Card Box

It's one of those pay periods where you have to make the paycheck last through three weekends instead of just two. In most every way, these pay periods stink. One good thing, though, is that it forces you to dig through the freezer and find forgotten food. Today I found breaded shrimp (score!) and au gratin potatoes from Omaha Steakhouse (even better than shrimp!).

After lunch, I was left with a box much like:It's a sturdy, fabulous box. I've almost kept a few in the past, but my husband would move out if I kept every item that had potential :) Today, though, I got right to work. I suspected the box was the perfect size to hold two stacks of A2-sized cards side-by-side. My suspicions were correct:



My husband actually suggested the divider in the middle, to keep the two stacks from falling into one another. Very smart! Each side holds about 12 cards with envelopes or 24 cards on one side and 24 envelopes on the other. Pretty nice! I ran the chipboard embellishment through some Pixie Pink ink and applied some paper and brads for a "knob."

I started out by spray painting the box, inside and out. I then measured and cut my paper and Modge Podged one side. Pretty easy.

Things I learned: The thinner the paper, the better. I originally started out with a thicker cardstock, and it was quickly a disaster - too thick for the Modge Podge to really hold well. Today's piece of trash was almost in the trash before I tried some thinner scraps. I also recommend using a brayer, it gets all those air bubbles out for a nice hold.

Recipe: Paper and embellishments from The Paper Studio, Ink from SU.

Packing Tape Technique Tutorial

Welcome to my first Technique Tuesday. I read about "Packing Tape Technique" on a forum today. For what I've done, all you need is packing tape, water, and an image from a magazine.

First, find your image. I got mine from the latest Oriental Trading Scrapbook magazine. It's a set of fanned out Halloween patterned paper:

Cut your image out:
Pull out a piece of packing tape:
Press your image down on the packing tape. Get 'er all pressed down, you don't air bubbles:
Drop it in some water and let soak till soaked through:
Lightly dry it off. You might want to use a microfiber towel so you don't get any lint. I sort of thought the lint added to the cool look. You don't want it bone dry, just not dripping:
The soaked paper will easily pull off:
Keep peeling:
In the end, you'll have a transparency! Cool stuff:
I stuck it on some white cardstock. I needed some additional adhesive, since my image covered the tape from edge to edge:
Trimmed it up and made a pretty card with something that was headed to the compost:


Recipe: Cardstock from The Paper Company; stamp from Stampin' Up; embellishments from The Paper Studio