Another Magic-Lid Box!

I have another Magic Lid Box... but in a very different size. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Magic-Lid Pencil Box

I ran out of patterned papers that coordinate with the projects I shared this week, but I wanted to do ONE last item that would match all the other things I created. So I opted to make my OWN patterned paper using a hydrangea stamp and coordinating inks. The stamp added a lot of texture to the print and the colors were exactly what I wanted. Keep this trick in mind when you want to create something... plain white cardstock is something most crafters have a lot of on hand, and inks and stamps can turn it into the perfect "designer" cardstock!

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock
• White cardstock, 4 1/4" x 11"
• Stamps
• Penny Black Clear Stamps, Allegra, Hydrangea
• Distress Inks
• Broken China
• Milled Lavender
• Dusty Concord
• Embellishments
• About 15 inches of white organza ribbon
• Tools
• Score-Pal
• 3" round hydra sponge
• Adhesives
• Red-liner tape (or other very strong double-sided adhesive), 1/8" width

Instructions

• With the 4 1/4" x 11" cardstock in landscape orientation, score at 2".
  
  
  
• Mask over the 2" portion of the cardstock with piece of paper (a Post-it Note works GREAT for this.)
  
  
  
• Stamp the hydrangea randomly all over the remainder of the cardstock, varying the inks as desired.
  For this particular project I decided to leave no gaps between the stamped images, but you can stamp it however YOU want... it is your designer paper!
  
  
  
  Remove the mask.
  
  
  
• Flip the paper over so the back side is up.
  Mask the back side so the 2" portion is exposed but the rest is protected.
  Sponge the 2" portion with the Broken China ink.
  
  
  
  Remove the mask.
  
  
  
• In landscape orientation, score the cardstock at 1" and 1 1/2", and then at 10 1/2".
  
  In portrait orientation, score the cardstock at 1", 2", 3" and 4".
  
• Cut off the small rectangle at the bottom right of the piece (this piece will be 1/2" x 1/4".)
  Reserve the piece to use to aid in measuring the placement of the triangular cut-out pieces.
  
  Cut vertically on the 4 score lines across the bottom of the cardstock, up to the horizontal score line which is 1/2" from the bottom edge.
  
  Working with the side that is mostly white up, mountain fold on the score line that is at the 1 1/2" mark.
  Using the cut out piece, measure and mark 1/2" from each of the score lines along the fold line.
  
  
  
• With a straight-edge, draw a diagonal line from the marks to the intersection of the two score lines and along the score line, as shown.
  
  
  (Note that the last triangle, at the 1/4" tab, gets marked horizontally to the edge instead of to the fold.)
• Cut along the drawn lines.
  
  
  
• Open up the piece.
  With the wrong side still up, valley fold on all of the the long score lines.
  Valley fold all the shorter score-lines except the one at 1"; mountain fold that one.
  
• Apply red liner tape to the long 1/4" tab on the print side, right next to the fold.
  
  
  
• Remove the red liner from the tape and align the edge of the cardstock with the fold so that a squared tube is formed.
  Apply red liner tape to the edges of the first and third bottom tabs on the inside of the tube.
  Fold in the second and fourth tabs.
  Remove the red liner from the tape.
  Fold in the first and third tabs, pressing to adhere to the other two tabs, and forming the box bottom.
• Apply red-liner tape to the outside of the 1/4" flap at the top of the box.
  Forming the lid of the box around the rest of the box, carefully align the edge of the lid with the fold of the tab.
  
  
  
• Press onto the red liner tape to finish the lid.
  
  
  
• Tie a ribbon around the lid with a bow.
  The box is finished and measures 1" square by 8 1/2" tall when closed.
  
  
  

This box is a great way to give small, long items such as pens or pencils, crochet hooks, a tire guage, etc. I hope you'll give it a try.

Smiles,
Kathy

Card Organizer/Matchbox Calendar

NOTE: The cardstock I am using in these two projects is pearlescent with a great deal of sparkle... it doesn't photograph well, but does look great in person... and it coordinates with the papers used this week for the CD Folder album, the Seed Pocket, and the Magic Box.)

Card Organizer

This organizer is a great way to keep track of those special days throughout the year and get your cards made early so you don't miss any! With 12 pockets, one for each month, you'll have plenty of space to put them as you get them made and keep track of them until it is time to mail them.

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock

• 8 sheets of 12" x 12" Pearlescent Blue cardstock
• 2 pieces of poster board or lightweight card board, each 6" x 8"
• Scraps of paper and cardstock to coordinate with pearlescent cardstock
• Two pieces of patterned paper, 3/4" x 8" each
• One piece of patterned paper, 3 1/4" x 3 1/4"
• One piece of cardstock about 2" x 3", for punching tag

Embellishments

• K&Co Cottage Garden dimensional stickers, Hydrangeas
• About 18" of white organza ribbon
• 1" binder coil for Bind-it-All (I used white)

Tools

• Scor-Pal or Scor-buddy     (
• Tag punch
• Bind-It-All
• Purple fine-tipped marker
• Crop-a-Dile (I used it only as a hole punch)
• Wire cutters for cutting binding coil

Ahesive

• Tape gun or other glue of choice

Instructions

• Cut two piece of the cardstock into two 6" x 8 " pieces each.
  Glue these to the front and back of the two pieces of poster board to form the covers.
  Add the strip of patterned paper along the binding edge.
  Set aside.
  
  
  
• Score each of the remaining pieces of cardstock at 4".
  
  
  
• Fold each piece on the score lines.
  Place the fold against the top of the Scor-Pal.
  
  
  
  
• Score each piece at 6".
  Fold each piece on the score line.
  
  
  These are the pages of the organizer.
• Put the Bind-it-All on "D" for punching pages.
  Place each page into the Bind-it-All punch, one page at a time with the bottom fold closest to the edge of the machine, and with the open end down in the machine.
  
  
  
  Punch the page.
  
• Turn the page so the bottom fold is outside of the machine, but the open end is still down in the machine; punch again.
  
  
  
• Punch the covers on the edges with the patterned fabric in the same manner (do NOT move the setting from "D".)
• Make a stack of the pages.
  Place the front cover on top of the pages, right side up.
  Plave the back cover on top of the front cover with the right side against the front cover (down).
  Align the punched holes.
• Cut two 6-coil pieces off of the binder coil.
• Put one of the coil pieces through the punched holes from the cover side of the stack.
  Bind in the Bind-It-All according to manufacturer's instructions.
  
  
  
• Cut out each of the month's from the organizer blank (I used the one I found HERE rather than re-invent the wheel.
  Affix one of the organizer calendar blank pages to each of the pockets in the organizer book.
  
  
  
• Affix the ribbon to the front of the organizer so it can tie around the center of the organizer.
  Adhere the square of patterned paper to the front, diagonally, over the ribbon.
  Adhere the hydrangea dimensional stickers over the diagonal square.
• Make a small tag using the plain cardstock scrap and the punch.
  Punch a hole in the tag.
  Neatly print "Card Organizer" on the tag with the purple marker.
  Add a small tail of ribbon to the tag, through the hole.
  Attach the tag to the hydrangeas with a foam dot.
• Tie the organizer closed with a bow in the ribbon.

My second project for today is a very quick and easy Matchbox Calendar.

Matchbox Calendar

This project is a wonderful way to use up scraps of patterned paper or cardstock. Perfect for the purse, these calendars are very quick and easy to make, and are a wonderful little gift for a friend.

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock

• Scrap of Pearlescent Blue cardstock, Cut to 2 3/4" x 5 3/4"

Embellishments

• K&Co Cottage Garden dimensional stickers, Irises
• About 6" of white organza ribbon, tied in a bow

Tools

• Scor-Bug or similar tool
• Scor-Pal or Scor-buddy
• Stapler with standard staples

Instructions

• Download this Calendar Blank (in PDF format) and print it.
  (Note: this is a 2011 calendar. Updated calendars can be found here: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
  
  Cut out each of the months along the solid lines.
• Using a Scor-bug or similar tool on the Scor-Buddy, perforate each of the calendar pages at 1 3/4" from the top edge, as shown.
  
  <! photo of scor-bug />
  
• Stack the calendar pages in order, with January on top (I use a little adhesive near the bottom edge of each page to hold them together.)
  Set aside.
• Score the piece (in landscape orientation) at 3/4", 3 1/2", and 3 2/3" (the triangle on the Scor-Buddy.)
  Valley fold each of the scores.
  
  
  
• Place the stack of calendar pages inside the smallest fold.
  Staple the pages in place with a single staple, as shown in the following photo.
  
  <! photo of stack stapled into place />
  
• Tuck the edge of the matchbook lid under the lip of the stapled end and set aside.
• Attach two Irises to the matchbox lid.
  Attach the bow to the matchbox lip, over the staple.
  
  
  
• The Matchbox Calendar is done.
  
  
  

Here are the two projects re-visited:

 I hope you have enjoyed your visit with me this week. I don't post this regularly as a rule... just on occasion (I have a couple of jobs that keep me pretty busy, plus I am recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery, which means LOTS of therapy), but I hope that when I do find time to create again, you'll come by for a visit and leave me a note. A Smiles,
Kathy

Magic Box

Here is a fun little box that looks like it has a seperate lid, but in reality, it is all one piece, and the "lid" closes like magic! One of my earlier posts on this blog was a smaller version of this box. This one is a little harder to make because the measurements are a little trickier, but it is still a fun project to make, and the box will be almost as big a hit as whatever you put in it!

Magic Box

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock
• HEAVY double-sided patterned paper of choice, 8" x 11 1/2" and small scrap for tag
• Stamps and Inks
• Stampendous Clear Stamps, Hot Rocketz, Happy Birthday stamp
• Distress Ink Pad, Dusty Concord
• Embellishments
• About 18" of 1/4" wide ribbon of choice
• Tools
• Crop-a-Dile (used as a hole punch through a lot of layers)
• Martha Stewart Score Tool or Scor-pal
• Adhesives
• Red-liner tape

Instructions

• With the rectangle of paper in landscape orientation, score at 2 3/4", 5 1/2", 8 1/4", and 11".
  (This is every 2 3/4" from the left edge.)
  The side of the paper you want for the lid should be face down.
  
  If you are using a Martha Stewart tool it is easy to score on these marks, since the board is grooved at every 1/8".
  It is a little trickier with the Scor-Pal, so I am going to walk you through each of the scores.
  
  First, put the edge of the paper at the 1/4" mark, then score at the 3" groove and the 8 1/2" groove.
  
  
  
  Move the edge of the paper back flush with the gutter on the left. Score at the 5 1/2" groove, and then at the 11" groove.
  
  
  
• Turn the paper to portrait orientation and score at 1 3/8", 2 3/4", 4 1/8", and 6 5/8".
  Again, these are easy to score on the Martha Stewart board, but a little trickier on the Scor-Pal; I'll walk you through them.
  
  Move the paper to the 5/8" mark and score at the 2" groove.
  
  
  
  Move the paper to the 1/4" mark and score at the 3" groove.
  
  
  
  Move the paper to the 7/8" mark and score at the 5" groove.
  
  
  
  Move the paper to the 3/8" mark and score at the 7" groove.
  
  
  
• Hold the paper in the landscape orientation so the three score lines are toward the top and the single score line is near the bottom, with the 1/2" tab to the right.
  
  Cut away the small bottom right rectangle (1/2" x 1 3/8")
  
  
  
  Reserve the cut-away piece... it will simplify some of the measurements that need to be made.
  Also cut from the bottom of the piece to the bottom horizontal score line along each of the other vertical score lines.
  
• Use the cut-away piece to measure and mark from the score lines inward on the middle of the top three scores (the four marks will be centered between the vertical score lines on the second horizontal score.)
  
  
  
  
• Mountain fold the second horizontal score line.
  Turn the paper 180° so that the fold is toward you.
  Use a straight edge to draw a diagonal line from the mark you made to the intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines to the left of the mark.
  
  
  
  
  
• Cut along each of the diagonal lines, and cut a vertical line at the score lines from the fold, up to meet the diagonal line, removing a triangle.
  
  
  
  
  
• Cut off the 1/4" tab only where it is adjacent to the removed triangle.
  Open the piece (turn it so it will look like the diagram and the photo below.)
  
  
  
• Valley fold the second horizontal score line, and mountain fold on the score lines that will now be together right below it.
  
  
  
• Put red-liner tape on the outside of the longer 1/2" tab.
  
  
  Remove the liner.
• Mountain fold on each of the 5 vertical scores.
  Affix the edge of the first panel to the tab, forming a squared-tube with a partial lid.
  
  
  
• Mountain fold all of the bottom tabs.
  Apply red liner tape to the inside edges of two of the bottom tabs that are opposite each other.
  Remove the liner.
  Fold in the two tabs that do not have liner tape.
  Fold in the other two tabs to adhere them to the first two, forming the box bottom.
  
  
  
• Trim off a little triangle at the top and bottom of the 1/4" tab at the lid of the box.
  
  
  
• Place a little bit of red-liner tape on the outside edge of the tab (on the lid colored side.)
  Remove the liner tape.
  
  
  Press the edge of the lid onto the tab (don't get it too tight or the lid won't slide well.)
  
• The box is now formed. Here are photos of the top view, closed, the side view, also closed, and a side view, partially opened.
  
  
• Make a small tag out of the patterned paper, either free-hand or with a punch.
  Stamp "Happy Birthday" with dusty concord ink.
  
  
  
  
  Add a piece of ribbon through the hole in the tag.
  Attach the tag to the side of the lid with a 3-D dot.
  
• Tie a ribbon around the lid of the box.

Smiles,
Kathy