If you've followed my blog for a while, you may know that I absolutely love making boxes. When I go to the trouble of making handmade gift, I like to go the extra mile and make a handmade box to present it in. I had great fun decorating these boxes with a simple ribbon and flower embellishment.
To stick on the ribbon , I used some double sided sticky tape. I stick this to the box once I have cut and scored the template, but before sticking the box together. If you would like to make a similar sized box you could use my
Playing Card Box template. I love to use
Tonic Studios Super Trimmer to cut and score my box templates. It makes the job so quick and easy. I cut out all the outer edges with the trimmer and then cut the fiddly bits with my
favourite scissors. The scoring is so easy to do with the Super trimmer, and it makes such a neat job. I used to do it with a ruler and a scoring tool, (and if that's all you have it will still work fine), but I would recommend the
Super Trimmer to you. It goes so much quicker. I use it so much I'll be needing replacement blades very soon!
For the flower I punched out 5
flower shapes out of thin card, and then curled the edges of the petals inwards. I then layered the flowers with a small dot of glue in the centre of each one. I pressed each flower in place until the glue dried using the eraser end of a pencil. I then finished off the flower with a jewel in the centre and glued it in place on the box. The finished flower is pretty sturdy. Because it is made of card and the layers are offset, it holds up well and can't be squashed easily. And doesn't it look pretty !
P.S. If you would like the opportunity to win a paper punch. Don't forget to enter
Tonic Studios Giveaway which runs until February the 14th.
Here's a very simple little project to make a last minute gift for a teacher or auntie. It's lovely for your child to be able to give something which they have made themselves. Fill it with a cellophane bag of choccies tied up with pretty ribbon, and Bob's your Uncle!
You will need... a willing little helper. This is my sweet and creative 4 year old daughter .
A heart and a flower paper punch...
...and a bunch of other stuff. I have here some Pebeo Porcelaine paint, a sheet of acetate for making a stencil (although you could just as easily use paper for this), an old sponge cut into little blocks for painting, some milk bottle lids for the paint, some masking tape and most importantly, a plain white mug for decorating. I find Tesco's basics range brilliant for this. A straight sided mug is easiest to work with.
{Slight intermission where my daughter discovers building with the foam blocks is fun...I always save any foam from packaging...I think this foam might have come with a laptop computer. }
To start with, I cut a strip of acetate the right size to go around the mug, then after a little help positioning the shapes, my little girl punched them out. OK this was posed, she did need to press with both hands to activate the punch, but she did manage to punch out the shapes all by herself. We alternated heart/ flower/ heart/ flower etc. Now we all know paper punches are wonderful for using with paper to make cards and other paper items, but did you know that using them to create a stencil can be very effective too.
We fastened the punched strip to the mug with masking tape and then my little girl chose some paint. She mixed the colours herself using a cotton bud in the plastic lids.
Using the little pieces of sponge, she dab, dab, dabbed. Then mixed a couple more colours and did the same. We then moved the stencil to the bottom of the mug and repeated the process. Simple! 
Look what I did mum! 
Of course you don't have to use hearts and flowers, if you have other punches that you would prefer, then go ahead - have fun! Let me know if you try this - I'd love to see the results.
