GD: Lelainia Lloyd Project #2 Hallowe'en Gift Box

"Hello everyone, Lelainia here with project number 2. Hallowe’en is my favourite holiday. It was my Gramps’ birthday and so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I could hardly be designing for PaperArtsy in October and not use their fabulous line of spooky stamps! Awhile back, a friend of mine, Penelope Harris taught me how to make a box using playing cards. As soon as I had it constructed, I realised that there was no way I had to limit myself to using playing cards-I could paint and stamp my own cards to make a fabulous boxes. This project is the result of those imaginings"!

I chose the Smoothy HeavyWeight White Stamping Card. It’s the perfect weight to stand up to painting, stamping and stencilling while also being strong enough to hold the box shape. I am in love with this paper!

I began by cutting 22 cards that measure 2 ½ x 3 ½ inches. (Standard ATC size) In order to make the most of each sheet of paper, I made sure I inserted my A1 sheets into the paper trimmer so that they lie this way: I wanted the longer edge of the paper (the 11 ¾  inch side) parallel with the bottom of my paper trimmer. Once I had my paper positioned this way, I cut 3 strips 2 ½ inches. I cut the remaining strip 3 ½ inches. Next, I cross cut the 2 ½ inch strips by 3 ½ inches. This gave me two cards per strip. For the 3 ½ inch strip, I cross cut at 2 ½ inches. This strip will yield 3 cards. When I was done, I had a total of 9 cards, all measuring 2 ½  x 3 ½ inches. I repeated this process for the second sheet of paper. For the third, I only needed to cut three 2 ½ inch strips & then cross cut at 3 ½ inches. This leaves a bit of the third sheet left over. I cut a few extra cards in case I made a mistake along the way.

 

Next, I rounded the 4 corners of the entire deck of 22 cards using a corner rounder. This is an important step, so be sure not to skip it-it helps the box slide together smoothly.

I counted out 12 cards and set the rest aside. I folded each of the short ends of the 12 cards (top & bottom) over by 3/8 of an inch. I measured the 3/8 of an inch and made a score line using a stylus on both sides of each card. Once all the cards were scored, I folded the ends over and used a bone folder to make a good clean crease.

I went ahead and painted each of the 12 cards with Tango and Autumn Fire and then layered Snowflake over top using The Crafter’s Workshop Mini Sketch Grid stencil. I think this is my all-time favourite stencil now. What I loved about it is that when used with the Snowflake paint, it gave my cards just the right amount of light to make the stamped images pop.

Then I counted out 6 cards from the 12 I had just painted. These cards will form the outside of the box-4 sides, the top (lid) and the bottom. I unfolded the creases to have them lie flat but made sure they were all facing in the portrait direction. (Short ends up and down.)  I stamped these 6 cards using HPHW04 and HPHW02. When I was finished stamping, I re-creased the folds, using my bone folder. It's important that the creases be really crisp.

I took the remaining 13 cards and folded each of them in half, creasing them with the bone folder.

I flattened them out again and then painted them Little Black Dress where the crease is. I painted over the crease line and about 1 inch either side of it. There is no need to paint the entire card as you will only see the crease because these cards are going to become the hinges that hold the box together.

{Assembling the Box:}

First I took one stamped card and one stencilled card. See how the stamped card has the folded flaps left and right and the plain stencilled card has them top and bottom. I made sure this was the orientation I was using to lock them together as a single unit.

 

I just tucked the flaps in at the top and bottom to interlock the two cards. At this point, I put my interlocked units under a stack of heavy books overnight to help the folds lie flat. I don't recommend stacking the units one on top of the other, as the paint will still be ever-so-slightly tacky and you risk having them stick to one another.

Once the interlocked units had been flattened overnight, it was time time to assemble the box. I began by sliding one of my hinge pieces into the gap on the side of one of my interlocked units.

Next, I slid another interlocked unit onto the other side of the hinge piece to connect them. I added another hinge to that unit's gap.

I slid another unit onto that hinge. Now I had 3 sides connected. I added another hinge.

When I had the 4th unit attached, I added another hinge to the remaining gap and use it to close the box into a proper square.

Now that the box was a square, I flipped it upside down so I could add the bottom.

I took the interlocked unit I wanted to use as the bottom and put a hinge in each side of the gaps, all the way around.

I slid the top hinge into the box bottom and tucked the edges into the gaps on the left and right.

I turned the box around to face me and gently worked the other hinges into the gaps.

Once all the hinges were in the gaps, I gently pushed down, slowly to slide the bottom into place.

Finally, I added the last hinge to the gap on the top of the interlocked unit I wanted to use for the lid. I worked the hinge into the top of the box and slid it down gently.

While I had my Staz-on ink out, I stamped Minis MN77 onto a piece of PolyShrink. Quick tip: Place the stamp ink side up and then lay the PolyShrink on top and gently smooth it with two fingers. This creates a clear image. I cut around the image leaving a very scant white border around the outside. (I cut mine so that it had a coffin shape to it, just for fun.) I lay the image on a Teflon sheet and used my heat gun to shrink it.

Next I wanted to make a small hole in the top of the charm for a jump ring to go through. I used this little gizmo I have for hand drilling, called a two hole metal punch. It's super handy for drilling holes in just about anything. If you don’t have one, you could also use a teeny tiny Fiskars 1/16 hole punch. I also own one of those and it makes a very tiny hole, the perfect size for jump rings. I added 2 jump rings to the PolyShrink charm so it would hang properly.

I cut a 3 inch piece of ribbon and threaded it through the top jump ring. I put a piece of double sided tape between the fold of the ribbon so that it would stay nicely folded and to give it some strength. I put a piece of double sided tape on the ribbon at the top on both the front and the back and then slid it between the front gap in the box lid. Once I had it centred, I smooshed it to make sure it was stuck to the inside of the lid securely. The charm becomes a tab for opening and closing the box.

As a final touch, I wanted to add some paper grass to cushion anything I put in the box, so I tore some pages out of a book, sliced them in skinny strips with my paper cutter and then scrinched them up in my hand a bit to help give them some loft. I tucked them into the box. When I am ready to give the box to someone I'll filled it with Hallowe’en candy and it’s good to go!

Wasn’t that fun?! I've shown you mine, now it's your turn .... I do hope you give this a try.I will be back tomorrow night with my final project of the month.

~Lelainia~

A huge thanks from Team PA for sharing this spook-tac-ular step by step project with us all. This is the ideal gift to have on stand by for all the little trick or treaters. The addition of the Polyshrink tag is the perfect finishing touch.

We would love you to join in with our monthly challenge. If you are inspired by any of this month's guests who have blogged between Oct 1st 2014 and Oct 31st 2014 then join in and link up your creativity HERE. You will go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. You need to add your link by 19:00 (London time) Oct 31st 2014.