Pear Notecard Set & Matchbox Style Box

Friday, March 9, 2012

Hi Blog Friends! I hope you've had a great week and are looking forward to an equally fun weekend. School is out here today and Monday, so we have a long weekend of sorts--always nice. I hope to have a few new cards to share with you over the next day or two. I'll start with a little notecard set.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #159, this week, is an inspiration photo. The challenge is to choose at least three colors from the photo in your creation. I chose the greens, gold, and brown.

This also fits nicely with the DYSU Challenge #62: Go Green.

For this notecard set, I used the gorgeous Pears stamp set for the image and the Cherries and Peaches stamp set for the sentiment on the box.

For the cards, I used a white card base, folded in half and cut with a Lacy Square die. I positioned the fold inside the die to maintain the fold. On a separate piece of white cs, I stamped the pears in black ink, then colored them with my Copics. I used a Labels Large Spellbinders die to cut the images out and sponged Distress Ink along the inside edges of the die while it was still on the cs. I adhered the image layer to a dark green layer that I had distressed with my Distrezz-it-All and sponged with Distress Ink. For the light green layer, I cut a rectangle to fit on the white base, rounded the lower edges with a Corner Chomper, sponged a little Distress Ink along the edges, then glued the other layers to it, finally gluing the entire thing to the card base. The three green sparkly dots are Stickles (of course!) :)
I left the front of the card sentiment-free so it could be used for any occasion, and the inside is blank, for a personal note.

The box is matchbox style. I have a tutorial for the box here. To get the height measurement for this box, I stacked the notecards and envelopes up, then measured from the table to the top edge of the stack. For the length and width, I measured one of the envelopes (remember, they are bigger than your cards). I only added about 1/16" to the height measurement since the cards will easily compress to fit in the box, and no more than 1/8" to the length and width so the cards wouldn't move around much in the box.

I decorated the box exactly like the cards, except I added a sentiment.

Because the box is a custom size, everything fit together nicely, and the interior box was just snug enough that it wouldn't fall out easily. However, for presentation, I tied a nice big organza bow around the box, making sure that the sentiment was visible through it.

This set was a lot of fun to make, and even though I was a little concerned about having to color five identical images, and get them all to be presentable, everything turned out fine. It was really good Copic practice, and I can always use more practice coloring!

If you are thinking of making a matchbox style box, I highly recommend that you try my tutorial at least once. There are a few more steps than in some matchbox tutorials because of the ends being doubled over, but because of that, it is sturdy, and makes for a very nice gift box for just about anything--notecards, candy, trinkets...you name it. :)

Well, that does it for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a fun, crafty weekend.

~Hugs,
 
Stamps: Pears, Peaches & Cherries (Flourishes)
Paper: Lime green & dark olive green dp (designer unknown); 110 lb white cardstock for box
Ink: Copic markers; Memento; Distress Ink 
Dies: Lacy Squares, Labels Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Sheer Ribbon (Offray); Stickles; distressing tool; Corner Chomper
Size: 4-Bar (Interior box dimensions: 5.25" x 3.75" x .75")

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13 comments :

Beate said...

Oh Cheryl, your box and the cards are beautiful! I LOVE how you colored those pears.
What a wonderful gift!
Hugs and smiles

Melissa Craig said...

What an absolutely wonderful set of cards. Love the pears - gorgeous!

Bernie said...

WOW Cheryl, this is a spectacular gift set. Thanks for the turorial. I've bookmarked it as I've just made a set of cards and need to make a box of them as well.
Hugs & Blessings
Bernie

Unknown said...

Just love this set - really neat

kitten - DYSU team

Audrey Pettit said...

HOLY COW, Cheryl!! This is gorgeous! What a stunning notecard set and matching box! I am in awe of every little detail! Seriously my most fave project of yours ever!

Theresa said...

Beautifully done. Gorgeous pears and I love the gift box. Fabulous project friend.

Lyndal said...

Super gorgeous cards and box Cheryl - LOVE it :)

Silke Ledlow said...

OMG...these are gorgeous! I love, love, love this box with the cards! Your coloring is perfect too :) !!! Thanks for playing along this week...hugs ~S~

WencheP said...

What a fabulous idea! Looks so stylish! Thanks for joining us at Do You Stack Up.

-Wenche

Unknown said...

Cheryl what a stunning creation I love the sentiment and the colours of this beautiful box and cards . You must have worked so hard on these. Hugs Elaine

Stacy Morgan said...

Fabulous gift box and your coloring is wonderful.

Mary Jo said...

Wow! This is a gorgeous set! Beautifully crafted! Thanks for joining us at DYSU.

Angela said...

These are really pretty and beautifully packaged...love the stamp too!