Another Explosion Box & Tutorial

I recently joined the JOANN Loves Papercrafters on Facebook.  I've been in awe of the creations that all of those talented people have, so I decided to be brave and post something I made.  I posted the Baby Exploding Box and I received so many wonderful compliments, it just made my heart full.  I also received requests for the directions, and since I had another one to make for another lady at work, I decided to get to work on it.

First, take a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock and score at 3 1/2 inches on each side.

Then, cut out the corner pieces.

Here comes the fun part, time to decorate and embellish!  One thing that I do that I think gives the box a bit more stability is to make double panels (or layers) of paper on the sides of the box.  Here you can see how I decorated the outside of the box.

Next, flip it over and decorate the inside.  I did the two layers of cardstock and then added some die cut doilies.  Since this is for a baby girl, I wanted to give it a lacey girly look.

Next, I made the lid.  Math is not my strong point, so I tend to do things the hard way.  My Dad is a retired Chemical Engineer, my Brother is CFO/CPA, my Sister is a Teacher, and my Mom can figure anything out!  So the technical gene, skipped me!  So, to make the lid I used a piece of white card stock and scored at 1 1/2 inches on two sides.  Now, if you measure the bottom of the box, you will find that it is 5 inches x 5 inches.  At the 1 1/2 score line, I measured 5 inches plus two little lines on the ruler, and then scored on that line.  Then I measured 1 1/2 inches and cut the paper.  Rotate the paper and do the same thing.  Clear as mud?!  You can also try cutting a piece of cardstock 8 1/8 inches and score it on each side at 1 1/2 inches.  You will want to notch the corners on lid so that it will fit inside with showing.

I decorated the top of the box, but forgot to take a picture of it before I put it all together!

I embellished the inside with some paper flowers, butterflies, and two cute babies I cut using my Cricut.  I put a tiny bit of adhesive on the bottom of the shoes to hold them in place.

I put the lid on the box, tied it with a tulle bow and put it next to my purse to bring to work tomorrow.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink-Baby Button Bits

Ink:  Versafine

Paper:  Bazzill, The Paper Studio, Recollections, Pebbles

Misc:  Tulle, Scor-pal, paper punches, half pearls, pop up dots, My Favorite Things Oval Doily Die, Mama Elephant Mini Bow Die, baby shoes, Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily Die

Thanks for stopping by,

Nail Polish Cupcakes Tutorial

Here is the tutorial to make the Nail Polish Cupcakes.  I decided to a Halloween theme to demonstrate the versatility of this project.  Plus, it's an excellent non-candy treat for your favorite trick or treaters!

You will need one of these, Wilton Nut & Party Cups:

First, I cut three strips of 1 3/4 inches patterned paper.  Then, using my handy dandy Scor-Pal, I scored every 1/4 inch of all three strips.

Glue all three strips together to make a circle.

Using a hot glue gun, carefully glue your circle around the cup.  This will be the "cupcake" wrapper.

This next step is optional.  I wanted to make my cupcake "taller", so I hot glued the top of a prescription bottle to the bottom of the nut cup.  Then, I adhered, the bottle of nail polish with a small pop up dot to the prescription bottle top.

The frosting was made with some orange paper shred that I just bunched around the stem of the nail polish bottle.

To decorate my cupcake, I made a festive cupcake pick and accented with some tiny button spiders.

Supplies:

Stamp:  Stampendous-Bugs & Hisses

Ink:  Versafine

Paper:  American Crafts, Bazill, Recollections

Misc:  Hot glue gun, pop up dots, Wilton Nut & Party Cup, Nestabilities, Paper punches, tiny button spiders, prescription bottle cover, spider web die cut, paper shred, nail polish

Thanks for stopping by,

Finally!!!

Finally, I have my Pail O'Fun Cover done and up for sale via digital download in my Etsy Shop!  I have absolutely not good excuse for while it took me so long or why I haven't posted in 3 weeks!

So, if you would like to purchase the pattern, you can find it here.  It costs only $3.00 and you can use  scraps of fabric to make this cover.  Get a jump start on your holiday gift giving with an awesome Pail O'Fun Cover!

Thanks for stopping by,

Some Bunny Loves You Test Tube Cards With Two Tutorials

Warning:  This is a super long post with two tutorials and photograph heavy.  Grab your favorite beverage and get comfy!!!

I found this card on Nancy's blog, Artful Notions, and fell immediately in love.  While I love Papertrey Ink, it was this particular card that "forced" me to buy the Polka Dot Parade #1 set and the Polka Dot Parade #1 die set.  I must admit, I have little will power, and with stamp set that only costs $5.00 and die set only costs $3.00, how can you go wrong?!

So, I decided to use Nancy's card and some test tubes I had in my stash.  These particular test tubes are flat on the bottom and have a silver screw on top.  This is what I came up with:

Now, I generally like all of the stuff I make, but there is something about these that I really love.

Here is a quick tutorial to make the actual card.

Cut a piece of cardstock 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches.  Using a Scor-Pal, score at 3 1/2 inches, 4 1/4 inches and 5 inches.

Fold the card in half at the 4 1/4 inches.

On the folded edge, score at 3/4 inches, 1 1/2 inches, 4 inches, and 4 3/4 inches.

Cut out the center between the score lines all the way to the main score at 5 inches.

When you open the card up, it should look like this:

The test tube will just slide in the card.

I don't have a basket die, so I decided to improvise by using two oval Nestabilities dies.  I used the largest and next largest oval die, the tan embossing pad, and a scrap of paper.

First, cut a large oval out.

Now, put the large oval on the cutting platform on the die cutting machine.  Lay the embossing mat about half way down on the oval.  Then, layer the smaller oval die on top.

Run the oval through the machine.  It will stop when it hits the embossing mat.  Back it up and this is what you will get:

If just flipped it over and folded the part of the small oval that cut back and adhered it to the back of the basket.

Then, I just trimmed the bottom of the basket to give it a flat bottom.

You can decorate your card front and inside, fill it up with some jelly beans and viola you have a great Easter treat.  To make it even more special, you can just put a gift card in the inside pocket.  This was a great project to use up lots of little scraps of paper you may have saved for a rainy day.  

Special thanks to Nancy, for the wonderful inspirations for this project!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink-Polka Dot Parade #1

Ink:  Memento

Paper:  Echo Park, My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, Recollections, Bazzill

Misc:  Test tubes, pop up dots, Polka Dot Parade #1 Die set, Nestabilities, paper punches, half pearls, paper shred, candy, Martha Stewart Doilies, Papertrey Ink Fillable Frames #5 Die, pom poms, Scor-Pal, Quickutz Doily Die, Papertrey Ink Mat Stack #3 Die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

If you need the test tubes, I have some listed in my Etsy Shop, so just hop on over. If you use another type of tube, you will need to adjust the size of your score marks to accomodate the size of the tube.

Thanks for stopping by,

Cowboy and Astronaut Tutorial

Here is the tutorial for both the cowboy and the astronaut.  It is mostly a picture tutorial, this way it will give you a hands on look on how I make my paper punch "peeps". 

These are the punches I used and on the right hand side you can see that I used them to start with the astronaut.  I didn't realize until I started typing this out, but you only need to cut one flesh toned word window, for some reason I punched two.

Punch Ingredients:

1 3/4 vellum circle for helmet (omit for cowboy)

1 1/4 flesh circle for head

1 flesh word window for ears

1 1/4 x 2 oval for helmet collar (omit for cowboy)

1 1/4 x 2 tag (cut one for pants and one for shirt)

2 word windows for shirt

2 small flesh flowers for hands

1 narrow strip for belt

2 5/8 black circles for boots

1 small white heart for face

2 small black circles for eyes

1 small flesh circle for nose

black sharpie for mouth

1 brad for cowboy belt buckle

1 photo corner for cowboy's scarf

I had a hard time trying to paper punch a cowboy hat, so I just improvised using the Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge to cut the hat.  But, I did see some great ideas when I googled it, but I didn't have the right punches and nothing to improvise.  So, instead of buying more punches, I cheated and used the Cricut!

I hope this helps, if you have any questions, just drop me a line!

Thanks for stopping by,



Tutorial for Pencil Box Inserts

Sue asked for the dimensions for the inserts for the pencil boxes.  Sorry it took me so long!

The inserts are made using two pieces of cardstock. All measurements are done in inches. 

The part that holds the little pencils is 5 1/4 x 4 3/4.  Score along the 4 3/4 side at 1 1/4, 2, 2 3/4. Use a corner rounder on the edges so they fit in the nugget tin.

The other insert that holds all of the little supplies is cut 2 x 8 1/4.  Score at 1 3/4, 2 1/2, 3 1/4, 5 ,5 3/4, 6 1/2 .  Use a corner rounder on the top corners.

Just fold and insert into the nugget tin.  I used adhesive on the valley folds to hold them together and then added a little adhesive into the nugget box to hold the inserts in the box. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Tutorial for Pretty Parchment Paper Pockets

Here a few pictures of how I made the parchment paper pockets I made in this post. Unfortunately, the pictures I took didn't come out very well, so I substituted the parchment paper for a paper sack. They came out much clearer and came out just as well.

Cut the parchment paper 3 1/2 inches by 22 inches. Fold it in half.





Fold the bottom up about 3 inches to make pocket.



Sew along the long edges. This will complete the paper pocket. It will have the small pocket in the front and the large one in the back. Easy peasy mac and cheesy!

Now, if you like the paper bag version. I just used a small paper bag. I cut the bag in half, you will be able to make two pouches out of one bag.





Then down the side seam of the bag to make your strip.



Thanks for stopping by,