Sizzix Lifestyle Bag Toppers, and some Unicorn inspiration!

I actually have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to gift-wrapping inspiration, but you wouldn't know it if you ever received a present from me because I always tend to leave it until the last minute - leaving me with little time to get too fancy. 

But recently I've discovered a whole new way to jazz up my wrapping game. I'm using the plain kraft bags that I have in my hall cupboard, but making them fancy with the addition of a few simple diecuts and embellishments from my stash.

This autumn-inspired decor is courtesy of an old packet of Basic Grey ephemera and the Sizzix Little Deer die, as well as the Sizzix Woodland Foliage die. Perfect combination! 

And it might not look like it, but this bag was even easier to decorate. This stunningly detailed Sizzix die is called Meadow Butterfly #2 and it's actually all one piece. I cut it out of a variety of coloured papers and then snipped out the different sections before layering them back together again.

Overall I'm quite chuffed with this technique for gift wrapping. It's another way of getting more use out of my dies, it helps whittle down my stash of scrap paper and it creates a fabulous result! I'll be doing more of this in the future I suspect!

While we're on the topic of parties (well.... kind of!) then you might be inspired by this bunch of kid's party ideas Sizzix Lifestyle have on their blog this month. You can find all the instructions along with a video on how to make these over here on their blog!

     

PS. The Trophy Husband has been back to his old tricks and uploaded an unboxing video of the latest release Sizzix Lifestyle dies that I received. Check it out!!

Sizzix Triangle boxes and a GIVEAWAY

I'm pretty amateur when it comes to gift-wrapping. I always have grand ideas of making it look amazing, and I've even got a whole Pinterest board dedicated to it. But in all honesty I'm usually leaving the gift wrapping until the last minute, and so it usually just becomes throwing it into whatever bag I've got in the cupboard already! 

Recently I've had occasion to give out a few thank-you gifts, and for those I really do want to make them look special. These are usually just small token gifts - a few chocolates, a soap, cosmetics and the like, and so I only need something small to wrap them in. That's when I turned to my Sizzix Triangle Gift Box die, and I whipped up these boxes in no time at all.

The die comes with the pieces to make the box, the edging, the tag, the leaves and the heart as well, so you can make it in such a variety of colours as you mix and match the different bits. On this first box I also used the Mini Swallow die to take it up another notch!

On a different day, for a different occasion I've also made this other version. I love digging through my older stash of papers for projects like this. Papers that I probably won't use on a scrapbook layout (because they're no longer really my style) are great for this sort of thing, and it makes me feel good to be using them up!

Sizzix Lifestyle are running an awesome competition at the moment where you can win your very own Big Shot Plus (this is the HUGE one!), as well as all these dies from their latest release. Anyone that is OUTSIDE of the USA and Canada can enter this competition, and it's open until July 14th. The link to enter is here! Good luck!