Hinged Ghirardelli Box Holder

I'm ready for convention... at least my swaps are!  I came across a hinged box by Caroline Helwigh Wright.  I was fascinated, but needed to modify her dimensions to fit my needs (getting more than one box from a 12" x 12" cardstock and fitting something yummy inside).  : )

The most important aspect of this hinged box is that it needs to be square.  If it's not square, it won't close!  Each box measures 5 ¾” x 6 ½” and is cut from cardstock.  You'll be able to make 2 boxes from one 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock.

Along the 5 ¾” side, score at ¾”, 2 7/8", and 5".
Along the 6 ½” side, score at ¾”, 2 7/8", 3 5/8", and 5 ¾”.

Cut along the solid blue lines shown in the picture.  Not shown are the tabs wedged to make it easier to fold (but take a look at the pictures below for how I wedged mine).

After I cut on the lines, I stamped the outside front flap/cover.  I thought it would look cool not to stamp the sides, but it took a little more time to avoid the sides (I masked the sides with paper).  Once the stamping was done, I put Scoretape on the appropriate places (see picture).




To make it super simple, I didn't layer on the outside of the box.  I chose to cut some images out from Artbooking Cricut Collection.  And since I get bored quickly (once I figure things out), I made two different designs.

The first is Hugs found on page 49 under the <icon> and <icon><shift> (2nd column, 2nd row).  Both the heart (in Thistle Cardstock) and "hugs" (in Pansy Cardstock) are 1.82" x 1.82".

I stamped in Cashmere ink on Cashmere cardstock.  The stamp is from the Flower Market Collection.



The second of my swaps are "just BE" cut from Emerald cardstock (found on page 39 - <title><shift> (2nd column, 1st row) and be yourself - at least the banner part - found on page 41 <title> (4th column, 1st row).  Using Design Space, I hid the "be yourself" with the hide contour feature.  Then I made the banner 1.8" wide and 0.35" high.  Originally I was going to keep "yourself", but it didn't look right; and I realized I would have to back the banner with another piece of paper, so I took the word out.  After the banners were cut from Willow cardstock, I stamped "YOU!" with the Pen Pals Alphabet stamp set in Black Ink.

This time I stamped in Bamboo ink on Bamboo cardstock.  I stamped on the wrong piece (the inside) so I had to go back and restamp!  Again, I used paper to mask the ends.

The green dot in the cutting diagram (above) is an optional, although highly recommended, hole for the pull string.  To make the pull string, I used the White Twine, Willow ink and Thistle ink (corresponding to the box in mind) and a sponge dauber to color the white twine.  Hold the end of the twine and pull the twine between the dauber and the ink pad.  Pull the twine several times to get the intensity of color you want.  I fed about a 2" piece of the pull string through the hole, securing it to the inside with regular tape.




The front flap/cover measures about 2".  If you'd like to add a mat or decorate the flap/cover, you'll want your papers to be smaller.

Want to get the dimensions of "HUGS" and "just BE YOU!" just right?  Let me make this simple... Here is the Design Space canvas file: https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/62185737

Ready for the finished products?!

The hinge is on the bottom left.  The easiest way to open the box is to hold the upper left corner with your left hand while pulling the twine with your right.  Then the treats are revealed, removed, and consumed.














Cute, right?!  Now it's your turn!

Item Number	Name
Z2805	Black Ink
Z2803	Bamboo Ink
Z2875	Cashmere Ink
Z2840	Thistle Ink
Z2807	Willow Ink
X5932	Cashmere Cardstock
X5782	Pansy Cardstock
X5769	Thistle Cardstock
1301	Bamboo Cardstock
X5783	Emerald Cardstock
X5784	Willow Cardstock
Z3285 or Z3290	Flower Market Cricut Collection - background stamp sets
Z3169	Artbooking Cricut Collection
B1539	Pen Pal Alphabet stamp set
Z3216	White Twine
Z726 or Z1938	Sponge Daubers
Z1204	Bone Folder - to score and burnish
1512 or Z553	Bonding Memories Glue - to glue the Cut pieces together and to the box
Z1151	3-D Foam Tape (to mount the banner)
Z534 or 1836	Micro-tip Scissors
	Scoring board
	Score Tape / Red Line tape

Gift Card Holders - coffee and softball

As neat as it was making the coaches thank you cards, I think I had more fun making holders for the coach gifts and helper gifts.

This first gift holder was for our team photographer.  Yup, it's a coffee gift card.  At first I was going to make this a card that opened upward, and I'd have the gift card on the inside.  Instead, I cut the top off, added adhesive along the three sides, and inserted the gift card.  I added some grey to the left side to add shadowing.

The cup is from the Artistry Cricut Collection.  Anne has a heart of gold, so that's why the heart got gold glitter paper.

Here I took the pillow box (from Art Philosophy) and added the coffee cup.  Why, because Ken LOVES his coffee.  Inside the pillow box is his gift card. Silver and Black Shimmer Trim are behind the cup.

Coach Dom found his sports store gift card inside this softball themed pillow box.







Remember that the next time you give a gift card, it can be given in something fun.  : )

"I like you a Latte" Artiste Gift Bag

"I like you a latte".  What a fun saying to go along with a picture of a coffee mug.  That's exactly what this sample shows.
Cut from the Artiste Collection (Z3170) on page 79, using Crystal Blue cardstock.  It's as big as it gets (using a standard 12" x 12" mat) - 8.7" high (11.5" wide).  The finished size is 5.25" high, just over 3.5" wide, and just shy of 2" in depth.

The panel measures 3" x 3.5" for the Peacock cardstock; the White Daisy is 2.75" x 3.25".  The banners are from the Penelope Paper Pack (X7207B) - very vibrant colors - Thistle, Pear, Crystal (also Honey and Pixie).  The Thistle banner is 0.75" x 2", the polka dot one is 0.5" x 1.25", and the Pear banner is 0.5" x 1.75".  The Pear is butted up against the Thistle banner.

Treats of Friendship stamp set (C1616) loans the coffee cup and saying, both stamped with Black ink.  The cup was colored with Watercolor Paints (Z3132).  But because I used regular Black ink, I was careful to avoid the lines.  It would be safer to use StazOn (Z888) or Archival Black Ink (44751).

What colors did I use?

The cup is #4
The lid is #19
The band and bean are #29
The circle is #32
and the band on the lid is #30 (not much water)

The cup is mounted with 3D foam.  And the bag is finished with Thistle Extra Thick Twine (Z3040).

I think you could throw a coffee gift card inside along with some mints or chocolate.



Treats of Friendship set includes a cup of tea... here, let me show you the stamp set.  The tag can be cut from the Artbooking Collection.

You could add some tea bags to the bag if you used the cup.  If you wanted to use the donut, you could put a gift card to a donut shop inside.  Or any type of gift card, for that matter.  A couple of donut holes would fit in the bag...









By the way, this stamp set will be retiring at the end of July 2016.  If you'd like it, this month is a great month to purchase it.  Remember, the Buy Two, Get One Free is happening until the end of March 2016.

June 2013 Card Organizer Workshop

Where do you store your cards?  If you answered "anywhere", and then hunt for them, you don't want to miss this month's workshop.  This month we'll be making an organizer that holds up to 6" x 6" cards.  The 5 dividers (birthday, thank you, celebrate, just because, and thinking of you) will also keep you organized so pulling a card will be a snap!  You will even want  this organizer if you *gasp* purchase cards.

Workshop dates are Tuesday June 18th and Wednesday June 19th, both from 7 to 9pm.  Cost for what you see is $17 (the box will have a white clasp).

Sign up by JUNE 7th with a commitment to come to the class or purchase the kit (if you can't attend.  If you are local, I will deliver your kit to you).  If you aren't local, you can still purchase a kit to make this awesome organizer, just contact me so I can get your kit to you.

It makes a great gift for your crafting friends!

Spring Fling Workshop

This past weekend we had a Spring Fling Workshop where crafters came and worked on their choice of projects.  It was a fabulous day!

Here are most of the projects I prepared.  A Baby Shower diaper card and a Little Birdie bag are not shown in this overall picture.

The five 3" x 3" cards were designed to go into the purse (there is a closure strap that I cut off).  The open jar is for cookies in a jar present.  I had three recipes to choose from (and samples to go with).

My colleague, Heather Plotzke, had several other projects.  And apparently we over prepared, because  we have some extra kits.  If you are interested in any of the above projects please leave a comment and how to get a hold of you.  :-) 

I will be posting close up pictures of the projects this week and describing them in the following weeks.

Color Difference When Stamping

At the blog hop, I mentioned that I stamped everything on Champagne cardstock.  The colors of the stamped images were muted because of that -- champagne is a darker base.

I want to show you how the colors would look if I had stamped on Colonial White (left project).  As you see in the pictures, there is a difference in the flowers and leaves.

I felt that the darker hue was good for "Happy Mother's Day" because it's an "old" love.  While the flower on the left with "Love" can be new and fresh -- just like love, no matter how long it's been.

The moral of this "story"?  Don't be afraid to change your base color to modify the mood of your image and message.  :)

All CTMH supplies Used:
X7166B Clarie Paper Packet
Z1790  Artiste Cricut Cartridge
C1538  Girls Rule
Z2116  Cranberry Ink
Z2140  Outdoor Denim Ink
Z2106  Blush Ink
Z2191  Sunset Ink
Z2153  Sweet Leaf Ink
Z2421  Outdoor Denim Marker
Z2419  Cranberry Marker
Z1807 Pink Glitter Gem
Z1151 3-D Foam (pieces cut in half between flower layers)

What sizes did I use for cutting on the Artiste Cricut Cartridge?  All three images can be found on page 74 or C4R5 (column 4 row 5).
Lid: <Card> 3.25" Champagne cardstock; 3" Claire B&T paper
Sides of box (not shown): <3D Object> and <3D Object><shift> 1.5" for a 2.5"x 2.5" box
Saying (right box): 0.75" <happy mother's day>

I could have used Art Philosophy to cut the leaves out, but thought it would be faster not to.  Also, the leaves are stamped overlapped and were cut out as one image.  You could get even more technical and mask the upper leave.  :)

Would you like to make this box?  Heather Plotzke and I are having a Spring Fling workshop on Saturday May 4th from 10am to 4pm at my house.  We would love to see you anytime during the workshop.  Choose to do the projects you want.   We will be posting our projects afterwards for you to purchase.  Stay tuned!

Mother's Day Key Artiste Cricut Blog Hop

Welcome back to another Paper Cupcake Blog Hop!  If you've come from Heather Plotzke's blog, you are moving in the right direction!

This month our challenge was to use the "mother's day" key found on page 74 of the Artiste Cricut book.  If you have the Expressions 2, that key is the C4R5 key (4th column 5th row).

The box top and bottom were made at 3.25" (<Card>) and the inner background paper was cut at 3" using the same image.  The sides of the box were 1.5" (<3D Object>) which, when folded, created a (half) box of 2.5" x 2.5".  "Happy Mother's Day" was cut at 0.75".

One of the things that struck me when I looked at the book, was "Why did they include two identical images on different keys?  Why didn't they just mark it as 'x2' like the lid?"  Since there were two images, I cut each out separately.  As I was assembling the box, it occurred to me why there are two!  The first image is slightly larger than the second (<3D Object><shift>) image so that the box nests nicely!!  Just remember to mark the smaller one so it can be on the bottom (if you care)!

I chose to use Claire paper and colors that coordinate.  The stamp set I used was "Girls Rock" (C1538).  To create the flower, I stamped the flower in several different colors, cut around a different part of the flower in a different color, then stacked them up with 1/2 mounting tape between the layers.

The colors I used were (from the outside inward): Cranberry, Outdoor Denim, Blush, and Sunset.  The leaves are Sweet Leaf, the saying is Hollyhock, and everything was put onto Champagne.

Put a little goodie or note inside.  Give one to your sisters, grandparents, and girl friends -- their a mother too!  :).  Tomorrow I'll show you how colors can make a difference, so come back!

Jump on over to Patty Smith's blog for more inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by!

Wedding Gift

In December my family was invited to a wedding reception of a neighbor.  I usually wonder what to get a bride and groom.  This case was a little harder because the groom was a neighbor's son, and I wanted to do right by my sweet neighbor.

Everyone needs cards.  In this case I wasn't thinking of thank you cards because you usually get those with the invitations or have something specifically in mind.  CTMH came out with monogram stamps that I thought would be really elegant on card fronts.  I inquired about the colors the bride likes and decided that I would purchase the monogram letter, a corresponding block, and some ink.  But I wanted to make some cards too.

My neighbor has a Cuttlebug and some envelopes that I borrowed -- I can see why those are being used more and more.  At first I was just going to make a few... you know, enough to fill one of our card boxes.  My first problem was I liked too many of the cards I made.  A total of 6 different designs.  Okay, no big deal, I'll make a few of each card and give the couple those.

I made 5 each of the 6 designs.  I'm happy!  I make my box with the same simple design elements as the cards.  I'm happy!  I start putting the cards into the box... I gasp!  Of course 30 cards and envelopes are NOT going to fit into the card box!!  Okay, don't panic.  Don't panic.  I know, I'll put one of each card into the box and wrap the extra cards individually.  Those extra cards will be refills!

I enjoyed making the cards and the box.  I made the box generic enough that the couple can put memorabilia into it.  The date on the box is their wedding day.  And my neighbor can make replacement cards too!

I sanded the embossed flowers

Below are pictures of the card box.

Box top.  It's embossed with Clear powder

Side view of the box.

I added a saying to the inside lid.

A close up of the words.

I hope the bride and groom like their gift. It's one from my heart and I really enjoyed making them!!

Auction Item for Friend's School

I picked up a few recipe boxes from Michael's after Christmas -- they were $1, so I couldn't resist!  Then my friend asked me to donate an auction item for their school's fundraiser.  And I thought, how perfect to use one of the boxes!  My orginal idea was to spray paint the boxes and start from scratch.  But looking at the colors more carefully, I thought, "No, those colors look like Pear and Tulip."  Well the pear is a really good match.  Tulip is close enough for government's work.  And I thought no one would go up to the box with a color swatch, so I would be good to go.  Besides, I wanted to incorporate blue so the tulip should work.

The next problem was removing the Christmas out of the box.  There was a reindeer and the words "Holiday Recipes" printed on the top.  That's okay, I'll just spray paint the top.  That was my next plan until I opened the box and saw that the inside has the same red with white polka dot pattern.  So much for spray painting!

The top was covered with the back of Silouhette background paper.  And then I was going to use Wishes to create a card top.  Well, I couldn't get inspired, until I thought of the flower!  That would be perfect!  The flower and the leaves could be the top.  I pulled out Sky reinker and added to some water.  I then soaked the flower in the blue water for about an hour.  What I learned was that there wasn't enough re-inker in the water or that the color sky is too light for dying paper (you could barely tell that there was any color on the flower).  That was easy to remedy with a sponge dauber and ink.  I used Crystal blue and then went back in with Indian Corn Blue to make some highlights.  For the leaves, I cut Pear cardstock in the shape of leaves.  I then used a stylus to emboss the veins, which I sanded, and then added some pear ink to darken some of the spots.  Last but not least was the button for the middle of the flower.  After I glued my flower on the top (which should have been facing the other way -- I had the box backwards), it was missing something.  That's when I went in with the glitter glue and added the dots.

Next was the ribbon.  I had some extra ribbon (that we no longer are selling as of February 1, 2011) and thought, "Okay, how about using this?!"  So I pulled the center white floss to scrunch the ribbon (it's Sweet Leaf, by the way).  I used Liquid Glass to adhere it to the box.

Now for the front.  Looking from the front, the box still said "HOLIDAYS" to me.  That's when I thought about putting "CARDS" on the front.  It would bring in the blues that I wanted and would break up the red and green.  Friendship alphabet Large fit the bill.  I stamped the letters in Crystal Blue and then sponged them with Indian Corn Blue, cut them out and adhered them to the front (well I thought it was the front.  I went to open the box and found I had adhered my word to the back of the box -- which is when I discovered that my flower was on backwards).  Once I removed the word, I put it on the front!  And then added the flower because something was missing and I was able to tie the flower into the front from the top.

Whew!  Last was the inside dividers.  The box came with dividers but they said "Holiday Recipes" and had the reindeer again -- that wouldn't work.  To keep with the floral motif, I randomly stamped flowers on some cut white cardstock.  I did use the dividers for the upper tabs.  I punched those out of the existing cards.  I made a divider for "Happy Birthday," "Friendship," and "Thank You."  The Friendship tab has 15 cards while the other two have 5 each.

Okay, I'm done.  :)