Hi Everyone!  I wanted to share with you the projects we did for November – in preparation for Christmas next month.  I’m also posting a tutorial for a few of the projects in case you would like to do them yourselves.  I wish everyone a most Happy Thanksgiving this week!

Here is our first project – a money holder but also could hold a gift card also.  I am going to punch a hole at the top and slide a ribbon through so I can hang these right on the tree and use the little tag to put the name of who it goes to on it.  Won’t they look so stinkin’ cute hanging from the tree?  The dimensions are listed below:

Slide the belly band off and this is the inside:

Dimensions:  Cherry Cobbler cut 7 x 7-3/4 inches.  Score the long way at 2-1/4 and 5-1/2.

Belly Band:  Basic Black cut at 1″ x 7-14/16 (2 marks before the 8″ mark).  Score at 2″ and 5-1/4″.

1.  Fold the red base.  On the wider side, make your scalloped edge using our punch.   On the thinner side, place a sticky strip on each side of it and then fold over to create a pocket to hold your money or gift card.

2.  Place your red base on the black strip in between the scored lines and then fold the belt over, adhering it to itself only and not the card with adhesive on the end.  This will let the strip slide up and down.  I used our Postage punch to punch out a piece of our silver glitter paper and then used the 1″ square punch and punched out a piece of Basic Black and that is how the buckle is created.  Adhere the black square in the middle of the silver glitter paper and then adhere it to the front of the bellly band to cover where the two ends attached.  Now you have your “santa’s belt”.  Next just attach your little tag and attach it to the “belt” with Baker’s Twine.

3.  Punch out the flowers from the BoHo Blossoms punch and adhere with a glue dot to create Santa’s buttons, then put a rhinestone in the middle of them and you are done!   CUTE AND EASY!

Our next project was this STINKIN’ CUTE snowman MAGNET for your refrigerator using a little battery operated candle:

Here is the tutorial:

Run some Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green paper through an embossing folder (I used the square lattice folder).  Out of that, punch out the circle  in Cherry Cobbler using the 1/2 inch circle punch for the pom-pom on the top of the hat.  Next using the EXTRA LARGE oval punch, punch an oval out in Gumball Green and cut it in half – that is the hat portion.  The brim of the hat is done out of Cherry Cobbler using the LARGE oval punch and this is how I created it.  Take a bite out of your paper:

Then insert your punch again and move it up a little  higher and punch that piece out like this:

You will get your brim that will look like this:

If you are making multiples, just keep moving your punch up and keep punching partial ovals until you have the number you need!

Here are the pieces you will need to put your hat together:

Next, you want to punch a 1-3/4 scalloped circle out in Gubball Green.  Using the 1/2 inch circle punch, punch a small hole in one section of it so you can place that over the bottom of your candle where the on/off switch is so you can turn it on and off!  ALSO, select a candle that is flat at the back and with no prongs or legs sticking out.  Those work the best for the magnets.  Adhere your scalloped circle to the bottom of your candle with some Tombow glue.  I put a little bit of glue around the edge of the candle and then placed my scallop to that.  Wait a few minutes for the glue to dry!

Next assemble your hat and put it together with some Tombow glue.  Then adhere your hat to the very top edge of the candle keeping in mind that you need room for your eyes.  Pay attention to the way the candle tip is going if it has a bend to it.  Some of us had downgoing “noses”, some had upgoing “noses” and some were bent to the side, so just make sure your nose is going the right way to you!

Next came the eyes and how they were created is just from our Pearls and a black Sharpie pen.  Just color them!

Then attach the two eyes and the grouping of 4 or 5 pearls for the mouth. Then using some of our fabulous sweater trim ribbon, I just tied a piece around the candle and put it in a bow, but most everyone just put a knot in it.  I didn’t glue it down, just tied it around.  For the magnet part, I cut a little piece of magnet and just adhered it to the back of the scallop and then popped that Stinkin’ Cute snowman onto the fridge!  TOO CUTE!!!  Thanks to Cindee W and Becky R for the idea, but I thought I’d step it up and turn it into a refrig magnet.

The next project we did was a Christmas card that I totally cased from the Holiday Mini catalog – thank you Stampin’ Up!

But, oh dear…. Mary needed an Anniversary card for her hubby, so in a flash I ran to my stamping room and found the perfect set that I had just gotten to help her turn the above card into their Anniversary card – too cute – huh?

Our last project was a picture frame we created using designer paper and the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set with MATCHING dies!  Thanks go to my friend and buddy, Michelle Zindorf, for doing this project with me when she popped in for a quick overnight onto the way of one of her fantastic classes!

Ok – that’s it!  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorials and looking at the fun projects we did in November!

Stampin’ Hugs!

~ Gail