Last Friday night was our ‘team’ Christmas Party. This was my first ‘official’ team event as I’ve only recently become part of this team. As of 2nd December I am now part of Marelle Taylor’s Stampin’ Up Team and I’m so glad I made the decision to do this. It wasn’t an easy decision as it meant I had to resign from Stampin’ Up for 6 months (and boy did it feel like a long 6 months) but to come out at the end to now belong to a ‘team’ is fantastic. Marelle has such a lovely group of ladies in her team and I thank them all for making me feel so welcome. I had previously been with SU for 3 years and even though I had an upline it wasn’t a team as such. I now get to attend monthly meetings and of course the Christmas Party along with some new things planned for next year. Again things I never had before from my upline even though I had team meetings for my downline who have become great friends. We’re actually having lunch tomorrow…….

While I’m thanking people I’d also like to thank a very special friend who is also my neighbour, Meighan,  for helping me out during this 6 month period. Meighan kindly offered to join while the May Promotion was on which allowed me to still do orders so I could continue with my Stamp Club and classes. It was still a hard time for me, as I was limited to what I could do, which may explain a little about why my blog wasn’t too busy in some past month due to lack of mojo and motivation,  but with the help of Meighan, Marelle, the Stampers Anonymous team, my family and friends I survived.

Now back to the reason for this post and that is sharing with you the Secret Santa gift I made for my partner which was presented at our Christmas Party.

This is what my Secret Kiddy also know as Liam Pucher received from me.

Everything was of course contained in the gift bag which is just a plain white paper carry bag that I’ve dressed up. I’ve used some of the Ski Slope Designer Series Paper from the Spring Mini (no longer available) and I’ve stamped and embossed in silver the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled stamp set. This is then layered onto Old Olive cardstock and then onto the bag. I made a matching tag which is tied to the Old Olive ribbon using some crochet cotton.

Notice the embellishment further down the bag. Well here’s a close up of how I ‘blinged’ up the bag…..

I’ve added clear rhinestone brads and also some Dazzling Diamonds.

The next item is the main gift box which contained some Watercolor paper, a mixture of Button Latte & Button Bouquet buttons, a mixture of Playground & Sherbert buttons (from the Summer Mini), an assortment of brads (black, antique brass, gold & silver), a sample of Star Designer Brads along with a Christmas Lolly assortment.

The box is one of Becky Roberts designs from her 12 Days of Christmas. To keep it all coordinated I’ve used the Ski Slopes DSP and stamped the lid with the Snow Swirled Stamp set.

Not contained in the box was a sheet of Bright Delights Rub-ons and an Aqua Painter decorated with some of the gorgeous Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon in the new Summer Mini Catalogue. This ribbon is just gorgeous to work with.

There are actually 2 cards that I presented to Liam with her gift that night as slacko me wasn’t organised enough and one should have been sent as a surprise prior to the night. I didn’t want her to miss out so I put the 2 in with her gift with a little note of apology. These things are bound to happen though when you leave things to last minute and forget how much you have committed to and for what……..   (Note to self: Don’t leave things till last minute……)

The first card (the one I should have sent) is actually a CASE from Jayne Mercer (I think…..I’m going off memory here)

I’ve used the Ski Slope DSP with the Tree Trimmings Stamp set and the sentiment from my favourite Level 1 Hostess Set called Best Yet.

Now for the final card…..

I’ve kept with the same colour theme as in the Ski Slope DSP and stamped the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled stamp set, added a couple of half-backed pearls from the Pretties Kit, used the Wide Oval punch to punch out the sentiment, daubered the edges and mounted using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

This was the Christmas Lolly Bag that was in the Gift Box and I also made these for my Launch Party last Sunday as part of my Thank You gift for coming.

Inside is a Mini Christmas Pudding (I haven’t seen these before), a Chocolate Truffle, Chocolate Santa and a Christmas Mint.

These are quite quick and easy to whip up using one of Stampin’ Up’s Medium Cello Bags, a piece of Old Olive cardstock 10.5cm x 8cm scored at 4cm, stamped the snowflake in Versamark, attach back side to cello bag and then tie some of the gorgeous (I can’t say this enough) Real Red Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon around to hold shut. Stamp the Merry Christmas sentiment from the Cute & Curly stamp set in Real Red and punch out using the matching Curly Label punch. Adhere using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I’m still yet to photograph my gifts I received but will try and do that in the next few days to share with you all.

Happy Stamping