...Free Spirit Boy Day 3, and New template

Good afternoon!
I'm late posting today due to a bit of wind, we had some snow and a few gales here last night and the electricity was interrupted for a short while. We got off easy there are still about 20,000 homes without electric today I believe!!

Anyhow, welcome to the third day of posting for the April release, we have 2 new stamp sets for you and today I'd like to show you a neat little packaging idea. The Rubber Band Box!
Casting around for ideas on packaging for 'Men', I remembered a dinky wee folder I had as a student, it was held closed with a piece of elastic and I always loved how it worked, so I translated that idea into a little box! You can see two versions of it in the photo above - these are the large and small sizes. Templates for both sizes will be included in the PDF! Hoping to have an SVG version available too!

Tomorrow we release the two stamp sets and the template here on the blog at 7pm my time! call back to see the stamp sets in their entirety and to join us for a Blog Waltz - yep, the Dt will be having a blog waltz, showing off more fabulous inspiration for masculine cards!! Today Julia, Belinda, Anya, Bonnie and Laurie are showing samples - pop over to see what the ladies have made!!!

Looking at the picture below you can see how these work! They are so fabby! I love these, and they are so easy to make and customise, endless possibilities with these! I am especially pleased with the wee rounded ends and the scoring that allows the card to roll smoothly around the edges, These are boxes that will look great dressed up casually or simply styled for a formal look!


You can see above how I filled mine with sweets and cookies, universally acceptable, yum! But, I can see these making excellent packages for all of those 'men' type gadgets we like to buy the boys, ipods, mobile phones, watches, all sorts of wee goodies will be extra special when presented in these wee Rubber band boxes.


Above, I use thin white elastic to secure my boxes, which I coloured up with copics to match the colour scheme of my gift ensemble. Above, the sentiment and star are from Free Spirit Sentiments and Free Spirit Boy. The box was randomly stamped with the graph paper stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds.


I completely customised the little box by stamping the inside with the circles stamp from Free Spirit Boy. I then sponged as well to make the Kraft card a shade of blue (Distress ink Chipped Sapphire) so that it would contrast well with the outside when opened. The elastic was coloured red this time. If you scroll down, you will see how the elastic is secured inside but I want to tell you about the card first!



I'm sure you are absolutely nothing like me and are there, at exactly the right time, every time, with card and present for your birthday boy! LOL, Well, I am ALWAYS late, I have absolutely no memory. So, with that in mind I included a couple of sentiments that I will use over, and over and over!

Above you can see how I added the age of the recipient to the card, (the numbers 0-9 are included in Free Spirit Sentiments) and below that the word 'Already'. I love how this captures the feeling that someone is growing up so fast! and when you pair it with the 'Sorry I missed it" sentiment, it is such a better way of saying 'belated birthday wishes' to a teenage boy.

I added another little image of a skater-boy to the inside of my card, (from Free Spirit Boy)along with a little background stamping with the graph paper stamp from Off beat Backgrounds.


I want to show you a neat trick you can do with the little bicycle stamp, or indeed any stamp for that matter. I love the look of distressed stamped images but I don't necessarily ALWAYS want a distressed feel on my cards sometimes I like clean and simple. It is so easy to get some different effects from your stamps just by inking them up slightly differently, for my card I inked the stamp but then leaned a little harder and 'rolled' the stamp around the ink pad, so that the non-stamping base of the bike stamp picked up some ink as well. then I stamped badly! LOL, Yep I leaned too hard and smooched, and i get this fab wee distressed effect!!


Below, on the left, you can see that the stamp, stamps perfectly well when used normally. Heavily inked and smooched as I just described and you get a fab distressed look. Two looks for the same stamp. And, below that again, if you ink up 'badly' ie, be sure to just touch the stamp to the pad without trying to get an even coverage, you can have another slightly cleaner, but still distressed look!

I love tricks like this that let me get loads more value out of every stamp! I could have made the boy stamps all have a distressed finish to them, but then, you have only one design option, distress every time! By making these stamps clean and graphic, you have the choice to mussy them up or keep it clean!! Love that!! Love versatility!! Go - try it on stamps you already have, I'll bet you can get stacks more mileage out of your stamp collection this way!!



Back to the Rubber Band Boxes - here is what the larger template will look like cut out - you can see I went ahead and added little eyelets at the ends to match my card, (the position of the holes is marked on the template) I think it gives a professional finish and it will prevent strain on the edge of the wee holes where the elastic goes through.


I use buttons to secure my elastic, perfect for all those wee buttons you don't use! LOL. I simply thread it through and tie a knot, you can trim the end quite close if your knot is tight enough!



Then just thread the elastic through the hole, making sure that the button is going to be on the inside of the box. Run the elastic across the front of the box and in through the other hole. secure with another button and trim, you don't need to pull the elastic too tight because when the box is folded up and stuck together, the elastic will automatically tense up.



Below, Box strung and ready to fold up and stick. I did all the stamping and adding the sentiment panel before adding the string and buttons!


Phew, did you make it through!! LOL

Hope they tickle! and I hope you can call back tomorrow to view the DT blog waltz, now, what do we think of wee boxes??? LOL