{CUTplorations Creative Cuts} It's All About Christmas with Maureen

Happy Friday, STAMPlorations friends! CUTplorations Creative Cuts puts the spotlight on the thin metal dies we carry in the store. The talented Maureen Ruangchamneil is back and this time around, she'll inspire with some fantastic Christmas projects! Make sure you comment on this post for a chance at a $7 prize code. Every month starting this month, we'll draw 10 winners, with the winners randomly drawn from all posts published during the month. The more posts you comment on, the more chances you have.

    

It's July, STAMPlorations fans, and you know what that means for paper crafters, right? It's time to get ready for Christmas! Our friends at STAMPlorations have a Christmas in July sale going on this month, and I have some really easy projects you could do in less than an hour to get you ahead of the holiday season. I'm excited to get to use the previously shown Christmas Bundle #1 because I love Christmas. The sentiments dies and CUTplorations plates make projects so easy. I hope you enjoy and Seasons Greetings!

Project #1:  Seasons Greetings Hoop Ornament

Seasons Greetings Phrase Die

Trendy Spring Blooms Die

I've wanted to try this project for a while now, and I thought a CUTplorations Christmas sentiment would be perfect. I started by tracing a circle on red paper with a 4" embroidery hoop, cutting it out and gluing it to the back of the hoop.  

I trimmed a piece of wired gingham ribbon and looped it through the embroidery hoop. Then, I cut one Seasons Greetings sentiment in white and one in red, and glued the white on top of the red, offset slightly to look like a drop shadow.  

Next, I took the fern die from the Trendy Spring Blooms set and cut several branches in sparkly green paper, then glued it to the back rim of the hoop. A final touch was to add red gemstones as berries, and twine to the top to hang it. You can assemble several of these in a few minutes, using many of the other CUTplorations sentiments and have enough for a whole tree!

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Project #2:  Merry and Bright Luminaria Card

Doodled Christmas Candles Cover Plate
Merry and Bright Phrase Die

As soon as I saw the Christmas cover plates from STAMPlorations, I knew they would make great stained glass windows. This project is a trifold card that turns into a luminaria simply by adding a tea light.  

It starts with the Yupo paper and alcohol inks, found in most craft stores. To achieve the effect, simply drop red, pink and green alcohol ink in several spots on a couple sheets of paper and let dry. If you don't like the effect, you can drop a small amount of the blending solution to get the colors to blend more like stained glass.

I cut 2 pieces of red card stock at 5" by 10", scored them in 2 even panels and then cut a rectangle and oval shape on the outer panels. From here, I glued the 2 uncut panels together to form a trifold card. I used a tape runner to adhere the inked paper to the back of the card stock windows.  

In white card stock, I cut a panel with the Doodled Christmas Candles plate and glued it to the top front of the card, and then did the same the Merry and Bright Phrase Die, placing it over the oval. Inside I added a white piece of card stock to write a message.  

After the recipient reads the card, they can display it if you fold in a 1/4" edge of one of the panels so they can secure it (if necessary) with double-sided tape. From there, simply add a tea light to the inside. It's so pretty sitting up on a shelf at night!

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Project #3:  Coffee and Christmas Gift Tags

Christmas Sentiments Phrase Dies
Coffee and Mondays Sentiment Stamps
Tag O'Coffee Dies
Patches Standard and Mini Stencils

I'm combining my 2 favorite things with this project, coffee and Christmas! I started with a light green card stock and cut 2 of the tag shapes from the Tag O'Coffee set. Next, I took the Coffee and Mondays Sentiments and covered select words on the phrases with scotch tape. After inking the stamp, I remove the tape to be able to stamp part of the message at the top and another part at the bottom of each tag.

On separate white pieces of card stock, I've used the Patches stencil and sponged ink over the stencil, using red stripes across one piece and thinner green stripes across another. Taking the coffee cup shapes from the Tag O'Coffee set, I cut out one of each from the striped paper, and then glued to the tag.

I've cut the words 'Merry' and 'Christmas' in red paper from the Christmas Sentiments set and added them across the cup shape in the middle of the tag.  My final touch was to loop green and red bakers twine at the top.  A great addition to gift for a coffee lover!