Visions of Sugarplums Day Two: Home at Christmas + Video + Giveaway

The loose theme of today's post is Home at Christmas.  That has more than one meaning for me this year.   Louisa and her mommy and daddy now live close enough to come home for Christmas!  I'm looking forward to it and so glad that I don't have to fly.  

I've got a video on how to make this house shaped box.  And free images to download.

This is the second day of Visions of Sugarplums (the abbreviated version).  If you would like to see the first post, click HERE.  Check out the new giveaway below.

I love the gold and white of this box.  I've never been able to resist a house - stamps or dies.  (Or boxes, it seems.)  All sides have houses - embossed ones on the back and sides.  The little santa's sleigh and reindeer seem perfect in the gable of the box.

Neither of these houses are actually decorated as houses, although you could certainly do that.  I really love this sweet candy cane girl and she's ready to be downloaded below.

I've included a card made with her as well.  I think the die cut as a base for the card and the two-tone gingham frame are really fun.

Here's the House Box Video:

Keeping loosely with the Home for Christmas theme, I've also included a mailbox in this post.  These dies are from the Parcel and Post kit from Papertrey Ink several years ago.  Sometimes it takes me awhile to get around to using things!   When I came across the card with the little girl and her dog at a mailbox, I thought it just might be perfect for the front of my mailbox.

I've also got her ready to download, if you would like to create a little something with her.

Download Candy Cane Girl  HERE.

Download Girl at Mailbox HERE.

I've posted Visions of Sugarplums Challenge #2.  The theme is Home at Christmas.  Doesn't have to have a house - you're free to stretch the theme as you wish.  

The prize (winner by random selection) is $20 to Simon Says Stamp.

Let's keep the number of links per person to 4 maximum.  Thank you!

You can find the link up HERE.

The giveaway for this post is this great set of house dies.  There are trees, stars, lamp post and clouds. 

 I don't have any idea where these dies are from.  I bought a box of stamps and dies recently - a wonderful box of about 40 items - from an antique, vintage, junk store that's only open one Saturday a month. There were three sets of these dies in the box.

I created a quick card and tag with them.  

I'll give a set to two of you that leave a comment.  Be sure to let me know that you would like to win the house dies.   Winners will be announced Wednesday, December 12th.

Whew!  I hope I remembered everything!  So glad you stopped by!

Visions of Sugar Plums 2017 Day One

Welcome to Visions of Sugarplums!  Can you believe this is the 7th year?  I've had the best time hosting this Christmas blog event.  

So glad you've stopped by.  Visions of Sugarplums is a collection of bloggers sharing Christmas Ideas and of course, we have giveaways and a challenge, too!  More on all that later...

We hope you'll join us all three days.  Today I've got a few packaging ideas - easy and fun!

My house smells so good!  I just got through baking sugar cookies and gingerbread men.  I couldn't resist licking the beaters.  Do you do that too?  Has to be my favorite part!

I think the gingerbread men would make a sweet tasting gift for Christmas.  I love gable boxes, but my gable box die was way too small.   

This gable box is a cut file from The Cutting Cafe (one of our sponsors).  What is great is that I can size it to fit my gingerbread men.  If you don't have an electronic cutting machine, a PDF file is included.

Check out that cute tag.  It's part of a printable from AmyJDelightful (another Visions of Sugarplums sponsor).  The pretty pink plaid is also from Amy's store.  

I also put together a simple bag with a gingerbread man tag made with a die from Paper Sweeties and paper from Iralamija Shop (both sponsors of VOSP).

Well, I also needed to package my sugar cookies.  I dropped a star and a tree in a bag, tied the top with twine and then placed them in a paper CD case.  

I quickly made a washi tape clothespin and

added another tag from AmyJDelightful.  

Here's a recipe card, too!  Are you thinking cookie party or gifts for co-workers or Secret Santa?  This printable set would make it super easy!

Another fun idea for secret santa (or for a friend) is a tag kit.  Amy makes this super easy too!

I adore that sweet felt stocking!  It's a die from Paper Sweeties.  My husband walked by as I was putting all this together.  He said "That's cute."  Now, if you knew my husband, you would know that is pretty amazing.  He doesn't say all that much!

This box is made so that part of the bottom of the box shows on the sides.  Here's the details:

So that's a little hard to see.  

Cut the top at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2".  Score on all 4 sides at 3/4".

Cut the bottom at 5 3/4" x 7".  Here's the tip:  When using heavy paper (this is 120lb), shave just a hair off each dimension.  Cut off about 1/16" of an inch.  If you use lighter paper, 80 lb or so, it has some give and you can use the dimesions as listed.  Heavy paper basically as no give and the bottom won't fit into the top, if you don't shave off a little.

Score the bottom at 1/12" on all 4 sides.

Slit the corners and angle the tabs.  Fold on scores and glue tabs.


So let's talk prizes. Thank you to all of this year's sponsors!  I appreciate you so much.

How do you win???


1.  Start by leaving a comment here that you would like to win.    2.  Visit all the other blog's and leave comments.  
3.  I'll pick up your name from here, check all the other blogs and put your name in the "hat"  as many times as you leave comments.  Example:  Leave 14 comments = your name 14 times in the "hat".

My husband is the official "draw-the-names-out" guy.  Yes, we go old school here!  
Winners will be announced Sunday, December 10th.  So you have until Saturday night at midnight to leave comments.

Another way to win is to link up to the challenge.  You can link through Saturday, December 16th.  Winner will be chosen randomly through InLinkz.   Prize is a $20 gift certificate to Mama Elephant.  You can link to the challenge HERE.  (Or just scroll down one post.)

Now join me in visiting these awesome blogs and seeing their fun Christmas creations:

Mitra

Tracey

Lisa

Greta

DebbieDee

Karen

Debbie

Annette

Bety

Have fun!  And come back tomorrow for more Visions of Sugarplums!

Create a Thanksgiving Keepsake

Don't you love it when you give a friend a little something you've made and she says that she'll keep it forever?  Handmade does equal Joy (squared).  You get the joy of creating and giving and the recipient gets the joy of receiving a handmade goodie that is not only adorable, but YOU made it just for her.   Joy all around, right?  People tend to keep handmade items they receive, so it's joy for years to come.

This little cutie is all ready to give joy to you and someone else.  Download Pilgrim Girl below.   I made five of the gable treat boxes for my friend, Margaret, to give to her friends to show just how thankful she is for them. 

My mom and Margaret also created keepsakes for Louisa.  They both made blankets and Mom also made the darling crocheted hat. 

Here is the farmer card I promised awhile back.  (You can see that post here.)  He's part of an adorable stamp set that is available in my etsy shop.  He did work perfectly with the stitched truck from PTI and he was a lot of fun to color.  Very happy with how it turned out!

You might remember these fun strip paper pumpkins from last year.  You can see just how easy they are to make in THIS post.  I used them for my table place card holders on our Thanksgiving table last year.

You can download the darling Pilgrim Girl HERE.
Dropbox seems to work differently for different people.  When the image appears, wait a moment and a download button will appear in the top right corner.  If download button does not appear, right click on the image and save as.  I'm always happy to email the image to you -  if neither method works!
Enjoy creating this week and spreading joy to people you surprise with your wonderful creations!

bakery box	stitched truck	Falling Leaves	PEACH - Hug Snug Seam Binding
BG-10	BG-32	E-11	E-25
E31	E-37	E50	G02
G-43	R-20	R-22	Y17S
Simon Says Stamp Dye Ink Pad MELON ink	Premium Dye Ink Pad DUCKLING	Premium Dye Ink Pad ROSIE CHEEKS	Fresh Ink Celery
Accent Opaque White 120lb	tombow mono glue

InLinkz.com