march playday project

Shamelessly cased from http://wenchespapirverden.blogspot.sg/2013/05/tutorial.html here the basket we'll be making at playday next weekend.

Paper, ribbons & card from stampinup (retired paper), spellbinders die, bit of lace and some flowers from wild orchid. 

Was surprisingly quick to make, less than 2 hours, and that was with making a scalloped border in scal the exact size needed!





And seeing as how I had the flowers out, here's how I finished the card organiser box.  Colours havent photoed properly, irl the bright blue is a deep navy, and the turquoise is nearer to a soft mid blue.

birthday box for 6*6 cards

This isnt finished yet, I've got to add a few embellies to the front and I don't know quite what I want yet.  My printer is refusing to print straight vertical lines so the divider is just a temporary thing just to photo the box.  When I've sorted the printer I'm not going to make file tabs with the envie board, I think I'm going to sandwich diecuts and just overlap the card.  I'm not going to stamp around the edges either.

I'm not going to do a step by step photo guide but here goes with written instructions.  This is bodge job rigid box making at it's easiest, accurate cutting does make life easier but using gummed tape makes it easy to hide a millimeter or 2 ;o)

takes approx 2 a3 sheet of mountboard but you get less waste from using a2

1 base,  7 * 7"
1 front,  6.5" * 4"
3 sides & back,  6.5" * 6.5"  the 2 sides need to be trimmed so the front is only 4" high.

Cheats tip for cutting the sides... Use the 4" strip & use as a drawing line on 2 of the 6.5" squares and mark a border on the bottom & left.

Use a ruler and draw 1/4" around the edges of the 7*7 piece.  This is going to be a guide line of where to tape the pieces.

Break off a length of gummed tape roughly 7" along and fold in half length ways so that the glue side is on the outside (this makes it easier to place & keep the box rigid).  Unfold & wet with a damp sponge, not too wet that water drips off but you need enough to activate the glue.  Fold back again & place on the inside bottom of the back with the fold at the bottom so you can open it back out.  Move the back into position so that the outer edge of the mountboard is running flush to your drawn line and that there is equal distance either end.  Smooth the tape down to the base, trim any excess, I usually cut where it needs to fold & tuck the excess around to the other side.  Repeat this with a side making sure it lines up to the inner part of the lines AND one edge meets the inside edge of the back.  Use the same fold & line up the fold and join the back & side together.  Repeat for the other side.  Now line up the front and tape into place, if you have measured & cut correctly the front will sit flush to the line and the sides will fit snugly to the back edges of the front.  Once you have taped all of the inner joins you need to cover the outer seams.  For around the bottom you will need to fit the fold downwards to the lip and tuck & smooth the excess over to the bottom of the base.  The seams between the sides & the back & front will need to have the tape folded inwards so it's glue against glue before being wet.  If you work with a light behind your box you will be able to see when the fold line is in place and you can smooth around and keep a nice sharp edge.  If you have any slightly jagged cut edges along the top of the box you can hide this by sticking the tape along & over the edge in the same way you've just done for the outer edges.  Allow to dry for at least a couple of hours before painting your box.  Allow the paint to dry properly before adding any paper decoration.


Cut 12 pieces of heavy weight card to 6.25" 6.25" for the dividers.  If you want to add file tabs you might need to cut the cards longer, test on scrap card to check before using best card.  Glue the calendar into place & decorate as required.

Ribbon Reel Storage Box

Those who know me know I love making storage for my craft stash but I hate spending big money on it when I can have more fun making it and spend the savings on more ink, rubber & paint.  Thanks to a new a2 rotatrim I decided to make some boxes to hold my reels of ribbon.

 Starting off with strips of mountboard and adding the gummed tape.

 This is a full a2 width so I've added stabilisers to the lid to stop it sagging.  Once the gummed tape dries the top strip on the front will pull back in instead of being bowed as it looks in the pic.

 With a couple of ribbons poking out.

(this is actually a smaller one than the first few pics as I've made 3 sizes to suit different ribbon rolls, this one is made from a3 grey board) You can't see it in this pic but I painted it white with gesso then added texture medium through a couple of stencils and stuck on some diecuts.
Painted in bright colours of acrylic paint.



You should be able to see the diecuts & texture now I've dry brushed white acrylic paint over them.




The box is now covered with black (it's actually paynes grey which looks black when wet) paint and allowed to dry slightly before rubbing a lot of the paint off.



Now I went in with several inkagold beeswax paints(lilacs, blues, pinks, greens & pale gold) and used them as you would gilding waxes.  You cant see the colours properly in a pic, irl they're very metalic with a subtle shine and the colours all blend into each other so you cant see where one stops & the other starts.  I need to leave this now for 24 hours to dry fully before adding a matt varnish then I can fill with ribbon reels.

next playday project

The next playday is March 8th & we're making an Easter basket & a small sweetie box.  This is the sample for the sweetie box I made at playday yesterday.  It's a scaled up version of one found on stampelmeins.

Using a full sheet of a4 cardstock, a strip of brusho marbled cardstock, half a sheet of bermuda bay (could be island indigo tho lol)  su cardstock, small piece of acetate, design by ryn stamps, distress & stampinup markers, circle nesties, some white dylusions ink, wink of stella clear, and some glossy accents.

When the lid is opened you open the "card" to reveal the inside of the card and if you've used a peep hole the contents of the box.


Seems wrong to be saying sweeties & cigarettes in the same sentence now but the box is like a cigarette box & is the same height although it is wider & deeper.  Would probably fit a full sized pack of playing cards & small notebook, think I might do one for fathers day in June.

umm not sure what happened there lol

So I set off to the playroom yesterday to make a valentines card for Ade and instead of the usual red & black somehow this one ended up coming into existence.  No hearts, no 3d flowers.. not sure now whether to put it back for his birthday next month or to carry on & give it to him on Sat.

I started off with one of my brushoed ready pieces of card and stamped one of Lavinia stamps dandelions 3 times before cutting with circle nesties, adding a few spots of glamour dust to the ends of the wisps and edging with black soot distress ink.  I stamped the image 3 times on to white colotech card & used 3d gel to add height to the brushoed circles.  Mounted on to stampinup card & onto a white 8*8 card blank.  Nothing more then than a bit of ribbon, a bow, couple of stick pins, a few gems and a sentiment.

Not sure if it's quite what they mean by bright or beautiful but I will add it to this months Lavinia Challenge Blog.

coaster set

Candy Box Crafts Ltd coasters bought from "Oyster stamps" for mothers day pressie. They started life bright & cheerful and somehow ended up distressed because I dont like orange lol. Jofy stamps heat embossed with black Judikins powder, mix of acrylics on white emulsion tinted to magnolia with brushos. Inka gold, su champagne ink, walnut ink, Designs by Ryn maidenhair fern stencil (irl it's green & quite noticeable). Will prolly sandback a bit tomorrow before varnishing. Might also add some stamped cut out lettering on the front of the caddy.

more bokah cards

bokah with distress inks raspberry, peacock feathers & shappy shutters, designbyryn stencil, trimmed section of memorybox die & ketto stamp.  8*8 card.

distress inks, TH stamp & designbyryn raindrop stamp.