Welcome to our World Card Making Day Blog Hop! All of the projects we have made for you today are made using current Stampin' Up!® Products! How exciting!!

It's so great to join together with so many demonstrators from all over the world to celebrate this crafty event, we have lots of amazing inspiration for you today and I hope you enjoy looking at our projects!

I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to 2016 and all that it brings.

Myself and my husband had a quiet Christmas at home this year. We started off with an amazing meal at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill in Congresbury near Bristol on Christmas Eve. The food was amazing, for a special treat and a truly memorable meal, we decided to share a Chateaubriand, essentially a large fillet of beef, intended to be shared and never for just one. This dish came with the most amazing onion rings, a grilled tomato and a small copper pan of triple cooked chips. A little jug of Bearnaise Sauce was the perfect accompaniment.

We opted out of starters so we could make sure we finish this beautiful steak and still have room for dessert - but we couldn't resist the warm basket of beautifully baked sourdough bread. For dessert I had a very sticky toffee pudding and Phil had a raspberry knickerbocker glory. It was a lovely relaxing evening with stunning food. The service was excellent and the waitress very kindly offered to take a photo of us.

We visited Phil's dad and sister on Christmas Day morning then spent the rest of the day at home, just the two of us with our cats Charlie & Bayley. I missed having my mum and brother to stay so we decided to use Skype so we could open our presents together. It was really nice as we were still able to be part of each others day, 130 miles apart.

Whilst I did miss hostessing, it was also lovely to put my feet up and relax and cook Christmas dinner at my own leisure. I cooked roast turkey and all the trimmings - my all-time favourite roast is rib of beef but my husband always says "its not Christmas if you don't have turkey", so turkey it was and it will always be. I'm not the biggest fan of turkey so I always make Jamie Oliver's Get Ahead Chrismas Gravy to serve with the meat, trust me, it makes all the difference to the meal and is well worth the effort to make it.

As we were spending Christmas apart from family, I wanted to make something handmade to give as presents. I made 6 of these little hampers, containing little treats to eat and drink and I really hope everyone liked them and found a little something inside that they really enjoyed. Naturally I couldn't post pictures of these until after Christmas, so here is my version of a Handmade Christmas Hamper and the little treats included within it.

These biscuits are so yummy, they are Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Belgian Milk Chocolate Shortbread Wreaths. I am glad I bought them when I did as they were sold out in no time. I packaged 2 biscuits in 4" x 6" cellophane bags to include in the hamper.

I made a label using the Lots of Labels Framelits and some kraft cardstock. I then stamped 'Chocolate Shortbread' using the Alphabet Rotary Stamp and underneath stamped the winter scene using the Cozy Christmas stamp set. I added a white star punched from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper and also coloured in the snow on the roof with a Wink of Stella glitter pen which will be available in the new Spring Summer catalogue. I stapled the label to the cellophane bag using the Handheld Stapler.


Here is another favourite of mine - Sainsbury's All Butter Fudge. It's very crumbly fudge and at £1.25 for 200g it's an absolute bargain. I put 4 little pieces of fudge into a 3" x 5" cellophane bag. The label is Kraft cardstock punched out with the Decorative Label Punch. Again, I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp to stamp the word 'Fudge' and then added the sentiment 'Happy Winter' from the Happy Scenes stamp set. The little bird has been stamped using the Festival of Trees stamp set. I used the handheld stapler again to fix the label to the cellophane bag.



A hamper wouldn't be a hamper without some good old English tea so I ordered individually wrapped Twinings English Breakfast tea bags from eBay.

I made these cute tea bag holders using some 6" x 6" Designer Series Paper and added a sentiment using the Washi Label Punch and stamped 'Season's Greetings' using the Happy Scenes stamp set.

I used a video tutorial I found on YouTube by Joan Robertson to make the tea bag holder - click here to watch it, it's so easy and quick to make and each one holds two tea bags.

Now this is a real treat. I included in the hamper a little glass jar filled with Mr Miles hot chocolate (made in Somerset), enough for 2 mugs plus some pink and white mini marshmallows for some extra indulgence!

I got the clip lid glass jars from Sainsburys for £1.25 each - unfortunately I can't find them online but they are similar to the Kilner Spice Jars. They are perfect as once the hot chocolate has been used up, the glass jars can be reused in either the kitchen, or even in the craft room.

I used the Alphabet Rotary Stamp to stamp 'Hot Chocolate' onto some Kraft cardstock. I then punched out little tags using the Washi Label Punch. A star punched from Gold Glimmer Paper punched using one of the Itty Bitty Accents punches and fixed to the tag with a glue dot is I needed to finish off the jar. To fix the label to the jar, I punched a small hole using the 1/8" Circle Handheld Punch and threaded through some Linen Thread before tying the label onto the glass jar.

Just a short blog post from me today, I've had a really busy weekend visiting family and have clocked up 400 miles in less than 24 hours. Tiredness has just hit me so please enjoy the pictures and I'll be back on Wednesday with another project.


For today's project I made two gifts bags using some different patterns out of the Timeless Elegance DSP. I added a glittery banner using Glimmer Paper and the Banner Tripple punch. I then took some wooden sentiments (they are called Expressions Natural Elements) and used Versamark Ink, Embossing Powder and my heat gun to add a lovely shiny embossed colour to the embellishment. To finish it off I punched a hole through the top and then used some of the lovely Satin Ribbon and Linen Thread to secure the bag.

Today I am attending the Stampin' Up! Regional Training in Telford along with 300 - 400 other Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.

I am really looking forward to it having attended last year and I can't wait to meet up with my fellow crafty friends and also get to play with some of the new products that will be in the new Annual Catalogue. 

At events like this we are asked to make swaps. Its not compulsory but its nice to chat with other demos and see what they've made with the Stampin' Up products. You come back with loads of projects which inspire you and can help you to think of alternative ways to use the products outside of your comfort zone.







To make the design for my box I cut the Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper into 3.4cm by 3.4cm squares. Next I stamped the sentiment Thank You in Versamark ink and used Black Embossing Powder and my heat tool to emboss it. I used my trusty Paper Piercing Tool to hold the paper to my desk when applying the hot air to stop it blowing away! 

I then cut Kraft Cardstock into 3.8cm by 3.8cm squares and adhered the Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper to it using Snail Adhesive.

Can you believe I only needed 1 sheet of Kraft Cardstock and Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper for all 65 boxes!

I wrapped some linen thread around the tea light box before applying the sentiment to the top using Stampin' Dimensionals to lift it up slightly. I finished it off by tying a bow...although some look better than others as I'm not the greatest at tying bows.

I hope you have enjoyed my project today. I think these would make perfect wedding favours or little thank you gifts. I would love to see what designs you have come up with!

If you are interested in becoming an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator so you can attend next year's event, please let me know!