Forever Friends Gift Box by Barbara Rankin

Hi everyone! Barbara here with a fun little project, perfect for gift giving. Of course, to finish it off, I will be using my Craftwell eBrush, along with some other products from the Craftwell USA line. Aside from the fact that Christmas is just around the corner, and boxes of all sizes will be needed, I also have quite a few birthdays in September. So, why not get started now, whether for birthday giving or Christmas. Boxes are always needed.

I die cut this box from one of Eileen Hull's Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Dies. I had previously done some stamping on it but never finished it. So I painted it with a coat of white gesso. You can still see some of the stamping, but that will just add to the layers.

I put the box together without glueing it so I could pencil in directional arrows. Although I did not need to do that for this project, it is always a good idea to figure that out before decorating the box, particularly if you decorate it while it is flat.

I used a non-directional stencil and spread some texture paste through it without concern for covering the sides completely. I used post-it notes to cover the flaps that will be glued to the inside so the stenciling would not interfere with the box closure. Let the paste dry before proceeding.

When the paste was dry, I began giving the piece its color. I began with this green-yellow marker. I left some white areas for the following colors.

Next, I used the medium green marker, again leaving some white areas.

The light blue marker was used to fill in the background, and randomly giving it darker areas for depth. I love how the eBrush allows you to see all the layers of color on your background.

I wanted to bring out the stenciled texture again, so I realigned the stencil and eBrushed the light purple through it, moving the stencil along.

By eBrushing with the Silver metallic marker, I was able to give a really nice shimmer to the box. I think I was able to capture a small section just below the pen tip in the photo below.

Now it is time to glue the box together.

I left the top flap unglued so that I could add a gift inside.

Now to decorate the top. I used my Craftwell Cut n' Boss machine to dry emboss a piece of Core-dinations color core card stock with my A6 embossing folder. I love this embossing folder because it has some really fun words to use on many projects.

I specifically chose the purple color core card stock to match my paper, so after giving it a quick sanding to reveal the words, here is the result. I cut out "Forever Friends" and sat it aside for the moment.

And what box is complete without something pretty on the top? I tore out a page from a Dollar Store dictionary and gave it a quick blast of color with the light purple.

I die cut the flowers with my Cut n' Boss machine and eBrushed a dark purple center in each flower.

Next, I eBrush a peach color around the edges of each flower.

Then I eBrushed the green-yellow color between the dark purple center and the peach edges.

I had to cut out a few more flowers from the dictionary paper. I simply scrunched the paper a bit and carefully opened it back up. Then I layered the flowers, starting with the largest and ending with the smallest on top. I used a paper piercer to punch a hole through the center and a decorative brad holds the petals together.

Some black beaded floral embellishments were added to match the card stock and the lace around the top edge of the box.

Supplies used:

Craftwell USA eBrush

Craft well Cut n' Boss

Teresa Collins Beautiful Words and Stars A6 Embossing Folder

Eileen Hull Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - Blocks/Cubes, 3-D

Tim Holtz Sizzix Tattered Florals Bigz Die

Sharpie Markers

Stencil

Core'dinations Color Core card stock (black with purple core)

Dictionary paper

White gesso

Texture paste

Decorative brads

Sand paper

There will be more fun projects featuring up cycled projects, so make sure to check out the Craftwell Blog all month long for more inspiration from the team.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a crafty day!

September 15, 2016