Paper balls

Hello there

I had this great idea to make some paper balls for a friend of mine's birthday. They were a delight to make and I love them. I made the larger ones this time i.e 5". See my post from January for more information. One thing to note is that the first shape you put the thread/ribbon through needs to be facing down, so that none of the lines from the printout show; once you start with a shape facing one way, all the others have to face that way too or they won't slot into place properly. I made them with a lovely handmade paper with a slightly rough texture.

After feeling rather smug with myself for making those two, I then had a little panic. Aaarrggh! How on earth can I present these? I can't just take them round there in my hand. Then the fun started of making a box.
I measured how long and high a space they took up next to each other and then made the base two centimetres longer and wider than that to allow for the lips necessary to glue the pieces together. For these size balls the measurements were:
base = 27x 16cm
side = 27 x 15cm
end = 16 x 15cm

Score the base at 1cm all the way around. Only score the sides and ends on three edges, as the top edge doesn't need folding over. At this point in came one of my newest toys which is the Ultimate Pro boxer board - it made this activity so much easier. The lid was made .5cm larger than the base.


I embossed some wavy shapes on the pieces before glueing it together, which I thought tied in quite nicely with the wavy balls.

I must give praise to my now favourite glue, which is the cosmic shimmer acrylic glue. It's brilliant for making boxes as it dries so quickly. I definitely needed that facility today!

I know that white isn't a fantastic colour but I thought that the recipient could colourize the box herself and use it to store some crafty stash, as she does have rather alot of it! If I had coloured it, it might not have been the right colours for her craft room or studio and the time saved was then spent chatting in her living room instead :-)

Take care out there and chat loads with your friends. Talking of which, reminds me; I've got a crafty night on next Wednesday and I'm getting excited about it now.