Creative Blog Hop

Hello to all my blogging friends, I hope this post finds you all well and happy!

I was so honored to have been ask to participate in this Creative Blog Hop. My Good Friends Maria Vanderform and Karen Gibson asked me to take on this Mondays segment.
 I thought and thought about what to make for you all, I knew it had to be something very special. I sure hope you like it and get inspired to create something fun too! I tried to make it a tutorial so you could follow along with my creative process.

I always make my Honey something special for Valentines Day. So, I made him a special Heart Box that will be filled with his favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (homemade of course) and Dove Chocolates both are his favorites! Mum's the word though OK! I don't want him to catch on before Valentines Day.

Here is a completed photo of the Box;

I'll take you through it step by step in a little tutorial form.

First, I drew two hearts free hand using the card board from DSP package. One for the lid the other for the bottom of the box.

Second, I had to make the box frame. I think SU should make Heart kits just like the Stars kit it would have been much easier than doing all this free hand lol.

Steps Three and Four, I attached one of the heart pieces to the frame to create the bottom of the heart box. I cut 3 strips at 2 1/4". I scored  the extra 1/4"  and made several small cuts then put Sticky Strip along the inside edge of the bottom piece. Then molded the 2 1/4" strips to make the attachment to the heart bottom as you can see in the photos. I glued DSP to the inside of the  bottom of the heart pieces with Tombo Mono Liquid Glue.

The fifth and sixth step, was to make the lid and cover the top and inside of the lid with DSP. I cut 3 strips at 1 1/4" and did the same scoring at 1/4", cuts and Sticky Strip for the attachment as I did to the bottom of the box.  The lid edge is 1" deep.

Step seven, was to  cover the outside of the heart lid and bottom with Cherry Cobbler paper. Now set it aside.

Step eight, was to make the tag. I used the small heart, 1 3/8 Circle, Scallop Circle Punches and the Scallop Circle and Heart from the Thinlets Circle Card Die. The sentiment is from the Hello Life Stamp Set stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I ran the heart through the Big Shot with the Decorative Dots Impression Folder. I used Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Basic Black, Natural Ivory Card Stock and Glitter Paper on the tag.

Step nine, decorate some tissue paper to wrap the cookies in and complete the gift box. I used the Hello Life stamp set. Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Mellon Mambo and Real Red inks and stamped the stamps in a random fashion.

Step ten, the fun part to decorate the top of the heart box.

 I used 1 1/4 Cherry Cobbler Striped Grosgrain Ribbon to create this beautiful Bow. The ribbon around the edge of the lid is 1/8th " Black Taffeta. The hearts and XOXO were cut from pieces of Circle Card Thinlet. The tag was attached with Silver Bakers Twine and a large Early Espresso Cloths Pin was attached to the tag as an embellishment. The finished piece is  9" x 10" and 2" deep.

Step eleven, was to make a card and envelope to match the heart box. The second photo is a peek at the inside.

I hope you like this little tutorial so much so that you give it a try. I had fun creating this Heart Box for you all and especially for my Honey. I know he will take it to work share the cookies (maybe not the Dove Chocolates) and then put it on a shelf to show it off. I just love this man for being proud of my creations!  I do Freakin' Love Him so.

Part of the Creative Blog Hop is to give you a little in site into my creative process by answering 4 questions. Here goes, This was the hardest part of this whole adventure for me.

1.  What are you working on?
Right now, I am working on re-stocking my "On Hand" gift card stash. I decided to make several specific cards this year like, Birthday, Wedding, Baby, Shower, Anniversary, Get Well and Sympathy to name a few. I'm always giving my cards away as gifts. So I need to replenish my stash often.

2.  How does your work differ from others in your genre?

I hope I have a unique style. I generally shy away from CAS cards because I believe more is better I feel sort of left out of the mainstream because CAS is so popular. But, I do make CAS cards from time to time. I really like Vintage, Grunge and Masculine cards the most. I try to make a scene when I create a card. It's like telling a story with my cards. I enjoy distressing edges and using ribbons, texture and adding lots of embellishments to the cards I create.

3.  Why do you create what you do?
I love to create anything hand made, especially cards and 3-D items. I love working with paper and stamps the best. But, I also love working out in the garden. Growing vegetables and cut flowers for arrangements are up there with paper crafting. I took a Master Gardener course last year so I could learn what grows best in West Virginia. Jeff recently bought me a new sewing machine so this year I am going to learn how to sew. I need some new pajamas. We will see how that pans out (smile). I think cooking is creating too and I love to cook and bake. Bake/Make someone happy is my motto. I really appreciate hand crafted items and admire all types of art forms.

4.  How does your creative process work?
I really like sketch challenges. Sometimes I just need a little jump start and or direction and sketches do that for me. If I don't have a sketch in mind, I usually pull out my paper and or DSP first, then I choose a stamp set to go with the paper, then the embellishments. Then, I pull out what ever form of texture I will be adding to coordinate everything with. Then, I put that all together and create the card.

Wow, that wasn't so bad!

Thanks for joining me today this was one long post. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

I would love to hear from you. Your comments  always make me so happy!
Let me know if you have any questions about the Heart Box as well. I'll try to get back to you ASAP. Just leave me your e-mail address OK.

I have asked Stacey Tomkowiak http://gottastamp2.blogspot.com/ to take on next Mondays segment. I know you will like her work as much as I do. Stacey is a member of the Sketch Frenzy Friday Design Team with me. Please make sure you check her blog out next Monday.


Chat soon,
Patrice