Hip To Be Square Blog Hop

This evening I have two projects to show you.  Melanie Muenchinger asked me to participate in the Gina K Blog Hop tonight. We are featuring Melanie's new stamp set "Hip To Be Square".   I was very happy to accept this invitation. Below I will have links to all the Gina K designers so you can see lots of beautiful cards and projects made with this set.

My first project is a fun candy container.  Everyone loves chocolate, right!   This little pouch holds a Hershey bar.  When you untie the bow,  you just pull up on the ends of the ribbon and it pulls out your chocolate bar.  Several years ago, I made a bunch of these for a  party favor.   This one would make a perfect stocking stuffer. 

All supplies are from Gina K Designs.  The snowman is from Melanie's "Hip To Be Square" set.    I stamped the snowman head and punched it out with a 1 1/4" round punch.  The hat was stamped separately, cut out and glued to the top of the head. 

To create the pouch, you cut a piece of card stock  6" x 7" and score it on the 6" side, at 2 3/4" and 5 1/2".  You then cut a green band to go around it which is 6 1/2" x 2 1/2" and score it the same as the pouch.  I used the snowflakes from Gina's "Holiday Cheer" stamp set (this is the new StampTV  kit) and white embossed two different sizes of flakes randomly around on both the front and back. 

I used a MS punch to add a border on each side of the band.  A petite scalloped  rectangle Nestability was used to cut white CS and was  mounted on a piece of red CS.  The greeting is from "Hip to Be Square" and was cut out with a petite oval nestability.  I used a paper piercing tool to punch holes in the scallops on both die cut pieces. 

To seal the pouch, I added some Scor-Tape along one long side and the bottom of the pouch.  This is a very strong tape and you don't have to worry about it pulling apart. A slot punch was used to create the hole for the ribbon.  The band is also secured with Scor-Tape.  Before securing the band, I like to put the candy bar in the pouch,  wrap the band around  and then secure it. 

The snowman was  attached with dimensional tape.  I tied a bow with ribbon from Gina's StampTV Kit and placed it under the snowman's face.  I cut a narrow strip from this ribbon and added it to the hat for a band.  Holly from Theresa's "A Very Merry Christmas" was stamped in green and cut out to attach to his hat.  Red rhinestones were added for berries.  The white ribbon is also from the StampTV kit and was inserted through both holes  punched  at the top. There is one yard of ribbon.   As you insert the candy bar, the ribbon will go down and become shorter.  Once the candy bar is all the way in,  tie the ends into a bow at the top.

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  Partridge In a Pear Tree

The following card does not show up as pretty in the photo as I had hoped.  It does have a very elegant sheen.  I stamped the window frame from "Hip To Be Square" on a piece of silky looking designer paper and cut it out along the outside edges.  It is kind of funny how the  partridge image turned it.  It is a stamp from Gina's "Holiday Cheer" StampTV kit.  To stamp the partridge,  I inked it with VersaMark then tapped it on a Always Artichoke ink pad then clear embossed it.  I was surprised that it turned out almost transparent.  At first I was very disappointed but decided I really like how it turned out.  It does show up darker on the card.   I went on to complete the card.  The design was layered onto a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock that was embossed with one of the newer Cuttlebug border embossing folders.  The verse is from Gina's "Holiday Greetings" set, which is also in the StampTV kit.  Both the greeting and design were mounted on black card stock.  Some black rhinestones were added to finish the card. 

For even more ideas with Melanie Muenchinger's "Hip to be Square" stamp set, visit her blog link below as well as the GinaK Idea Center here: Hip to Square.   Her tip sheet has been added to the Idea Center as a PDF so you can print out all the tips and suggestions for a handy reference tool!

Here's all the Designer's Blog Links to check out tonight:

Melanie Muenchinger
Carolyn King
Cathy Tidwell
Donna Baker
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Lee Murphy
Nina Bracket
Theresa Momber

September's Center Stage Spotlight Team:

Giovana Smith
Kay Simmons
Linda Payne

and finally, Melanie's Guest Designer for Hip to be Square:

Karen Knegten

and Special guests:

Tina Gilliland

Selma Stevenson

Geri Utterback