Kellyisascrapdiva: Mom's 75th Birthday Favor boxes

Mom's 75th Birthday Party Favor boxes. She turned 75 on Sunday, July 4th, 2010.

Materials used in this project:

Dark Red cardstock
Red cardstock
White cardstock
Blue cardstock
Navy Blue cardstock
Silver Brads
Cuttlebug Star Embossing Folder
Sizzix Big Shot Express or somekind of embossing machine
Fiskar's Scallop Circle Punch
EK Success 1 1/4 Circle Punch
Stampin Up Star Extra Large Punch
Terrifically Tacky Tape
Pop Dots
Red and Blue polka dot ribbon
Paper Stuffing
Peppermint candy
I hope I didn't forget anything, lol

The box was cut out from my Cricuit using the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge. I simply chose the box and hit cut. I made a total of 20 of each color or 40 total.

This is a Cuttlebug embossing folder. See the flat part on the end?

I cut the end off of the folder. I will explain more later.

Here is the folder cut off.

I needed to get some two inch strips covered with embossing. The problem was that I needed them to go all the way around the box. Since the folder has a flat end on it, I cut off the end of the folder with my office paper cutter. I didn't use my Fiskars paper trimmer for this because I don't want to ruin it.

You will see why below:

I ran one side of through my Sizzix, and turned it over and ran the other side. You will get a small part that won't match up, however, you really can't tell once you place it around the box. It's kind of hard to see in the picture below, but I have already run one side throught the Sizzix.

Here are all of the boxes cut out of the Cricut machine.

Here are all of the strips run through the Sizzix. These strips are 2 inches wide. I am not providing a length because that would depend on how big you choose to cut them out of the Cricut. Mine were approximately 10 3/4 inches.

The next step is to assemble the boxes, so I used Red Tape for these.

Then I attached my strips in the opposite color. You will see them demonstrated below in the final product. You don't have to use this much Red Tape, I started using this much and then went back and just put in on the ends. I was going through tape like crazy and it was costing me a fortune. Sorry, I forgot to photograph that! I am sure you get the idea!

The next step is to punch out circles with my Fiskar's Scallop Circle Punch. I made 40 boxes, so I punched out 20 in blue and 20 in red. Then I distressing the red circles with blue ink, and distressed the blue circles with red ink. To distress, I just cut out a sponge from the dollar store and use the end of it to work around the edges. Thanks to my Stampin Up Demonstrator for the sponge tip.

I call this the poor man's distressing! : )

Next, I punched 40 white circles using a 1 1/4 circle punch. I then stamped them with Stampin Up's July 4th fireworks round stamp. Don't forget to distress the edges in red ink. I stamped all 40 in red. However, you could choose to stamp half in blue and half in red.

Okay, next are the stars. I punched out 10 stars for each box:

Two in dark red
Two in red
Two in white
Two in blue
Two in navy blue

Put them in order in red, white, and blue and punch a hole in the center where a brad will be placed. I placed them in a plastic square container and sprayed them with water on both sides. I learned this technique from my Stampin Up Demonstrator. Then crunch them up and play with them until you get the desired look. Attach the brad. They will dry hard and look really cool!

Next Step:

Attach the stars to the punched circle with pop dots.
Attach the circle to the scalloped circle with pop dots.
Attach the scalloped circle to the lid of the favor box with pop dots.

Now, attach a ribbon over the embossing around the wide part of the box, and wah-la, you are done.

On the inside, I stuff them with corrugated paper stuffing. You can find this at Walmart for $1.00 a bag in the crafting section. I used blue and red, of course! These were for my Mom's 75th birthday party. I originally wanted to put chocolates in there, but I ended up putting peppermint candies. I needed something that wouldn't melt!