Cocoa Craftiness

It's finally cold around here! Well, if you think temperatures in the 40s is cold, then, yes, we finally have winter weather. Yesterday, while I was all bundled up in my jacket and winter clothes at the grocery store, winter Texans walked in wearing shorts! No doubt they were laughing at all of us native South Texans as we shivered and talked about how cold it is. I guess it's all a matter of perspective!
Definitely feels like hot cocoa weather to me! So, I found this cool tutorial on Splitcoast for making a crimped envelope pocket card and I adapted it to hold a packet of cocoa. Combine that with the LSS Warm Winter Digital stamp set and you've got a great little gift to give one of your chilly friends to warm their hearts and tummies.

I printed one of the snowflakes from the Warm Winter set in different sizes on a kraft A2 envelope. Then, I traced over some of the lines and squiggles in the snowflakes with my Spica Atyou Glitter pens. I sponged the envelope edges and then, cut 1.25" off the short side of the envelope. I set the top part aside and ran the larger portion through a crimper. The crimping makes the "pocket" part a little smaller, but I bet using an embossing folder would have a similar effect. The idea is to have the 1.25" top part fit over the bottom part, so the bottom part (the pocket) has to be a little smaller. I added a snowman also from the Warm Winter set to front of the pocket. I colored him in with my copics before cutting him out and adhering him to the envelope. There are some more cute, cute snowmen in this set, too.
Now for the topper:

I wrapped a piece of ribbon around the topper and added a bow. Then I punched out a 1.75" circle from some sparkly DCWV cardstock. I printed out the steaming hot chocolate cup (also in the LSS Warm Winter set), colored it with my copics and then punched it out with my SU 1 3/8" circle punch. The snowflake on the topper is a Martha Stewart punch. And here's what it looks like right before you close it all up:

This is a really easy project to mass produce if you need some quick and simple gifts to give. Lindsay has another cocoa holder on her blog. Be sure to check out her recent posts to see how she created hers. Don't forget to grab this perfect winter digital stamp set, too. This goes beyond Christmas for designing throughout the cold weather months! And, as always, spend $5 dollars at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and get a free digital stamp. While you're at the shop, be sure to check out Lindsay's latest set Winter Printables. You'll find lots of great design elements which will really speed up your holiday crafting. Need more ideas, don't forget to check out what the rest of the design team has come up with!
Project Recipe
Paper: PTI Kraft envelope, DCWV Holiday Collection Glitter Mat Stack, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: LSS Warm Winter Digital Stamp Set 
Accessories: Fiskars Crimper, printer, Spica Atyou Glitter pens, copic markers, PTI Enchanted Evening Satin ribbon, SU 1 3/8" circle punch, EK Success 1 3/4" circle punch, Martha Stewart Snowflake punch, CTMH Foam Tool

It's Starting To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

Well, I don't know how much it feels like Christmas around here. Temperatures are still in the 80s, but the stamping community is certainly starting to gear up for the holidays! I don't think I'm quite through with Halloween and Fall/Thanksgiving, but I've spent quite a bit of time the last couple of days with some winter projects. Let me share a few of them with you today, but come back Thursday for some more Fall Fun.

This first card includes a FREE digital image from Verve which is only available this week. There's a new release this week and that also means a week of challenges. I've got three done! I printed the mittens and colored them with my copics. I added some Martha Stewart Mica Flake glitter to give the appearance of melting snow (I guess that's what it would look like. We don't have mittens or snow here.) The sentiment is also part of the digi download. I changed the color of the sentiment from black to brown and sponged everything with Close to Cocoa. The small snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch and the large snowflake in the background was cut with my cricut. Everything got some sparkle with stickles.

For this one, I found some retired SU Christmas paper that I had stored away (hoarded away is closer to the truth). I'm glad I found it because so far I just haven't found any Christmas papers that I HAVE to have this year. I printed the sentiment from the Winter Mittens Free Digital stamp at Verve. I changed the color to a red to match my card, added a pretty bow with a button. The sparklies are from Basic Grey.

Do you not just LOVE this little fellow and his birdie friend? This is a free digital image from the very talented Inger Harding. Be sure to check out her blog. I colored him with my copics. I used some more of the retired SU Christmas papers, added a velvety ribbon, a copic-airbrushed flower, and a corderoy brad. The sentiment is from a Verve stamp set titled "All About You" which I stamped with craft ink and then embossed.
It's certainly looking wintery on my blog, anyway.
Project Recipe
Papers: SU Old Olive CS, SU Chocolate Chip CS, PTI Vintage Cream CS, PTI Pure Poppy CS, PTI Ocean Tides CS, SU Holiday Treasures (retired), K&Co. Classic K Baily DSP
Stamps: Verve All About You, Verve Winter Mittens Digi Images, Inger Harding Design Snowman 1 Digi Stamp
Accessories: cuttlebug, Nestabilities dies, SU Old Olive Striped Ribbon, PTI Vintage Cream Grosgrain ribbon,  red velvet ribbon (unknown), Paper Studio Spare Parts Corderoy brad, Prima botanical mix, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Cricut, Accent Essentials cartridge, Basic Grey Bling, stickles, green button (unknown), copics, copic airbrush kit, Martha Stewart Mica Flakes glitter, Zing clear embossing powder, heat tool