Box Clever! To Glue Or Not To Glue It's Up To You!

There are lots of pictures in this tutorial, click on each photograph, I have written instructions on each of them. I hope you find this useful...

I am writing this post after having my tummy warmed by what I call a nursery dinner.... sound strange, well we usually have some kind of meat or fish with pasta, or potatoes and lots of veg... but today I had boiled potatoes, garden peas and cod fish fingers.... with ready for it, tomatoes sauce... when I was a girl I had it at my nannan's on a Friday with home grown beetroot....we had to do with some beetroot pickle that we made last summer today but never the less, it was soooooo yummy...I know it does not sound it but, I am sat back very contented.... pathetic maybe but I am happy right now...hehehe....I think for most people comfort food is chocolate, but it gives me really violent headaches so I just try to steer clear, but give me beans on toast or boiled eggs and soldiers or fish fingers and I am in seventh heaven.... not all the time just when I am feeling like I need something to

cheer me up and it did.....on to the craft which is after all what my blog is

supposed to be about...LOL

I have been making cards for a very long time, about nine years all in all, I only came to stamping about three years ago, but, with breaks for health reasons I guess you could say that it has been less than that for stamping... About two years ago I started to create mainly six by six inch cards or just under more like five and a half by five and a half. When I use boxes to give them anyway... Which brings me to my point, I used to buy my boxes, they are expensive, and about a year ago a friend asked me to make six boxed cards. Now I do not charge friends for my cards so I thought ooohhhh  errrr Mrs! that is going to be expensive six boxes were going to cost nearly a tenner... That is when i decided to use the design, alter it a little and make my own. Now I would not show

this and say it is my design, as it is not...I just altered an exsisting design... However I hope it comes in handy for those who use it.

I have taken some photographs of me making one of these boxes so that others can hopefully save money at a time when everybody is trying to watch the pennies...
Rach over at Papercrafts by Rach has blogged that she too was going to post a tutorial for a box, now please do not think I have just gone ahead and put my tutorial on here without getting in touch with her...I really do admire what Rach has done in three years, her work is amazing. The first thing I did when I realised that she too would be posting one, was get in touch and ask her if she would prefer I did not post mine... Rach very kindly told me to post my box after we both realised that ours where
pretty much the same kind of box. Rach also gave me a tip that I will pass to you, if you add tape to the flaps it gives the box more strength...
.
I have added instructions to all of
the photographs and over time perfected creating them, it can be off putting when they don’t fit together properly because the card stock is too thick, I thought I would share my way of making boxes and also the pit falls and tips I have come across by making them...
I generally use two twelve by twelve sheets, it is a good thing if you come across cheap neutral card stock, however if you do not, then check out Craft Creations, you can buy good quality A3 card stock relatively cheaply if you buy in bulk, then again why not do what I do,
and, share with a friend, we have the magazine which gives us an extra ten percent off and it works out cheaper for us that way... they also do great double sided tapes...and you get money off postage when you subscribe to the magazine which incidentally is cheap at £12 for the year.....Ideally you want a 250gsm card stock, and if you are going to buy bulk do not buy coloured it is much easier to add colour with papers and flowers than to take it away (what am I saying you cannot take it away...duh)
I hope that I have not confussed you too much, and that you like this box tutorial. If you do use it, please link back to me, so that I can come and look at your beautiful creations...
 

Tools Used: Score Pal - Two

Sheets Black Card Stock -

Scissors - Carl Hand Trimmer With Perforating Blade - Tape

Parcel Paper Challenge.... Can You Create Using Parcel Paper?

I promised a little show and tell for my parcel paper backing. As you will have seen from my previous posts, on parcel paper in all its finery (hahaha!) I mentioned I would show you how I created some backing paper. I have then used the paper on a card that I created using my first sketch.... Yes I did say one of my sketches! I have a friend at work and her partner works for Serif, she very kindly gave me Digital Scrapbook Artist 2, I have had it for some time and I have played with it but, I had not worked out until now how I could use it with my blog. I then discovered the world of creating my own sketches. So I am going to make them as and when I need them.... How cool is that! Well I think it is anyway... waffling again...You are very welcome to use them and if you have time link them back to my blog I would appreciate that very much...Ok here goes I have added wording to each of the photographs to show just what I did with this paper, I have then added some other photographs of other things I have created for the card and box. Mark thought it was cool, then again he would say that.... bless him... The long and short of it is I created backing paper to use on a card and box.... If you double click of each of the photographs you will get a larger screen to view it and read the hints and tips. 

The backing paper I created for my card is kind of rough and ready, and I do think the card turned out ok, I am happy with it...and I have always loved the rough and ready look.... I love it when a card does not cost that much to create, apart from the time and that is alright as it is all about the enjoyment in being creative, that is after all when we have the most fun...I enjoyed using a PapertreyInk set that I have had for ages but have not used, I felt it lended its self perfectly to this way of creating backing paper, I am not sure if that is what the designer of this set had in mind but, it worked here... Just a quick tip with clear polymer rubber stamps, use an eraser on your stamps before use when they are new... Use a stiffish brush to get rid of any excess eraser left behind. You will get a much crisper image when you use them.

I also used another freebie, some corrugated card that came out of a set of bistro bowls, it is really worth while saving this stuff, you just never know when it will come in handy. I think that corrugate card gives great depth to cards, imagine it with floral papers, I have used it this way in one of my future posts and the contrast between the vintage floral look and the free corrugated card complement each other really well. You will see! Anyway I warn

you now there

 are a lot of photographs in this post but I wanted to make sure I covered it well. See what you think! There is a post for a glue less box (just like the one in my photograph) to put your beautifully designed cards into later this week; I hope that will come in handy for you.

If anyone decides to have a go and create using parcel paper, I would love to see what you've done, please leave a message and I will pop over to your blog and check out your amazing designs...

 Ingredients

Parcel Paper, Corrugated Card, Binding Tape, Papertreyink Stamp Set, Stampin Up Ink Pad Old Olive, Lettuce Ranger Ink, Tonic Butterfly Punch, Unity Sentiment, Shrinkles, Stickles Star Dust.

I am having quite a few problems placing pictures on my posts, I am assuming that something has changed since I last used Blogger. If anybody has any tips on how to place photographs would you please please let me know..... It is sometimes taking me two hours just to place the photographs...

 

Parcel Paper Love....

Ok I really did not think that having a tooth extracted would cause me so much trouble, but it did! my god the pain..... Yes I do mean that, anybody that knows me knows that I live with chronic pain and have done so for nearly nine years. However I would put tooth ache on a par with childbirth in the pain stakes (yes you may laugh), this coming from a woman who was in slow labour for seven days and full labour for nearly twenty seven hours.... Having my tooth out made me feel like such a baby, Mark kept putting his arms around me to reassure me that it was ok but it did not feel ok.... anyway I am on antibiotics yet again and hopefully with the tooth extracted and the anti biotics I will not with luck have any more trouble with my teeth for a long time to come, I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST!

Sadly I am still having some problems with my laptop, not of the virus kind, but I thought that I had transferred all of the important stuff onto my separate hard drive, however it turned out I had missed a load of stuff including my watermark, which it turns out has gone past its seven day down load on Whimsy Stamps. I am still waiting for them to let me know if I can download the watermark again or if I have to pay and order again... bummer...

I thought that for speed today I would just show you another card I created with parcel paper, I have a really cool show and tell for later in the week, I created some backing paper and it turned out pretty good, you will have to come back to see later in the week... I really want to catch up on some blog surfing today so just a quickie and I would say a pretty simple one too....

Again all I did was attach some parcel paper to some card stock (remember to iron the parcel paper it makes it more manageable), then I stitched a simple running stitch around the outside of the panel. I used Tim Holtz Walnut Ink to distress the outside edge of the panel. Then stamped the Magnolia Swirl image in Ruby Red Stampin Up Ink and attached some chipboard hearts using brads and linen string, they have been coloured a similar red colour using oil pastels, I attached them so that they looked like they were hanging from the swirl branches... I finished the hearts with black crystals and added wording on the hearts using a letraset ink pen just to keep the cost down and show what you can do with very little. A big red bow using Stampin Up red satin ribbon finished the front panel. The whole panel was attached to a black panel then to a Kraft card blank, (I think I have a thing for Kraft card blanks!) Inside I stamped simple Magnolia Swirls in Ruby Red SU Ink and attached one more heart. The back has a similar panel with another Magnolia Swirl and my hand made by panel. I created an envelope using Parcel paper and stamped the same Magnolia Swirl just to co-ordinate with the card... Voila another simple card using Parcel Paper.... I think I’m hooked on parcel paper......I really hope you like my parcel paper creations they just go to show what you can do with parcel paper...

Ingredients

Parcel Paper – Black & Kraft Card Stock – Chip Board Hearts – Oil Pastel – Stampin Up Red Ribbon, Ruby Red Ink, Red Brads – Tim Holtz Walnut Ink, Rock Candy Stickles – Magnolia Swirl Stamp – Black Crystals – Janome Sewing Machine...

Sending My Love On Valentines Day....

I created this card a couple of weeks ago and as I am still trying to get over this infection i contracted a week ago, I thought it would be a good idea to show you cards I had started and completed before my return to the world of blogging....

I love to make cards that are simple as much as I love to make the highly decorated ones.... Hubby thought that this one was lovely so I thought I would show it to you. I have a bit of a thing for the Kraft colour (plain parcel wrapping paper, Kraft card stock etc). I wanted to create a card using the parcel wrap and basically make it look like an envelope on the front of the card. Well here is what I came up with, very basic Kraft colour with the beautiful red ink from Stampin Up.

I took a six by six card blank created from kraft card stock, and added a background of black card for rigidity, I then took another piece of card stock and placed a bigger piece of kraft wrapping paper on top of the piece of card and wrapped it around the edges ( I have found that ironing the wrapping paper makes it easier to manage). I inked the edges of the piece with Tim Holtz Walnut Distressing Ink, and then stitched around the edge of the piece using walnut brown cotton, I then used a Basic Grey rubber stamp set called Flourish Edges and stamped along the bottom of the piece using Ruby Red Stampin Up Ink. This piece was attached to the black piece of card on the card blank. I took another piece of triangular shaped card and again covered it with kraft wrapping paper and repeated the steps except this time I used a sentiment by Stampin Up (Valentine Please Be Mine) it was then attached to the front of the card so that it looked like the flap of an envelope. I took a sealing wax candle and dripped it onto the point of the false flap and stamped into it using Love Kisses 4 You a Seven Gypsies Wax Seal I have. On the fold of the card I have strung some Stampin Up Linen Thread and added two charms. I then used the same Basic Grey Flourish Edge and Ruby Red Stampin Up ink to create a simple boarder around the inside of the card.

As you can see it is a simple card by my standards but i actually enjoyed making this card, I didn't think about placement as the back of an envelope looks pretty much the same on all of them, I just love the simplicity.

Ingredients
Kraft Parcel Paper, Black CS, Kraft CS, Ruby Red Stampin Up Ink, Basic Grey Flourish Edge Stamps, Stampin Up Stamp, Seven Gypsies Wax & Wax Seal Stamp, Stampin Up Linen Thread, Charms.




Pearly Pins.. For My Candy Queen...

Pearly Pins For A Candy Queen

 Well it is a jolly good job I had set up a few posts ready for this week. An awful lot of the girls at work have been coming in with colds and coughs. I am lucky I had my flu jab in September last year, but, Friday came and I started to feel really rough. By Saturday I was aching, cold and clammy even though I felt red hot. Well it is Sunday evening now and I am still feeling rough, I think I may have a watered down dose of what the girls at work have had, sadly it has affected my joints, and, after a fantastic year last year, managing to take very little sick time from work. I am starting 2011 by taking my first day of sick leave today. I am very annoyed with myself; I should have taken better care though how I do not know. Anyway I am resting, and I do mean resting, I am doing virtually nothing. I am desperate to be well for my darling husband’s birthday on Wednesday. I have planned to take him for a meal with his sister and her husband, so rest rest rest…I suppose I struck lucky over the Christmas period, my sister was so ill on Christmas day and for most of the Christmas period.

Well below you will find the tutorial I have created to show how I make the pins for my cards, I’ve been making them for nearly two years, I know a lot of crafters now make their own pins as they look so much better. 

I was asked a lot before my crafting break, how to make the pins I add to my cards.

I thought it would be a good idea to show you and create a few for the winner of my candy. Here goes!

 You’ll Need A Little Equipment

• Preferable a beading mat,( But not essential, this is a fluffy mat will stop your beads, pins, and crimping beads from rolling off the table/counter and scattering all over the floor.)

• A pair of crimping pliers

• Assorted wire working pliers (depending on your project) including a pair with wire cutting capability

• Assorted beads

• Assorted bead caps

• Assorted Pins, either decorative or just plain

• Assorted jump rings

• Assorted bead spacers

Click On The Pictures For The Instructions