4 boxes for 3 scented tealights from one sheet of 12x12'' or nearly 12x12" paper

I was making these boxes as per a pattern from Pootles.co.uk.  with my envelope punchboard. and some were great and others weren't, I kept doubting myself, did I score it properly, did I do this or that?
Then I remeasured my paper, I always just assumed they were all the same 12x12" but I found out they aren't. Some of my papers are from Lawn Fawn, Jillybean and other (imperial) brands, those are fine, some I bought at my local craftstore, and those are probably  made in cm sizes, resulting in papers about 11 7/8 of and inch instead of 12".
I thought that little bit shouldn't matter, but it did!
So I designed a box that still fits 3 tealights and you can still get 4 from a sheet, you even have a bit left over, but you'll have to make them with a scoreboard instead.

On the same day I found out that my metal ruler that has both cm and inches on it, isn't divided properly. The inches are the right size, but they've been divided up in 10 notches and not 8 or 16! No wonder I always mess things up!
I try to work in inches, altough very difficult for me (as a metric person) as my scoreboard just works better in  inches, the scorelines in centimeters don't line up well, or at all.
So I would measure an item with my ruler and count the notches, say 4 down from an inch, but as the inch isn't divided properly it wouldn't translate to the scoreboard or envelope punchboard, driving me slightly insane to be honest....

Weird eh how you just assume things to be right? I mean I bought this ruler somewehre trusting it to be right...

Anyway I will order a Tim Holtz Ruler as soon as I'm able as I find my T square ruler a bit flimsy, I'm scared to break it. I can be assured an Amercian brand ruler is ok! and I like the Tim Holtz one as it had punch holes in it too, which should look cool on a card I think



Ok back to the box. You'll  need a piece of paper, solid or patterned  of 5"7/8 by 4"7/8

On the long side you score it at 5/8"of an inch, then turn the card 180 degrees and score that again at 5/8" this is a must as you'll see the first scoreline is now in between two scorelines and the box wouldn't end up symmetric.
then turn your card 90 degrees and score on the short side at:
5/8", 2" 1/8, 2" 3/4 and 4"1/4
burnish all scorelines and then cut all the little scorelines on either side as the photo indicates.
put glue, tape, gluedots on the little square tabs and stick your box together.
I start with the bottom and fold the lid around the bottom.
the bits left over from dividing hte 12x12 paper can be used to make the belly band or cigar band, the width is variable the length should be 6" so you can get at least 2 belly bands.
I like to mix up solid boxes with patterned bands or patterened boxes with solid bands. Then I decorate with different die cut sentiments and embellishments, even an envelope punchboard ribbon. Only your imagination is the limit, not the sky ;-)
If you can think it up, you can make it!

the pattern above was drawn on centimeter gridded paper, don't pay attention to that, just follow the instructions and if you want redraw it on plain paper or paper with inch grids, this might not be accurate because of the cm.

Addicted to CAS Challenge #80: RED

Addicted to CAS Challenge #80: RED

For my card I used homemade red and clear enamel dots.
I hope there's enough red to meet the red requirement. 
I tried the diecut sentiment in red, but it just didn't look right to me. I like bold black sentiments ;-)
it's a  diecut from Marianne Design creatables (lr0301)
I made it into a sticker and I stuck the enamel dots on with gluedots.



For more information on the Addicted to CAS Challenge #80: RED, see this

Made these two first, the lips is a sticker with glittery lipstick, nice but I thought I shouldn't use a sticker ;-) I don't have a stamp like that but I actually like the card a lot! It's very CAS.
The one with the buttons wasn't just red, some pinks and something that looks purple in the photo but is actually a burgundy color, so I wasn;t sure if it would be ok to enter it, but I thought I'd show you the process ;-)

If friends were like flowers, I'd pick you

I'd like to enter this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: best friends
and the
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: create with critters and Lawn Fawn

So, for my card I stamped a sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx, it's from Joy! crafts (cherry blossom tree)
and then I stamped all the images (from Lawn Fawn gleeful garden) with Memento black ink and colored them with my Spectrum Noir and (a few) Copic markers, then used the matching dies to cut them out.
I cut apart the antennas of the big snail and stuck a flower in it as if he's carrying it to his little friend...like the sentiment says... does that make sense?

I used the My favorite things snow drift dies to diecut green cardstock in 3 different hues to make hills. A blue panel for the sky,
I mounted the hills with foamtape so I could stick the flowers behind.
Was contemplating to  do the sentiment in white embossing powder as if it were a cloud, but then decided against it as I like bold sentiments.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, see this
For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, see this

Cas Colours & Sketches CHallenge #157

Cas Colours & Sketches challenge #157

The colours from Stampin’ Up:

I’ve used Distress inks as a watercolouring medium:  Abandoned coral. Scattered straw and frayed burlap.

I’ve used monsters as they can be any colour in my opinion, and I gave them googly eyes because monsters need googly eyes ;-)

I’ve used a Create a smile stamp set called Big time for both monsters and sentiment. Stamped it all with StazOn  black ink as it’s waterproof. Because it’s watercolour paper , and although I stamped on the smoother side, the stamping wasn’t perfect, so I used a black fine tip Sharpie to fix the lines that weren’t perfectly stamped. If you have a MISTI you can stamp more than once, I didn’t want to risk a second stamping, it never works out if you freehand it..not for me anyway even with clear stamps.

I’ve only used the three colours, even the ground their standing on is frayed burlap, watered down more.

I’ve attached my watercolour panel with foam tape to a card base.

For more information on the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge, see this

Lawnscapingchallenge #122:watercoloring

Lawnscapingchallenge #122:watercoloring

For my card I watercolored a piece of watercolorpaper with Distress inks (barn door, worn lipstick and picked raspberry) I watered it down with perfect pearls mist, to get a lovely shimmer, which is probably lost on the photo, but it's there ;-)
I then managed to get two hearts out of the panel and for my initial card I just mounted the heart and sentiment with foamtape, dotted sequins around the card.

The xoxo diecut is from Lawn Fawn and the enamel dots are diy homemade, attached with gluedots.

At this time I thought the sequins made it too busy, I want the focus on the heart and the watercoloring.
So I made my final card by diecutting the xoxo out of the heart and red glitter paper.
Mounted the heart with foamdots as well, but not the xoxo diecut.

then I thought should I add a hedgehog or two? and the sending hedgehugs sentiment? then I could also enter it into the SSS challenge, but I decided against it as I like it CAS.
I'll just make another card for SSS lol.

I've been waiting 2 months go get this xoxo in, and I'm so glad it arrived before Valentine's day ;-)
Although I think you  can use it all year round...

For more information on the Lawnscapingchallenge #122:watercoloring, see this

Less is More Challenge #259: kissing technique

Less is More Challenge #259: kissing technique

For my card I used the most solid stamp I have (or one of the few), it's a brush stroke from Marianne design (Eline's brush) very new, came out a few weeks ago.

I inked it up with pigment ink as they stamp better than Distress inks, also they stay wet a bit longer, useful for this technique.
this last version is one of 4, I started with purple on purple, liked it, but thought it to be too subtle, so I switched to black...way too overpowering for me..so instead of adding a color I stamped it with a dry stamp and took color away, almost looks like white on purple, like that!
for the kissing stamp I used Hero Arts la letter a woodmounted stamp. The words are now mirrored/backwards, but I'm not bothered, couldn't read them the right way up anyway. Just a bit weird

they lean to the left, even for a leftie like me ;-)
For the sentiment I used an Uniko stamp from All occasion sentiments #6 and I stamped it in Versafine black onyx.
I trimmed the panel as I stamped the sentiment a bit slanted ;-)
Originally I started out with a one layer in mind, but as I messed up a few I used their backs as well to practice, infact on the back of this final piece there's a pratice one as well...Love how paper has two sides lol.

Mounted the panel with foamtape.

For more information on the Less is More Challenge #259: kissing technique, see this

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: ombre with Hero Arts

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: ombre with Hero Arts

For my card I've used  hot pressed smooth watercolor paper of 300grams ( 140lbs i think) and I've used Wilted Violet from the Distress inks line for the ombre background. I used the re-inker ink for this, to get the intense color wilted violet can be.
Dark at the top, fading to the bottom.I hiope you can see it on the photo, the ombre is pretty subtle.

I've used the Hero arts butterfly cling stamps and Versamark ink on vellum and then White embossed them with Hero arts white embossing powder.

Then cut them out, on the big one I chopped off the antennas, by mistake, so drew those in with a white pen, was more careful with the others. I've glued the butterflies to the background with a glue stick glue.
I stuck on some Hero arts rhinestones, few different colors and sizes.
I've diecut the sentiment from SSS (small hello) from glitter paper. Before diecutting I adhered some double sided adhesive onto the paper to make it into a sticker.
Mounted the panel with foamtape on the cardbase.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, see this