When I first started stamping, I learned to use an envelope to make a small little bag. It never occurred to me until recently (thanks M.E.) that if you used a big envelope, you would get a bigger bag. So I went to the store for the white, large mailing envelopes, and it didn't occur to me until I got home and started in that I shouldn't have bought envelopes with the blue security print on the inside. To make the envelope, cut the top off and score the remaining three sides. Then stick you hand in the bag and gently work the corner into a gusset and score lines into the bag shape. Now there's no need to buy gift bags again! 
Isn't this a beautiful card? My talented friend, Mary Ellen, designed this as one of her swaps for convention. I did some tweaking so that I could use supplies I had on hand and did my best to recreate her work. You can see hers here. 
The purses go together pretty easily which would make them great for party favors. We made these in club last week and covered some Hershey Nuggets with our paper scraps to tuck inside. 
And you thought you could live without this die? There are so many clever people out there coming up with some cute ways to use this die. I saw this at a recent stamping event and had to come home and try one of my own. Now all it needs are a few little candies and I am ready for the Easter Bunny!
Who wouldn't like to sink their teeth into this to do list? We made these jars in stamp club and used one of my favorite sets from the Occasions Mini catalog, Eat Chocolate. Simply remove the label from a Starbucks Frappuccino Coffe Drink bottle. Attach your stamped label with Sticky Strip and decorate the lid. If you go with a pink and brown theme like this jar, there's no need to do anything but cover the top of the lid. If you have a different color scheme, you might want to run a piece of grosgrain ribbon around to cover the edge of the lid. Fill it with candy and you have an instant treat container!
Aren't these cute? You can use the same technique for stamping on candles on tealights. Stamp your image on tissue paper and color. I used marker here but have also used colored pencils. Cut the image, and if you use a shape that works in our punches, it's as easy as can be. For a tealight you need to use a hole punch to make room for the wick. It's a big help to punch the tissue on a piece of scratch paper so that the tissue doesn't tear. 
As much as I would like to be done with snow, that isn't such a realistic thought. If you can't beat them, join them! So here's a Fancy Favor Box with a little embossing. After cutting the favor box, run it through the Big Shot with the Northern Flurry embossing folder, changing the position of the folder each time. I think I ran it through 4 times. Then punch the hole using the 1 3/4 circle punch and cover it with a window sheet and fill with some wonderful goodies. 
After making several of these Halloween treat containers with the Candy Wrapper Bigz Die, it seemed to be an easy switch to Christmas. I used the Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder from the holiday mini catalog. You can see the seam of the box at the top - that's because I wanted to put my Merry Christmas scallop on the side with the fewest snowflakes. Although the ribbon isn't necessary to keep the box closed, I think it adds some color and keeps the recipient from peeking!
The tutorial for this came from Splitcoaststampers under paper bows and is a fun way to personalize gifts using your favorite Designer Series Paper. Since all the Designer Series Papers coordinate so nicely, you could even use scraps! We made these in stamp club last week. I pulled out all of my old DSP, and it was fun to see all of the color schemes and neat bows everyone created. 
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