Valentine Countdown: My Pun-ny Little Valentine….

Hey Folks! We're winding down our countdown to Valentine's Day here at Violets & Sunshine. Can you believe that tomorrow is The Day?! Take a look at what we awoke to this morning:

Okay, so we didn't wake up to the sidewalk being shoveled, that was done by my hardworking husband and kids. But given the 10 inches or so of snow on the ground, the whole family is home today. The fire is burning, the computers are going, the books are open…it's a 21st Century snow day in Washington! 

So let's take a look at today's project: an alternate wrapping idea for a box of chewing gum. (You can see the first idea here.) I made these little boxes using the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board, so I thought I'd explain how to do it. (I'll do another post later on how to make this little box using the Martha Stewart scoreboard.)

The gum box measures 3 x 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches. According to the punch board, you need a 5-inch square piece of paper to make an envelope for a 2 1/2 x 3 inch card. However, we need to account for the 1/2-inch depth of the gum, so our paper needs to measure 5 5/8 inches square. The we make our first punch by lining up the left hand edge of the paper with the 2 3/8 inch mark per the punch board instructions. After you make your initial punch and score, slide the paper to the 3 inch mark and punch and score again. Now the rest is pretty easy. Just rotate your paper, line up your score marks, and punch and score as usual. You will end up with 4 tabs. Cut one side of each tab and use them to make your box. As you can see above, I did not glue the back flap down. Instead I punched a couple of shapes, layered them, and popped them up at the very bottom of the shape with dimensional adhesive. Then I tucked the back flap underneath. (You could also make a belly band to go around the box if you'd rather.) All in all, it was a pretty easy process once I figured out the measurements. (REALLY wish math was more intuitive to me!)

Here are some close-ups:

The patterned paper and stamp sets I used are from Close To My Heart and have all been retired. (Cleaning out the stash.) For accents, I used White Daisy, Pear, and Sunset Cardstocks, along with Lagoon and Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks. The heart and star punches I used on the back are from Creative Memories.

Here's a look at what's inside:

So I hope that wherever you are, Old Man Winter isn't cramping your Valentine's Day plans. My dear hubby assures me that we will be going on a date tomorrow night no matter what. (He's a man of great determination!) 

Stay warm and cozy, and we'll be back tomorrow for our Valentine Countdown wrap-up. Until then…