SANTA CLAUS HAS ARRIVED

I was looking through the Splitcoaststampers gallery today and came across the sweetest little Santa Treat Box by Samantha Parisi! I've been trying to come up with an idea for cute little Christmas favors for my nieces and nephews and thought these boxes would be perfect! Once filled with candies, toys, money etc they can be hung from the Christmas tree as ornaments. One for each of the kiddos pretty much fills my 4ft tree. LOL!

SUPPLIES:

Red,White,Black,Blush, & Gold Cardstock

Sticky Strip

Papercutter with Scoring Blade

1/8" hole punch or Crop-a-dile

Sponge Dauber

Regal Rose Ink Pad

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder & Die Cut Machine

SU!Scalloped Circle Punch

SU! Word Window Punch

1 1/2" Circle Punch

1 1/4" Circle Punch

3/4" Circle Punch

1/4" Circle Punch

White Gel Pen

Small Gold Jingle Bell, White Pom-Pom & White Holiday Twine

1. Cut red cardstock to 4.25" x 11". With a pencil mark the middle (2 1/8') of each 4.25" end.

2. Score at 5 1/2" lengthwise.

3. Line up the pencil mark on the short side with the middle of the long side. Score along this line. Repeat on all four sides.

4. Fold along all score lines keeping pencil marks to the inside. Lay the piece lengthwise in front of you. Apply sticky strip to the top-left and bottom-left sides of the piece as shown. Adhere the box together by folding in the middle and bringing the sides together.

5. Using a 1/8" hole punch, punch a hole on each side approximately 1/4" down from the top.

6. Emboss a 3.5"x 3.5" piece of white cardstock using the Cuttlebug embossing folder. Punch a scalloped circle for Santa's beard, and a hat band using the Word Window punch. Keep the remainder of the embossed cardstock to make Santa's mustache.

7. Since I didn't have a punch that would work for Santa's Mustache I made a template by folding a 3/4"x 2" piece of cardstock in half lengthwise and drawing a leaf shape from corner to corner against the fold. Cut along the lines to create your template then trace around the template on the back of the scrap of embossed white from creating Santa's beard and hat band. Cut out Santa's Mustache. Punch a 1 1/2" circle and a 3/4" circle (or 1/2" circle for a smaller nose like on the box shown at bottom of post) from Blush Cardstock and punch two 1/4" circles from Black cardstock.

8. Using a sponge dauber and Regal Rose Ink Pad, create cheeks on the largest Blush Blossom circle and lightly sponge the edge of the smallest Blush Blossom circle.

9. Assemble all the punched pieces as shown in the photo on the left and trim off the top of the Blush Blossom circle that shows above Santa's hat band.

10. Add catchlights to Santa's eyes using a white gel pen.

11. Place Santa's face so that the edges of his hat band meet the edges of the triangle box.

12. Cut a 1/4"x4.25" strip from Black cardstock. Adhere it onto the triangle box leaving more hanging from one side than the other. Trim both sides to the edge of the box. KEEP THE LARGEST PIECE OF BLACK SCRAP. You will use this to create Santa's belt buckle.

13. Cut a 1/2" square from gold (or yellow) cardstock. Trim the 1/4" scrap piece of black created from step 12 above to make it square and adhere to the center of the gold square. Place the buckle in the middle of Santa's belt being careful to line up the upper and bottom edges so that the belt looks as if it continues through the belt buckle.

14. Gently squeeze open the top of the box and fill with candies, money, small gifts etc. Run a piece of holiday twine through the holes and tie the top closed then tie the top of the twine to create a loop for hanging.

15. Tie on a gold jingle bell, add a pom-pom and hang him on your tree! Isn't he adorable?????

Thanks Samantha for the inspiration. I hope you all have fun having Santa visit your house during the holidays.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Jill