Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop: November Holiday Hop

Welcome to our November Holiday Hop

We’ve gotten to that time of the year when we have holidays and other special days coming up fast.   To reflect that this month we’re bringing you another set of Holiday designs hoping to inspire you to get stamping!  With our talented designers I know you’ll see something to inspire you to get stamping  as deadlines are fast approaching.

Hopefully you’ve arrived from  Christine’s blog.  My friend Christine never fails to come up with interesting and inspiring projects that always land on my CASE list!  Can’t wait to go back and see which of her wonderful projects I’ll be making next!

As usual you can follow this hop in a circle going either direction.  Of course you can also return to the home hop site if you ever get lost along the way.

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Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be on Santa’s Naughty List.?  Yep…I gave the name capitals.   After all…if Santa thinks you are naughty…well…that’s pretty bad.   Still…Santa being Santa…he has to wrap that coal up just a bit nicely.  And…he’d likely add a bit of sweet to the coal too right?   Even naughty people have a little bit of nice inside…somewhere…I hope.

I’ve had this idea running around in my head ever since the Berry Basket die came out.  And finally…I made it happen.   I think I was waiting for the Black Glimmer paper to arrive to make it perfect.  In in case you are wondering…no…those are not Oreos!

Santa’s Coal Bin duo

In my mind there just had to be a duo.    The bin where Santa stores the coal and the package it arrives in.   The cup is in there just in case Santa relents just a bit and adds a package of hot cocoa to go with the Pearson Mint Patties (sandwiched between the black glimmer paper coal covers).  You could even add a little packet of marshmallows and a candy cane (for stirring ) for your naughty one.

The images are a tad subtle (not).  The stocking of course indicate what the package goes in and the scallop black glimmer represents the coal (duh) and coming from the North Poke it just seemed likely that a snowflake might have attached itself to the coal.

My thought about the snowflakes was so that Santa could tell the real deal dark and dirty coal (to keep his elves warm) from the candy coal that will hopefully encourage the naughty ones to be a bit nicer in the coming year.

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Santa’s Coal Bin and Coal

Supplies:

Stamps: A Little Something, Snow Place

Ink: Real Red Ink Pad, Cherry Cobbler & Old Olive Stampin’ Write Markers

Paper:  Real Red, Whisper White & Basic Black Cardstock & Basic Black Glimmer Paper

Punches: 1-3/4″ Scallop Circle

Other:  Big Shot, Berry Basket Bigz die, Snow Friends Thinlit dies, Square Pillow Box Thinlit Dies, SNAIL ,  dimensionals, glue dots, Sponge Daubers, Simply Scored Board.

As you can likely see the berry basket has a black glimmer paper edging and the mints have black glimmer paper covers (Scallop Punch)  as well as the white snowflake (from the Square Pillow Box die set).   What you might not see quite as well is that I lined the inside of the glimmer paper scallop strip with a real red strip to cover over the white background of the  glimmer papers underside.   I did something similar with the coal covers.   The backside of the glimmer paper being white I punched a second scallop from Basic Black cardstock and adhered it to the back of the glimmer scallop.   If you wanted to hide the candy treat inside you could also run a strip of Basic Black paper around the edging of the mint patty.

Something else you can’t see is the Basic Black cardstock riser I put in the bottom of the basket:

Berry Basket with Riser Insert

Very simple to make.   Take a 5″ x5″ square of Basic Black and score at 1″ all the way around.  Then clip on one vertical score mark per side up to the horizontal crossing score.  The add glue and fold under and create the mini box top/riser.

Riser Creation Tips

Here are a couple of pictures to help with understanding the riser construction:

Score, fold, cut…

 Add adhesive and fold under and attach….

And here’s the riser ready to go in the basket

 

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Santa’s Coal Packaging & Coal

Supplies:

Stamps: Festive Fireside, Snow Friends

Ink: Real Red & Always Artichoke Ink Pads, Cherry Cobbler & Old Olive Stampin’ Write Markers

Paper: Real Red, Basic Black & Whisper White Cardstock , Black Glimmer Paper

Other: Big Shot,  Brick Wall Embossing Folder,  Softly Snowing Embossing Folder, Snow Friends Thinlit dies, Square Pillowbox Thinlits, Festive Fireside Framelit dies  , SNAIL , glue dots, dimensionals

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In case you are wondering where I found the cup with the black background (perfect for coal accompaniment…not to mention hot cocoa) it appeared on the holiday specials shelf at Albertson’s.   A mere $1.59.   Pretty cool don’t you think?  Or should that be pretty coal?

Since Stampin’ Up didn’t see fit to make a Santa’s Coal Bin stamp this year (can’t imagine why not since I was planning this idea a year ago…hee, hee.)  I had to improvise with my trusty Cherry Cobbler Marker.   For the more tech minded among you a word processor and Whisper White paper would make a lovely version.   Normally I would have pulled out a punch for my labels but this year the Square Pillow Box die comes with labels in two sizes.  Also comes with a candy cane die and many wonderful bits and pieces to die cut with.

I also drew images and die cuts from Festive Fireside and Snow Pals stamps and dies.   I love how I can reach into my various Holiday Catalog products and find combinations that work beautifully together.   All the more reason to check that retiring list not once but twice…trust me when I say…you are going to want it all!

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I encourage you to play with these fun new products that I’ve show today.  As you can see they coordinate with products you may already have or can find in the Annual Catalog.    After all…even the naughty ones on your list might appreciate something fun.  {grin}

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That’s it for my share of the hop.  Time to move on over to my longtime friend  Buffy’s blog her wonderfully inspired creations are always fun to see and CASE.  And if you are lucky you may get a peek at her sweet and lovely granddaughter Amelia!

To follow the hop click on the link below: