Box Tutorial

I'm sharing this tutorial over on Funky Hand's "Get Funky and Craft" Inspiration Blog this weekend, so thought I'd post it here on my own blog too.

Once you've got the basic idea, you'll find you can adapt it to make boxes in other shapes too. I've made a few of these little boxes now and they are quite simple to make. I've used Spellbinders Nesties Label 26 for the top and base sections of my box, and kept to a simple square shape for the actual box section so that I can just cut the chipboard pieces using my guillotine.

 There are lots of photos, which I hope will make it nice and easy to follow

Start off by printing your chosen Funky Hand designs onto both sides of some white card.  I like to use a basic textured Bazzill type card (cut to A4), but just printing onto any white card would be fine.

I've used a few different designs as you'll see in the photos, but you could just make the box using one or two designs.  You''ll need a couple of sheets of printed card.  I've used our current Forgotten Funky spotlight collection "Minty Madness" for this box. 
 If you scroll down the blog a bit you'll find a whole array of other lovely projects using this collection

You'll also need some thicker card - I use card cut from an empty cereal packet

From the printed card

*Cut a 6cm wide strip from the long side.  Crease at 4cm as shown in the photo above

*Cut 4 of the 2nd largest Spellbinders Nesties Labels 26 die. Ink the edges and adhere 2 of each (if using different designs) together - be as accurate as possible. These will be the base and top of your box

* Cut 2 pieces measuring  9cm square

From the cereal packet

* Cut 6 or 7 (depending on thickness)  pieces measuring 6.5cm square

* Glue just 2 of the card squares together and set aside for the base section

* Trim a tiny fraction (1 - 1.5mm only) from 2 adjoining sides (not opposite ones - you need to keep the shape square) of each of the  other squares and then glue them together. It's important not to trim away too much or the lid won't fit at the end

Cover the card squares with the 9cm squares, wrapping around and making the corners as neat as you can.  Set the thicker of the squares aside for now

Using the thinner covered cereal packet piece, line up and mark the long strip as shown so that it will wrap around all 4 sides and have an overlap at the end. Make creases and cut slits up to the 2cm fold line

* Adhere the square piece to the side strip starting with the second section along.  Next glue the third and fourth sections under, and then the overlap.  Apply glue to the outside of the overlap piece and then glue the first section in place to cover it, and end up neatly at the corner of the box

 

 The underneath should look like this

Now apply glue to the box you've created and centre over one of the die cut pieces.  If you've done as I did and used 2 different designs, you'll need to decide which will be on the "inside" edges and which will be the outer ones

Finally adhere the thicker cereal packet piece to the 2nd of the die cut sections.

Trimming those tiny slivers from the card squares should mean that the lid will fit nicely into the top edge of the box - have a quick check before the glue has dried completely, then if you find the fit isn't snug enough, take the cereal packet piece off quickly and cover with another square of paper - that might just be enough to make it work

 It looks a bit dull and boring at the moment, but I'm sure you'll think of a way to brighten it up :)

I've made a couple of other boxes in the same way - these have both been shown here before, but hey, I might as well show them again

This one uses the same Labels 26 die as the one above, and the papers are from the Christmas 2013 "Silent Night" download collection

This next box is made the same way, but I've used a nesting heart set of dies by MFT Die'Namics to cut the shapes. These papers are from the gorgeous "Winter Wedding" download collection

They are fun to make and easy too - and of course Funky Hand papers make it really simple to get exactly the look you want. 

 I hope you'll have a go - and if you do I would soooo love to see your boxes, so please don't forget to let me know

Happy Crafting

March Colours

After yesterday's meandering post, I'll keep it short today!
It's the first Friday of the month and that means a new colour combo challenge on the Daring Cardmakers.  Zuzana chose the palette and it's so lovely - with just the right amount of zingy bright colour to remind us that Spring is on the way.
I seem to be having one of those phases when I hate the first card I make and have to start over again.  I don't think card #1 will go in the bin this week, but it does need a bit of attention so we'll see what happens.
Anyway, here's card #2 - I went back to using my favourite butterfly die for this one

 Materials and Tools

White card blank

Pale turquoise-blue Bazzill, shaded with Gelatos in white, metallic aqua and turquoise

Pale lemon, Deep Aqua and Peachy-orange Bazzill

Paper from various MME 6x6 pads

Orange Stickles

Dies: Memory Box Butterfly, Crafter's Companion Circle Doily

Embossing Folder: Chevron 6x6 by Crafter's Companion

Daring Cardmakers March Colours

Hope you'll head over to the DCM BLOG to see the rest of the cards - it would be fab if you'd join in with us too
That's all for today
Thanks for visiting

Boys' Toys

Boy's cards can be sooooo difficult, can't they.  Sometimes I'm so sick of thinking of new ways to bung a football on a card it makes my brain hurt!
So today I've a couple of Big Boys cards to share and not a football in sight.

The first is a Lego inspired card for my hubby's birthday.

 

He's always dabbled with Lego - I pander to that by buying Technics kits for him at Christmas hehe.  Recently though Lego for grown ups is much more apparent with things like the Lego Architecture series being available (he got the Leaning Tower of Pisa for Christmas....). 
Anyhoooo some time before Christmas he discovered a website where you could "draw" in your own house, using the exact measurements etc and it would come up with plans and requirements for building yourself a scale model of your house. I know it's a bit mad, and I know how long it took him to do, but we won't go there....suffice to say I did get a tad worried that I might not be getting any Christmas presents myself because of all the time and cash he spent on his new project!  It's not just the outside of the basic "naked" house either - oh no!  You can add the colours (as near as you can with Lego bricks anyway) of your walls, carpets, furnishings ....  Yes. It all is a little crazy.  Here are our Lego selves in our Lego study - you can see all the IKEA shelves etc though they are a lot tidier than in real life ;)

Getting back to the birthday card - I cut all the pieces on the Silhouette and spent what seemed like days sticking them together - there are at least 4 layers to each brick and some have several more so there is a mix of  brick depths.  Yes, I'm just as bonkers as he is.  The circles on the top of the bricks are adhered with tiny bits of foam tape and they took blinking ages as they were so fiddly.
I also made a Lego logo style sentiment for the front of the card, but then I couldn't figure out where to put it so I stuck it inside instead

 

I was soooo relieved to get it finished! 
Next up was a card for one of my cousins - I think all that Lego sapped my poor head and it took a while to actually think of anything I could do for him.  I know he has a drum kit, so thought maybe I could make something themed around that - but I needed a way of keeping it simple so hunted out a clipart drum kit silhouette that I could convert to cut on my.....Silhouette. 

I'm really impressed at how well the machine coped with the very skinny and detailed cut-lines - I must admit part of the reason for doing this without tweaking the picture was to see how it would cope with so many tiny details.  It got it's own back though - as lifting the completed cut off the cutting mat was a bit of a mare! And getting all the tiny unwanted waste bits off was even more of a mare! 
Right enough of the waffle - can you tell I'm procrastinating as I have other things to be doing but can't seem to get started on them?
Hope you like what you've seen today, and that you've had a little smile too
Thanks for visiting

Textural

Last week was the TV launch of the latest goodies from Crafters Companion.  We'd been working with the fab new Embossalicious folders for a while, but a few weeks before the launch a new CD Rom and some new sets of the Semtimentals stamps were also added into the mix.

So there's a bit of a mix of projects that just use the new embossing folders and others that have the other new things included too.

There are a lot of things to share, but don't panic, I'm not putting them all on one post - if I spread them around they'll last longer won't they?!

Heart and Flowers card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 6x6 Decorative Heart

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver

Other:

Vellum, Glamour Dust Glitter, Pearlescent Aqua card, Prima and other Flowers, Mulberry Roses, Pearl Spray, Mulberry Lilies, Aqua Dewdrops. Peach pearls,  Velvet ricrac, Butterfly punch

Comfort Jumper Card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 8x8 KnitOne PurlOne

Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit (scarf)

Blue Coredinations card

Other: 

 Yellow and Red ink pads

“get well soon” is PC generated, “warm wishes” is cut using Craft Robo

Metallic Background, Flowers and Tag card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit, Die'sire Spring Cd rom

Die’Sire Sentimental Stamps ~ Nature, Die'sire Quilling Sunflower large

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver, Coredinations card

Other:

Embossing coloured with metallic Gelatos

Quilled Sunflower cut from a baby wipe

Other flowers all from the cd rom, little tag covered with Glossy Accents

Brads, gems, thread, Glossy Accents

Vellum Rococo Card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 6x6 Rococo Frame

Die'sire Spring Cd rom

Die’Sire Sentimental Stamps ~ Ornate

Die'sire Quilling Sunflowers large & Small

Coredinations card

Other:

Card layer and vellum layer both embossed

Flower petals embossed and inked before forming the flower

Pinky-red cord behind flower

Cable Knit Pillow Box 

 From Crafters Companion:

Cable Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit

Die’Sire Quilling Sunflower – Large

Die’Sire Quilling Stamen

Other:

Digi-printed patterned card, Pillow box shape cut out and lines scored before embossing

Flower centre made with beads dropped into Glossy Accents.  Embossing on box inked over while flat

That's all for this time, thanks for looking

Minted

As usual I'm a bit late blogging about the latest "Forgotten Funky" - a revisit to some of the older Funky hand download collections which are still there but often passed over in favour of the brand new ones.
Every month one of these collections is chosen and the Funkettes get busy crafting new things to show off the "old" designs and remind people how fab they are.
Minty Madness is this month's Forgotten Funky and you can see all the lovely things that the team made HERE, on the Get Funky and Craft Inspiration blog
It wasn't until I went to save the photos of my project that I realised that I had actually never used this collection myself!  So you see, delving into the archives really does bring out new treasures :)

I made another box using Spellbinders Nesties dies.  I've been meaning to do a tutorial on how to make these for one of my GF+C project posts and this time I even remembered to so some photos as I was going along - so if you are interested in seeing how to do it pop by next weekend.

Materials and Tools

All papers: Minty Madness by Funky Hand, printed onto cardstock

Ribbon, Ink

SU Blossom Punch (contact Sharon for more info)

Dies: Spellbinders Nesties Labels 26, MFT Die'Namics swirl

Cereal packet chipboard

I have loads of catch-up-blogging to do so hopefully will get some more posts written soon.
Thanks for visiting today

We're Getting Sentimental....

...with Gez this week on the Daring Cardmakers.

 "I would like to see words as your main feature,

and here is the twist!

 if possible, words that mean something to you! 

Show me your softer side"

I rather like to use a longer sentiment or quotation on a card - they can fill up a nice big space for a start, and often when it's difficult to work out which image or other focal piece would work, a quotation does the trick.

 I knew I wanted to use this quotation, I've no idea where it came from or who wrote it in the first place, but I've used it loads of times.  I often mess around with fonts and colours and mix them all up to match the papers I'm using or the sort of person I'm making it for.
I wanted to use this gorgeous  large size doily die to frame it, so I just fiddled about with the wording until I got something that would fit the right size circle, then printed and used a Nesties circle to cut it out
I usually save the finished version of sentiments I make this way so that I can use the same one again, or just tweak it a bit to suit the new project - well, it makes sense to keep a copy of something you've spent a while getting to look just right, doesn't it?

Materials and Tools

Smooth white card base, 2 shades grey card

Paper from Charmed 6x6 pad by MME

Wide blue glittery organze ribbon

Satin stripe pink ribbon, Pearls and Enamel dots

Crafters Companion Circle Doily (large)

Spellbinders Nesties plain circle

PC generated sentiment

Whilst this card took a very short time to make in the end, the earlier versions are now in the bin!
Version one took ages did get photographed before I pulled it to pieces to make version 2, which didn't even get glued together before being rejected
Actually it looks a bit less of a dog's breakfast in the photo than I felt it did when I'd finished making it - but I still don't like it.

Right, that's it for today, thanks for looking in - I hope you'll join in and get Sentimental with the DCM this week

Cute as a Button

Funky Hand released some gorgeous baby-themed downloads at the weekend.
There are a couple of cute "Button Baby" images and a paper collection that matches the "button" theme beautifully
here are a couple of cards I've made using these cute new downloads

Materials and Tools

"Button Baby Boy" downloadable image by Funky Hand

All papers from the  "Button Baby" collection by Funky Hand

Circle dies, plain and scalloped by Spellbinders

Square Punch, Satin ribbon

 

Materials and Tools

"Button Baby Girl" downloadable image by Funky Hand

All papers from the  "Button Baby" collection by Funky Hand

Plain Circle dies by Spellbinders, 2x baby ribbon

 In PSP I cropped and resized the cream paper to make a square shape, then pasted this onto the plain pinky-red paper.  After cropping down to get the sort of border width I wanted, I merged the layers and resized the whole to fit onto my card ready for printing.
The image was printed twice, then I cut out some bits from one to use for adding dimension to the base image.  I've cut out some of the button shapes from the flower-button paper to use as embellishments, and a length from the chevrons paper to use as a "ribbon" behind the focal piece.
The LO for this card comes from The Sketch File

There's a gallery on the Funky Hand website with more projects from the DT using these lovely downloads - do check them out, they are all soooooo cute!
Here's a quick peek at the paper collection - you get both colour-ways in one gorgeous download on this one, so you don't have to choose ;)

That's it, I've got to get crafting....but a cappuccino first, though
Thanks for looking in today, please come back soon

Cable Knit Pillow Box

The latest new goodies from Crafters Companion are released this evening at 9pm on Ideal World.
The DT have been really busy using all the new embossing folders, papers, Stamping Frame dies and brand new additions to the Sentimentals stamp range, along with our old favourites the quilling dies.

For this pillow box I cut and scored the pillow box shape, then ran it through the ebosser using the A4 "Cable Knit" embossing folder to get an all-over embossed design.  I used a few shades of turquoise  and aqua inks over the raised design, then once the ink was dry I folded and adhered the box into shape.
The wrap is made from some of the gorgeous paper designs on the new CD,  As well as patterned papers there are absolutely loads of embellishments ready for you to cut out and use on your projects - the little coiled rose centre for my quilled flower is one of them.

Tools and Materials

All from Crafters Companion: Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit

Die'sire Spring Cd rom (papers and embellishments)

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver

Die'sireQuilling die - Rose, large

Here's the info for this evening's TV launch

I know it's shocking to blog two days in a row, but I'll be back tomorrow with my card for The Sketch File - there'll be a sneak peek of that later today on The Sketch File blog though....

Thanks for visiting

Old but not forgotten

This week's Daring Cardmakers's challenge is all about looking back to the things we used when we first started card-making.  It's Sharon who is our hostess and she says:

For my dare, I want you to think back to your very first crafty purchases and try and use something

Old but not forgotten

Have a look through your stash and see what you can find - maybe you've still got some of the very first stamp sets you bought, or if you're like me, you've still got papers and embellishments because you hate to throw anything away.

Well, it was all my mum's fault really - we saw some handmade cards and she said "You could do that" - she always had great and possibly unfounded faith in my creative abilities hehe!  Anyway, I thought I'd have a go. 
I went to a couple of classes right back at the start - these taught me something quite quickly -this was that stamping was never going to be my thing.
I like to get a lot for my money and soon discovered that buying patterned paper sets opened a whole realm of possibilities as you could make lots of "faux" embellishments like brads and ribbons as well as using it for backgrounds, layering, making flowers and all sorts of other things.
Which is probably why my shelves are groaning under the weight of 12x12, 8x8, 6x6 and A4 papers and so many other types of paper that it's never ev er all going to be used.
Periodically I have a sort and off load some of the "I am never going to use this" papers, but more often even if they've sat unloved for years I can't bear to get rid of them because of that naughty, niggling voice that says "throw it out now and you'll need it next week" - you know the one, I'm sure you do!
In the last couple of years I've gone right off Basic Grey papers, but back in the day they were the very first I bought and among those first purchases was one that I've loved ever since - even though I don't use them very often.  You know you love a paper set when you buy it in all the size formats and then go back and buy more,  BG's "Fusion" collection was one of these - I adore the colours, the "textures" and all of the patterns and I don't think I'll ever pull that box out and find I've gone off them!  Which is probably why I managed to make my card using only scraps and didn't need to cut into any larger sheets!
I'be just remembered that the book cover - a photo of which is my blog header was made with these papers!

The first major tool purchase I made, and first venture into the wonderful world of die cutting was the old blue Quickutz machine - it was soon replaced by the improved pink version.  They were hard work but the QK dies were really cute and I was hooked on die-cutting.  The QK machine was replaced by that teeny weeny little SideKick - I really didn't like the Sizzix dies, but that little machine was brilliant! 
Years on and the machines, the dies, the embossing folders got bigger, my shoulder got sore with all the handle-cranking and forcing difficult "sandwiches" through over and over to get a decent cut.
So now I have the grand-daddy of them all - an electronic die cutter and embossing machine, the wonderful ebosser - oh wow, what a machine!

I've used an old QK birthday cake die for my card and sat it on a very much newer Die'Sire diecut.  I think I need to reassess how I store all those little 2" dies as I'm sure I'd use them more if they were easier to get at.  Actually, probably not, but you never know!

Papers; Fusion collection from Basic Grey

Die; Birthday Cake by Quickutz

Embossing Folders; Chevrons and Petite Dots, both Die'sire 

by Crafter's Companion

Doily die-cut; Chantilly Lace stamping frame set also 

Die'sire by Crafter's Companion

Hand-cut bunting, Lilac seam binding, Baker's Twine, Dewdrop stones, Gelatos for colouring embossed background and the cake pieces, Stickles glitter glue

So, will you join us on a trip down Memory Lane this week and use some of your oldest supplies, tools and stamps etc to make a card?  We'd really love to see what you make and enjoy hearing your story too. You can see the rest of the cards from the DCM Designers HERE

The problem with taking a trip down Memory Lane is that you end up rambling around a bit - which I have done for long enough, so I'll get back to the present and go and finish at least one of the half-made projects on my desk!
Thanks for bearing with me on my meanderings, hope it won't have put you off coming back soon

Honeycomb Heart

Some time ago I saw a tutorial showing how to make your own honeycomb paper - I was too busy to try it out at the time but popped it safely onto one of my Pinterest boards - how I love Pinterest!  I used to save so many wonderful things then not have a clue where I'd saved them - so many hours wasted looking through all those "saved stuff" folders!

So, thanks to Pinterest it's now just a case of logging in and scrolling through the photos till I find the one I want - the relevant link is saved as a matter of course to make it even easier to find instructions etc. The tutorial I used is HERE and was really easy to follow if you want to have a go yourself.
Having made my honeycomb paper I cut it into a heart shape to use for a Valentines card

I used the "On Target" LO for February from The Sketch File - as you can see, apart from moving it lower down the page, I used it pretty much as on the sketch

 Materials and Tools

Honeycomb paper made from tissue paper using this tutorial

February 2014 LO from The Sketch File

Patterned paper (grey and red) from an old HotP paper pad

Red and Silver card scraps

Red satin ribbon and "Be Mine" brad from stash

Embossing Folders: Chevrons from Crafters Companion, Tiny Hearts by Cuttlebug

2x heart punches, Scalloped Circle Nesties by Spellbinders

The heart folds relatively flat to fit in an envelope, then the tab made from small hearts tucks under the brad to keep the pom-pom heart open

Hope you like this one, I enjoyed making it and the honeycomb paper was nowhere near as tricky to make as you'd think.
Please leave a comment xx