Etsy Shop Newsletter & a Giveaway!

Did you know that you could sign up for my Jen's Ink Spot Etsy shop newsletter to receive special discounts and coupon codes?  You can find the form in the column on the right-hand side of my blog!  Just scroll down a little ways until you see the aqua colored box with the title "Jen's Ink Spot Newsletter". 

Sometimes I will offer coupon codes and specials for my newsletter readers that I won't advertise on my blog or in my shop!  Be sure to sign up so you don't miss out on the savings!  For those of you already signed up on my newsletter list, I sent out a special newsletter to you today so be sure to check your inbox!

I also think it is time for another giveaway! I am feeling in the Christmas spirit!  What can you win?  One button ring (valued up to $11) of your choice from my Jen's Ink Spot Etsy store!  And, if you don't see what you'd like in my Etsy shop, we can custom design a ring for you in the colors of your choice!

How can you enter?  You can enter FOUR times!!
1.  Leave a comment on this post for one entry.
2.  Advertise the giveaway on your blog for another entry (and leave another comment here letting me know that you did this).
3.  Post the giveaway on Facebook or Twitter for another entry (and leave another comment here letting me know that you did this).
4.  Sign up for my newsletter if you haven't signed up already (and leave another comment here letting me know that you did this).  Or if you have already signed up, just let me know that too!

You will have until Sunday, December 12th at midnight CST to enter! 



Simple Decorated Gift Bag

Hello everyone!!  Last night our women's group at church went on a Mystery Trip!  We took the ladies to a mystery destination (first stop was supper at a wonderful little sandwich/wrap shop) and while we were there we had an ornament exchange.  We were suppose to wrap our ornament and so I bought a bag at Walmart for $1 and COULDN'T leave it plain!  This is the bag that I decorated with my new favorite stamp set and twine.

Pretty simple but it sure decorated up the package!  I used pop dots to keep the banners in just the right place. 

I used my tiny hole punch to punch holes in the corners of each banner and then threaded my twine on my super sharp needle with a large eye.  I then threaded the twine through the punched holes to hang them.  Super easy that way to get the twine through the tiny holes.

Do you have any packages to decorate this year?  I decided to forgo the bright, colorful wrapping paper this year and am going to use Kraft paper and decorate each package individually with stamps and twine.  I think I'll love seeing them all under the tree!

In case you are wondering, after we ate, we all boarded the trolley and took a Christmas lights tour of the town!  It was a lot of fun (even though I had to ride the church van behind the trolley since the trolley could only fit 27 and we had a group of 35!). 

It was a fun night!

I also wanted to briefly tell you about one of the ornaments I gave at the ornament exchange last night.  McPherson has a store called Clayworks operated by the Disability Supports of the Great Plains.  Their clients with disabilities for whom the challenges are too great to achieve competitive community-based employment come to the Clayworks store and make ornaments, necklaces and plaques out of clay.  They paint them and decorate them.  Each time an item is sold, the person who created that item earns the income from the sale!  Isn't that a wonderful program?  If you live close to the McPherson area, please try to stop by and support this organization!  Their store is located on Main Street right next to The Well.

Have a great day today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Banner Builder, Fresh Alphabet
Paper: Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Kraft
Ink: Pure Poppy, True Black, Palette Landscape
Other: Banner Dies, Twinery Twine, Hole Punch, Pop Dots

Celebrate...Banners

Have I told you how much I LOVE PTI's new banner set!?  Oh my word, can you say FUN!! There are just so many options on how to make your banners!

For this one I used the tree from "Merry Little Christmas" (this set is so much more than just a Christmas set!) to hang the banners from.  I threaded my twine through a very sharp needle with a large eye and then sewed the twine around the branches.  This worked much better than punching holes and threading the twine through the holes because you don't see any of the "excess" hole this way, it is just the perfect size.  Works like a charm!

I used tea die inks around the banners to soften them up a little.  After I glued the banners and mats together I added the silver rhinestones to finish them off.  Then to attach them to the line, I used pop dots and lined them up with the twine.  And, of course, I have to mention the twine.  That is the red Maraschino twine from The Twinery...such a nice, bright red & white twine!  Sigh.

This card is a little larger than a traditional card, it measures 6 1/8" x 4 1/4".

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I've been under the weather this week and am way behind on commenting on blogs, but I will try my best to get caught up between all the other events we have scheduled!  Have a great weekend!

Supplies (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps:  Banner Builder, Signature Greetings, Merry Little Christmas
Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Rustic White, Aqua
Ink: Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, Palette Landscape
Other: Twine from the Twinery, Silver Rhinestones, Pop Dots

Tag Box Favors

Hi everyone!  I'm always on the hunt for ideas for party favors for school and our church women's events.  Today I'm going to share one that I found that is super easy to make and lots of fun and can be used for many different occassions!

I found a template online for a tag box and then had my husband convert it into an svg file for me to cut on my cricut. This saved me so much time! If you would like the template that you can cut by hand, you can find it here. If you would like the .svg file for this template to cut on your electronic machine, you can download it here.

Let's start with Christmas...

This tag box could be decorated so many ways!  I kept this one fairly simple.  Don't you just love the twine from The Twinery through the buttons?  The colors together are perfect for a traditional Christmas color scheme! I used Maraschino & Peapod colors of twine.  How about a closer look?

I wanted to make this box in a couple of other holiday themes, so next on my list was one for a birthday.

Aren't those colors so much fun?  And the twine matches perfectly!  I used the Lemondrop & Pink Sorbet twine.

I used copics to color the cupcake and then used a blender pen to make the cupcake polka dotted.  Who can resist a polka dotted cupcake?  So cute!  Inside the bag I placed a bunch of candy, great for a birthday party!

And last, but not least, I made another tag box with a Valentine's Day theme.

For this one, I made an accordion flower for the center of the box with a decorated middle.  I sewed the twine through the white circle piece using a very sharp needle with a large head and then through the button holes and tied the twine to make a bow.  I also wrapped the twine around the box a couple of times.

This twine is the Maraschino twine and it is a perfect red!  I found a bag of old fashioned mints that were already wrapped and waiting for a home.  They slipped inside this box perfectly!

I hope you enjoyed these boxes!  They are a lot of fun to make!  Thank you for stopping by!

Christmas Box Supplies
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (PTI) Fillable Frames 10, Polka Dot Basics & Holiday Wishes
Paper:  Kraft & White
Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy & Palette Giverny Green
Other: Twinery Maraschino & Peapod Green Twine, Pure Poppy & Simply Chartreuse Buttons, Silver Pearls & Fillable Frames 10 Die, SVG Tag Box file


Birthday Box Supplies
Stamps:  There She Goes Make a Wish, PTI All Booked Up
Paper: Harvest Gold & White
Ink: Memento Black, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Other: Twinery Lemondrop & Pink Sorbet Twine, PTI Raspberry Fizz & Harvest Gold buttons, PTI Mat Stack Die 3, Circle Punch, Pop Dots, SVG Tag Box file


Valentine Box Supplies
Stamps:  PTI Simple Valentine
Paper:  PTI Bitty Dot 2009, Pure Poppy, White
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow & Pure Poppy
Other: Twinery Maraschino Twine, PTI Sweet Blush Button, Circle Punch, Nestabilities Lacey Circle Die, SVG Tag Box file, candy