It's the first day of Christmas and we are so glad that you have come to join us once again. We spent Christmas Eve and day laughing, playing games and doing puzzles. Oh what fun we had! Thank you for your patience today as you waited for our first day post!
I had hoped to create and write this on Wednesday, but I was seriously lacking energy. This sinus infection has been hanging around since September and it finally socked me right between the eyes on Tuesday, taking me down for the count. BUT you can't hold me down for too long when I know I have things to do, places to go and people to see - LOL! So here I am wanting to once again share my favorite scoring tools with some lucky winner. I'm hoping that you can all be winners in a small way by being able to utilize the free template that is included in this post :)
As I thought ahead to the holidays right around the corner I felt that the templates I am going to share with you today will be useful in a number of ways.
Some people are big in to celebrating the New Year and so this could make for a fun and festive party theme. Fill the little favor boxes with confetti, or as I did --- chocolates! Chocolates are a sweet answer to any occasion - LOL!
I also felt that it could be quite fun for Valentine's, with a twist on the whole Cinderella's shoe concept. Fill it with treats for your man and tell him that you feel like his Cinderella, or if that is just too corny for you then ... think about using it for any bridal showers that will be coming up in the new year ahead. Not only will the "glass slipper" be something different, but more importantly these little favor boxes are VERY affordable to create and can fit a myriad of little goodies.
To create these two templates I find it absolutely essential to use my Scor-It, (or in this case my Mini Scor-it) as I create the score lines for these projects. Many have asked me how the new Martha Stewart scoring board, the Scor-Pal and Scor-It board compare. I can honestly tell you that I feel that there is a place for all of these tools, BUT when it comes to scoring, the only true scoring device is the Scor-It. It doesn't just crease your paper, but creates a mountain and valley "crease," which is essentially what a professional scoring machine does. The advantage to this type of score is in its final appearance. It is something I have reflected on many times over the years, but something that I will always come back to when I create a template that requires accuracy.
When the Martha Stewart Scoring board arrives back in inventory I am going to share with you why I do feel that there is a place for this tool in your collection, but in my opinion it really isn't for the "perfectionist" scoring I prefer. I will always turn to my Scor-It for that.
So let's begin with our projects.
GLASS SLIPPER
For the "glass slipper" I used an earlier high-heel shoe template I designed and created to share with Creating Keepsakes. It is always so much fun to see the shoes that you have created using this template for party favors and little gifts. I would like to once again share this template with you. I would like to remind you that this template is copyright and for your personal use only.
Download High Heeled Shoe Template here
I have shared step-by-step directions for creating this shoe in this post. Today I will only be sharing a few of the steps that I feel are important when creating this "glass-slipper" version.
Print the template above on plain copy paper. The static electricity from the medium-weight plastic does a fairly good job of holding the template to your plastic. I elected to cut and separate all the pieces before doing my final cutting so that it would be easier to be precise in my final cuts. I then left the copy paper in place as I scored all of the lines. As you can see I scored and folded the toe piece on of my shoe before adding the decorative element to the plastic.
One of the techniques I LOVE to use with the plastics we carry is to add texture to the surface utilizing embossing folders. As you can see I inserted my toe piece into the Cuttlebug folder, ran it through my Big Shot and voila - fabulous, crisp texture was added to my toe piece.
Next I needed to figure out how I was going to "deal with" the adhesive lines, being this plastic is most definitely Crystal Clear! My solution was to adhere an additional piece of red-liner tape on the outside portion of the shoe in line with the adhesive placed to hold the shoe together. I attached all of my red-liner adhesive before beginning because it is so much easier to work on these flat surfaces.
The only adhesive I forgot to add was the adhesive around the toe piece. As you can see it was not too difficult to do, but again it would have been so much easier to apply it to the flat piece before hand. Follow the directions in the post linked above to put your shoe together.
This is where you bring in the sparkle to your "glass slipper." I opted to use our Diamond Dust, together with the white fine glitter from the Essential Glitter collection. Remove the red-liner from your remaining adhesive strips and apply the "glass" and "glitter." Apply strips of Gemstones and a finaly sparkly button and your prince will await!
Needless to say I think the most difficult aspect of this creation was taking the pictures - LOL!
SELF-CLOSING FAVOR BOX
It was so much fun to see the excitement you shared over the little gift bag I shared a few posts ago. Designing templates is one of those "almost" no-brainers for me. A very long time ago I learned to sew and fell in love with "designing" my own Barbie clothes. Just one of my goals in the New Year ahead is to put that skill to good use. In college one of the projects that was a requirement for a class I took was to design a tailored ensemble from scratch - no pattern. Wrapping my mind around how to do that was no simple task - LOL! What it did do though was create a whole new skill set for me.
As life changes and progresses and one moves from one area of life to the next it is fun to bring past skills back in to use. It was the witches shoe that started my "career" here in the papercraft industry - who would have thought that a shoe could be such an altering life experience? We have some very fun things in store for you here at Ellen Hutson LLC - just sayin' - LOL!
So for today's post I want to once again share with you a template that I believe can be put to VERY good use. Affordable, reuseable and cute --- what more can a girl ask for :D This template was inspired by one of the Martha Stewart Favor boxes we carried in our store this past year. The fact that the boxes store flat I felt was such a huge feature. I'm guessing that there is probably similar templates out on the internet, but I wanted to create my own from a single sheet of cardstock and then be able to utilize the 6"x6" designer papers to add to the overall feel.
Begin by opening the attached template. It will help guide you when cutting, measuring and scoring.
Download Self-Closing Favor Box
I have had the Scor-It sliding rule for some time now, but didn't really understand what it's purpose is. I knew it was for creating diagonal lines, but didn't quite "get-it." It was not until I created this project that I discovered how incredibly useful it is. I wanted to create my corner to corner diagonal score but I couldn't "see" where the corner was hitting on the Scor-It board. I tried feeling through the paper, but that didn't work and then it was that I realized - oh my goodness... the sliding ruler shows me exactly where my corner ends!!! I can now do very precise diagonal scores on my boxes!!! Yippie. I don't know how to explain it other than to show you the picture above. I slid my cardstock underneath the ruler and aligned my corner with the ruler and the tip with the metal bar. Voila :D
Score all four corners as shown on template.
I wanted to create a window in my favor box. Once I had my lines all scored it was easy to position my die (this die is similar to the one I used) and cut out the window.
At this time I crease and fold along all score lines, utilizing my teflon bone folder to help create precise folds. My preference for the teflon bone folder is VERY strong. The fact that it does not create shiny surfaces on your paper as you firmly press along the score lines makes for a beautiful finished project. It also does not stick to any adhesive used in creating your projects.
I also use my teflon bone folder when reinking the surfaces of my "sticky" ink pads, such as my Glue Pad and VersaMark pads. To be able to easily wipe it clean after use is fantastic. It is always sitting on my work surface and used many times through the course of creating a project.
You will want to cut two strips of decorative paper for your favor box that measures 3" x 6" if you would like to add an inexpensive touch to your favor box. One of these will be used on the box interior and the other will be affixed on the top of your box.
Just think how many box tops and liners you can get from one pad of 6"x6" paper - LOL! Score these strips of paper. The one that fits inside will need to be scored at 1 3/8" and then again 2 15/16" further down the strip. This piece will need to be cut so that the last remaining fold will also measure 1 3/8". The final length of this piece is actually 5 13/16" in length.
The other strip will be used on the outside of your box. Score at 1 1/2" and then again 3 1/16" further down the strip. Once again cut a coordinating "window" in the "square" of this paper strip. I then opted to used a punch to shorten the length of this piece and create a decorative edge for the front of my box as shown.
It was about midnight last night when I realized that I should shoot a couple more pictures to show you how the box is put together and how it can store flat when not in use! Am I goofy or what?
Apply adhesive to the corners as indicated.
Now pop the box up into shape. Affix the (+) side magnet to the front as shown. I found that I needed to add an extra glue dot to this magnet. If it isn't covered with a layer of decorative paper it has a tendency to pull loose when adhered with it's own self-adhesive.
Cut out a 2 7/8" square of medium-weight plastic and adhere to the top of your box. Affix the (-) side magnet to the front panel as shown. This magnet will be covered with decorative paper as shown below.
I attached the coordinating "button bling" using a glue dot.
It was after I had begun shooting this series of pictures that I decided I needed to add just one more row of bling.
Fill your box with your favorite goodies. Here at work we were gifted some adorable chocolate mice --- THANK YOU Cindy! Not only were they incredibly delicious, but we got so many wonderful giggles from eating them as well!
WOW - this is one long post. You aren't finished yet!!! Your mission should you choose to accept is to leave your comment below to win a set of my absolute favorite scoring tools. Currently we are out of the regular Scor-It due to the fact that it is soon coming out in a very feminine pink color and inventory has not yet arrived. Some of the proceeds from the sale of these scoring boards will be going to raise funds for National Breast Cancer Foundation! We are hoping that they arrive in our store soon. So in it's place I am substituting my next favorite scoring tool - the Mini Scor-It, along with the Large Teflon Bone Folder.
To participate in this random drawing please leave your answer to the following question as a comment to this post. Please limit yourself to one comment only. The last day to submit a comment to this post will be January 6th at Midnight. We will post the winners (which will be drawn using a Random Number Generator) for all twelve days on January 7th.
What templates would you like to see us create? Or which template that we have already created is your favorite? Leave your answer in the comments section and you will automatically be included in our drawing. Good luck everyone!
