Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Cash Cow Exploding Gift Box

My sister, Tila, has asked for cash in lieu of gifts or even a birthday luncheon this year.  I wanted a fun way to present it.  I decided on an exploding box!




I let the crafty Renee choose my colors for me.  She is hostessing a color challenge this week on her blog, I Came, I Saw, I Created.  You can see it by clicking here!  (I cheated ever-so-slightly by also using some prints with it from All Wrapped up that added a bit of red and yellow, but the majority of colors on my project used her blue-pink-orange combo!)


I have never made an exploding box before, but I had the idea of a tiny 'cash cow' inside with the money.  I set out to learn how to make this kind of box and found a great little tutorial on Enfy's blog, Going Buggy. You can see it by clicking here!  I followed Enfy's instructions on the box except for inner-most layer.  I wanted that layer to be diagonal so I sized it to be a 2-1/4" diamond base that would be adhered to the square bases.  For that layer, I started with a 6-3/4" square, scoring at 2-1/4" increments and cutting out the corner squares like the others.  For the lid, I cut an 8" square from All Wrapped Up and followed the directions from her tutorial to put it together.


For the shapes on the inside orange flaps, I cut medallions from All Wrapped Up at 3" and topped them with blue punch cuts from the large Martha Stewart sunburst deep border punch.  (I cut on each side of a 2-1/2" strip of paper to create the sunburst).  I cut silly pictures of her kids and added them to the tops of each.



For the blue flaps, I cut medallions from All Wrapped Up at 1-1/2".  I glued rolled up money on two of them.  I wanted it to be easy to take off the money without ruining the box, so I wrapped the money in a strip of paper and attached it by putting a pop dot under the paper only.  (She can either pull off the rolled up money or scoot it out, leaving the paper strip.)  I later added butterflies to the plain medallions.


My cow is from Noah's ABC Animals, cut at 1-3/4" on the Expression.


To attach it to the box, I cut a little square of paper and cut in slits under each leg.  I slipped in her little feet and glued them in place on the back.  I attached the square to the box using 1/16" pop dots since the feet poking through would prevent the square from adhering flush.



I cut a tag using a punch from a piece of Cricut clam shell acetate that I recycled.  I trimmed it down to remove any extra acetate.


To that, I adhered butterflies, cut using a Martha Stewart punch.  I used E6000 glue to attach the butterflies to each side of the acetate.  I attached the butterfly-covered acetate to the middle layer of the 3D cow using a strip of Terrifically Tacky Tape, scooting it down inside the cow to hide the tape.


For the outside of the box, I cut 1" strips of cardstock for ribbon.  I attached the "ribbon" to the lid separately so the lid would still easily pull off of the box.


For the bow, I used the tutorial by Linda at the Paper Boutique.  You can see it by clicking here.

For the tag, I used the butterfly tag on All Wrapped Up, cut at 2".  I printed my sentiment on the reverse side so that it would make sense to her when she found a cow inside:  "For your birthday, we thought you would like a cash cow."

I attached the bow and tag to the box lid using the bow's construction brad.


This was fun, and for my first one, I liked it.  If you want to ever feel inadequate as an exploding box maker, I suggest checking out Elaine's Magic Boxes (click here).  Wow-- she is a magician with these!  So much fun to see and the main reason I had to have floating butterflies in mine.

Thank you for checking my blog today!  To see many of my previous projects, please check My Project Gallery.



Monday, June 11, 2012

Go Victoria! Go Navy!

This is a card I made for Victoria, the daughter of a crafter from the Cricut Circle message board who is currently in Navy boot camp!



I used Paper Doll Teen Scene to create a cheerleader of sorts, cutting two at 6".  (The extra cut is for spare parts so I could figure out what was needed as I went!)  I separated the head from the body, using all layers for the head, but only the flesh-colored layer for the body.  This allows for the illusion of a chin and added dimension.  I hand-cut the nose and mouth.  I added a few more locks of hair to the ponytail and a couple of notches from the bangs.  I cut off the arms and re-adhered them from my second cut the so that they would be farther from the body and at a different angle.  I bent the hands down so they could hold a banner.


The clothing was cut from the cartridge, with a few hand-drawn details and inking.  I added a waistband to the low-hanging pants to raise the waist.  I cut the legs twice so that both legs would have edges that I could ink to give them a little dimension.


I hand-cut the flip-flops.


The Naval emblem and Navy banner were found on Google Images.  The hat was cut from Stand and Salute at 3/4" and then trimmed down a bit by hand.  The body is adhered flat, allowing the banner to pull away from the surface 1/4".  The head is raised 1/16".  I cut a series of mats from solid and printed papers, printing "Go Victoria" on the edge of the yellow mat.


The inside sentiment was printed using my computer and printer.



I sized the card to fit in an envelope I had.  I was told that colors or decorations on the envelope would force Victoria into extra push-ups--- so this is the most bland piece of mail I have ever sent!  (The very idea of push-ups, much less EXTRA push-ups, makes me cringe!)

Thank you for checking my blog today!  To see many of my previous projects, check out my Project Gallery!

But wait! There's more! Click 'older posts' above!

But wait!  There's more!  Click 'older posts' above!