Mini Journal "Gift Box" and a tutorial for the Gift Card Pocket Bow from Art Impressions

 Happy Tuesday everyone!

Today I'm sharing a box that I made using the new 5805 – Mini Journal Box Dies.

The gingham paper is from 5741 – Valentines Paper Pack.

My friend's name starts with K so I used a die from 5562 – Journal Letter Die Set.

The little oval "tag" was made using the center of the oval frame in the Journal Template Die set.

I cut off the bottom to make it fit in the pocket.

I may just have happened to have some Reese's Thins laying around and discovered

that two of them fit perfectly into the little box as well.

Though I didn't use a bow on my box, I recently received a question about how to assemble

the bow from the new 5811 – Gift Card Pocket Dies.

Here's a quick picture tutorial showing how to put these adorable bows together.

I must say that I LOVE them!!

Step 1: Die cut the necessary pieces.
You'll need two of the one that looks like a fishing bobber.

Step 2: Put a dot of glue on the oval shapes and fold them over.
Don't crease them because you want them to be "fluffy."

Step 3: Glue them onto the long piece overlapping them a bit in the center.

Step 4: Place a dab of glue in the middle and add the little strip of paper to it as shown.

Step 5: Flip it over and fold down the top part of the strip and glue it down.

Step 6: Put another dab of glue down and fold up the bottom portion of the little strip.

Flip it over and you have a sweet, little bow. 

I hope you like my little gift box and that this bow tutorial will help if you weren't quite sure how to use it.  I can't wait to see your creations!

Beachy Shadowbox Card Tutorial

Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing a fun shadow card that I made using most of the ocean freebies from Art Impressions.

These shadowbox cards are one of my favorite to make.

I love how much dimension and how many images you can get onto them.

I started by cutting an 8"x8" piece of paper in half to make 2 pieces each measuring 8"x4".

Next I scored them at 1" and 1 3/8"...flipped the paper over and scored the other side at 1" and 1 3/8". 

Next I cut a window in the front panel using one of the 5063 – Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Die.

After cutting the window I creased the score lines on both sides to form the top/front panel.

Here's all my critters colored up.  They all have Wink of Stella on them though it's tough to see in the picture.  I wanted it to look like water glistening on them.  The seahorse went onto another card.

I wanted to leave a space on the back of my card to send a personal note.  I glued these pieces on before starting any of the inside of the card.

After creasing the front panel and decorating the back of the card I did the back panel in the opposite direction so they could fit together to form a "box."

Next focus on the part of the card you'll see.

After your front and back panels are prepped you need to decorate the back panel completely.  (you can't really decorate once they're glued together...it's too difficult to attach images and die cuts) Once your back panel is decorated you need to cut two strips of paper that will connect from side to side.  The width is really up to you.  I didn't want mine to show so I made them 3/8" x 6". 

I used clear acetate to attach the turtle so he would hang down and look like he was swimming.  The coral is just glued to the strip.  

Once they were in place I glued the top and bottom strips on and added some waves and more coral.

I decorated the front panel next.  The dolphin is also hanging from a clear acetate piece so he could swim.

Once your front panel is all decorated the way you want it you're ready to glue them together.

You can see that you get 3 layers with strips (which you can eliminate if you only want a simple shadowbox. 

Aren't these the cutest little animals EVER??

I have some examples of other shadowbox cards I've done here...

Southwest Christmas

Happy Trails

I tried to be clear in my instructions but I'm not great at tutorials.  If you have any questions about anything that I didn't make clear please feel to ask.

Raccoon Mini Spinner tutorial

Hello Ai fans!

Today I'm sharing two mini spinner cards with you.

One is a little more feminine or juvenile and the other one is more masculine.

I used a sweet set from Art Impressions called 

4733 – Mini Raccoon Spinner Set

The cutest part about these is that you can wind them up and then let them go...watch them spin!!

                  

These are actually pretty simple to make.  I've put together a tutorial for you.  There are a lot of photos because I wanted it to be really clear what I did at each step...sorry it's so photo heavy.

Cut your cardstock base to 5 1/2" x 11". Score and fold your paper at 5 1/2".

Score the left side at 2 3/4".

Using your paper trimmer ... turn the paper sideways and line up @ the 1" mark from the side of the card and cut from 1 3/8" up to the 4 1/8" mark.  Flip over and repeat on the other side. 

Score from the end of each cut to the other cut.

Crease the center scored portion back and the two sides forward.

Cute your designer paper to 5 1/4"x 5 1/4". 

Measure the panels on the left side and cut your DP to fit.  You'll want them about 1/8" shorter than what each panel measures so that there's a border.  I didn't give measurements here because they can very slightly due to exactly how you score and cut.

Once your panels are all assembled you're ready to add your spinner.

Stamp, color and die cut your shapes.

Cut your string and adhere to the back of the card.

Next, adhere your front and back images.  I use double sided tape for this.

Stand up your card...wind it up and watch it spin!!

I made one with the wood grain background because I wanted one to be masculine.

My other cards was a little more feminine or whimsical with the dots and flowers.

I hope this inspired you to think a little outside the box.  You don't always just need to cut a circle on the front of your card to create a spinner.