Lets take craft to another dimension.

Welcome Back and Happy New Year,

How would you like to take your crafting to a whole new dimension? Here are some books to explore, if you would like to try; boxes, pop up creations and kinetic cards. Some are very visual kinds of learning, others more technical. We all learn in different ways so see which suits you.

Taking your creativity into the third dimension.

Recently found Karen Beirstein dies, and tutorials on You Tube and was fascinated. Having joined Craft World forum, and discovering new crafty pals to chat with and SOO much inspiration, some books about the subject are here.

Just getting started?

• The Practical step by step guide to Making Pop Ups and novelty Cards. A masterclass in the art of paper engineering. by trish Pillips and ann montanaro. ISBN13:978-0-7548-2078-9

These next ones are less about a finished project but more about HOW pop ups work

• The Elements of Pop-Up; A pop up book for aspiring paper engineers by David A Carter and James Diaz. ISBN 0-689-82224-3
• Cut and Fold Techniques for Pop-Up Designs by Paul Jackson ISBN 978-1-78067-327-1

Boxes and cards in 3D

Bear in mind that Paul Jackson’s books, are about showing the construction principle and practice. They aren’t books of ‘pretty pretty cards n boxes’, like you see in craft focused magazines or books.

Paul’s books, are absolutely brilliant to learn the principles so that you can make them your own and take them as a starting point for your own projects. This is what the author states as his intention with the books.

• Cut and Fold Techniques for promotional Materials by Paul Jackson ISBN; 978-1-78067-094-2
• Creative Packaging:One piece packaging solutions by Paul Jackson ISBN: 978-988-76087-5-2

So many creative ideas and structures to play with. If you are someone who tends to take packaging apart so you can find out how it goes together then see if you can remake it in other sizes for your projects, then these books are going to really appeal to you.

There are so many ways you could use your stamping and other art forms alongside these 3D forms to create something amazing. Have fun exploring.

Happy Crafting

Billie

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Altered art box; Little box of Hope

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Today I’d like to share an altered box art project.

Altered art: stamped box

DH was going to put this in the bin when it was a plain cardboard box. I rescued it and altered it using The Birdsong Collection of stamps from Clear Impressions that were on Creative Stamping magazine.

• Paints: were W&N Galeria in powder blue
• Inks: Tsukeniko Versafine in Smokey Grey, Vintage sepia and Black

To tone down the stamping and help it fade into the background I went over it with watered down gesso.

Here is the inside of the box

Altered art: stamped box- the inside

Hope you like it as much as I do, it looks very pretty on the desk, waiting to be filled with inspirational quotes or ATCs.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

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Christmas 2012 Collection

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Over the last few months I’ve been making gift boxes and cards, this month I’ve been sharing the results with you. Here is a quick pic of the projects all together, and some links to the posts where you can find more details of how to create your own versions.

2012 Christmas Collection

Links

• 2012 Card
• Small Gift Box; suitable for fairy cakes or mince pies/sweets etc
• Tall Gift Box: Great for hand-made gifts

Later this week I’ll share details about the gift bag seen in this picture and add a link back here.

Hope you have a peaceful, happy holiday

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

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Tutorial Tall Gift Box

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It’s that time of year again, you know where you haven’t a clue what to get someone and every time you turn on the TV you are reminded just how close Christmas/the Holidays are now. If you have hoarded lots of cardstock over the years or want to make your gift wrapping really personal then these gift boxes will be ideal for you. They are quick to make, make a pile and let the glue set up over night and you will soon have pressies like they have on TV.

Billie’s Tall Milk carton Gift Box

You Will Need

• A4 Card stock 220 gsm for strength and stability. (Centura pearl looks nice)
• Scoring board
• Cutting Mat
• Scoring tool
• Steel Ruler
• Craft Knife
• PVA glue

Method

For detailed instructions on how to assemble the box, please check out my earlier tutorial; Small Gift Box. It includes a couple of videos that show the entire process all the way through.

This box is a standard milk carton construction and here are the dimensions you need for your cardstock and where to place your score lines.

Billie’s Tall Milk carton Gift Box: Scoring Instructions

Options/Added Extras

• Why not use your favorite stamps to decorate your cardstock before you score. Use pigment ink though, to ensure the wet glue won’t make the inks run.
• How about making panels from printed toppers from your favorite Crafting CDs or create your own designs and background papers in programmes like Photoshop and Craft Artist.
• Add your favorite ribbons and co-ordinate with your Christmas card for a really professional look.

Links

Video tutorial of how to score and assemble your gift box.

Mini Gift Box

If you are giving some one a gift card or even a cheque this holiday, why not add a few sweets in a gift box like this, so they still have a gift they can open and enjoy on the day. If you are really counting the costs, these gift boxes also make one of those big sweetie tins go a long way to share between more than one family and still look a personal gift.

Best wishes and thanks for reading see you soon

Billie 🙂

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Advent Calendar Gift Boxes

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Are you fed up with cheap n nasty chocolate in cheesy cartoon styles for the children? Like something a bit more grown up, personal, more elegant for a grown up advent calendar perhaps? Look no further, here is a quick n simple way to create the kind of calendar that suits your tastes and Holiday colour scheme too.

Advent Calendar Boxes

If you are short on card and storage space, you can just make 3 boxes and then simply change the numbers on those. A great way to use up small scraps of cardstock that we all hoard. Also a great use of those little pegs we all bought a few years ago and haven’t quite figured out what to do with 😉 I’ve hidden mine in the photo as they were blue, but I found double-sided foam pads stick the numbers to them very well.

Advent Calendar Boxes

If you have more time and storage space, make a box for every day and string them along a cord for an impressive Holiday decoration. Why not dig out your favorite Christmas/Holiday CDs and print decorative papers or panels for your boxes.

Method

The boxes are a standard milk carton design and I’ve included photos of the scoring lines below.

Start with A5 cardstock, about 200 gsm or above to keep the boxes sturdy. Place the short edge of the A5 card up to the scoring line on your scoring board and make the following scoring lines. Each line is measured from the previous score-line. If you get stuck please check out the video tutorial I posted last friday.

Billie’s Advent Calendar Boxes

Cut off the end panel that is shown hatched in the picture, then rotate your card 90 degrees. Keep the narrower score line of 2.5cm at the top of your scoring board then score as follows.

Billie’s Advent Calendar Boxes

• The number panels are created using sturdy card and a scalloped edge circular Spellbinders die, a plain circle Spellbinders die was used on paler card, to layer onto it. I then used number stamps to stamp on the dates.
• You can attach the number panels directly to your boxes if you wish, but because I’m short on storage space, I just made three boxes, and then all the number tiles are attached onto mini pegs and can be swapped between the boxes each time.
• For a more detailed description of how to make these boxes, look out for my ‘Holiday Gift Box video tutorial’ which was shown last friday.

Small Gift Box. Ideal for sweets cupcakes or mince pies 😉

Hope you give these a try, they are super easy to make.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

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Holiday Gift Box

Welcome Back

Today a close up shot of the box from friday’s tutorial.

Small Gift Box. Ideal for sweets cupcakes or mince pies 😉

I designed this gift box around the size of cupcake cases so that they would make my cupcakes look festive. The boxes will also fit Mr Kipling kinda pies too. Ideal for presenting neighbours with a few sweets too.

Check out the video tutorial of how to create this box.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

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Video Tutorial; Mini Gift Box great for Christmas Gifts

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Funds being over stretched as ever, I wanted a way to present a little gift to neighbours without it costing the earth. So I measured the size of a cake case and designed the box around that. This will also fit standard size individual mince pies so will be ideal for little treats for Christmas too. If you make handmade jewellery or want to give neighbours a few sweets to know they are thought of, these boxes are ideal.

Small Gift Box. Ideal for sweets cupcakes or mince pies 😉

You Will Need

• A4 cardstock 260 gsm or above. You can also use 12 x 12″ if you prefer
• Scoring board, I’m using a Scor It board.
• Steel Ruler
• Scoring Tool
• Cutting Mat
• Bone Folder
• Scissors
• PVA glue
• Brush or scrap of sturdy card (white or pearlised to prevent colour transfer)
• Decorative ribbon to co-ordinate with your card
• Topper of you choice (or you can emboss off cut card to decorate the panels of the box)

Method

This is a simple project but it will be much easier to show you how to create it with a video.

Part 1: Card size and Score Lines

Part 2. Assembly and Finishing

Options/Added Extras

In the film I was demonstrating with printer paper for high contrast. For your own box I’d advise cardstock of 250 gsm or above. The boxes look superb made in pearl cardstock such as Centura Pearl available from Crafters Companion.

If you have a cardstock friendly printer, why not design your own background patters with Craft Artist or your favorite crafting CD. For your first box, start with plain card, just to get the hang of where all the folds appear on the box. Once you know your way around use your favorite patterned card.

Christmas Gift Box; great for cupcakes & sweets

Links

I used Serif; Craft Artist software and the digikit; Season of Giving to design the topper seen on the front of the box. Both are available from Daisy Trail.

Best wishes and thanks for reading see you soon

Billie 🙂

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