Sara's Stamping Spot 2.0: December Creation Station Hop--Holiday Happenings

Welcome to the Creation Station December Blog Hop!

We are a group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from around the globe who share our stamping creations each month to inspire you. This month our theme is Holiday Happenings and, since we are a global design team, you are going to see projects for holidays and/or traditions with which you may not be familiar. I am so looking forward to seeing what each team member is going to share. Be sure you click on the Next link at the end of each post, so you can see each project, too.

Christmas is always a special season of celebration in my family--it may be just the two of us the day of, but we always have family visiting in December. I traditionally fill Christmas stockings for my daughter and her family so if she visits Thanksgiving or early in December, they are ready for her to take home to put under her tree. This year, I was excited to use the Sweetest Christmas suite to use for little extras in the stockings. For you, I am sharing the gift card wallet which I used as a stocking stuffer in one stocking and the decorated candy canes that went in each one.

One of my favorite dies in the entire July to December Mini Catalog is the label designed to slide onto a candy cane from the Candy Canes dies (#159569). What a fantastic way to make a candy cane a WOW little gift! I die cut the labels for my chocolate/peppermint candy canes out of Real Red Glimmer paper (#159678, includes 4 each of Real Red and White 6"x6" sheets). Then I decorated them with a couple of Garden Green mistletoe branches die cut using the Christmas Banner dies (#159576), a greeting from the Sweet Candy Canes stamp set (#159560, bundled at 10% off with the Candy Canes dies, #161052) which was die cut using the second smallest circle die from Stylish Shapes dies (#159183), some Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels (#146924), and a bow tied with Garden Green 3/8" ribbon from the Real Red and Garden Green combo pack, #159577). I think I'll make some more of these to give out to visitors.

The gift card wallet was made with a design I found on Patty Bennett's Blog years ago and still use. It is easy and fun to make and decorate. Usually I make a ribbon or belly band closure on this wallet, but my decorations (which I think used every product in the Sweetest Christmas Suite!) were enough to hold the front flap of the wallet closed on its own. For the front, I die cut a candy cane from the Sweetest Christmas designer series paper which I adhered to a piece of Basic White card stock before die cutting, to give the paper candy cane some body. I decorated the candy cane with several die cuts from the Christmas Banner dies using Garden Green, Pool Party and Sweet Sorbet card stock. I added a Real Red ribbon bow and a Flat Jingle Bell Trinket (#159980). The greeting is from the Sweet Candy Canes stamp set, stamped in Garden Green on Basic White and die cut using a die from the Painted Labels dies (#151605) which I shorten using a technique with the Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine which I have shared with you before. The background is a Real Red pattern from the designer series paper, a strip of a Garden Green pattern and Real Red glimmer paper.

When you lift the front flap you see two more designs from the Sweetest Christmas paper pack. The striped design has the same color stripes as are on the candy cane on the front: Sweet Sorbet, Pool Party, Garden Green and Real Red.

When the wallet is fully opened you see two greetings from the Sweet Candy Canes stamp set, stamped in Sweet Sorbet and Garden Green on Basic White and the die cut using the large label die from the Painted Label dies. This was mounted over a strip of Real Red glimmer paper and decorated with Garden Green adhesive-backed Seasonal Sequins (#159964). The gift card pocket is decorated with a greeting and banner from the Christmas Banners bundle (#159993). It was also stamped in Sweet Sorbet and Garden Green and decorated with more die cuts.

The wallet base is an 11-1/2" x 4-1/2" piece of Sweet Sorbet card stock, scored at 3", 3-1/8", 6-1/8" and 9-1/8". To create the pocket you fold up the piece at the 9-1/8" score line, punch out a piece for the pull space and adhere the sides to the base.

Give these fast and easy stocking stuffers a try for your gifts this season. Now let's head over to Elizabeth Price's blog Seeing Ink Spots and see what amazing inspiration she has for us today.