This month Stampin’ Up! made Paper Pumpkin available in their European and the South Pacific markets, so there’s 27 of us joining the hop today from around the world. Even if you didn’t get the Hugs From Shelli Kit, the blog hop will give you lots of ideas using products from the Bird Ballad Suite that is available for customers to buy starting June 4th.

I’ve three projects to show you, including another 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue sneak peek, so let’s jump straight in…

While I love the pretty florals and pinks in the Hugs from Shelli kit, I wanted to make something more masculine, starting with this gift tag.

MASCULINE GIFT TAG

I began with the script design note card from the kit and cut a 2″ x 7″ strip with the scored line across the middle. Then I cut along the scored line to give me a printed and plain piece each 2″ x 3-1/2″.

With that done I fed each piece into the new Delightful Tag Topper Punch. This new punch adds a decorative top and a 3/8″ circular hole at the same time. What’s even better is that it has a ‘stepped’ base which allows you to accurately feed 1″, 1-1/2″ and 2″ wide strips into the punch. How amazing is that! More about that at the end of my blog post.

Anyway, with the two strips punched I placed the printed strip on top and lined up the holes. Then I fixed the two together using a little Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) so they were slightly offset.

Next I took one of the larger labels from the kit and cut a narrow strip so I had silver foil at each end. Then with Pretty Peacock ink I stamped ‘for you’ before fixing the piece to the tag with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

BRAIDS AND FEATHERS

The twine at the top came next, with a twist, well with a braid actually. I threaded three 12″ pieces of Linen Thread through the tag and tied them with a simple knot close to the hole. Then I took three of the threads and braided (plaited) them, tying them off in a simple knot at the end. I repeated this for the second set of three threads.

To complete the tag I took one of the vellum feathers from the kit and used Paper Snips to make little cuts along both sides. Then I very carefully gave the feather a little bit of a curl by drawing it between a Bone Folder and my thumb.

The final finishing touch was to press the quill of the feather onto an Early Espresso ink pad. Then once the ink was dry I added the feather to the tag with a couple of Mini Glue Dots.

NEW-STYLE GIFT CARD HOLDER

Now that the Envelope Punch Board is retiring I thought it was about time I came up with an alternative style of gift card holder. This design allows you to make a gift card holder and a gift tag from a single 3-1/2″ x 5″ note card.

So I went back to the remaining piece cut from the script design note card and scored both sides (across the scored line) 1/4″ from the edge.

Then using my Paper Snips I cut off the unprinted 1/4″ sections and took a little triangle from the end of the printed section.

To assemble the gift card holder I added Tear & Tape Adhesive to the remaining 1/4″ sections and folded them in. Then I folded the card along the pre-scored line to bring the back and front together.

To make it easier to get the gift card in and out I used a 1″ Circle Punch to cut a little notch out of the top.

Then using more Tear & Tape Adhesive I attached a piece of the Pretty Peacock Velvet Ribbon from the kit, to the front of the holder.

SECRET MESSAGE

For the rest of the decoration I took one of the large labels from the kit and scored it at 1-1/4″ and 1-3/8″. In the larger section I used Pretty Peacock ink to stamp the ‘hello’ sentiment.

Then I laid a piece of Linen Thread across the back and secured it in place on the right of the scored lines with a little sellotape. On the left of the scored lines I needed something a little neater, so I used a narrow strip of card to hold the twine in place.

Now I could attach the label to the gift card holder using liquid glue on the right of the scored lines. Once that was done I folded the label around the holder, and tied the ends of the twine together in a simple bow.

The design of the label means that you can write the name of the person on the outside but add a secret message that is only seen when the bow is untied.

FACEBOOK LIVE ALTERNATE PROJECT

Yesterday I was honoured to have five more of my alternate projects for the Hugs from Shelli kit featured in the Paper Pumpkin Facebook Live event. If you missed the broadcast you can now watch the video replay. My four alternate cards and a bookmark are featured starting around the 12 minute mark.

This card features the nest design card base with brightly coloured leaves and eggs. In the video Andrew stated that it was done with markers, but in fact I used Watercolor Pencils and the black magic technique.

I’ve seen similar ideas using markers or Stampin’ Blends but the colour achieved wasn’t nearly as bright. So to show you how to achieve this effect I made a quick YouTube video for you.

Well this is a much longer blog post than I normally do, but I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my alternate ideas for the Hugs from Shelli kit. For lots more amazing ideas do continue on through the blog hop using the links below.

PAPER PUMPKIN PRICE INCREASE

Paper Pumpkin subscription will be increasing to $30 CAD per month starting June 1st. You can beat the increase by buying pre-paid subscriptions at the current price.

I’ll have more information and another reminder on my blog tomorrow.

DISCOUNTS ON RETIRING PRODUCTS

Stampin’ Up! have announced that a number of retiring items will be discounted by up to 30% starting from midnight tonight (MT). Make sure you visit the Last Chance section of my online store to see what’s still available.

For now though I’ll just leave you with a proper sneak peek of that new Delightful Tag Topper Punch. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for another sneak peek from the 2019/2020 Annual Catalogue. I promise the blog post will be shorter!