Fred She Said Spotlight "Your A Blessing" Magic Box Tutorial

Hi all, it is my turn to make a spotlight DT project for Fred She Said and I chose to make another magic box.  Tracey our very sweet and wonderful artist leader graciously created a special Emma digi image especially for my project!!!  I love making these boxes full of surprises when they are opened and asked if Tracey could design an Emma that would hold sentiments and have a back image since the box is made to be seen 360 degrees around.  This cute Emma is holding a sign that says "Your A Blessing" but has other sentiments that you can substitute to fit the occasion.  Also in this set are the flowers, in three sizes, that are floating around her.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

You can see in the picture below the back image that fits perfectly with the front image and her dress has a perfect spot for a bow!

You can see the box closed with the lid in the above picture.  Tip, can you see the side of the box bowing out a bit?  I used a lighter weight base card stock thinking that it would be ok because of the layered panels.  Well it is just those layered panels that are weighing down that base card stock and causing that little bowing effect.  So, use a heavier base card stock, in the previous two I used Bazzil and didn't have this problem. 

I printed out the Emma with her sign and flowers (ready to print, all on one digi image sheet) onto an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of white card stock.  I colored her with Prismacolors and OMS in blues and yellows.  Then I cut her and the flowers out with a craft knife.

After cutting out the Emma images, front and back, take a small tipped black marker (I used a small flat tipped calligraphy pen) color the white edges as in the above picture.  It gives the cut out images a finished look and can disguise any misalignment.

The flowers were also colored with Prismacolors and OMS, then the outlines gone over with a matching shade of blue metallic gel pen. I did not color the center as this is the largest and would be layered with the smallest. Turn over the flower and with a matching color marker or with Prismacolors, color the back of the flower if you wish.  Cut them out and shape on a foam matt with a ball stylus or as I did with my sewing awl.  With firm pressure, but not too heavy to tear the card stock, press down and pull a line with your shaping tool from the center to the end of the petal on each of the three design lines.  This will shape and slightly cup up your petals.  You can see this on the finished petals.

Next I take a pen that has a smooth rounded end and shape the center to cup the flower more.  You can use anything that has a similar shape to do this.  Press with firm pressure in a circular spiral motion.

I then used my glue pen to draw around the sign and edge it with yellow Martha Stewart fine glitter.  The largest and smallest flowers were layered and I added the same yellow glitter for centers and a good size dot of aquamarine Big & Glitzy Glitter Glue on the bottom center of each petal.  This gives the flowers some real sparkle and dimension.  The middle size flowers were not layered.

Using my Scor-Pal, I scored a 12 X 12 sheet of card stock at 4 1/2 and at 7 1/2, turning the card stock 90 degrees and score at the marks again.  This makes the box base. 

Cut the corner squares out to form the sides and bottom of box as above.  Then cut eight panels (4 for inside and 4 for outside of box) from either the same color card stock or one of your color choice that are 4 1/4" X 2 3/4".  Then cut from designer paper of your choice, or stamp your own, eight more panels that are 4" X 2 1/2". Using a glue pen edge with glue and glitter all 16 panels if you wish.  Layer the two glittered panels together forming eight double layer panels and glue these onto all four panels of the box base, front and back with double sided tape. I used K & Co. Handmade collection designer paper that has shiny metallic foiled designs, just perfect for this projects color scheme.

 

For the center bottom of the box, cut a  2 3/4" X 2 3/4" square of the same color card stock as the layered side panels and a  2 1/2  X  2 1/2" of the same designer paper.  Glitter these as you did the side panels but do not layer them together yet.  Set them aside.   

 

             

The top of the box is cut from a 6 1/8"  X  6 1/8"  piece of card stock and is scored at  1 1/2" and  4 1/8", turn 90 degrees and score again at the same measurements.  Following the directions for the base of the box assemble the lid and side panels on the outside of the box lid only.  The measurements for the layered side panels of the box lid are 2 7/8" X 1 1/4"; and 2 5/8" X 1" of designer paper.  

Take an acetate sheet and cut  3/8 " wide strips.  Bend over one end of the strip 1/8".  Put a glue dot or double sided tape on the back side of each layered flower and attach to the to of the bent portion of the acetate strip.  Next take the the front and back side of the Emma image and cut an acetate strip no wider than her legs and 3 1/2" long.  Add double sided tape to 2 1/2" of this strip, front and back, leaving 1" on one end with no tape.  On the front Emma image add double sided tape to the back.  The acetate strip with the double sided tape will be sandwiched between the front and back images. 

Peel backing off one side of the tape on the acetate strip and lay it down on the front Emma image from her waist to her feet.  The portion of the acetate strip with no tape will be sticking out at the bottom of her feet.  Add more double sided tape to the back of the Emma image and adhere the front to the back aligning carefully as the tape is very sticky and repositioning is not easy.  Cut the portion of the acetate strip at the bottom of the Emma image in half length wise (from her feet to end of strip) and bend one side to the front and one to the back right at her feet.  Adhere a ribbon bow to the back of Emma's dress.

Take the designer paper square that you cut for the base box center bottom and cut a slit the width of the acetate strip on the Emma image.  See picture above, but cut in the middle of the square where Emma will stand.  Slide the cut ends of the acetate strip through the slit so that Emma stands on the square (see picture).  Carefully turn over, holding in your hands, and tape the acetate ends down (with scotch tape or other non bulky tape) to the underside of the square securing it.  Emma should stand securely and free on her own. 

Now taking the acetate strips with the flowers, measure the height of the flowers standing straight up, no higher than Emma, preferably a bit shorter and varying heights, and bend the bottom end of the acetate strip at this point (where it will come out of the base).  Cut slits in the base square around Emma (as in pictures) and slide them into the base, taping them down on the underside as you did with Emma.  Add as many or as few as you like of the large double sided or medium single flowers around Emma, saving a medium and a small flower for embellishing one panel and a large double layer and two medium or small flowers for the box lid.  You could add leaves to your flowers if you wish, but I chose not to to keep to the two color theme.

 

You can see from the picture above the flower heights with the box partially closed. When it is closed Emma's head peeks out from among the flowers.

After adding all the flowers and making sure that they are secured with tape, take the larger glittered square piece of card stock and add double sided tape to it.  Peel of the backing and adhere the square with Emma and the flowers to it.  Peel the backing off the double sided tape on the box base center and adhere Emma to box base as in the picture of finished box.  You can adjust the "float" of the flowers by very slightly bending them at the base to get them to fall how you like.  They should float freely and bob with the slightest air movement, but should not fall flat or be standing straight up.  You could if you wish, add vellum butterflies or dragonflies to some of the strips or flowers. You may have to adjust the float as this would add weight to the flowers.

You can now embellish the insides of your panels as you wish.  In my example, I stamped in a coordinating blue ink and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder, "Faith", "Hope" and "Love" onto a sheet of vellum.  Then I die cut these out with a Nestability scalloped tag die.  Blue crystals were added to the ends of the tags as well as Stickles glitter.  Two of the flowers were added to the last panel. If you wish you can add other embellishments or sentiment to the outside of the box. Let all glue dry and then fold up the four panels and put the lid on to hold closed. 

When you pull the lid off the sides will fall and the flowers will float about Emma surprising your intended recipient!  While this isn't a fast project it is well worth the time and effort and will be loved by whomever receives it and your reward will be seeing the surprise on their face!  If you have made magic boxes before, I'm sure you will love making one with Emma and the design possibilities are endless.  And a big thanks and hug to Tracey for creating this super cute Emma for me to use! You will see Emma again in another magic box later. I found the instructions for these cute boxes here, and where you will see some amazing ones as well as other tutorials! I have had fun making this box and I would love to see what you create also, link your project in the comments section! 

And if you haven't seen yesterday's post, look below to meet my newest grandaughter, Chaiya Violet.  For those who have asked, her name is Hebrew and means life. Thanks for the sweet comments to the proud Nana!

Shalom,

Sonya

Comments welcome as always!

What has been keeping me busy!

Hi all!  Last Friday we were on our way out of town to do a little camping for spring break and about 2 1/2 hours into our trip we received a phone call from my oldest daughter saying she was on her way to the hospital and that our grandaughter was going to be here a bit early. So we turn around and drive back home, unload the fridge in the RV and drive to the hospital in time to celebrate Chaiya Violet's  (pronounced Hi ya, it means life) birthday! You forget how little they are, she is 6 lbs and 5 ozs, and perfect. She and her mother are doing fine and we have been occupying her brothers and sister while they get some time alone. Just wanted to introduce our newest little angel.

Shalom,

Sonya

Pink Quilled Flower Purse Gift Bag and Quilling Tutorial- Eccentric Circles

Hi all, here is my first quilling tutorial. The details of the above project will be at the end of this post.  From the looks of the poll most want a written tutorial, so this is the first requested one, eccentric circles.  I will try my hand at some video tutorials later though because I am a visual learner and I know some of you are too!  But, back to the tutorial.   The double and single layered flowers in the picture above are made with quilled eccentric circles.  Note to self, check the pictures out for any embellishments that may have been moved around during the picture taking process, see pic below, do you see it! lol!

Ok, back to the tutorial.  You start with an open coil of your desired length.  The longer the strip, the more "quills" (loops) in your flower petals or shape.  The ones in the picture above are from a strip of 8". 

This one is from a 6" strip.

Next you take a straight pin and on surface that you can pin into, insert the pin tip into the center of the open coil and pull it to one side as below.

Tip: You want to pay attention to where your have closed your coil.  You want to be able to hide this joining in the quilling.  So decide before you do this what shape you want or how you will hide it in the design. If you are going to shape the eccentric circle with the center at the bottom or at the top, you could put the joining spot where it will be hidden by your flower center or where it attaches to another quilled shape. 

Put another pin on the outside of the coil right beside the previous pin holding the center of the coil to the side, see picture below.

Next take a small toothpick or pin and put a small amount of glue where the center coil is pulled to the side, in between the pins.  You want to make sure that the center of the coil has glue on it or it will not stay put, see glue on coil below.

Let this dry and then remove the pins.  You can see the glue on the coils in this picture (these coils have been made with a full strip, see how many loops there are).  This will be the back side of your coil/shape. Your coil should hold it's shape with the center glued to the side and should look like this:

These shapes will be shaped into a petal with the center of the coil at the pointed end of the petal.  So to make these, just pinch the end with the center into a point.  Because of the bunch of strips this point probably won't be to pointy!  Also you can pinch the opposite side of the center and it will look like the pink flower pinned next to the purple petals. The pink one is glued and pinned to get a tight center at the points.

Next you can either can glue it and pin it together like the pink one or you can make a fringe center and glue the petals to it, or on top of the flower, see below.  Look closely at the ends of the petals and you will see what I mean about the coil joining spot. You can see it below on several of the petals.  So decide beforehand where it will be in your shape.  You can hide it at the point of a shape or as I said before in the center of the flower under other quilled shapes.

The next picture is the same double layer flower as is on the purse gift bag at the first of the post, but without a center. To get this look just make your eccentric flowers using a larger length strip for the bottom flower and a shorter length strips for the top flower and glue on top of each other and add a center of your choice.

These shapes can also be shaped with curled tips and I made this little orchid from 6" strips and put a quilled bell shape for the mouth of the orchid.  You are only limited by your imagination to how to use these eccentric circles.  Experiment with sizes and shaping, it's fun and you never know what you may come up with!

Details of the Pink Purse Gift Bag.  This is the last of the projects for this month's Custom Quilling Newsletter.  I used the same flowers as was on the Spring Verse but used buttons for their centers and only used one double layer flower.  I added the pearls and faux stitching a beaded handle and little tassel to finish it off.  The purse itself is a Sizzix die and is easy to put together and embellish with quilling and edge punches.

Since this is my first tutorial I want to make sure that it is understandable and clear, please leave me some feedback on it.  Was it clear? Could you reproduce an eccentric coil after reading how to do it?  Any other suggestions or requests.  Thanks for your feedback, I want to improve my tutorials and give you the best instructions and answer any questions you may have!  Also a request, please pray for my sister as she has lost another child at 12 weeks, they named him Anthony Benedict.  They are grieving and having a hard time, thank you lifting them up to the Lord.

Shalom,

Sonya

Chicken Soup

Hi all, here is one of the other cards that I have finished and it is a bit different in style that I usually do.  I saw this Sizzix die and thought it was so cute and snatched it up when it was on sale.  He could be done in any colors for different looks, but I decided to do him in black for a red, black, yellow and white color palette.  Since it was a get well card I made my little rooster into chicken soup by having him sit in a soup bowl.  I die cut him out of black card stock and gave him his "feathers" with a white gel pen like those black and white "checked" chickens!  Roosters also have beautiful multi-colored tail feathers so I pulled out my jewel tone metallic quilling strips and gave him some quick fancy tail feathers.

The bowl was cut from oval Nesties and was inked on the edges then curved a bit with my fingers to give it more of an open bowl look.  The red base panel is cut from the largest Nestie label and then I took a round metal washer from the hardware store that had about a 1/4 ring and used it to trace around that die to give me a larger black matt behind it. Ziz-zag stitching with white and gold doodles finished the panels.  The rooster and the bowl are held up with foam dimensionals. 

The ribbon loop embellishments are held on with red brads and gold crystals accent the Martha Stewart punched sunflower DP bases. The inside of the card has Nestie accent cuts and a die cut get well sentiment. A fun card to do and you will see this little rooster in other projects. I am working on my FSS Spotlight project that will be posted next week, and a eccentric coil quilling tutorial, so off to the craft room!

Shalom,

Sonya
Comments and questions are always welcome, I love to hear from you!

Tole Four Panel

Hi all, the cold is better and I have been working on a couple of cards today.  This one is one of Tracey's digi images, both the panels and the flowers, called Bracket Borders.  I love how easy it is to work with digi images, they can be re-sized and colored to fit whatever your desire and design is.  I printed out the floral borders out on a good quality white card stock and then painted the design with mica paints.  These paints are a bit thicker and more opaque than my Twinkling H2O's and I love how they shimmer.  Next I printed out the pointy petal daisy in two sizes, that comes in this set, onto a heavy weight vellum.  They were painted with the same mica watercolor paints, shaped, layered and with a crystal center put into the center of the corresponding panel. 

The background DP is a rich gold metallic as well as the smaller Spellbinder Fleur de Lis pendant under the bow.  I cut out the larger pendant die in white card stock and interlocked the panels in it, popped the whole assembly up on foam dimensionals.  Lastly I added a white bow, Stickles glitter, and more crystals to finish it off.  The card is really shimmery with all that bling, but not overpowering. 

Be sure to check out Fred She Said and see the new releases, especially the colored version of the pansies! I'll be back later with the other card that I finished today.  Until then,

Shalom,

Sonya
Comments are always welcome, I'd love to see your creations also!

April Blue Hydrangea Calendar Page

Hi all, back with the next installment of the Perpetual Quilled and Floral Punch Calendar, April.  This month's Custom Quilling kit had in it a beautiful soft blue card stock perfect for the hydrangeas that I have been waiting to put on one of the calendar pages.  The hydrangea petals were punched out of coffee filter paper and then watercolored with various shades of blue and green Twinkling H2O's.  They were then shaped and glued to a mounded circle of blue paper.  I love all the colors that the hydrangeas come in and tried to put several of the blue varieties on the page.  It is finished with shaped birch leaves and little pearlescent daisy accent flowers.  I have some planted in my garden and can't wait to see them bloom.  For years this has been my Mother's Day corsage picked by my girls!

Thanks to all who have voted in my poll on the sidebar, I'll leave it up for a little while longer so more will have a chance to vote on what they would like to see. I have a request for a tutorial on the quilled eccentric flowers used in the Spring Verse, so I will work on that one first.  If you would like to see any others please leave me a comment on which one(s)! Back later with the last CQ DT project.

Shalom,

Sonya
Comments are always welcome I love to hear from you!