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.

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.

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.