Saturday 16 August 2008

Gift box-in-a-bag


I originally saw a "box-in-a-bag" on THIS blog and absolutely loved it! I also love to do tutorials. So after making my own version of this bag and tweaking a couple things for my own personal tastes, I present to you a "Bag-in-a-box tutorial"! Let me know what you think!

SUPPLIES:
4 1/2" x 4 1/2" cardstock (for box base, I used Bazzill brown)
11" x 5 1/2" cardstock (for bag, I used Reece by TAC)
5" x 2 1/2" cardstock (for handles, I used Reece)
11" x 1" scalloped border (I used Reece)
4 brads or eyelets
Ribbon
Flower blossoms or other embellishment for front of bag
Scor-Pal
1" circle punch
Corner Rounder (for scalloped edging if needed)
Coluzzle Nested Circle template, knife, cutting mat
Adhesive
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the 4 1/2" square cardstock in the upper left corner of the Scor-Pal and score at 1" and 3 1/2". Turn it 1/4 turn and score again at 1" and 3 1/2". There should be a 1" border all the way around.


2. Turn cardstock over. On the left side of the square, cut on each horizontal score line in to the vertical score line. Do the same thing on the right side.


3. Fold the four sides up, placing the tabs on the inside.


4. Ahere the tabs to the inside.


5. On the back side of the 11" x 5 1/2" cardstock, use a ruler and pencil to draw a light line at the center. Use this as a guide to add your embellishments to the front - like poking holes here for your brads or eyelets if you use them. Add those embellishments to the front now. Be sure to leave a little more than 1" at the bottom for your scalloped border. If you're just using adhesive to add embellishments to the front, you can wait til the end if you want.

6. Use the 1" circle punch to punch a 1/2" circle/notch at the top. Use your pencil guideline for placement. We'll punch another 1/2 circle later.


7. Adhere the cardstock around the sides of the box. Start by lining up the front center pencil line in the center of a box side, then fold around the corners, and overlap in the back.


8. You will NOT fold at the corners all the way up to the top of the bag though! Only at the box so it's adhered nicely around the corners there.


9. Here's a picture showing how I made my scalloped border using my EK Success corner rounder. Bazzill also makes Border Strips that are already shaped. TAC sells these as well but I didn't have any to match this paper.


10. Adhere the scalloped border around the bottom.


11. Adhere the overlapping bag edges together up to the top. Now you can also punch your other 1/2 circle at the top.


12. Using the Nested Circle Coluzzle template, cut two circles from the 5" x 2 1/2" cardstock. You will cut on the center and the 3rd-from-center grooves. The inner circles will not be used here.


13. Adhere the handles in place lining them up over the 1/2 circle notches at the top. Also add a brad or eyelet on each side for extra reinforcement.


14. Tie handles together with ribbon.


There are so many possibilities for using this as a gift - money, gift cards, candy, stamping supplies or embellishments (*wink*), purse size lotions, candle, etc.

Here's another one I made using the Cha Cha collection by TAC:


Thanks for stopping by, hope you were inspired! Tootles!


A note from Julie

Another Fab Tutorial Vicki Thank you

Go and check out Vicki's brilliant blog HERE for more fantastic creations

If you follow Vicki's Tutorial to make your own gift box in a bag please leave a comment here to let us know :)


Wednesday 13 August 2008

Snowflake Spinner - Tutorial

How it's made...

We start this by using a piece of A4 card stock and scoring it into 4 equal quarters as shown in picture 1 then cut away one of the quarters as shown in the 2nd picture.


Fold the card on the longest score line so that card is a tent shaped card.
On the side that is double thickness (2 layers) you need to cut out a circle making sure that you cut through both layers, I used a nestabilitie die.

When opened it should look like this.


I cut out 2 of each straight and scalloped edged circles the 2 scalloped circles are in a very pale pink card stock (you need to make the scalloped circles small enough to pass through the apertures you cut on the main card).
I stamped snowflake onto the plain circles and glued these on top of the scalloped ones.


I added double sided tape all over the back of the snowflake and stuck the 2nd snowflake on top of this by carefully aligning the scalloped edge.In the 2nd picture you can see the thread runs through the inside of the snowflakes (see arrows)


I used the snowflake embossing folder and wrapped this around the front of the card with the aperture cut out as this would not run through the cuttlebug I wrapped the back side of the card behind the folder as shown in the 2nd picture.


On the reverse of the cuttlebugged aperture I added 2 strips of double sided tape to adhere the silver thread to and hold the snowflake in place.

Add double sided tape over the silver thread and to the rest of the back of the aperture then fold over the other piece with the circle cut out and this will hide the silver thread making a neat finish

I added a sentiment to the bottom of the card some stickles for sparkle pearls to the snowflake center and knotted a ribbon around the top
& that's it your done!


A note from Julie
WOW what a fantastic card I'm definitely going to try this!!
Thanks for another great Tutorial Jak
Go and visit Jak's Crafters Kitchen Blog HERE you will definitely be inspired!
If you follow Jak's Tutorial to make your own spinner card please leave a comment with a link to your creation so that we can have a look :)

Monday 11 August 2008

Acetate-based Luminescent Backgrounds

I was recently sent a sheet of the Prima clear paintable sheets and after a lot of thought managed to come up with an effective way of using it, But once gone I actually kind of missed using it so managed to come up with this technique to keep on adding the luminescence to my cards!!

Required –
· Sheet of acetate (I used a sheet of overhead transparency)
· Copic markers (I used various shades of blue)
· Tim Holtz Pearlescent paint daubers (I used Pearl, Light Denim and silver)
· Background stamp or permanent marker
· Stazon Stamp pad – Black

Using the Stazon pad, stamp your background image onto the surface of the acetate sheet. Alternatively, you could use a permanent marker to draw a pattern.





Turn the acetate over and colour sections of your stamped (or drawn) image with the copic markers. Only do sections you would like to highlight such as the centres of the snowflakes.




Turn your acetate over once more to the stamped side. From now on this will be the back of the image. Using the silver paint dauber swipe the paint over the surface of the stamped image.





Using the darker colour paint dauber (in my case the light blue) and daub the paint along the edges of the stamped image in addition to sections of the stamped image you want to darken such as the centres of the snowflakes. This adds to the colour already applied with the markers.




Finally, using the lightest colour (in my case the pearl) fill in the remaining area of the stamped image with light daubing action. Leave to dry then trim and attach to card with a strong glue.





Here's another one I created with this technique but with darker colours -

A note from Julie

WOW fantastic card and a fantastic tutorial ~ Thank you Sharon

I am very pleased to announce that Sharon is going to be an ongoing contributor to this blog so keep checking back :)

For further inspiration go and visit Sharons brilliant Just Me and Them Blog she is one talented lady!