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

Card Box Tutorial

I promised to make a gift box holder for my Festive Flurry cards in my  September 7th post entitled Festive Flurry in a Festival of Colours.  

Today was the first chance I've had to sit down and work on a tutorial, so my apologies for taking so long to deliver.  

Basics for Assembling Gift Box

1. Start with a piece of card stock or DSP measuring 5 7/8 x 7 1/4" and score at 5/8" on all four sides.

By placing a marker on the 5/8" score line on my Simply Scored Scoring Tool it made scoring this piece so easy! 

2.  Cut from the outside edge to the fold line on all four sides.  Snip a piece off each corner to make assembly easier. These tabs will be folded to the inside of the lid.  

  4.  Add sticky strip to the corner tabs and then remove the adhesive backing.  Fold the tabs to the inside and tape to the side flap.  Make sure that you square up the corners so they match.  Repeat on the other side.

Once all the tabs have been adhered, the box lid should look like this on the inside.

This is a view of the outside of the lid.  I made this mockup box in DSP but it's not as firm as when made from card stock, so my preference would be to make it using card stock. 

Box Bottom:

1.  Cut a piece of card stock to measure 7" x 8 3/8" for the box bottom.  Score it at 1 1/4" on all four sides.

 2.  Cut from the outside edge to the center fold on each corner.  Snip a small "V" to the center line to make the side pieces fit together more easily.  Add sticky strip to the corner tabs.

3.  Remove the backing from the sticky strip and fold the tabs to the inside.  make sure the sides are carefully aligned. 

Festive Flurry Gift Box:

 Supplies:

• 7 x 8 3/8" piece of Whisper White card stock for bottom of box
• 5 7/8 x 7 1/4" piece of Island Indigo for lid
• 81/2" piece of Chevron  Island Indigo Ribbon
• 4 x 4" piece Whisper White for Smokey Slate Large Snowflake
• 3 1/4 x 3 1/4"  piece of Whisper White for Island Indigo Snowflake
• 2 3/4 x 2 3/4"  piece of Silver Glimmer Paper for Glimmer Snowflake
• 2 x 2" piece of Whisper White for Smokey Slate Small Snowflake
• Small Scrap of Silver Glimmer Paper for BoHo Blossoms Punch Snowflake
• Medium Sized Basic Rhinestone 
• Smokey Slate and Island Indigo Inks
• Boho Blossoms Flower Punch
• Festive Flurry Stamp Set and Coordinating Dies

Assembling The Gift Box:

1.  Follow the assembly instructions above to make the bottom of the box. Note:  To make the box bottom more stable I cut an additional piece of white card stock to fit in the bottom of the box and adhered this piece with sticky strip. 

2.  Score and cut the tabs for the lid on the Island Indigo card stock piece.  Before assembling the lid adhere the Island Indigo Chevron Ribbon across the  lid.  I started the ribbon at the score line on the underside of the lid, ran it across the length of the lid to the other side.  I used sticky strip under the ribbon to secure it. Once the ribbon is attached then finish folding and assembling the lid.  

3.  Stamp and assemble snowflakes for the lid top as follows:

• Stamp Large Snowflake image in Smokey Slate ink on 4 x 4" piece of Whisper White and cut out with large snowflake die 
• Stamp the next size of snowflake in Island Indigo ink on 3 1/4 x 3 1/4" piece of Whisper White and cut out with corresponding snowflake die. 
• Cut out a snowflake from the 2 3/4 x 2 3/4" piece of Silver Glimmer Paper using the next size snowflake
• Stamp the smallest snowflake in Smokey Slate on the 2 x 2" piece of Whisper White
• Punch out the 5-sided star with the Boho Blossoms Punch
• Adhere the medium sized rhinestone to the center of the Glimmer star.  

This picture shows the various sizes of snowflakes and dies used to create the center piece for the box lid.

Box bottom, lid with ribbon and snowflakes before final assembly.

4.  Assemble the centerpiece in this order:

• Attach Island Indigo Snowflake to Large Smokey Slate Snowflake with Dimensionals
• Attach Glimmer Paper Snowflake to Island Indigo Snowflake with Dimensionals
• Attach Small Smokey Slate Snowflake to Glimmer Paper Snowflake with Dimensionals
• Attach Small Glimmer Paper Star to center of small snowflake matching the star pattern.

Attach assembled snowflakes to the center of the box lid with sticky strip.

 

Back view of all the snowflakes before they were glued together.

Island Indigo adhered to Large Smokey Slate Snowflake

Silver Glimmer Paper Snowflake adhered to Island Indigo Snowflake. 

 

This view shows the small Snowflake adhered as the fourth layer.  I made sure the snowflake points were turned so they never overlapped and it was easy to see the snowflake layers below.  Hope that makes sense.

Finally attach the small Glimmer Paper star to the center of the small snowflake.  Use the star shape outline as your guide for attaching the star.  Adhere a medium sized basic rhinestone to the center.

 

Finished Box and Lid

Gift Box and four Festive Flurry Cards in Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz.

This picture shows the finished lid and the box bottom with the envelopes in it.  I stamped a single snowflake in Smokey Slate on the four envelopes.

I added a piece of Whisper White card stock to the inside of the lid to give it more stability and stamped the Smokey Slate snowflakes randomly on this piece.  This piece also covers the ends of the ribbon so it has a neater appearance.

And that's the end of my tutorial on gift boxes for the Festive Flurry Christmas cards.  I hope you found it helpful.  I'd love to hear from you so let me know if it worked for you.