Mini House Thank You Treat Box

Welcome to another Make It Monday blog hop. I’ll link back to Connie Hanks’ project if you missed it, and also point you to the next stop on the blog hop at the end of this post. This week is a Thanksgiving theme, so I’ve come up with something you can use throughout the holiday season!

make it monday blog hop fall logo

Today’s project is a treat box made from one 12″x12″ sheet of patterned paper. I thought that with the holidays quickly approaching, this would be a great little trick to have on hand for those last minute needs. When I first saw this idea, the shape reminded me of a miniature house, and I immediately wanted to decorate it like that. If you have a lot of extra paper on hand, projects like this are perfect for using your stash. I’m not even sure where I got the paper I used for the main part of this box.

Before I get started showing you how I decorated my “house,” I’m going to show you the video where I first saw the idea. Julie Comstock describes it so well I decided to just let her do the heavy lifting here!

 

For Review:

  • First take the 12″x12″ paper and score it at 3 ” and 9″.
  • Turn the paper 90 degrees and score at 5″ and 7 “

Now, this is where I decided I better do my home decorating, or it would be too tricky to try and do it once the box took shape. The features you use for the house need to be between the 3″ and 9″ score lines, so that you are in the middle 6″ across the width of the paper.

mini house gift box outside decor

Begin the decorating between the 3″ and 9″ score.

I used a ruler to trace the outline of my door, which runs only 2 1/2 inches from the fold line. You want to leave plenty of room at the top because that is where you’ll be putting the “roof.”  The images are stamped in black from the Close To My Heart Thanksgiving Hostess set.

Next I cut a little door from kraft colored paper, at 2.5″ x 1.5″. Bronze Shimmer Trim was used to create the three little windows on the door. The door knob is from of the Bronze Sparkles.

mini house gift box door

Kraft cardstock, shimmer trim and a sparkle complete the door.

The roof was created from a piece of paper cut to 4″ x 6″. I cut this one at 4.5″ wide so that I had a little excess to use a scalloped edge punch along the long edges. If you are going to punch the edges, it is easier to score the middle of the paper before you punch the edges so that you get the true middle of the paper.

mini house gift box roof

Cut at 4.5″ x 6″, and score the center before you use a decorative punch along the long edges.

Fold your roof over the top edge of your box, and secure all the layers together so they can be punched at the same time to have your holes lined up.

Secure all layers and punch holes in the roof.

Secure all the layers at the top of your box and roof to punch holes.

Fill your box with your treats. Be sure to use appropriate food safe plastic bags, parchment paper, or deli paper to keep the contents together and keep any oils from getting on the box.

Fill the box, using food safe plastic or papers

Fill the box, using food safe plastic or papers.

 

If you like, you can ink the edges on the roof before securing it over the top of the box. Put the roof on and now you can use whatever ribbon or fibers you have on hand to thread the holes you made and secure the roof over the box, to keep your treats safe inside! I used some bakers twine for this house, and here is the end result.

Mini house gift box for treats

 

Don’t miss the November Stamp of the Month!

It's the Little Things, CTMH November Stamp of the Month

“It’s the Little Things,” November Stamp of the Month

If you missed Connie Hanks‘ idea on turning Thanksgiving place cards into a gratitude keepsake + hostess gift, be sure and go back! Now it’s time to move forward to see how Melissa Shanhun is counting her blessings to create a gratitude album.

Register for updates, so you won’t miss anything!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Easy Birthday Card with a Scrap of Patterned Paper

A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

Often we’d like to make a birthday card, but really don’t have a lot of time. This birthday card went together rather quickly! The whole idea came from a scrap of paper! I knew the recipient liked orange and I saw this scrap of paper on my desk and thought it was close enough to orange. It is from the Chalk It Up Close to My Heart paper pack. I liked it because it already had some other colors and it would make my color choices fast and easy. The color along the left side is the decorative “zip strip” I told you about the other day. It is the extra 1/2 inch on one side of a patterned 12×12″ paper, which is a bonus decorative strip that coordinates with the paper pack.

Since I was in a hurry (and maybe a bit lazy), my plan was to just use this scrap and try to get as much mileage from it as possible. So I cut it into strips and then arranged them across the width of the card, and adhered them.

One thing I like about using clear acrylic stamps is the fact that you can pull them off the backing sheets and arrange them before you ever stamp them. If you don’t like the look you can move them around until you are happy, or entirely swap out the stamps. When you begin to accumulate stamp sets, it’s fun to mix and match. I decided to use the cupcake and candle from the Birthday set from the CTMH Cricut Artiste collection, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Build A Cake set.

D1618 Build a Cake

CTMH – Build a Cake, # D1618

CTMH D1529 Birthday_Artiste

CTMH, Birthday – Cricut Artiste Collection

I stamped the “Happy Birthday” on white card stock, in Lagoon ink to match the color at the left side. This helped pull the Lagoon color across the entire card. The white card stock was matted with at piece of Sorbet card stock to coordinate with the color from the scrap of paper I started with. The cupcake and candle stamp were stamped in `black and were colored with the Touch Twin alcohol markers in Peacock Green, Barely Beige, and Golden Yellow. Then I added some glue to the cupcake to and sprinkled with glitter to make the icing look like it had been dusted with sugar.

Glitter was added for a little sparkle

Glitter was added for a little sparkle!

I was happy with the way it turned out, and extra happy that it didn’t take too long! Isn’t it funny how inspiration comes in many ways? This was simply because I only wanted to use one scrap of paper I found on my desk! What inspiration will you find today? Come over and share it with us on our Facebook Group! Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures! KS       If you are in the US, please feel free to shop in my online Close To My Heart store. Here are handy links for the products in this featured project.

Easy Birthday Card with Candles

Today is the grand opening day of Take Heart Ideas! I’m so thrilled to be a part of the new site and contributing ideas. The site is meant to share inspiration and ideas, as well as others sharing their ideas by participating in challenges. The first challenge is “Anything Goes” with the stipulation that you use at least one Close to My Heart product. If nothing else, you could always go into Studio J digital scrapbooking online software and create something, because you don’t even need any physical products! Be sure and submit your project, because we’ll select a winner. You can see the prize on the Take Heart Ideas site.

Although the first challenge is Anything Goes, we decided to coordinate our efforts by using a color palette inspiration piece from Design-Seeds.com. I love the color combos that come right from photographs!

watermelon hues_via-design-seeds

July color inspiration from Design-Seeds.com

With that in mind, I found the perfect Close to My Heart paper pack! Honestly, I had no idea this paper pack had perfect colors for the challenge when we selected the inspiration color palette! It is the Ivy Lane selection, #X7178B It is retiring this month so grab it now if you like it! There are six sheets of patterned paper, and six sheets of coordinating card stock!

take-heart-ideas-ctmh-challenge-01-Kristie-Sloan-1

CTMH, Ivy Lane Paper Pack

I never seem to have enough birthday cards on hand, so why not use this time to make one!   The hardest part about this card is just cutting pieces of paper! Now that I’ve come up with the measurements, you’ll be good to go make of these rather quickly!

take-heart-ideas-ctmh-challenge-01-Kristie-Sloan-3

Happy Birthday Card with minimal effort!

Here’s the “recipe”:

  • Cardstock for base of card: 8.5″ x 5.5″
  • Patterned paper: 5.25″ x 4″  – distressed edges with black ink
  • Dark card stock: 4.25″ x 3″
  • Cardstock to stamp your greeting on – lighted edged with black ink
  • Happy Birthday was stamped in Hollyhock CTMH ink
  • Candles were strips of patterned paper 1/4″ wide and 1 3/8″ tall, perfect for scraps!
  • Flames were drawn with a white Signo ink pen.
  • Black faux stitching was done with a fine tip black pen.
  • DONE!

I was afraid the candles were going to be a nightmare to stick down straight and fairly even, so I applied adhesive and then stuck one end on a ruler to line them up and then get them on the paper!

take-heart-ideas-ctmh-challenge-01-Kristie-Sloan-2

Stuck “candles” on a ruler to line them up!

Quick reminder, if you like the Ivy Lane paper pack, run over and get it before it’s gone! Here is a quick link to all the Ivy Lane items.

The CTMH stamp of the month is this fun Circus Alphabet set. It is $5 with a $50 order.

CTMH 2014 July SOTM

 

I have also entered this card in this challenge:

Totally Gorjuss – Pink and Green

Cards Galore – One Stamp

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper – Patterned Paper

Art Journaling Basics – 5 Ways to Create Backgrounds

Art Journaling Basics - BackgroundsSo far, in our Artful Adventure into Art Journaling Basics, we have covered:

Now, let the fun begin!

Let’s look at some ways to get started on a page. Here are three methods of creating your page.

  1. Create a background and then decide what you’ll put on the page as you move forward.
  2. Have something already selected that you want to make sure your background will work with.
  3. Work on part of your page and as it evolves, fill in the background.

There, now that doesn’t sound so hard, does it?

Today, we are going to look at some ways to work with the first method – starting the background first. With all the products available, look around at what you already have. Grab something and let’s go! You can use watercolors (cheap ones will do!), acrylic paint, or patterned paper.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what the page will look like.  At this point, we may not have any idea, and that’s fine. Stop looking at the blank page and just get started!

We would love to see your backgrounds!  Share them by linking in the comments, or come join us on the Facebook Group!

You may also be interested in:

Art Journaling Basics online class with eBook bonus!

Click the image for more information

Until our next Adventure,

KS

 

Heart Punch Flowers

When you participate in any creative activity where there are daily prompts, you just never know what you will come up with!  That is no exception here today!  I have been participating in a daily scrapbooking challenge, while still wanting to give you some fun ideas to use heart punches and die cuts!  Today, I worked in some heart flowers!

Artful Adventures Kristie Sloan LOAD213-1 Heart Punch flowers
Heart punches or die cuts make quick work of creating enough hearts for a project like this.  Buttons create the centers of these hearts, and stitching created the stems.  There is ink sprayed at the bottom of the stems giving it more of a “dirt” look.

This is actually a digital page, and my computer was so slow this afternoon that I really was frustrated.  Normally, it would just not have taken long to make this page either in paper or digital, but it did today.  I just realized I never put leaves on my flowers, as was my original plan.  Did YOU notice?  I’m fine with it as is.  Tell me about a project you were just happy with at some point, even though it wasn’t your plan!

Make some heart flowers and share with us over on the Artful Adventures Facebook Group!