Tuesday 18 December 2012

Little Boxes


Heree is my entry for the Ranger Gift Wrap Ideas Contest



I have used Tim's Snowflake Blueprint stamp, clear embossing powder, Perfect medium, faded jeans and Iced spruce distress inks to decorate my boxes, tags and the bag which was what all of the enclosed gifts originally came in plus Ranger glossy accents to stick the boxes together.

I Stamped the image onto white card (and the bag) with perfect medium then embossed with clear powder to create a resist before distressing with the two colours, I found the combination of both perfectly matched my twine which has been used in all of my gift wrapping this year.  I spritzed and flicked water over the box lids and tags to give an effect of more snowflakes in the background.  I stamped out a few extra snowflakes and cut them out before sticking over the stamped flakes on the tags to create extra dimension.  I have added futher details on making the boxes below.

To make a box

Over the years I've heard lots of people say they find making boxes difficult. 
Manufacturers come out with all sorts of clever boards to make life easier yet I've never used anything but my fiskars paper trimmer and a ball embossing tool.  The paper trimmer does come with scoring blades but I find those too harsh and prefer the ball tool.  There are other trimmers will do the same job providing it has a built in ruler and works by sliding a cutting blade down a groove.  Apart from the trimmer and ball tool you will need good quality cardstock and some quick grab glue, I used glossy accents.

the M word

Like many I shy away from using the M word, amazing isn't it, we are crafters but so many of us hate maths!  Unfortunately we do have to do a little measuring here but you would have to do that whatever method you use to make a box so here goes.

Measure the object you wish to pack.  My first gift was round and was about 3" wide, and 4" tall.  Add about 1/2" to the width and length measurement or you won't be able to get your gift into the box.  Then multiply the height by 2 and add the width.

 So the maths is 3.5 +(4x2) = 11.5  Or two times height  plus width including wiggle room.  (you count the height twice because you are measuring down one side, across the bottom and back up the other side of the box.)  That gives you the first dimension.  If you want a rectangular box you will need to measure the length as well as width, Height will be the same as before remember its actual length of object plus 1/2" + (height x2).

My box was square so I now know I need a piece of cardstock 11 1/2" square for the base.  For the lid I simply add 1/8th inch all round so my finished lid piece needs to measure 11 5/8". 

I cut two pieces of cardstock the size of my lid piece and then trim 1/8th inch from two adjacent sides so both pieces are still square but one is a teensy bit smaller, the smaller piece is my base and I put that to one side whilst working on the lid.

 
The height of my object was 4" so I scored 4" in from the edge on all 4 sides (ending up with a 3 1/2" square in the middle)  I then marked diagonally from the outer corners to the corner of the middle square and cut out a triangle as shown.  I snipped off the points of the attached triangles (this makes a neater finish when glueing together).  Using a bone folder I then folded along each of the score lines.  At this point I decorated the box as detailed above, folding under each triangular flap so as not to get it inky but also to define the corner folds better.  Once decorated I folded the box into shape glueing each triangular flap to the inside of the adjacent side ensuring the corners remained straight.  Finally score cut and fold the base in exactly the same way, (4" from edge all round). 
 
Making the box this way you don't have to worry about a different set of scoring  measurements or using a different side of a scoring board, you have already deducted the size difference between base and top when you cut the pieces out.
 
I hope you will give this method a try, sorry I haven't put up more pictures and please let me know if it works for you.













Wednesday 5 December 2012

12 tags Christmas

It doesn't seem a year since we were dribbling over Tim Holtz Christmas tags yet its Christmas tagtime over at Tim's blog.  I'd like to enter this my take on one of his tags into the 12 tags of 2012 December competition.





I have utilised a previous idea borrowed from Hels Sheridan See earlier blog post for link to instructions) but needed to adapt the size of this gift-velope to incorporate the tag.  I did cut down the tags used to enable me to get two out of one sheet of 12" x 12" co oredinations cardstock.  I used papers from the holidays past ideaology paper stash and inked them all with iced spruce. 

To fasten I have fixed string under the front tag and wrapped it around the back of the card to tie around the glittered brad.

I used distress inks to watercolour the snowman which was stamped with Tim's Christmas blue print stamps and cut out and decoupaged onto the front tag. 

The snowflakes were cut from foiled card with the spellbinders 2012 set and coloured with aqua alcohol ink.