Some of my friends and I have a little “mini hop” for you this weekend, so you may have arrived at my blog by way of Jackie’s “Jackotterstamp” blog.  Isn’t she amazing?  If you haven’t been to her blog yet, be sure to visit this weekend.  She always inspires me with her classic style.

My focus this weekend is on packaging.  I like to do something personal and original with gifts, instead of just sticking them in a gift bag with tissue paper and a store-bought bow. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and most of the time, that’s what I do.  But Stampin’ Up! has some fantastic products this year that make the packaging easier.

I always need boxes for little gifts, and I made this one with the envelope liner framelits dies in the Holiday catalog.  This box was made with the smallest framelit.  Simply cut four framelits and glue them together.  Then create a lid and a base.  My lid (using the Winter Frost specialty designer series paper) is 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″, scored at 1″ on all four sides.  The base is 2-3/8″ square.  I dropped the base inside the box to give it a bit more stability.

You can make the boxes with all three sizes of framelits.  The largest makes a really nice sized box – close to the size of a tissue cube.  I created the tag with the new Christmas Tagables photopolymer stamp set and the Label Bracket punch.

This bow was so easy to make.  I used 8 – 4″x 1/2″ strips of Winter Frost specialty designer series paper, and 4 – 3″ x 1/2″ strips.  Glue the ends of each strip together to form a teardrop (or “cause ribbon”) shape, then simply layer them.  I glued 4 of the larger ones together in a cross pattern, overlapping the ends a bit, then added the other 4 larger pieces in between.  The smaller ones fit on top.  Create a loop with a 1″ x 1/2″ strip and glue it to the center.  Add a 1-1/2″ square of card stock on the bottom.  Now, isn’t this prettier than those $ store bows?  I used multipurpose liquid adhesive for my first few bows.  When I finally got my fingers unstuck, I decided a glue gun would be easier, so that’s my adhesive of choice for bows these days.

This little snowflake can be either a package tag or a tree ornament.  Stamp the two medium snowflakes from Festive Flurry on an acetate transparency with white StazOn ink.  Turn them over and paint with a combination Crystal Effects and classic ink refill. Sprinkle on some Dazzling Diamonds glitter and cover with a piece of tissue paper cut a little larger than the image.  Let dry, then die cut with the Festive Flurry Framelits.  Note: I tried this with Stampin’ Up!’s window sheets, but they’re a bit too heavy for framelits to cut.  So unless you want to use scissors, you have to use cheap transparencies from an office store.   I die cut snowflakes from card stock to match the ink refill I used, then glued them behind the tissue paper to make the ornaments a little sturdier.  If you’re using this as an ornament or tag, you’ll want to sandwich some ribbon between the tissue paper and card stock layers on the larger flake so you can hang or tie it. Layer the two snowflakes with Stampin’ Dimensionals and add a Frosted Finishes embellishment on top with a glue dot.  Fun – easy – and gorgeous, right?

For more great ideas, head to Kath’s “All that scrap” blog.  I have to say, it’s a little intimidating to be between these two incredible artists! But I know you’ll enjoy their projects!  (I’m crossing my fingers that Kath will have something watercolored.  If she ever teaches a watercolor class, I may fly to Utah to take it!)

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy.  Have a wonderful day!