Powder and heat set them. I cut them out using the matching Holiday Framelit. The ornaments were scored in half and three attached together and a plain Night of Navy ornament is attached to the back. 
I added the gorgeous 1/8″ Silver Ribbon to the tops of the ornaments and attached it to the back of the Sahara Sand card. I stamped the Love and Joy using Night of Navy ink and then used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp over the top in Versamark. I sprinkled over Clear Embossing Powder and heat set it.
I love the look of this art piece and thought that you might like to make one too, so I just click here to download your free tutorial. You will also be able to find it on my Free Tutorial Page.
I’d love to hear what you think and maybe see your version of this project.
Bye for now,
Stamping with Kris 