A Box Full of Happy

Hi All! Today I'm sharing, as promised, the little box I made to go with birthday cards I created using the Blossom Cardmaking Workshop On The Go.  Let's take a look:

The box itself is Close To My Heart's My Creation Journaling Cards Box that was designed to hold Picture My Life Cards. It has a removable riser in the bottom that allows the 3x4 cards to peek over the 4x6 card, which I removed to accommodate the standard greeting cards. The My Creations line is designed to be altered, so this box was white when I received it.

To alter the box, I first inked around the edges from the outside to the middle with Smoothie Exclusive Ink. I then cut panels from Pear Cardstock that were 1/4-inch shorter (length and width) than the box and adhered them to the box. I covered the Pear panels with Blossom paper that was cut 1/8-inch shorter (length and width) than the Pear. While I did add a Pear panel to the bottom of the box, I didn't add the Blossom paper so that the box would remain level.

Here's a look at the covered sides and back:

After I finished with the panels, I turned to decorating the front.

First I cut a piece of zip strip from the Blossom paper that was the length of the Blossom panel. (The zip strip is the extra 1/2-inch of paper at the top of the page that is patterned on one side and has information regarding the paper colors on the other.) I then cut two lengths of Glacier Extra Thick Twine--one that ran the length of the Blossom panel, and another that was long enough to tie a bow with. I tied the bow to the first length and then adhered them both above the zip strip with a thin line of Liquid Glass.

After the Liquid Glass dried, I moved on to the embellishment cluster toward the bottom of the box.

For the cluster, I relied heavily on stickers from the Blossom Compliments pack. I adhered the stickers to Pear Cardstock and then fussy cut around them. I left a slight edge of pear showing on the "Friends" and "Family" flags to help them stand out. I then layered everything with dimensional adhesive of varying thickness. I added a pin from my stash to hold the "Live A Happy Life" sentiment, which is anchored in dimensional adhesive. Then I finished it all off with stickers from the Junebug Puffies pack (currently on the "while supplies last" list) and Sparkle Flourishes. (This girl needs her bling....)

Here's a look at the box slightly open:

And here it is with a sampling of the cards inside:

The number of cards these boxes can hold varies with the thickness of card embellishments. I was able to house 9 of 15 cards and envelopes in it pretty easily. The whole set would make a lovely gift, but I think this one will stay with me. It just makes me smile. And when I run out of cards, I can find a gazillion uses for the box!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Blossom Card Box. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to leave them below!

Easy Birthday Love

Hi All! It's April! Woo HOO!!! Spring is here...or at least it's on its way.... (Have to admit, it's been a little chilly here in the Nation's Capital.) However, nothing brings on that warm sunny feeling like time spent in the craft studio and new products to play with!

Yesterday launched the new Seasonal Expressions 2 Idea Book for Close To My Heart.

(To purchase your own paper copy, click here.)

Doesn't it just scream summer fun?! (By the way, the strawberries on the front cover can be made with Close To My Heart's Artiste Cricut Cartridge. Yes, I'll be making some of those cuties in the near future.) 

One of my favorite new products from Seasonal Expression 2 is the Blossom Cardmaking Kit. The whole Blossom Collection is fabulous to begin with, but the stamp set in this kit is FANTASTIC! It's all about birthday cards (can you really ever have to many) and it's fun and easy to use. 

The kit includes everything you need to make 15 birthday cards (5 each of 3 designs), except inks and adhesive. The recommended ink colors are Archival Black, Pear, Honey, and Smoothie.

So let's take a look at those cards:

The first card: 

Love the popsicles!

 Here are some close-ups:

The second card:

I actually changed this one up a bit and cut the kraft background paper 1/8-inch shorter in the length and width than the front of the card so that the white edge of the card peeked out just a little. (I really like kraft and white together...)

 And a close up or two:

And the third card:

This one was my favorite to make, I think. The top two "washi" strips are actually stamps! I gave the bow a little extra panache on the ends by gluing them at an upturn using liquid glass. 

And, of course, some close-ups:

Aren't these great?! And it's a KIT!!! Woo HOO!!! 

Now, in my opinion, great cards deserve a great box to store them in, so tune in tomorrow to see the Blossom Cardbox.

Until then....