Altered Matchboxes / Graphic 45 Couture

I had fun this weekend with altering little matchboxes!

First I started with 8 of these...

I painted the drawers with Jacquard's Neoopaque black acrylic paint. I love this line of paint when painting on chipboard or cardstock as it does not warp or wrinkle the chipboard / paper. I then covered the outside of the matchboxes with Graphic 45's Couture paper collection.

Hmmm....I worked on the above photo...rotated it,,,,it still keeps inserting into my blog post in the wrong direction. So turn your head to the right a bit and you will see the photo correctly. :) I used the 6x6 pad for the solid part of my project, the 8x8 to cover the matchboxes and the 12x12 for the inserts inside each drawer.

I then cut two pieces of medium weight black chipboard (by Graffix) into 3 3/4" squares. I rubbed on some Inka Gold by Viva Decor on the edges of the chipboard pieces. Not a lot but just enough so that it showed and looked aged as if the gold had rubbed off some throughout the years. I also used Black Soot Distress Ink by Ranger to edge all my papers.

The handles on my drawers are made by using a jewelry spacer with a black brad. The feet were made using these beads from my stash. Looks like something that might have been used in the 70's judging by the color and the size of the hole in the beads.

I took some light weight spackle to fill in the holes so that I would have enough of the bead to attach to the bottom of the chipboard. Every craft room should come with a jar of spackle! :) Once the spackle dried, I painted each bead with the same black paint that I used to paint my drawers.

I assembled all the pieces using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. The matchboxes are stacked two high and sandwiched between the two chipboard pieces. Then I glued the feet on using my hot glue gun. The beaded design on the top was made using a 3" stick pin, one of the green beads that I painted black, a gold jewelry spacer and a gold bead. When the boxes are all placed on the base chipboard piece, it leaves a hole in the middle where none of the boxes touch. So my stick pin runs all the way through the top and through the bottom chipboard piece. This left me just enough of the stick pin sticking out that I could attach a small rubber tip which now holds the stick pin in place.

Here are some different views of my finished project. Each side is a bit different as I used at least one different print on each side.

Here is a view with 4 of the drawers opened:

The box kind of has an Asian flair to it, don't you think? I'm calling it< "Couture goes Asian"! :)

I hope you enjoyed my altered matchboxes. Thanks for stopping by!

Notecard Portfolio / Holder Tutorial

Back again as promised earlier with my project for this week's challenge over at Card Swaps on the CardMakers site. The challenge is to make a card portfolio. We were given a link to a tutorial on how to make one that we could use or we were also free to tweak the design a bit or design our own. I did a bit of tweaking and came up with a design using one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock. The size of my portfolio will hold size A2 cards with envelopes.

Here is an inside view of my portfolio. I kept it simple. The cards I plan on making to put inside will feature the window die template that I used for the front of the cover. I plan on making a card for each season, Summer, Fall etc.

Here's how I made the portfolio:

Take a piece of sturdy cardstock that measures 8 1/2" x 11". With the 8 1/2 side at the top of your score board, score at 6" and 6 1/4". Now turn your cardstock so that the 11" side is at the top of your scoreboard and score at the following score marks at:
3/4", 5 1/4", 5 3/4", and 10 1/4" all of these score marks are scored all the way down. Without turning the cardstock you will score at the 1/2" mark only scoring up to the 6" score line that you first scored. Then score one more line at 10 1/2" up to the 6" score line. Now flip your cardstock around so that the last two score lines you made are on the bottom.  Here's what your piece of cardstock should look like:

Take scissors or an exacto knife and cut on the 5 1/4" and 5 3/4" lines up to the 6" score line and remove that piece. On both sides cut out the notch between the 6" and 6 1/4" line up to the 1/2" score line and remove. Now your piece of cardstock should look like this:

Fold and crease all of your score lines. You will see the portfolio take shape as you are creasing the score lines. The bottom two flaps form the pockets, the space between your two middle score lines form the spine etc. If you would like to add ribbon to your project for ribbon tie closures, you would do so at this time. Using an exacto knife you will cut a slit on the 3/4" score line and on the 10 1/4" score line (your side flaps) on each side in the middle. Cut your slit to fit the width of your ribbon. Insert the ends of your two pieces of ribbon into the slits and then glue your 3/4" side flaps down which will secure your ribbon ties in place. You can see the ribbon coming out of the sides in my inside view picture. In that picture you can see how the ends are hidden under the side flaps. Here is a picture of what your cardstock will look like as you are folding the score lines:

You will need to apply a strong adhesive to the 3/4" side flaps and the 1/2" pocket side flaps. That's all there is to making the holder! Pretty easy eh? I recommend doing any decorating and embellishing that you may want to do before you glue your holder together. I find it easier.

The supplies I used:

Memory Box Grand Madison Window Die

Memory Box Flower Box Die

Memory Box Primula Flower  Die

Memory Box Fern Leaf Die

Martha Stewart Twig Branch punch

Martha Stewart border punch

Sizzix embossing folder

Kraft cardstock by The American Paper Co.

White cardstock by Bazzill

Raw Silk Pigment ink by Colorbox

Thanks for stopping by!

A Card With A Drawer

It was another fun crop over at the Card Swaps forum on the CardMaker's site. As usual I did not get to complete near as many of the challenges that I would have liked to but it is a busy month this month here in this household. Not too much time for card making going on. I did host one of the challenges though and thought I would share it with all my blogging friends.

My challenge was to create a 3x3 card that has its own drawer attached. Perfect for holding little treasures for gift giving!


Here are the simple instructions for making one of your own:

Supplies Needed:

12 x 12 piece of cardstock for the base and drawer

scoring tool of some sort

a strong adhesive

paper trimmer

Printed paper, additional cardstock (optional), and embellishments of your choice to decorate your card / drawer.

Instructions:

From your 12x12 piece of cardstock cut one piece at 3" x 12" (base) and another piece at 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" for the drawer.

Score the 3" x 12" piece at: 3", 4 1/4", 7 1/4", 8 1/2" and 11 1/2". The 0.5 piece at the end is the part of the base where you will apply a strong adhesive when assembling your card / drawer.

Score the 5 1/4" square piece at 1 1/8" on each side. Please note: Scoring at 1 1/8" will give you a tight fit with your drawer. If you like a looser fitting drawer you can score this piece at 1 3/16" on each side and your drawer will still fit but will be a tad looser. Following the picture below, cut on the solid lines on your drawer piece. Be sure to only cut up to the score line. This creates your tabs for folding in to create your box.

I find the tabs are easier to fold in if you cut a small triangle piece out on all four of your tabs on your drawer as pictured below.

To Assemble:

Now you are ready to assemble your card / drawer. I like to decorate mine first before I assemble it as pictured below but you can do it any way you like. Fold along all your score lines and use a bone folder to get a sharp crease. For the base you will apply adhesive to the 0.5" tab at the end. You will bring that tab around and adhere to the 3" score line from the other end. You can see by the picture below just where the tab should be glued. That's all there is to creating the card base! For the drawer you will use a strong adhesive on the four tabs. Fold them in creating your drawer. Your card with a drawer is now ready to decorate if you did not do so before assembling.

You can decorate your card / drawer however you like. I have a place inside the card to write a short note. I used ribbon to make a simple drawer pull. Handmade my flower, added a stick pin and tag to decorate the top and it is ready to put some treasures in to give to someone!

This is such a simple and easy project to make! I think you would be surprised at how easy and quick it makes up. I hope you will give it a try. I also would like to note that although I wrote these instructions, I am not the creator of the original design. I originally found it on another site but unfortunately that posting has since been deleted and I can no longer share that link with you.

The next crop will be in November. Watch my posts for the date as we get closer to November and I hope you will join us for fun and inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Challenge...A Swap... A Project

Wow...has it really been a couple of weeks since I posted last? I had that flu bug that has been going around and it sure set me back a bit as well as I have just been busy with life. But I have managed to fit in a bit of crafting time here and there. A couple of weeks ago was World CardMaking Day and over on the CardSwaps forum on the CardMakers site there was a mini crop challenge. One of the challenges was to make a 3"x 3" notecard. Above is the one I made for the challenge. It was quick and easy to make and the best part was I used scraps from my scrap pile to make it. This was one of my favorite challenges from the mini crop. Also being the favorite of some of the other girls as well, one of the site participants chose to host a swap for making 3"x 3" notecards. I couldn't pass that up! So I rummaged through my scraps, used the same design as my challenge notecard...adding a tweak or two, and made 16 more notecards. Here is what I came up with for the swap:

Twelve of the cards are for the swap but four are for myself. Sooooo that meant I needed something to keep my set of notecards in as well as the ones I will receive in the swap. Hence the project part of this post and this is what I came up with....a box to hold my cards:


You can find a tutorial here on SCS that shows how to make this box. It was so simple and so fast to make. I already have ideas in my head about making more to give as gifts.

Hope all of you have managed to avoid that nasty flu bug that is going around. Stay well my crafty friends and be sure to keep an eye on my blog for news about the upcoming "Sugar Crash" Crop Challenge and Blog Hop that will be happening November 4th - 6th over on the CardSwaps forum. Lots of challenges, prizes and loads of fun will be going on. I will be once again one of the blog hop stops and I have a fun project that I will be showcasing.

Thanks for stopping by!