For my next trick

Hello there

If you read my last post (if you haven't then I can recommend a course of action, which includes clicking here :-)  ) you might remember that I said I wasn't going to blog about the making of my Christmas cards. That is still in theory correct but I've made a box for a pack of Christmas cards I'm making for a raffle at work. So the theme is Christmas but this post is about the box making, not the cards.

Phew! Wonder if I'll get away with that? :-)

The box containing the cards and envelopes I made



At first I just got an A3 sheet of white card and laid it under my set of 10 cards and envelopes. I fiddled and faffed around, trying to picture how to cut the card to make it into a box. I then laid the cards flat on the A3 card and starting drawing and scoring lines and then actually cutting lines.

This is what I ended up with after cutting a window for acetate in the front of the box:


I made two errors with scoring lines and the card isn't the best in the world but I'm extremely pleased with it as my first try. It's for a raffle prize at work, so I think it makes an absolute bargain for a 50p ticket. If it was for a customer, I'd use better card and ensure no mistakes were made.

I do love this 'engineering' type project. Not only do I love crafting for the creative expression it allows me but also because it stimulates my brain and makes me think ideas through to completion.

Then on I went to decorate. I die-cut the same images as I'd used on the cards. I inked up the box's edges and put the acetate in before glueing it together.







The life saver product of this project was the roll of velcro dots I found in my sewing box, which are exactly what I wanted to keep the lid closed, yet openable loads of times.




So, the morale of the post is; if you ever need a box for anything, get in there, mess about, trial and error and you'll be so pleased with yourself for doing so. I know there are templates you can buy and ideas online but when you're making a custom sized box, this is the best way to do it and once you've done one, you've got the ideas for making more.

Take care out there