Evening lovely blog readers! So big news of the day: my voice is (almost) back! Great news for me, not so great for my youngest when he announced he had lost his trainers following his PE lesson just 3 days into the new term - but that's a story for another time!

Today I'm going to share the last of this week's class projects: a gift card holder, once again made with the Envelope Punch Board. I've seen a few holders made in this way on the internet, but I adapted mine slightly to enable me to make it from half a sheet of A4, using metric measurements. So here is the finished gift card holder from the outside:

No apologies for once again using the Flowerfull Heart stamp (I still love it!), this time overlaid with 'love' cut from gold foil using the Expressions Thinlits die (don't forget these are only available to purchase until the 1st February). There's also another sneak peek of new product available in the Spring-Summer catalogue that launches on 28th January; did you spot it? Yes, it's the lovely gold washi tape which I paired here with Very Vanilla to make my pocket. There are lots of silver and gold items in the new catalogue, so if this is your thing, stay tuned - there will be more to come. The flap closure for the gift card holder is the bit you need the Envelope Punch Board for - it makes the two notches that enable the holder to stay closed and keep the gift card firmly in place.

When you unclasp the flap, this is what you see inside:

The insert is attached to the opening flap so that it slides out of the pocket as you open it and presents the gift card. I designed my gift card holder with a wedding or engagement gift in mind - vouchers or money seem very popular gifts these days, but you could easily adapt it for a birthday or other occasion. One thing is for sure - when it's as easy to make as this, there's really no excuse for a simply sticking a voucher in an envelope or worse still a carrier bag (believe me, it happens!!)

That's all the projects from my classes this week - I hope they've inspired you to go and be adventurous with your Envelope Punch Board. If you live local to me in Northampton and would like to attend any of my Stampin' Up! papercraft and card classes, you can find the current schedule of my card and project classes on my website here; please contact me for further information regarding location and any equipment you will need to bring. Classes must be booked at least 2 weeks in advance of the class date.

Back tomorrow with a Sale-A-Bration sneak peek; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board	Flowerfull Heart Wood-Mount Stamp	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad	Hearts Collection Framelits Dies
Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Magnetic Platform	Standard Cutting Pads	Expressions Thinlits Dies	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock
Gold Foil Sheets	Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Today I've another of this month's Envelope Punch Board class projects to share with you - a rectangular box notecard holder and a set of notecards. So here is the box, complete with belly band:

The box is made from Cherry Cobbler textured cardstock, which is great for boxes as it's really thick and has a lovely quality feel. In this photo I've finished with a belly band made from burlap and cotton ribbon; in class, we also made bows from Modern Medley paper using the Envelope Punch Board and created belly bands with bows on. Inside the box, we made a set of simple notelet cards, in co-ordinating vanilla and Cherry Cobbler and paired with Crumb Cake envelopes:

We used the Sweet Essentials sentiment stamps; this is a great set with sentiments to suit a variety of occasions. This set would make a lovely gift for someone and depending on the sentiment, it could be for a birthday or even created as a set of wedding thank you or acceptance cards.

The finished box base measures 5 3/4" x 4 3/8" and was made from a starter piece of 9" x 9" card stock. As with all boxes, whether square or rectangular, the piece of card you start with needs to be perfectly square; it's the points at which you punch and score that determine the finished dimensions of the box. To create this box, we punched and scored at 3 1/2" and 4 1/2".

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board	Flowerfull Heart Wood-Mount Stamp	Sweet Essentials Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad
Medium Crumb Cake Envelopes	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon	Cherry Cobbler Textured 12" X 12" Card Stock	Hearts Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Magnetic Platform	Standard Cutting Pads

So for my second post today, I wanted to share with you one of the quick makes from my January classes, which are being held this week. This month we are featuring the Envelope Punch Board. Lots of my customers either purchased one or received one as a Christmas gift, but weren't really sure what to do with it other than make basic envelopes. They were truly inspired by my Easiest Ever Envelope Punch Board Cracker Video that I posted before Christmas, so I was keen to show them the full extent of their boards and just what they could do.

We started off by making square boxes - here's my version of the one we made:

This is a simple 2" square box, made from a 6" x 6" square piece of paper, probably the easiest type of box to make. My class used the Modern Medley DSP for their boxes (there are some pictures over on my Facebook page if you would like to see them), but for my box here I thought I would give you another 'sneak peek' of product that will be available during this year's Sale-A-Bration promotion, starting 28th January. This is a sheet from the 'Sweet Sorbet' DSP collection - lovely fresh, spring colours with black (an unusual, but very workable colour combination). I finished my box with a small 'thanks' tag and some stretch ruffle trim in Crisp Cantaloupe to hold the box closed.

Back tomorrow with another of my class projects. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Envelope Punch Board

Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe

Crisp Cantaloupe 3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim

Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad

Lots Of Thanks

Evening blog readers! I had to do some Christmas shopping today, but managed to squeeze in a quick hour of crafting - still so much to do before I'm ready for my very first Stampin' Up! European Convention in Manchester in 2 days time! I'm very excited (can you tell?!) and am looking forward to spending some quality crafting and partying time with Barbara and Samantha, the two of my team that are accompanying me.

More news of that later in the week, but today I have another video tutorial of you to show you how to make a very simple envelope card using your Envelope Punch Board:

I made a whole bunch of these as thank you cards to pop in with my most recent batch of customer orders; lots of my customers have already bought envelope punch boards, so I'm keen to show them lots of simple and straightforward ways that they can use it for things as well as straightforward envelopes.

Here's a picture of the cards I made, both open and closed:

And here's the link to my YouTube channel to watch the video tutorial if you would like to make your own:

I used Sycamore Street designer series paper for my cards, which is a retired paper but one that is still available currently on the clearance rack for only £3.59 - pop over to my online store by clicking on the image below if you would like to snap some up at this bargain price before its all gone!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Yay - it's the weekend! I've been busy doing homework and more convention swaps today, along with other lovely items for my convention friends, all of which I will share with you another time ... because today I'm going to show you the easiest ever way to make Christmas Crackers using the new Stampin' Up! Envelope Punch Board! Not just pictures, but a video too. The new envelope punch board from Stampin' Up! has been hugely popular as lots of my customers will testify and it really is a versatile piece of kit. As I mentioned in a previous post, the board can be used not only to make envelopes, but also boxes in a variety of shapes and sizes and other 3D items such as crackers.

As we are fast approaching the start of the festive season, what better than to make some lovely Christmas crackers to decorate your Christmas tree, as table favours for the festive table or even to house a couple of chocolates as a little gift for someone special? Here are the ones I make in my video, along with a picture of some other ones that I've made:

I've seen lots of videos and tutorials on how to make them in a variety of sizes and styles, but if you want to make lots I think by far the easiest way is to use the current Designer Series Paper Stacks in the seasonal catalogue as your starting point: each sheet measures 4.5"x6.5" so it makes the score measurements really easy: 1", 2", 3" and 4" on the short side, and 1", 1.5", 2", 4.5", 5" and 5"5 on the long side. Simply score, punch stick and done - you can make a cracker in just a couple of minutes. Add a minute or two more to add some decoration and you could be mass producing these in no time. If you don't use the paper stacks, any designer paper cut to the basic measurement will do; I would avoid using solid colour standard cardstock as this is much thicker and whilst your envelope punch board will punch through a double thickness of cardstock, it is quite hard work and you risk damaging your punch and board as it isn't really designed with this in mind.

In my video, I also show a boxed set of crackers that I made using the Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack - here is the photo again:

This box set would make a lovely gift for someone - if you would like to make a box for your crackers, the dimensions you will need are as follows:

Box Base: Sheet of cardstock (I used Bermuda Bay) 8 1/4" x 8 1/2". Score at 1 1/8" and 7 1/8" across the short side, then rotate through 90 degrees and score at 1 1/8" and 7 3/8" on the long side.

Box lid: Acetate window sheet size 8 1/4" x 8 1/2". Create a shim for your score board using an offcut of window sheet, then with your shim in place, score the lid to the same dimensions as the base above (1 1/8" and 7 1/8" across the short side, 1 1/8" and 7 3/8" on the long side). This will ensure your box lid fits snugly.

I then decorated my box with some embossed die cut snowflakes using the Festive Flurry Stamp Set and Framelits, Bermuda Bay ribbon and a Frosted Finishes embellishment.

So without further ado, grab your paper stack and watch my video tutorial and start making your Christmas crackers today!

Stampin' Up Supplies Used: