I made today's project as a gift for our mail carrier for Christmas. However, this would make a cute project to give anyone for almost any occasion. Just fill it with hot chocolate mixes, tea bags, coffee packets, candies, tissue paper and a gift card, etc. Wouldn't it be cute filled with instant soup mixes, cough drops, and a small pack of tissues to give someone who is sick?

Supplies
- Serene Snowflakes, pages 26 - 27 of Holiday Mini, $20.95
- Bravo Burgundy 8 1/2 x 11" Card Stock, page 157, $5.50
- Whisper White 12 x 12" Card Stock, page 155, $7.50
- Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper, page 21 of Holiday Mini, $11.95
- Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, page 27 of Holiday Mini, $5.95
- Frost White Shimmer Paint, page 27 of Holiday Mini, $5.95
- Sponge Daubers, page 192, $10.95
- 1 3/4" Circle Punch, page 186, $15.95
- Jumbo Snowflake Punch, page 186, $15.95
- Wide Oval Punch, page 186, $15.95
- Clear Rhinestone Brads, page 179, $10.95
- Paper-Piercing Tool, page 191, $3.50
- Mat Pack, page 191, $9.95
- Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, page 194, $99.95
- Standard Cutting Pads, page 194, $8.95
- Standard Premium Crease Pad, page 194, $8.95
- Pillow Box Bigz Die, page 199, $19.95
- Circle Scissor Plus, page 191, $29.95
- Glass Mat, page 191, $19.95
- Sticky Strip, page 192, $6.95
- Dotto, page 192, $12.95
- Pop-Up Glue Dots, page 192, $3.95
- Stampin' Dimensionals, page 192, $3.95
- scissors
- adhesive
Directions
1) Cut three pieces of Bravo Burgundy Card Stock to 5 1/4 x 5 3/4".
2) Build a sandwich of Standard Cutting Pad, Pillow Box Die, one piece of burgundy card stock, and Premium Crease Pad and run through the Big Shot.
3) Repeat Step 2 two more times so you have three pillow box cut outs.
4) Cut the top and bottom flaps off of all three pillow box cut outs and apply Sticky Strip to the thin edge piece of each. Your pillow box cut outs will look like this:
5) Adhere your pillow box cut outs together in a long strip by adhering the thin edge piece to the flat edge of another. Leave the protective backing on the Sticky Strip in place on the last pillow box piece thin edge.
6) Shake the bottle of Frost White Shimmer Paint well. Use a Sponge Dauber to get some of the paint out of the lid. Daub the paint directly onto the rubber on the three snowflakes image from the Serene Snowflakes Set and stamp onto the pillow box pieces.
7) Continue randomly stamping the snowflakes in Frost White Shimmer Paint all over the pillow box pieces. Stamp some without adding more paint first.
8) Randomly stamp the snowflakes in Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint all over the pillow box in the same way.
9) Cut a strip of the shimmery snowflakes paper from the Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper to 1 x 10 1/2".
10) Adhere the strip of Designer Paper down the center of your pillow box pieces starting from the left edge.
11) Cut another strip of the same Designer Paper to 1 x 3 1/8".
12) Adhere it to the center of the pillow box pieces starting from the edge of the previous strip. Don't worry about the seam between the two pieces of Designer Paper, it will be covered by your final embellishments. Your pillow box pieces should look like this:

13) Cut a piece of Bravo Burgundy Card Stock to 2 3/4 x 3".
14) To make a handle for your mug, slide the Wide Oval Punch in from the 2 3/4" side as far as it will go and punch. Use scissors to cut the center section out of the bottom of the card stock piece. Then, use scissors to cut the top by following the curve of the punch. These steps are shown here:
15) Adhere the ends of the handle to the Sticky Strip on the exposed thin edge of your pillow box pieces. Add more Sticky Strip on top of the handle ends if you wish. Make sure the curved part of the handle is sticking out over the pillow box pieces like this:
16) Now, adhere the two ends of the pillow box pieces strip together forming the mug shape. Your handle should stick out to the side. If necessary, bend the card stock gently to make the handle stick out more.
17) Cut three strips of Bravo Burgundy Card Stock to 1 x 5" each.
18) Score both ends of all three strips at 1/2" and fold the edges up.
19) Put small pieces of Sticky Strip on the ends of all three strips of card stock.
20) Adhere the strips one at a time across the bottom of the mug. When completed, it should look like this:
21) Put some Dotto on the back of a piece of Bravo Burgundy Card Stock and adhere it to the Glass Mat.
22) Place the Circle Scissors Plus on top of the card stock and dial 4" on the cutting scale. Insert the cutting blade/handle and cut a 4" circle.
23) Rub the excess Dotto off the back of the circle using your fingers. Place a Pop-Up Glue Dot in the center of the circle.
24) Adhere the circle to the inside bottom of the mug. When done, it should look like this from the bottom:

25) Punch a 1 3/4" Circle out of the other side of the shimmery snowflakes Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper.
26) Punch a snowflake out of Whisper White Card Stock using the Jumbo Snowflake Punch.
27) Lay the snowflake on top of the circle and then use the Paper-Piercing Tool and Mat Pack to poke a hole through both pieces.
28) Insert a medium Clear Rhinestone Brad and secure on the back side.
29) Adhere the circle/snowflake to the front of the mug using Stampin' Dimensionals.
30) If desired, decorate the other side of the mug in the same way so that it looks good whether being held by a right-hander or a left-hander.
31) Fill your mug with goodies and give away!
Tips
You don't have to have the Premium Crease Pad for this project, but it is highly recommended as it helps the score lines be sharper and easier to fold. However, all Big Shot Machines are slightly different. Experiment with yours to see if you need the Crease Pad or not and whether or not you may need an extra shim of thin card board for best results.
If you are going to be stamping a lot of images using the Shimmer Paint, you might want to pour a small amount onto a non-porous surface like a plastic container lid. Then, pick up the paint from there instead of having to recap the bottle and shake it each time to get more paint in the lid.
Stampin' Up! has announced that because the Shimmer Paints are so popular, they will continue to be available as write-in items after January 4.