Nativity

The reason for the season - the birth of our Lord Jesus! His humble birth in a manger is depicted in this nativity set from SnapDragon Snippets, found in their online store here. You can find all the nativity pieces in the store...Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, wise men, an angel, plus the animals, and even the stable! It's a fantastic set; I hope you can get every piece and make your own set!

Thanks for joining me today! Merry Christmas!

Out of this world! 3D Rocket Box Tutorial

A few weeks ago, we released a cute little rocket box in the Silhouette Online Store. There were a few glitches, but it is now back! I'd love to take credit for it, but it was mostly all Mike's creation. I just love it! I guess to make a cool boy box, it really does take a guy.

For the tutorial, we asked the amazing Sarah Traub to once again work her magic in video tutorials. She did not disappoint. I especially love the little clip at the end! You'll know what I mean when you see it.
So without further adieu, here is Sarah's Tutorial of the 3D Rocket Box from Snapdragon Snippets!

3D ROCKET BOX TUTORIAL 

by Sarah Traub

The digital die cut for this file can be found in the Silhouette Online Store in .studio form
or at www.snapdragonsnippets.com in .svg form. 

3D Candy Corn Box Tutorial

This is the tutorial for assembling the 3D Candy Corn box by Snapdragon Snippets. You can find the .studio file in the Silhouette Online Store.

When you receive your file, we will have 4 strips and 4 candy corn shapes. All four candy corn shapes are slightly different sizes. Stack all 4 together, with the smallest on top going down to the largest. The two smallest are the two that we will use first. We will be adhering the strips to these two shapes.

I've labeled the first two pieces we will using as "main top & main base".  (the smallest of the candy corns)

The two thick strips are for the base and the two thin strips are for the lid.

 To assemble the base, adhere one end tab of the thick strip to the other thick strip. Both strips are symmetrical so it is not important which end.

Glue thick strips together.

I like to curl my paper when going around curves to prevent creases. There are three spots once the strips are attached to each other that have smaller tabs. Each of these spots are a "corner" of the candy corn. These are the three spots that I curled.

Curl paper like a ribbon where the smaller tabs appear.

Take the SMALLEST candy corn shape. Find the 6 smaller tabs of the strip that does not have end-tabs. In the photo below, it would be the thick strip similar to the strip on the far left.

Arrow is pointing to 6 smaller strips we will be talking about.

 Adhere the top point of the SMALLEST candy corn shape to the middle of the 6 small tabs discussed earlier. Be sure to line the sides up as close as possible! Otherwise, the strips may not fit around the candy corn just right.

Glue small tabs to top point of smallest candy corn.

 Continue around, adhering group of tabs along the way. Smaller tabs should line up around corner.

Glue left side of tabs.

Continue around candy corn.

Adhere end tab and rest of smaller tabs to finish  base.

Repeat above steps for the lid.

Once finished assembling, you can add the optional extra candy corn shapes. The smaller leftover candy corn shape is for the base while the largest is for the lid. Simply apply adhesive on outside of box as shown for both base and lid. Press the accents on centered. This will give your box the overhang and make opening a little easier.

Apply adhesive to ouside of bottom and top of box if you'd like to use the accents. Other wise, skip to end. 

Largest candy corn shapes give an overhang on top and bottom and make opening a bit easier!

Finally, apply white, orange and yellow shapes and if you'd like to jazz it up a bit more, I've included ric-rac pieces to go around the lid.

Apply finishing touches, and your done!

It's candy time with a little bit of egg!

Easter is in two days. Here's a quick gift tag I made for my candy dispenser I'm giving to friends. I'll also show you how I packaged the dispenser for giving away!
If you haven't already, go to the Silhouette Online store, and purchase this design I made a few weeks ago:

I am making 3 tags, so I cut 3 of the plain eggs and 3 of the patterned eggs. I brushed an ink pad across the edges of the plain eggs to give them some character. (I used Versa Color in 183 Cement on white cardstock if you were wondering.)

I added the patterned eggs I cut earlier from my blue cardstock.

Then punched holes in them to make tags. I had intended to added circles to my eggs before I cut them so my Cameo could do the work, but forgot. So I just went old school and used a hole punch.

 Since these are for the candy dispensers, I made sure to mention to my friends to break the paper band off that holds the dispenser closed. 

So all I did to keep the candy dispenser closed was cut a strip off of my scraps from the box and formed it into a ring that fit around my box. I decorated the band with another strip of the accent paper. Easy peasy! 

Then I took the lid off my box, closed the dispenser bucket, and slid the band over... 

...filled it with candy, (one package of large Robin Eggs, minus 4 eggs, fills a dispenser perfectly)...

...and added my egg tag!

Have a happy Easter everyone!

handled box tutorial

Most of the boxes with handles I've made available to the Silhouette Online store will follow the following assembly instructions. This includes:

• 3D handled box - heart (single heart window
• 3D handled box - hearts (2 welded hearts window)
• 3D handled box - lace (artisan looking lacey window)

The "3D heart handled box" is the only one at this time that's a little trickier, but it assembles the same. I'll let you know the tricky part on that box when we get to it, but for now, follow the tutorial below for it as well. 

Step 1

Crease all folds except the handles toward the inside. Handles fold towards the outside.

Step 2

Apply adhesive to tab on side, fold box around and attach tab to other end like photo below:

Step 3

 Fold bottom tabs in.

Step 4

 Tuck bottom round tab into slot.

Bottom should now look like this:

Step 5

If assembling one of the boxes with a window, attach cellophane or transparency material across the window on the inside. I usually roughly outline the window on the inside and place a square piece of thin *overhead transparency across the adhesive and window.

*You can find overhead transparency at most office supply stores.

Step 6

Fill box with goodies, gifts, or a special message.

Step 7

 Fold down sides with handles so the handles meet in the middle.

Step 8

 Fold over the side that does NOT have the round tab connected, making sure the handles slide into the slit. 

*This is the tricky part I told you about if you are assembling the "3D heart handled box". You have to gently push and bend the handle to fit through the slit. Be sure to work it through gently. 

Step 9

Fold the other side over and tuck the round tab into the slit on the other side. 

And your done! 

ribbon wrapped box tutorial

The "Ribbon-wrapped box" is created from 4 shapes to give you the possibility of contrasting papers like I have done. I made my light blue shapes about 4 and quarter by 6 inches to give you an idea of the largest size you can fit on a 8.5x11 sheet when using only 1 sheet of each color.

The first step to assembly after you have all your shapes cut out is to use your favorite adhesive to connect the tabs of the dark blue to the sides of the light blue as shown.

 Repeat until you have this:

(Notice the the shapes with two slits alternate with the shapes that have one slit)

Adhere your last tab to the other end to create the box shape.

To close the bottom of the box, simple fold down the identical flaps as shown:

 Then fold the dark blue flaps down while tucking the tab inside the slit.

For the next step, I don't have a photo, so hopefully I can explain it. (finished photos at the bottom show this a little)

Feed your ribbon through the slits of the light blue tabs. You will want to make sure at this step that your ribbon is centered (equal length on each side.)

Then flip the box over. Wrap each side over the bottom. 

 Making them cross over each other as shown:

Pull tight and hold while flipping the box right-side up as shown below:

 Next feed your ribbon through the bottom slit of the dark blue. 

And then feed back the other way through the top slit on the same tab. Feeding through two slits is what keeps your bow on TOP of the box instead of under the flaps.  

 Repeat for the other side and you're ready to go.