Keeping Christmas {Something Special}

Hello and Welcome! I am so excited that you have stopped by today because I have some super fun news! For those of you who know about my Keeping Christmas  series, well, I am continuing it again this year, but it is even BIGGER AND BETTER! My wonderful friend Lesley had the fabulous idea to expand my little project from last year to create a monthly blog hop with some of my favorite ladies from the stamping community! I am beyond thrilled! Thank you, Lesley! I still want to encourage EACH of YOU to please play along if you are inspired to do so. I will be using the hashtag #keepingchrismtas2018 on Instagram. You can follow me @kellylunceford. Here is the list of the rest of the "Keeping Christmas" team! *eep* Did I really just type that? How exciting!

Kelly Lunceford ( you are here)

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Vicki Finger

For my first project of the year, I chose to make some gift card holders. This was something that I meant to do all last year, and NEVER got around to it and boy was I sad when wrapping time came around! The Pillow Box Die is the perfect size and shape to hold gift cards! I just ordered Pom Pom Pals and it came yesterday, so I knew that these cute little images would be the perfect embellishment for my gift card boxes!

I had originally only planned on making 3 because there are three images in the set, but since I was able to get four boxes from the 2 pieces of cardstock I was cutting anyway, I just made four. I stamped two of the snowman image because he has less coloring to do! LOL! The boxes are die cut from Enchanted Evening cardstock and then adhered using Scor Tape. I find that is is a nice and strong bond for these boxes. I also added a strip of Kraft cardstock that is embossed using the Knitted embossing folder from Richard Garay! I thought it complemented the scarves, hats and mittens from the images nicely.

The images are colored using Copic markers and die cut using a generic Nestabilities circle die. I just made sure it was large enough to compensate for the scarves that extend beyond the striped border. Each circle is added to the box using foam squares as well as a dot of hot glue for insurance purposes. When working on things this far ahead of time, it is smart to make sure everything is secure and won't come loose in storage. One of the best things about these boxes, is that they can lay flat during the year so I won't have to worry about them getting crushed. I did adhere everything while they were popped up, but I undid the flaps and put them in the box with all of my cards that I make for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge. 

I tied them up with some red and white baker's twine. I was lucky enough to find a pom pom for the penguin's hat as well as the ear muffs for the snowmen. The Rudolph image boasts a red bulbous button I was lucky enough to find in my stash. Isn't it perfect? Once they had all been assembled, I spritzed them with some Shimmer Spray for some holiday sparkle!

The sentiments are heat embossed in white onto strips of cardstock. I stamped a "to: from:" sentiment onto the back using some of the included sentiments. I did this while they were flat, obviously. It is so nice to get everything done as much as possible so there aren't any last minute additions to make during the hectic Christmas season. I am so excited to be continuing this fun series this year and I hope you will play along as well! If you create something, please leave me a comment so I can come and see it! Thanks for fluttering by!