A Dollar Store Christmas....

Last night our Dollar Store Club met to share their Christmas Dollar Store Projects. We had a spectacular advent calendar made with a dollar store hanger, I created bound Sudoku note books for stocking stuffers, we had ornaments and decor items... and one CRAZY funny tree topper too: Hello Jose Jalapeno! -- ( that's what Amber and Mindy are "kissing" in the photo) I told you it was crazy!! I can't wait to see a picture of this tree when it's up! LOL Love this groups humour and creativity!

As always, we had a mini class too -- I showed the girls how they can turn simple Dollar Store tealights into a cute little Hostess Gift - I followed Lori Techler's instructions found here.


The girls weren't too thrilled to be measuring fold lines -- but hey, from someone who RARELY measures anything, knowing how to use your trimmer efficiently can really come in handy sometimes - like when creating this super cute sliding box decorated with SEI paper and some silver organza.

To create the tealights:

• Stamp an image on tissue paper (we stamped Library Green Archival Ink onto Yellow tissue) -- dye inks will work but won't be as vibrant
• Using a circle punch, punch out your stamped image (I find that if you place a piece of cardstock behind the tissue when you punch it you will get not only a lot more stability, it will allow you to punch the tissue without tearing)
• Using a paper piercer, pierce a hole in the middle of the circle. This will allow you to thread the candle wick through the tissue easily allowing it to lie flat on the candle ready to heat.
• The next step is to melt the image into the wax. Heat with your heat tool - the wax will melt and coat the stamped tissue. When the tissue is completely coated with wax, you're done.

The boxes are super cute! You don't need to put candles in them... Sheri thought it would make a great gift box for a bracelet. I think little candies or chocolate would be perfect in there :) Use your imagination!! And decorate at will!!
Thanks for a great night girls! Next month it's all about the Sn*w. <--- I'm not ready to say that word yet :)
I will be posting more later today -- I see that Tag #3 was posted on Tim Holtz blog this morning. Making plaid backgrounds with Alcohol Inks. YAY!! Can't wait to get to the studio to try that!!