Welcome to the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop! We’ve gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues. Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can “hop” from one blog to another to check them all out.

We are exited to join this year’s Blog Hop! For the first day of the hop we invited our frequent guest Designer Judi Kauffman who created a beautiful decorated tissue box. See Judi’s instructions below.

Two-Way Tissue Box

By Judi Kauffman for Elizabeth Craft Designs

My friend Els is decisive when it comes to comfortable shoes and schnitzel (no gravy!), but when it comes to décor in her studio it’s another matter. She likes to redecorate and reorganize the space on a regular basis. Hence, her present this Christmas is a Two-Way Tissue Box. She can position it with the two adjacent mixed media sides facing her guests and students, or with the two adjacent embossed sides taking center stage.

When making your own tissue box projects all four sides can match, all four can be different, or use my strategy with two pairs.

You’ll need just under two and a half 5” x 12” sheets of Shimmer Sheetz from a 3-sheet pack. Keep the leftovers for cards, jewelry, or other projects.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Base coat edges and interior of Walnut Hollow Boutique Tissue Box with royal purple acrylic paint. (No need to paint the rest, it will be covered.)

2. Using an ink applicator tool to create a mottled effect, alter three 5” x 12” pieces of Purple Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz with pool (turquoise), espresso, purple and gold metallic alcohol inks. Allow some of the original color of the Shimmer Sheetz to remain visible between the randomly applied inks.

3. Mixed media side pieces: Cut one 5” x 12” piece of alcohol ink-altered Shimmer Sheetz in half (two 5” x 6” pieces). Cut sparkly mesh 5” x 6” to cover both pieces. Set sewing machine to 7 stitches per inch. Using tan thread, randomly stitch through both layers – mesh and Shimmer Sheetz. Switch to purple thread and continue stitching in different directions. (No need to switch the bobbin when changing to purple.)

4. Two-pattern embossed side pieces: Cut one 5” x 12” piece of alcohol ink-altered Shimmer Sheetz in half (two 5” x 6” pieces). Orient the pieces so they are vertical rectangles. Emboss the bottom 4” of each piece with Bouquet folder. Leave an eighth-inch space and emboss the remaining portion of the rectangle with Spring Leaves folder. Lightly sand to bring out the embossed details. Wipe sanded surfaces with damp paper towel. To create further contrast on these two side pieces, cover embossed flowers with paper to protect it; lightly apply purple alcohol ink to raised portion of Spring Leaves.

5. Top piece: Cut a 5” square from remaining 5” x 12” piece of alcohol ink-altered Shimmer Sheetz. Back with double sided adhesive sheet. (Do not expose the adhesive till step 6.) Place tissue box upside down on the back of the Shimmer Sheetz square and trace the opening. Cut out the opening. (Tip: Use short, sharp scissors to ensure smooth curves along the cutting line.)

6. Finishing: Back the four side pieces with double sided adhesive sheet. Working one piece at a time expose the adhesive and put the top and side pieces onto the tissue box (mixed media pieces on two adjacent sides, embossed pieces on the two remaining sides).

SUPPLIES

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

SS0106 Shimmer Sheetz in Purple Iridescent (3 sheets)

502 Transparent Double Sided Tape Sheets – 8.5”x11” – (5 sheets)

E118 Spring Leaves embossing folder

E121 Bouquet embossing folder

Walnut Hollow –

11360P Boutique Tissue Box

Other –

Alcohol inks in Purple, Espresso, Pool (Turquoise), Metallic Gold

Ink applicator tool

12” piece of 5” wide mesh ribbon in Brown with Gold Threads

Sewing thread in Tan and Purple

Sewing machine

Embossing machine

Sanding block

Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects??

Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away!

Clearsnap

Ellison Educational Equipment

Walnut Hollow 

Graphic 45

Neat and Tangled

Therm O Web

Westcott

Elizabeth Craft Designs

Pink and Main

The Buckle Boutique

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Rowland Technologies

ICE Resin

Hydrangea Hippo

Clearsnap – Suzanne Austin

Stencil1 – Ed Roth 

Graphic 45 -Nadya Lifa

Cookies for Breakfast- Beth Pingry

Cupcakes and Crinoline – Mary Beth Sharkey 

Elizabeth Craft Designs – Frances Byrne

Lazy Mom’s – Joanna Grzeszczak

Homemade Ginger – Megan Kapple

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L – Asia King

Ellison Educational Equipment – Anna-Karin Evaldsson

One Artsy Mama- Amy Latta

Therm O Web – Alice Golden

Lovely Etc – Carrie Spalding

ICE Resin – Clare Horner

Pink and Main – Yolie Burke

The Buckle Boutique – Stephanie Nericcio

Modern Surrealist – Marisa Pawelko

A Little Craft In Your Day – Tanner Bell 

Artsy Findings – Cheryl Waters

Stampin Mindy – Mindy Baxter

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Follow our Handmade Holidays Gift Ideas Pinterest board for even more inspiration!

Follow Jennifer Priest of RainMaker Media Works + Hydrangea Hippo’s board Handmade Holidays on Pinterest.

A huge thank you to our sponsors for this hop – please visit their blogs below and follow them. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another 30+ amazing Handmade Gift Ideas!

Clearsnap || Ellison Educational Equipment || Walnut Hollow || Graphic45 || Westcott || ICE Resin || Therm O Web || Rowland Industries || Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L || Pink and Main || Elizabeth Craft Designs || The Buckle Boutique || Neat and Tangled

Additional Sponsorship provided to bloggers by:

Sakura || Fairfield Processing