Month of May Eastern Palace Series - Project 8

Wow , who knew the month of May would be such a whirl wind.  Between renos, bridal showers and visitors from out of town, my stamping plans have been curtailed.  However I'm back today with another in my Month of May Eastern Palace Suite series, and hopefully will get a few more in before the month ends.  

Today's Project is a set of note cards with matching envelopes and a decorated box.  That's right, everything matches.  

There are four "thank you" cards in the set each featuring different products from the Eastern Palace Suite.  Here are the directions for re-creating them:

• Card base: Cut a 4" x 8" piece of Thick Very Vanilla Card stock scored at 4".
• Layer #1:  Cut a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of card stock in one of these colours:  Fresh Fig, Tranquil Tide, Dapper Denim and Lemon Lime Twist, layered on card base with Tom Bow glue.
• Layer #2:  Cut a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper and layer it on card stock with Tom Bow glue. 
• Using Stitched Layers cut four 2 3/4" Stitched Shapes circles from Very Vanilla card stock and adhere to the center of DSP with Tom Bow glue.
• Cut four medallions as follows:  2 using medallion dies #6 and 2 and 2 using medallion dies #3 and 5 and adhere them to the Very Vanilla circle with Tom Bow glue. Note: Match mix and match the colours of the medallions to two of the colours from each DSP square.
• Punch out 4 1 1/4" circles from the coloured card stock and 4 1" circles from Very Vanilla card stock. Adhere a coloured and very vanilla card stock piece together. 
• Before layering to the medallion, stamp the beaded circle and "thank you" sentiment from the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer stamp set on the very vanilla circle.  Adhere this layered piece with dimensionals to the medallion.

 

I made matching envelopes to go with these cards starting with a standard invitation sized envelope and a 2" x 4 4/16" piece of designer series paper that matched each of the cards.  

I really like it when the envelopes that accompany note cards are either stamped with a design or have designer paper on the envelope flaps.  Quite a while ago I discovered a great tutorial by Cindy Lawrence on Split Coast Stampers that shows how to make a "Tailored Envelope" to match your card.   Here is how I assembled my envelopes following Cindy's example:

• Apply adhesive to the flap of the envelope and seal shut.  You can use tape runner or liquid glue.
• Trim the long side of the envelope at 4 5/16".  You should now have a square. 
• Turn the envelope over and punch half-way in on the top edge with either a 1" circle or an oval punch, and set aside.
• Score the designer series paper strip on the long side at 1/2" and crease.  Make sure the side of the paper that matches your card is facing outward.  This is will be your new envelope flap.
• Put sticky strip on the back of the 1/2" crease line and adhere the flap to the envelope.  
• Round the corners to give a more finished appearance.  
• I attached a strip of sticky strip on the inside of the flap so it can be sealed once the card has been added to the envelope.  
  
  
  
  

 Here are the finished cards and their matching envelopes:

I decided to make a matching box to hold the note cards and envelopes and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  Here's a look at the box: 

A side and top view of the gift box. 

I layered matching DSP and card stock in the bottom of the card box to give it a more finished appearance. For the box top I repeated the card layout for the Fresh Fig card and added two additional layers of card and DSP beneath it.  The sides of the box have a 1" x 4 1/8" layer of contrasting DSP. 

The box holds 4-6 note cards and envelopes.

I followed a great video by Crafty Caroline on Youtube which actually shows all the dimensions and how to assemble this box.  Just click on Crafty Caroline and you can watch how it's made.  The fun thing about Carolyn's video is that she used the Eastern Palace Suite for her box too, so it's like getting two projects in one today.   She also follows the "1/16" rule for making box lids so you get a great fitting box.

I hope you enjoyed today's project and will come back again to see more of the Month of May Eastern Palace Suite projects that I've been working on.  If you like today's project please let me know.  I'm inspired by your comments and it really encourages me to keep posting.

 

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot