I hope everyone is safe after the South Coast here in the UK was battered by Storm Angus overnight. This morning I uploaded my
Self-closing Box video onto YouTube.
I decided to make this video because this
is such an unusual but easy to make box. I first made one of these in October
last year for a class.
Last week, when I was getting myself organised for
the craft show I was doing on Saturday, I decided to sort through my box of
handmade boxes so I could have a display of gift boxes for sale and I found two
self closing boxes.
Last Saturday was a very successful day for selling gift boxes - I sold lots of them including my two
self-closers.
I have another Christmas Fair on 1st December so I decided to make some
more and then my thoughts went to a video! Photograph 1 & 2 – this is the
first box I made yesterday and I followed Frenchie’s – France Martin – instructions for
sizes.
I love the sentiment I’ve used on this box, which is from the Jar of
Cheer Stamp Set and very appropriate for a gift box!
Photograph 3 – this is the
second box I made, which is the same as the first one except I cut the squares
of This Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) an eighth of an inch
bigger i.e. 3 7/8” square as opposed to 3¾” square. I prefer the narrower gap
the larger pieces of DSP leave – so it's down to you which effect you like best.
I made a mistake when
cutting this box in as much as I mitred the top corner when I removed the small
oblong!
You can see my error at the top of the box on the right-hand side.
Another mistake I made on this box is that I used Real Red Ink and cardstock but I should have used Charry Cobbler! DOH!
Fortunately, this will be a lot easier to remedy!
Photograph 4 & 5 – I used Fancy
Frost Specialty DSP to make this box.
I heat embossed the same sentiment using
Silver Embossing Powder on Whisper White Cardstock and layered it onto Silver Foil.
I really love this box and
think it’d be excellent for wedding favours, especially with the added bells' trinket!
Photograph 6 – as far as decoration is concerned, I don't think this box looks finished and I’m going to add more decoration to it today.
However, the object of the exercise was to see how easy it would be to
decorate the box with stamped or heat-embossed images, and would it be alright to leave it until after the scoring had been done.
The answer is yes and it turned out to be very easy!
As soon as I had finished the scoring, I wiped over the cardstock with
my Embossing Buddy, and stamped the images using Versamark.
Then I sprinkled Gold
Embossing Powder over the stamped images and heat set. Photograph 7 – this is the
box I made during the video and I used Presents & Pinecones DSP. Photograph 8 – this is the
box I made for my class a year ago! The very nature of the
design of this box does result in the base being very slightly warped – you have not made a mistake!
The box
still sits on the table beautifully.
That's about it for today. I wish you a happy Sunday.
Over the next three days, I'll share the Convention with you and will be able to share some super swaps with
you once I get back! Today's card is all white except for some minimal gold embossing.
I
started my card with a base of Whisper White Cardstock (CS), with two
layers of Whisper White CS.
When we use our really thick Cable Knit
Embossing Folder, we're advised to give it a light spray with water. I
wondered what would happen if I did that for a regular embossing folder.
As there's only one way to find out the answer to questions like this, I
picked up the bottle and sprayed.
The CS started to bubble!
I'd sprayed
it with my stamp cleaner spray!
It was interesting to see but I really
didn't need to know that's what would happen! LOL!
I took another piece of Whisper White CS
and sprayed twice, lightly with water!
Then I ran it through my Big Shot
using the Holly Ebossing Folder.
It came out beautifully but I'm not
sure it's any better than it would have been had it not been sprayed.
I
then took a smaller piece of Whisper White CS and wiped over it with my
Embossing Buddy.
I used the Nativity stamp from the Joyful Nativity
Stamp Set and stamped it with Versamark.
Then I stamped the PEACE BE
WITH YOU stamp from the Reason for the Season Stamp set in Versamark,
too.
I covered both images with Gold Embossing Powder and heat set using
my Heat Tool.
I
don't know why but I was left with a small straight line near the bottom
of the ground where Mary is kneeling.
I used my Gold Wink of Stella
Glitter Pen and very carefully painted over the white area.
The glitter
sits on top of heat embossed surfaces, so I removed it very carefully
using a piece of kitchen towel.
It hasn't totally concealed the blemish
but it is a lot less obvious! I
attached the first layer to the card base using Dimensionals and then I
used Glue Dots to attach the dry embossed layer.
I also used Glue Dots
to attach the image to the Whisper White layer and then attached it to
the card front using Dimensionals.
A
very striking, quick and easy card to make.
That's about it for today.
I'm off to do my packing now.
Today's video is a little bit different from normal for two reasons.
At the end of the video, I show four other cards I've made using the same layout as the video card.
I've included photographs of each card and includes the design I shared here on Monday.
During the video, I also showed how to die cut a negative panel that I'll be using in next week's video - probably next Wednesday. That's surprisingly well organised for me! LOL!
Photograph 1 and video - wreath. The stamp is from Santa's Sleigh and has a set of coordinating dies, by the same name,
The wreath and the bow are both outline dies so I coloured mine.
There are four main, different ways you can position the letters. These are: straight and in a level line, straight and at different levels, at different levels and bending forwards and backwards and finally in a straight line, all at the same height. I have shown three options with my cards here.
The second photograph shows teddy bears which are also in the Satna's Sleigh Stamp set, with a coordinating die. I stamped the teddies onto Crumb Cake cardstock using Soft Suede ink and then die cut them.
For the bow, I used the Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine which comes in the Baker's Twine Trio Pack with Garden Green and Gold.
I also used Soft Suede Cardstock as the layer between the card base and card base. The third photograph shows the angel from the Joyful Nativity Stamp Set which has been heat enbossed in gold and then fussy cut.
The fourth photograph shows the bell from the Christmas Magic Stamp Set and is the card I shared here on Monday.
Although this isn't my favourite card in this design, I'm really pleased that I've found a fantastic use for our Gold Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.
It paints the bell a beautiful glittery gold colour. I painted the bow in Real Red Ink and then went over it with the Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.
Although it's difficult to see the glitter, except in real life, the bells really show the true beauty of Wink of Stell Glitter Pens.
The last card is the Santa hats from the Snow Place Stamp Set and die cut using the hat die from Snow Friends Framelits Dies. I inked the stamps in Versamark, then in Real Red Ink. As soon as I stamped the images, I sprinkled them with Clear Embossing Powder and then heat set them!
That's about it for today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
Hello, Crafters.
Last week, when I was getting myself organised for
the craft show I was doing on Saturday, I decided to sort through my box of
handmade boxes so I could have a display of gift boxes for sale and I found two
self closing boxes. 
You can see my error at the top of the box on the right-hand side.
I really love this box and
think it’d be excellent for wedding favours, especially with the added bells' trinket!
However, the object of the exercise was to see how easy it would be to
decorate the box with stamped or heat-embossed images, and would it be alright to leave it until after the scoring had been done. 
Photograph 7 – this is the
box I made during the video and I used Presents & Pinecones DSP.
