From the Spellbinders' blog . . .

Fun and Fabulous Party Decor

Thursday, December 08, 2011

by Holly Simoni

"Crafting at Christmas time is something we have always done in my family. I have so many wonderful memories as a little girl, of crafting with my Mom and sister and even my Grandma. We always incorporated handmade decor into our holiday decorating, and I still do that today.

My two little girls worked along side me creating ornaments, and tried very hard not to eat the candy canes until I knew exactly how many I needed for this project! The vintage ornaments sitting next to the Candy Cane vase are from my Mom - Thanks Mom!

I wanted to create a fun holiday decoration out of materials that you might already have on hand! That helps keep the stress level down. :) I have seen many variations of holiday containers, and I'll show you different ways to use this one at the end of the post.

Spellbinders Paper Arts™ die templates make it so easy to take holiday party decor from drab to fab in no time. Here's my supply list and a tutorial to show you how I created this project.

Spellbinders Paper Arts Supplies:

• Grand Calibur™Die Cutting Machine
• E8-006 Classic Petal Edgeabilities® die templates
• S4-334 2011 Heirloom Ornaments
• S4-338 Holiday Tags
• F-001 Premium Craft Foil in Red

Preferred Partner Companies:

JustRite® Stampers - Deck The Halls Cling

Cross Promotional Partners:

• Best Creation Inc. - Glitter Cardstock in Red
• SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L™ - 3D Foam Squares
• WorldWin Papers® - Treasures White Cardstock
• Want2Scrap - Bits of Bling in red

 Other:

• Black ink, red ink, double sided adhesive, candy canes, flowers, chocolate (yum) and a poinsettia.

Start by up-cycling a soup can. This one is empty with the contents taken out, washed and ready to be made into something fabulous. I adhered red glitter cardstock to the can with really strong double sided adhesive, then applied that same adhesive to the outside of the can.

I wrapped a rubber band around the can and began sliding the candy canes underneath the rubber band. This works really well to hold them in place. I ended up using 2 ½ boxes of candy canes to go around the soup can. ;)

I used the Classic Petal Edgeabilities set to cut/emboss two 8" strips from the red glitter paper. This created a band to wrap around my candy cane container. Love the shimmer on this paper!

 

I love the effect you get when using Premium Craft Foil in a holiday project. I cut/embossed 2011 Heirloom Ornaments and then added 3D Foam Squares to really give the ornament some pop and added dimension.

I love to stamp using two different colors. I stamped the sentiment in red first, then the border in black. Each piece is a separate stamp, making it really easy to achieve this look.

Align the die template around the stamped image, use a bit of repositionable tape and cut/emboss with your GC. So easy!

Adhere the glitter band and white ribbon around the candy canes covering the rubber band, then attach the ornament. Apply a little red bling and you're done!

Here are a few ideas for you to try as well....a small poinsettia, and a candy dish filled with chocolate. I decided I liked the flowers the best, but you can really decide on any number of items to put in your new Fun and Fabulous Party Decor!"

Glitzy Dinner Party Decor

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

by Julie Overby

"The holidays are always a great time for getting together and having people over. We will be hosting a kids party as well as an evening just for the adults! After watching Stacey's video, I was inspired to make some festive decor for the occasion.

Spellbinders™ Paper Arts Supplies:

• Spellbinders Grand Calibur®
• S5-054 2011 Snowflake Pendants
• E8-001 Classic Scallop
• S5-025 Labels Seventeen

Cross Promotional Partners:

• Best Creation Inc Glitter Paper Cardstock
• Scor-Pal® Scorp-Tape™
• SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVE BY 3L™ White 3D Foam Squares
• My Mind's Eye™ Holly Jolly "Old St. Nick" Pattern Paper
• Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock Dust Buddy
• Want2Scrap Red Pearls

Other:  glitter, binder clip

 

I think that the 2011 Snowflake Pendants have a bit of a fun retro look to them so I thought a bright teal with the gold would like nice together. It's no secret that I love adding a bit of 'bling' to my projects but today I wanted to show you how to glitz things up in a variety of ways. To cut/emboss the base of my name card, I used Labels Seventeen with Glitter paper cardstock which happens to my favorite right now! I used the next size down to cut/emboss a piece of pattern paper and then just wrote my guest's name down.

~ Designer Tip ~

If you happen to run out of glitter cardstock but want to continue with a 'glitter look' you can always use Scor-Tape adhesive sheets and glitter to achieve the same look!

Using the Spellbinders Grand Calibur Machine, I cut snowflakes out of double sided adhesive sheets. Then I carefully peeled off the back added a fine glitter and used my finger to press it into the adhesive paper. Fine glitter can be very messy so I like to use Dust Buddy that picks up the bit that gets left out after pouring your excess back into the jar. I used a foam square to adhere the smaller snowflake to the Name Card and kept the larger snowflake for the napkin ring.

Creating an elegant napkin ring was easy to do with Spellbinders Edgabilities® die templates. I taped the Classic Scallop edger onto the glitter cardstock and then lined up the decorative insert with it. After cutting/embossing, I placed a strip of strong adhesive on one end and adhered it to the other. Using glitter, I created two more snowflakes to layer on top of the ring.

To add a pop of color, I added a large, red pearl to the center of both the snowflakes. I thought it would be fun to decorate a binder clip that would blend in with the design without distracting from it. I simply covered it with paper and added a row of matching pearls."