An alternative to Christmas Crackers

Hello.

I was at a superb Scottish Womens’ Institute show and craft fair yesterday and picked up on the growing trend to avoid the waste involved with Christmas Crackers. How often do you throw out the whole lot afterwards, including the “gift” inside?

Instead, lots of people were looking for little gifts to put at each person’s place setting. As a result, I unexpectedly sold rather a lot of these cute Tic Tac holders…

I think that’s a sweet idea, if you pardon the pun!

I found a few of these that had been made by American Stampin’ Up! demonstrators but clearly the size of the boxes they buy differ from ours in the UK so I had to do a bit of adjustment.

For each one I used a piece of Shaded Spruce designer series paper that measures 8 & 1/4 inch by 1 & 3/4 inches. Using my paper trimmer I scored on the long side at

• 1 inch
• 1 & 5/16 inches
• 3 & 13/16 inches
• 4 & 3/8 inches

Then I turned the card round and scored the other end at

• 1 inch
• 1 & 5/16 inches

This saved me doing a couple of extra sums, lol.

I cut each end with my Scalloped Tag Topper punch and wrapped the card around the box of sweets and glued the top sections together (a glue dot on the back of the box gives a little bit of extra security too)…

I added some Shaded Spruce & Gold Striped ribbon through the top and then some Let It Snow designer series paper to both the front and back. Each piece of the paper measures 1 & 1/2 inches by 2 & 1/4 inches.

I stamped the sentiment from Itty Bitty Christmas stamp set in Shaded Spruce ink onto Whisper White card and trimmed to fit.

The final touch was to add one of the mittens or hat from the Let It Snow embellishment kit.

Now I have to get back to tidying up the craftermath of preparing for my first Christmas Craft Fair and taking stock of what I need to replenish! Looks like I’ll need another one of the embellishment kits too.

I’ve listed the Stampin’ Up! products I’ve used below. You can click on any of the product links to visit my online shop, 24/7. I would be honoured to be your independent demonstrator.

Happy crafting,

Heather x

Product List

Let It Snow Embellishment Kit [150425] £10.25	Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper [150393] £13.00	Itty Bitty Christmas Cling Stamp Set (En) [150513] £20.00
Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock [147006] £8.25	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad [147088] £7.00	Shaded Spruce/Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Striped Ribbon [149597] £6.50
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £9.00	Paper Trimmer [152392] £23.00