The 5 Minute Box Tutorial

One of my readers (Hi Keegan!) requested I post the directions for the boxes I made in this post, so here it is... and thanks for the request Keegan, I hope it helps you out. They're really quick and easy to make if you're a bit new to boxes (like me!) hence the 5-Minute-Box name.

And if you want to go bigger or smaller just play around with the dimensions, etc. As long as you stick to the same kinda rules it's not that hard to make tall boxes, flat boxes, mini boxes, upside down boxes... *lol* I've been reading waaay too much Dr Suess to the kids me thinks. On with the tutorial...

So I used 2 sheets of 12x12 paper - one (the bottom box) was textured cardstock from Stampin' Up! (no pattern, just plain old cardstock) and the other (the top box) is any patterned or stamped paper you like.

You'll also need a circle punch of some kind (I used a 1" circle punch from Stampin' Up!) some strong adhesive, scissors, ruler and scorer or if you're a gadget queen like me, dust off the Scor-Pal your husband bought you last Christmas but have never used and put it to good use.

I scored all 4 sides lightly (you'll see what I mean in a few pics) at the little notch just after the 2" mark. Don't score too hard or you'll cut all the way through your cardstock.

Here's all 4 sides scored...

Now we're going to cut one side of the little squares here on each corner. Light going on now? See - easy. It's like being back in 2nd grade again! hehe.

Here's all 4 corners cut and folded. This is a good time to give all your score lines a gentle fold, just so everything comes together easier and crisper when we start using adhesives...

I like the textured side to be on the outside, but this is where you need to decide where your textured side is going to be because now it's time to start sticking it all together. Basically, the adhesive will go on the side you want on the outside... I put a couple of lines on each corner...

... then press together... I didn't get everything a good fold before sticking, so this is a perfect example of the un-square box shape you will get if you don't pre-fold. :)

Bah. That's what happens when you rush. Ready for the top box?

So this time we're going to make the box slightly bigger on the inside, obviously so the top fits over the bottom box.

Score just like before (all 4 sides) at 2". Cut, fold and stick just like you did with the bottom box.
To reveal the perfectly coordinated cardstock of your bottom box and to help the box owner lift the top off their box a little easier I punched a half circle on each side of the box after it's all stuck together. This is just optional. You could go to town and scallop all 4 edges before sticking it all together if you wanted. Go crazy! :)

I also decided to pick the cloud pattern side of this paper instead of the little country squares pattern. Both cute, but I'm a cloud person.

And that's it! Really easy, really quick, and perfect for Christmas too! Make your own boxes this year, it's not as scary as you might think!

Other awesome box tutorials:

The 2-5-7-10 Box

The 3x3 Notecard Box

Mini Pizza Box (Downloadable PDF)

Bye for now,

Ribbon Share

My ribbon share finished a little while ago, but I just realised I didn't show any of the pictures of the process...

THUD. Parcel's arrived. Doesn't look that scary, does it?Six people (5 in the end because someone cancelled their place), a tonne of ribbon, lots of measuring and divy-ing up... a 2 foot high mound of carefully organised ribbon covered my desk by 8pm... now what?

I searched the internet for some ribbon share ideas - how was it packaged after all the cutting? I kinda knew what I wanted ... but needed pictorial confirmation that it had and could be done. It seems nobody has ever done a ribbon share before (sarcasm intended), as I found absolutley diddly-squat.

This is what I ended up doing... making my own boxes. (For those of you that don't know - I loathed making boxes about 3 weeks ago.)

This is the lower layer, all the thick ribbon lovingly wrapped one my one around my finger whilst watching the Crime Investigation channel. No, really.

I quickly figured out that the thinner ribbons were never going to cooperate, so they got folded (in 5 foot lengths, mind you!), and folded again and placed on top of the lower layer of ribbon. Oh, that's a lotta ribbon!!

Here's my 4 little cartons of goodness. I now have a lifetime supply of ribbon.

Hope you enjoyed that! And now there's something on the net about ribbon shares, right?

Take Care,

Mojo Monday 111

Recipe
Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Whisper White cardstock, Tall Tales DSP; Stamps: Animal Story (Summer Mini), Hello Again (Summer Mini), I {heart} Hearts; Inks: Sahara Sand, Basic Grey, Old Olive; Other: Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, Diamonte's, Signo Gel Pen (White), Dimensionals, SAMJ
Some fellow demonstrator friends of mine might see this post and go "Hmm... someone got a little box of goodies today...".

Yes, all over the country Australian Stampin' Up! Demonstrators are getting their Summer Mini Catalogue pre-orders. I am pleased to be one of them, and I want to show you a few little sneek peeks - new goodies for you to play with soon! How exciting!!

I hope you liked the sneek peek!

Daisy Maisy

This is a pic of Kira taking a breather from the sprinkers last spring. I know not all parents allow it, but I think letting your kids run nuddy under the sprinklers in the backyard is just one of those cute little childhood experiences that are becoming extinct courtesy of Nintendo Wii's and the like. But I'm very 1950's minded. In a good way. ;)

I got this photo scrapped quickly using my Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit. I added a little doodling with my Stampin' Up! markers and a punched photo corner, but other than that - the stickers and coordinating *everything* is from the kit.

I took inspiration from the Team Day LO I did, but instead of using Petal Pizzazz I used the flower stickers... love the colour combination in this kit though. And yes, more stitching and butterflies. he he.

Anyway, it's late here so I must be off,

PPA15 Challenge

Just a quick card today. I made this for this weeks challenge over at Pals Paper Arts.

I had this chipboard tree trunk sitting on my desk from a recent clean up - you know how you find things and think "Wow! I've gotta use that!"? Well, that's what happened here.

I dyed the chipboard trunk with Basic Grey Classic Ink, daubed the edges in Taken with Teal Classic Ink (it's really subtle, but looks effective up close). I glued it onto a little frame of Taken with Teal and Whisper White cardstock - the frames are so easy to make with a trimmer, a little trick we learnt at regionals a few weeks ago.

The frame needed something more, so I got my Signo White Gel Pen and doodled faux stitching freehand all around the Teal. How sweet is stitching? I just love adding it to everything at the moment! :)

The hearts are punched with one of Stampin' Up!s heart punches in Ruby Red and Taken with Teal, I added them here and there with Tombow adhesive and Dimensionals. Some hearts have been coated with Crystal Effects for the laquered effect, some of the smaller hearts have some Basic Grey buttons adhered to them. And that's basically it!

Inside I stamped a little sentiment from Stampin' Up!'s Dreams Du Joir (sp?) stamp set in Taken with Teal Classic Ink on Whisper White and Taken with Teal cardstock. I added one of the left over hearts in there for a little extra touch with a Dimensional.

I hope you liked that! I'm off to cook up a storm on the BBQ for now, so I'll catch you all later!

Take care!

Christmas Essentials

Recipe:
Paper: Sweet Slumber DSP; Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White; Stamps: Tree Trimmings (Spring Mini), Snow Swirled Sentiment; Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip; Other: Riding Hood Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, SNAIL, SAMJ

Just in case you hadn't already checked it out, I have an 'official' Stampin' Up! website called "Pure Imagination". Click here to check it out.

There's no shopping cart in there, but if you live in Australia and need any Stampin' Up! goodies I highly suggest downloading the current catalogues (packed full of great ideas, by the way) then email me with what you would like. You can usually get your order shipped right to your door for around $5.95.

And remember, everything you see in the Spring Mini Catalogue will not be available for purchase after 30th November 2009. e.g: this cute little baubles set (Tree Trimmings Set of 4, 116893, $24.95) and frame (Gallery Set of 3, 116897, $39.95) used to stamp below:

These are the little boxes I mentioned in my last post - designed by Ali Smith, made by me. With her assistance. After 6pm I'm totally unco whilst in the company of others. lol.

The above gift bag is stamped with Circle Circus - a must have for cardmakers and scrapbookers alike.

I learnt to use a Crop-o-dile and Jumbo Eyelets on the above project ... and now I must have them! lol.

The 3.2cm wide striped grosgrain ribbon below (113099, $19.395 for 9m) is another item from the Spring Mini that's wrapping up (pardon the pun) at the end of this month. I've stocked up for all my pretty Christmas presents - how about you?

And if you would like to learn more about making your own Christmas cards, 3D packages and ornaments, please check out my class schedule by clicking here. Bookings are essential, as I'm working with groups of 4-5 (maximum) at a time.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend,

We Interupt This Program...

I haven't been on the 'net for a few days - I've had a totally fun (and slack) week scrapbooking with friends, out late at night (for me anyway! hee!) making cute little 3D boxes with my oh-too-clever upline and great friend Ali (hi Ali!), inventing fun little Christmas projects that I will share eventually with y'all, and giving my house a good, stern and somewhat overdue Spring Clean.




But enough about me and my dust bunny adventures... the REAL reason I jumped on here to post is ...

















wait for it ....

















this doesn't happen every day so I have to drag it out...

I won the October Scrap The Girls competition!

I know! I know! If you could see me right now I'm totally doing the little Flashdance-dance right here in front of my computer as I type this!!!

Ok, I'm not REALLY doing the Flashdance-dance. That would take way too much precious energy. But I'm doing it on the inside, promise.

Aaaargh,

Stampin' Up!s Christmas Gift Giving Guide Promotion

Dates: 1st November - 14th December

I hope you like Stampin' Up!'s Gift Giving Guide as much as I do!
They have put together a mint little collection for kids, teens, neighbours, teachers and more - it's your one stop shop for all your Christmas needs and stocking fillers!

PLUS!
When you spend $85 on any of the products from this guide you'll get a

FREE Scallop Square Punch OR Boho Blossoms Punch

valued at $30.95!

You can download the guide by clicking here.

Please email me or call me if you would like to order any Stampin' Up! goodies.

Bye for now,

Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Ends 30th November

This is the last month you will be able to purhcase the sweet sets, papers, punches and embellishments from Stampin' Up!s Spring Mini Catalogue, so I thought I would have a play with the goodies I have before they become 'retired' and I can't show them off to my customers. *sniff*

I managed to make a couple of sweet cards last night. This one was CASEd from Mary Fish, but I changed the colours and sentiment slightly:

Recipe:

All products from Stampin' Up! except where *specified.

Cardstock: Kraft, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Pixie Pink; Patterned Paper:Walk In The Park DSP; Stamp Set: Thank You Kindly; Ink: StazOn Jet Black; Tools: Mat Pack & Paper Peircer, SAMJ, 1/2" Circle punch, Circle Scissor Plus (coming in December!), Cuttlebug butterfly die*

This card was also CASEd and changed around a bit, this time the original was created by my good friend Michelle Yungbauer a little while ago. Her cutting is on a slightly more professional scale than mine!! hehe.

Recipe:

All products from Stampin' Up! except where specified.

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, So Saffron; Patterned Paper: Walk in the Park; Stamps: Great Friend; Inks: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Bajaj Breeze; Markers: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral; Punches: Eyelet Border Edge Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch; Other: Rhinestones from Stampin' Up! brads, Flower Fusion Too (felt flowers), misc. buttons*, ric-rac*

Thanks for stopping by!

Team Day Projects

Here's the projects we made this afternoon at team day! A very simple and whimsical scrapbooking A4 layout by me... (that stamp set is Petal Pizzazz, by the way! wink, wink!)
Chantell showed us a cool new technique - how to make an interesting background to our cards using wax paper and an iron (and I just realised (der!) it looks like elephant skin!)...

... and Nicole tested my patience with this cute little 3D project! (hehe) I'm not the cleverest at boxes, I'm actually quite afraid of them, but I will be making more of these, hard to figure out first time around, but look at it! How could I not make more... it's so sweeeeet.

Thanks ladies for a super afternoon!!

Well, that's all for now. Off to have a water fight with the trick-or-treaters. heh heh heh.