Repurposed Candle Tin

I am a sucker for tins: any kind, any size, any shape. I just can't seem to throw one away. So when the candle inside this one had burned away, I washed it out and decided to decorate it.
It was a little sticky on the very bottom inside, so I just covered that with a circle of cardstock.

I cut the circle for the lid and inside with the SU Circle Scissors Plus. It's big but very easy to use and you can cut or draw any circle from 1-6" in whatever increment you need.

Other supplies used: Circle Circus Stamp set, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, scallop circle punch, Night of Navy Grosgrain ribbon, Button, mini glue dots, sticky strip adhesive, Crushed Curry ink and Designer Series Paper (DSP).

This is where I hide my super secret stash of Hershey's nuggets for those chocolate emergencies :). Shhhhh.

Occasions Mini is now out

Now that April is here, the Occasions mini-catalog items are finally available. You can see it on my official SU website. I've been dying to show everyone the new little matchboxes. I love them! It is one of the big dies for the Big Shot die cutting machine. It cuts out the box, the lid, and some cool little tags all in one pass. All you have to do is fold it up and decorate it. What could be easier?

Here are two that I've made so far. The top one is uses some items from the Sell-A-Bration sale. You can get 4 nuggets into these boxes (it's tight, but they fit).


This one uses Close to Cocoa cardstock that was stamped with the Sanded bacground stamp. The Regal Rose fancy shape is one of the tags from the matchbox die. I think it really dresses it up. The mini-catalog also features some great sets that are made to coordinate with this die. They are on my wish list for sure.


For the next few days, I'll be stamping some little photo album covers to give as thank you gifts for some Girl Scout volunteers. I'm using the retired Girl Power set and some Girl Scout papers I've had stashed away for a rainy day. I'll try to upload a picture soon.

Easter Cuteness

Are these not the cutest things ever? I can't take credit for the idea as I copied it from a stamper on splitcoaststampers. It was so fun and easy to make.
I used a piece of cardstock - 1 1/2" x 5". Score it at 2" and 3". Then decorate as desired. For this bunny I used the 2 sizes of oval punches for his ears and the 3/4" circle punch for the feet (punch and cut in half). For the nose, I used the 3/4" punch on the edge of a scrap of Pretty in Pink Cardstock. The pink behind the nose was made with a sponge dauber. The eyes, smile, and toes were just drawn on with a chocolate chip marker. The whiskers are skinny strips of cardstock attached with a few glue dots. Since I'm a GS leader, I've always got random crafty supplies lying around and the little white pompom was a fun touch to make his backside as adorable as the frontside.

The hershey nugget fits inside nicely (stick it down with a bit of double stick tape or a glue dot).
Don't have all these punches? Give me a call. Or just improvise. Use your imagination and see what else you can come up with.

Ready for more cuteness? Look at these! They are a wee bit addictive. Can't you just see these as table favors for a kid's animal birthday party. At least the parents could appreciate them before the kids dig into the chocolatey goodness. The kids might even have to fight with mom for it. My favorites are the racoon (I used the crimper on him) and the siamese cat.

Triangle Boxes

Now that I've demo'd these at my March workshops I will post them here. (Didn't want to ruin the surprise). I love these boxes because they are SO simple.

Directions: Cut your cardstock or DSP (Designer Series Paper) to 4 1/4" x 8 1/2".

Score along the center line at 4 1/4".

Make a small mark on the short ends at 2 1/8"

Score from that mark to the center fold line (as shown).

Fold box into finished shape - open up one side at a time and punch a 1/8" hole through both layers (to thread ribbon through).

Add ribbon and accent to front - no glue needed! How fabulous is that!

Look at the little medallions I used on the saffron and Bashful blue boxes. Don't you love them? I'm sort of addicted to making them and have been using them on everything lately. It's so much fun combining punches in different variations and figuring new ways to use them. And the Polka Dot punches Sell-A-Bration set has 4 images that are all perfectly sized to use with the SU punches. Gotta love that.

Wouldn't these boxes be perfect filled with jellybeans? or hershey kisses? or Cadbury chocolate eggs? mmmm.

S'more Samples

Here's a little sample I made up to show off one of my favorite catalog sets: Under the Stars. Also known as "the camping set" :).



As most of you know, I am an active Girl Scout Volunteer - on the troop, service unit, and council level and S'mores and Girl Scouting go hand-in-hand.

How cute is this little treat wrapper? Hungry for S'mores?

It uses the small size cello bags.
I didn't really use a pattern. I took a scrap of Close to Cocoa cardstock and folded it into thirds. Then cut down a small way and angled it. Criss crossed it over the cello bag and glued it down.


I've been requested to also show a valentine one and hopefully I'll whip something together soon.

Who doesn't love chocolate?

Hello friends - I've been out of the blogging groove. I got busy and it was one of the things that had to go for a little while, but I'm back.

At a workshop last night (thanks Nancy!) I demonstrated how to make these adorable little boxes that hold squares of Ghirardelli chocolate. They are easy to make once you know the measurements. I lifted the idea off of a talented stamper on splitcoaststampers. I'm not sure who had the idea originally, but it's a great one. I modified it somewhat so that both sides of the box were even.

The picture shows one that hasn't been assembled yet. The red stuff is sticky strip - it's a double sided tape like adhesive. It's my favorite adhesive to use when you need a STRONG hold for boxes or ribbons and such.

After you cut and score the cardstock, you trim away the outside corner pieces to form the box shape (with a flap). I used a circle punch crescent on the inside portion - so you can see the chocolate and have an easier time grabbing it to get it out.

The flap on the front doesn't want to lie down flat so I used a belly band to keep it closed. It's a good way to add a decorative accent to the box. The recipient just slides it down and off to be able to open the flap.

The images in the above photo come from the set Say it with Scallops. This set is special because it's the annual Ronald McDonald House set. $2 from the purchase of each set goes to support the RMD house charity. There are 4 images in the set that all coordinate with our scallop square punch - too cute.

Here are more little chocolate boxes:

And here's one that I modified to hold 3 pieces of chocolate. I thought these would make a fun treat for Emma's teachers, and they deserve more than one piece of chocolate for sure!

Directions:

1 PIECE BOX -- cut cardstock 4 1/4" x 7 1/2"

score the short side at 3/8" and 3/4" from both edges

score the long side at 2 1/4" and 2 5/8" from both edges

See the square in the center - mark a dot at each one of it's 4 corners.

Now cut away the 4 corner sections up to the dot - you should be left with a + shape.

The two sides fold in and attach to the front of the box.

If you want to punch a crescent shape - do it before assembling the box.

3 PIECE BOX - cut cardstock 5 1/2" x 9 1/2"

score the short side at 3/8" and 3/4" from both edges --- UPDATE:

CORRECTION SCORE SHORT SIDE AT 3/8" AND 1 3/8" (not 3/4")

score the long side at 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" from both edges.

Assemble as described above.