We have been busy stamping and scrapping all year and before we take a week off, we are going to show you what we have been creating for our friends and families.

Hoping you will find a last minute inspiration for a card.

by Jolene Johnston

by Jaine Drake

by Els Brigé

by Agata Pfister

gift card holder by Sue Sykes

card and details by Wendy Morris

cards by Linda Abadie

by Marsha Valk

by Janet Zeppa

by Isolde Pyncket

We wish you and your families a peaceful and very merry Christmas and a happy and crafty 2012. Keep stamping!

Best wishes from the myStamp BOX team,

Thanks for joining us for more Christmas inspiration. Today I’m sharing a fun craft project that makes a great stocking stuffer or teacher gift.

I used a black marker to color only the belly of the snowman from the Merry Mr. Snowman stamp set. I stamped it onto sturdy kraft holly paper from product partner Canvas Corp and used a craft knife to cut out the inside of the stamped image. I wrapped the paper around a pack of Tic Tac candies to completely cover it, allowing the white candies to show out of the window. I stamped the entire snowman onto white cardstock, colored in selected portions, and cut out only the top half of the image. I made sure to cut little fringes into his scarf and added some holly and bling for an extra special touch. I glued his crisp, smiling face right onto the box, layering on top of the window section. The end result is a fun candy treat that you can call Snowman Kisses, Snowman Poop, or anything else you like.

Be sure to join us as we continue our 12 Days of Christmas ideas with myStampBOX!

One of the best times of the year is the time leading up to Christmas, when we get to light candles, bake cookies and keep many secrets. As a kid I always have had an advent calendar, made by my grandmother. It was mostly filled with sweets.

Our boys still enjoy their calendars and don’t seem to outgrow them. For this advent I made a family calendar which will be hanging in the kitchen. For every day between today and December 24th, we will be adding one mini ornament to the Christmas tree, until it is fully decorated.

For the tree I chose different colour card stock, cut it into organic shapes and assembled the tree. I stamped it with zipper and zigzag stamps from “Repeat after Me” in brown, then smeared brown and green inks and white acrylic paint all over the tree. I punched 24 holes and added 24 gold brads which will be holding the ornaments.

The background was cut from a piece of gardening burlap and stamped with white snowflakes (“Let it Snow”) and acrylic paint. I added green and white acrylic paints and the word “advent” at the bottom.

For the ornaments I chose a selection of our Christmas stamps from several stamp sets and used brown ink on shrink plastic. The images were cut out, hole punched and shrunk. A small wire was added and they were ready to be hung!

The whole project took about 3 hours from start to finish.

Come and see the fully decorated tree on December 24th on our blog!

Until then enjoy our 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS projects coming up in the next days! We will have some very decorative and festive ideas in stock for you!

Happy Stamping,

Love,

For day 10 of Christmas I made napkin rings using the Merry Mr. Snowman Set.

I made these napkin ring holders using toilet paper rolls.  I took a roll and cut it in half to give me 2 rings.  To colour the ring I sprayed it with glimmer mist and then modge podged the outside to make it a bit firmer.  The sentiment is stamped on transparency using black stazon ink.  These are a great way to dress up your table setting for those Holiday Feasts!

These are quick and easy to make.  Have a happy Holiday season!

Happy Scrappin’

On the 9th day of Christmas…

I wanted to make a quick and easy item for my son’s teacher to have on her desk but I wanted to think outside of the box.   So I decided to recover a box of Kleenex and make it fun and colourful for his Kindergarten class to enjoy for the month of December.

I started off by covering each face of the box with some fun patterned paper from Basic Grey.  I then covered the top edges of the box using some soft green coloured ribbon.

On one of the long sides I wanted to create a little snowy scene with Santa and his sleigh…

For each of these images, I stamped the Santa from the Ho Ho Ho stamp set on multiple pieces of patterned paper.  I cut out each piece to his suit out of the red paper and added it to the creamy white paper.  I added some pink Copic to cheeks to “merry” him up a little!  A tough of glitter didn’t hurt either…

The back ground of snow was creating using the mini snowflake stamps from the Tree for all Seasons stamp set.

To create Santa’s sleigh, I used the same paper piecing technique as my Santa and layered my patterned paper pieces until I got my desired image built.  This cute sleigh image is from the Ho Ho Ho set as well!

On the smaller end of the box, I paper pierced a little snowman from our Merry Mr. Snowman stamp set.  His cute little candy cane is also from this set.  I added a little Copic “rouge” to this little fella too!

For the second long side, I wanted to make the side a simple greeting side so I used the “happy” stamp from the Lots of Dots Sentiments set to start and then I stamped the word “holidays” using our Royal Flush alphabet set.  I coloured the insides of the letters with my Copic markers to make them a little more festive!  I also added some cute little trees from our O Christmas Tree! set to build a little landscape of sorts.  The double wavy line image is a fun stamp from the Christmas Garlands set.

For my final small end, I stamped a reindeer fellow from our Ho Ho Ho set for Santa.  I coloured his nose and collar red to add touch of colour.

And finally for the top of the Kleenex box, I wanted to ensure that the kids were still able to pull out the tissues so I kept it simple.

I built a simple die cut layered poinsettia and added some stamped leaves from the Floating Leaves set.

I also added a die cut red snowflake with a little tag and message from the Santa’s Tags stamp set.

Overall I just adore how this came out and I just know the kids in my son’s class are going to enjoy all the whimsical critters each side has to offer!  It may be just a Kleenex box but there’s nothing to say that it can’t be something fun to look at!

So take some holiday inspiration and infuse it in your everyday!  Take something from your desk or counter and alter it to be something festive… even if it’s just a temporary decoration.

Happy Stamping!

Hi everyone, welcome to another 12 Days of Christmas here at the myStampBOX blog! Today I’ll show you a gift wrapping kit made with several Christmas stamps.

Here’s the kit closed. I made the box with kraft paper and the lid with acetate. I used different embellishments and twine to close it and give it a festive look.

And here’s the inside of the kit!

Inside the kit you will find:

Gift bows: I made these from strips of cardstock previously stamped with the stars of the Deck the Halls set.

Christmas tags: I stamped gift boxes and Christmas tree decorations from the Merry Mr. Snowman, I coloured them and added some bling. I made the tags using the Deck the Halls and the Small Greetings stamps sets and some coordinations cardstock for the back.

Christmas ribbons: To embellish the ribbons I simply stamped with Staz on ink Christmas sentiments from the Merry Mr. Snowman and the Lines of Life sets.

I hope you like this little project!

Happy holidays to everyone!

Well, we know Christmas is not too far away now, so I thought I’d create some candy bags.  These are quick and easy to make when using myStamp BOX stamps.   I used “Color Me Sentiments” merry x-mas and  stamped it in brown ink on green cardstock.  Then I used the gift package from “Merry Mr. Snowman”.  Since I made a number of these, I colored each one with my Copic markers.

Why not make a bunch and put them on the table or place them in someone’s Christmas bag.  This is the sample bag topper.

These are the completed bags.

I hope I inspired you to make some fun giveaway Christmas bags!

Christmas Ornaments card tutorial

Instructions
- Trim cardstock to 5.5”x8” , fold  to create card base of 4”x5.5”
- Trim patterned paper, then add a Dooblebug Frills border on the left of the patterned paper , and adhere to card front.
- Stamp Christmas ornaments  on 2 different coordinating pieces of patterned paper, cut out, then adhere to card front.
- Add 2 different Doodlebug Frills borders to “hang “ the ornaments , adhere to card front.
- Add stickles / glitter glue for a touch of bling on the ornament and when dry , top off with Glossy Accents.
- Create 2 red and white twine bows , adhere to ornaments and finish off with a bling center on the bows.
- Stamp sentiment on a die cut banner

Tip : Other ideas to “hang” the ornaments – use hemp string, twine or a bling border instead of the ribbon. Or stamp another design – a flourish or other line designs.

Supplies: Cardstock: Kraft Swiss Dotted Carstock. Patterned Paper: WRMK White Christmas. Embellishments: Red & White twine, rhinestone and pearl bling, Doodlebug Frills paper ribbons, Martha Stewart Die Cut labels. Adhesive: Glossy Accent, Glue Dots

After assembling the background on the kraft gift bag, Pearl stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment a couple of times below the top scalloped border. She also used the present stamp on a coordinating paper, coloring in the bows with red glitter glue. Pearl cut it out and used it as an embellishment.

Let’s see your coordinating gift sets. Link in your comment to your tag/gift wrap or card/gift bag or other matching sets. We love to see your creations!

For the place card settings, I first folded Bazzill cardstock, one of our preferred partners, into a piece that was 3″ x 6″, then folded it in half to create a 3×3 card. Using my Cricut and the new Thanksgiving cartridge, I die cut the leaves. I used Bold Blocks stamps to stamp the date.

For the napkin rings, I cut cardstock 2″ x 6″, covered it with matching pattern paper and added a punched strip of leaves.  Using  Merry Mr. Snowman stamp set, I stamped the ornament, then flipped it over and used it as the hanging tag on my napkin rings.  I then stamped initials using  Colour Me stamp set.

This “cracker” is actually an empty toilet tissue roll that I covered with Bazzill cardstock.   I first stamped “thanks” all over the cardstock, using Color Me – Sentiments, then wrapped it around the toilet tissue roll. I spritzed some white tissue paper with Candlelight Glimmer Mist and once dry, I wrapped it around the roll, placed candies inside and sealed it at the ends. Who can resist some sweetness on the dinner table?

Pearl is using the  Merry Mr. Snowman for her projects. We want to celebrate this set by offering you a 10% discount when you place an order including Merry Mr. Snowman during this week (Nov 22-28). Just use snowman10 in the checkout under discount.

And now, please meet Pearl:

Hi everyone, I am Pearl Liu from sunny Singapore!

For my first card – Joyeux Noel – I wanted to capture the joyful expression of Merry Mr Snowman – and even make it seem like he’s wheeee-ing down a snowy hillside . Hence the snowglobe-like background that I mounted him on. I tried out a little paper piecing and gave our Merry Snowman a dotty scarf chosen from a coordinating piece of pattern paper by WRMK .  I went to town with Stickles on the snowy hill and the top hat for Mr Snowman. For a finishing touch, I used Glossy Accents on the top hat, nose and buttons on Mr Snowman.

Here’s a simple set of quick tags to make – to give away or  to attach to your presents  at Christmas.

Using a medium sized shipping tag size, I used the same simple design using coordinating papers from a single line for all 3 tags. I used SEI’s Kris Kringle Jolly Holidays and assembled the papers unto the tag. Using the present and candy cane stamps I made some fun, customized embellishments.

For the first tag , I glued on microbeads using glossy accents on the bows of the present for a fun texture. After drying , I gave the microbeads another coat of glossy accents to ensure that they stay on.

For the second tag, I gave the bow an entirely different treatment, using green Stickles to color the bow of the present and when dry, I added some paper curls for a fun, dimensional effect to the foam mounted present on the tag.

For the final tag , I stamped 2 candy cane images on white cardstock with red ink  and after cutting them out , I applied red Stickles  on the red bands of the canes. When dry, I applied Glossy Accents all over one candy cane , and on the other , only on the red distress  stickled parts. Really love the dimension and shine from using the Glossy Accent here.

I added the Joyeux Noel sentiment, gingham ribbon & twine to finish the tags off and presto, done!

I hope you liked my projects for today, there will be more from me later this week

Pearl

Time to start thinking about how to get organized for Christmas this year. I will be writing many handmade Christmas cards again – of course all hand stamped with myStampBOX’s fun Christmas stamps.

Since we have Pearl Liu, our Guest Designer for November, working with one of our favourite stamp sets – Merry Mr. Snowman, we want to celebrate this set by offering you a 10% discount when you place an order including Merry Mr. Snowman during this or next week (Nov 15-28). Just use snowman10 in the checkout under discount.

Happy Stamping,

Love,

I then added some brads to the snowman’s tummy and some Polar Flowersoft around the edges for a little added dimension.

Next I decided to use one of the chipboard trees from Magistical Memories, one of our preferred partners. I painted it red, cut a black circle and added it to my card. This was a very simple but striking I Love You card using Color Me – Sentiments stamps .

Our website is undergoing some changes to include more features and tutorials. Keep your eyes open for the new look coming some time in January. Our blog will continue in its daily Monday-Friday format.

We will continue to have guest designers show their phantastic creations and will present them during our Monday posts.

Look out for upcoming fun with myStampBOX, including new stamp sets coming this month, more blog hops (the next one will be Feb. 8th),  inspiration and lots of exciting new ideas!

Enjoy a crafty and creative 2010!

I brought back this cute little snow card from my ski trip for you. The numbers are stamped with glue ink and topped with glitter. The snowman got a popped up hat and scarf for dimension. I had fun taking his picture in his natural environment!

Happy stamping,

Bettina

I’ve been making these cute little containers to store the cookies in, and matching recipe cards to give away with each little tin. I’ve been saving all those little tins from flavoured teas, mini or large sized pringles chip tins, hot chocolate tins, any tin that has a lid works great. You simply select the paper you want, attach with glue, and then embellish as desired. Easy but oh so pretty, and lots of fun to make too. I used the myStampBOX “Merry Mr. Snowman” set and my Copic Markers for the Ornament on the Tin and the Invitation.

For the Recipe Card, I pulled out my “Lots of Dots” alphabet stamps, stamped them in VersaMark and embossed them with Cranberry Embossing powder from Ranger. I’ll then write in the recipe for my cookies…. once I decide which ones I am making!

This is my last Blog post here at mSB before the holiday. I’ll take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very happy, healthy and crafty Holiday Season.

Lara

I love working with stamps, and when I spend a certain amount on a set, I want to make sure that I use it as often as possible, but without always looking the same on every project.

One technique I enjoy, but don’t often take the time to do when working on something, is layering my stamped images to create a 3D effect..it really is quite basic! And you can use this technique to create so many different looks using only one stamp.

To begin….

1) Stamp the image several times onto a piece of cardstock

2) Colour in the image, using markers, copics, chalk, etc

3)Cut out each image…After I do this, I cut out each element from the stamp, so that the image will be in several different pieces.

4) Adhere to your project using your preferred adhesive…For a 3D look, I suggest using pop dots.

***It really is that simple!

You can add each element of the image separately, or you can have one stamped image on your project, with one added element, so that only that part of the stamped image looks 3D.

For the layout “merry Christmas” I used both techniques with the decoration stamps. I also used a Tim Holtz mask and glimmer mist for a fun look to my layout. Stamp sets used: Merry Mr. Snowman

For the card “welcome to the neighborhood” I Stamped along the card, and then added a few stamped images to create a fun 3D look(school bus, trees, etc). Stamp sets used: Neighborhoods & Tree for all Seasons

For the layout “wishing you sunshine” I used this technique on the sun and the clouds. Stamp sets used: Wishing you Sunshine (my Stamp BOX)

I would love to see different ways in which you have used this technique on a project… I also look forward to seeing different ways you could layer stamped images.

The stamps I used were the Merry Mr Snowman and Seal it.

First, lets start with our Mr Snowman, which is where I started on this project!

I stamped him onto white cardstock using black ink, and went from there… embellishing him as much as I possibly could! I used lots of pearls and bling for his eyes, nose, mouth and buttons. I folded and twisted ribbon for his scarf and hat ribbon. I finished him off with a sweet red flower on his hat! I can see me using this snowman lots. The possibilities of dressing him up are endless!!

The next step was to decide on a base for my snowman and the main part of my hanger and design it as desired. Here are some tips… as next time I make them, I have a couple of changes I will make…

*Use a sturdy base for your hanger. Tying ribbon to cardstock and hoping it will hold was not smart thinking! Chipboard will do a much better job nest time!

*Make the base a bit bigger than i did… Then the project can circle around or still hang, but will look more in porportion.

Now it’s time to get the candy ready! I cut a long piece of Saran wrap, placed 12 candies in it (i raided their Halloween stash! LOL!) and tied them off using Christmassy ribbons!

I decided to use the Seal it stamps here, because of their circular shape. The one i used says “curious” all around it. How perfect! I stamped them on 12 circles cut using my punch. I added glimmer mist in green and red to take away from the starch whiteness of them. I added #’s from 1 – 12 and punched a hold in the side of each, alternating left and right. Then I tied them to the candy string using the ribbons I seperated them with! i alternated them left and right so that the #’s could easily be seen! The top one is tied directly to the hanger.

Now you’re ready to count down the 12 days of Christmas! I hope that this project has inspired you to do a Christmas countdown of your own! The possibilities are endless!!

When I first started scrapbooking, I was quite intimidated by sketches…I didn’t know what exactly to do with them, and I thought that if you were working with a sketch, that You had to follow the sketch 100%.

Over the years, I have learnt that You can use a sketch for anything….cards, layouts, calendars, canvases, etc, and that You can follow as much of the sketch as you like, or you can change it up to make it your own.

Being a bit of a doodler, I tend to doodle my sketches at random times.

I try to always keep a pen and black sharpie on me at all times, because I can be going for a walk, or waiting to pick up my son from an activity, when I get an idea for a sketch. If I don’t quickly doodle my idea, the sketch will be gone from my mind.

I never redraw a sketch, or pretty it up, but rather work with the raw, messy original(as you can see..lol)

The title of this layout is “may your wish”

Rather then make 4 separate blocks along the side of the photo, I kept it in one large block, where I could use stamped images.

stamp sets used: She says-He says, Oval Office (my Stamp BOX)The title of the card is “merry Christmas”

I stamped the present stamp onto blank scrap paper 4 times, and then used my son’s watercolour paints to paint each one a different colour.

Following the 4 blocks on the sketch, I adhered 4 stamped presents in the same spot.

stamp sets used: Merry Mr. Snowman (my Stamp BOX)The title of this layout is “oh boy”

This was the original layout I made,  right after thinking of the sketch.

I followed the sketch 100%, with adding 4 stamped butterflies where the 4 blocks were alongside the picture.

stamp sets used: Colorful Companions (my Stamp BOX)