PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN SPOT: Turorial

Don't let the title of this post fool or confuse you. The card I'm about to show you is one I made for my dear friend Gwen who recently moved.

I wanted to make her something special for the occasion, and since Box Cards always seem to pack so much "wow factor" I decided to make one to congratulate her on her decision to move and to send best wishes along with her.

As I looked through my stamps I immediately thought that "Holiday Home" would be the perfect stamp set to use, and I think you'll agree when you see the full card that it worked perfectly.

Here's My Card:

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Holiday Home stamp set and coordinating Framelits, Sincere Salutations and Gorgeous Grunge, miscellaneous stamp for scrollwork on ovals.
Card Stock: Early Espresso, Whisper White and Crumb Cake
Ink: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
DSP: Champagne Glimmer Paper, Trim the Tree Paper Pack
Accessories: Oval Framelits, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack (Star), Window Sheets, Trimmer, Big Shot. Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Basic Rhinestones, Neutral and Subtle Markers

How It's Made:
Box:
1. Cut an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece of Early Espresso for card base (box). Score this piece at 2 3/4" (with the 5 1/2" side on top).
2. Turn card stock so the 8 1/2" piece is on top and using your Stampin' Up! Trimmer, score to the middle line (the 2 3/4" mark) then cut the rest of the way down. Score as follows:

Score at 2" then cut
Score at 4" then cut
Score at 6" then cut
Score at 8" then cut

Note: There will be a 1/2 inch tab on the end after the final score. Cut off to the score line and then on an angle on bottom portion of tab. This tab is what holds the box together. See picture below.

This picture shows the card base on the bottom and the insert on the top. The bottom of the card base is solid. Also you can see how the tab on the end is cut in this picture. Note: The ends of the insert piece should be facing in different directions, not as shown above. Oops! My mistake.

Insert:
Cut a piece of 2 3/4" x 8" piece of Early Espresso card stock and score it at: 1/2", 2 1/2", 3", 5", 5 1/2" and 71/2". Fold on score lines with mountains and valleys into a "Z" shape with a flare (the ends of the Z should be going the opposite way. This piece will fit into your box when it's assembled and is the foundation for your elements to be attached to.

Here you can see the "Z" fold shape. I add sticky strip to the ends and then carefully fit it into the box making sure the rows are going side-to-side, not end to end.

Card Stock and DSP Layers:
1. For the last panel of the card base cut the following: one piece from Crumb Cake card stock measuring 1 7/8 x 5 3/8" and one piece from Whisper White card stock measuring 1 3/4 x 5 1/4"

2. For the outside bottom panels cut 3 pieces of Crumb Cake to measure 1 7/8" x 2 5/8". Cut three pieces of the Early Espresso Designer Series Paper with tree design measuring 1 3/4" x 2 1/2".

3. For the upper panels cut 4 pieces of Crumb Cake card stock to measure
1 7/8" x 2 5/8" and four pieces of Crumb Cake Designer Series Paper measuring 1 3/4" x 2 1/2"

Bottom and back panels for the outside of the box card.

Top Panels for the inside of the card.

Start assembling the outside of the card first by adhering the crumb cake panels starting with the largest one on the left hand side beside the tab. Note: before I glued my card stock and DSP panels down, I lightly sponged the edges with Early Espresso ink and crumb cake. I also stamped the house, lamp and sentiment on the long strip of Whisper White card stock before adhering it to the back Crumb Cake panel.

Repeat with the Crumb Cake and DSP Panels for the inside top of the card.

Note: I stamped the dots splash from Gorgeous Grunge in Whisper White ink on the Crumb Cake DSP to add some additional snowflakes before adhering it to the top panels.

Once all the panels are adhered to the card base assemble the box by adding sticky strip to the tab and then folding the card over onto itself to ensure it seals properly.

In this picture you can see the sticky strip on the end tab. I used two pieces to make sure it sealed the box tightly.

In this picture you can see the card folded over on itself. The sticky strip is on the left of the stamping. Make sure you burnish the seam to ensure it is stuck down securely.

Fold three of the front flaps down before placing the insert inside the box. The back panel remains stationary.

Decorate the fronts of the side panels with sentiments and elements of your choice. For mine I stamped images of the houses from Holiday Homes and coloured them with markers (Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and So Saffron) and the sentiments "Good Luck" and "happy new home". I also added some Champagne Glimmer paper stars that I punched out with the Itty Bitty accents star punch and some basic rhinestones for some added glam. I cut out a tag with the

For the front sentiment I cut two nesting ovals with the Ovals Collection Framelits using Whisper White Card stock and Early Espresso. I stamped "Good Luck" from the Sincere Salutations stamp set and some flourishes in Crumb Cake with another stamp. I added a small Champagne Glimmer Paper Star and a bow from Crumb Cake Seam Binding.

Put sticky strip on sides of the insert and shape into a "Z" fold and then place inside the box opening. The panels will go left to right and should be spaced about 1/2" a part. You may have to do a little adjusting before burnishing the sides to make sure they are stuck down.

For the elements for the inside of the box, I stamped the three different house images from Holiday Home on Early Espresso and Crumb Cake cardstock with Whisper White ink and cut them out with the thinlets.

The house images were mounted using 1/2 by 3" strips of window sheet material. I used glue dots to make sure the images were secured both to the window strip and to the insert base. You have to fiddle with these elements once you have them mounted on the window strips to get the fit you're most comfortable with. I also added some gold stars and a sentiment.

Note: Make sure when you add the elements to the center that you open and shut the card to ensure that the elements aren't sticking out beyond the card frame. If they are the card might not shut properly or fit in a standard card envelope.

I didn't like the look of the unadorned Early Espresso top panels when the card was closed, so I stamped three more houses and cut some additional Crumb Cake and DSP panels and added them. I think they made the card look so finished. Here they a below:

I stamped two houses on Crumb Cake and one on Early Espresso card stock with Whisper White ink.

I like the look of the two DSP panels with the house mounted on the top half. It seems to complete the card.

The finished back of the card. the house was stamped on the Whisper White panel in Early Espresso ink and then I stamped a second house, cut it out and coloured it and mounted it over the first one with dimensionals.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and my card. I'm going to leave you with pictures of two more "birthday" box cards I made this fall - one was for a neighbor's birthday and the other for a good friend 's October 31st Halloween birthday. What fun! Enjoy and leave me a comment if you like these.