Cricut Milk Carton Gift Box

I created this box for a friend's son who celebrated his birthday. My 6 year old chose a Sour Patch candy-filled Easter Egg for a gift. I am using the Cricut Close To My Heart Artiste cartridge. I bought this used and linked. Good thing, I am still holding on to my Cricut Imagine. I cut this on one-sided patterned paper, maximizing the size of the cut so the egg can fit. If I am going to re-create this project, I would use a double-sided paper. There is a fold on the tab portion of the milk carton that shows the inside of the milk carton. With me, using a one-sided patterned paper, that tab was plain white. I adhered a washi tape to this area to cover this white trim.

Folding the milk carton was a challenge. If you are going to use the same Cricut cartridge, make sure to read the instruction manual included to know where to fold and where to apply the adhesive. Using the Cricut Imagine to cut this file, it created slits as marks for where to score and fold. If this was done on Cricut Explore, there is a way to get rid of this marks and change it to score lines. But since my cartridge cannot be used on Cricut Explore, I scored the marks using a bone folder and the Martha Stewart scoring board. I just made sure the slits are aligned with the groove of the score board before scoring.

I created a nest base for the egg by cutting a scrap patterned paper to the size of the box base adding about a half inch to each side, which I also scored. I made a vertical cut to both sides, up to the score mark. I folded this inward. Before adhering these tabs, I die cut a circle at the center large enough to cradle the egg. I adhered the tabs and placed this inside the milk box, then placed the Easter Egg on the open circle. I apologize for I wasn't able to take a photo of this base. The carton was all set up to be given before I took a photo of it.

To further embellish the milk box, I created a belly wrap using a blue cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment using a Technique Tuesday stamp. The embossing powders I used are Ranger and Wow! I also die cut the edges of the belly band using a Mama Elephant edge die.

I punched a hole on the top to thread the yarn with the gift tag on it. I tripled the yarn before creating the bow.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed & brilliant day!

Maria Giselle B.

Monochromatic Father's Day Card

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge is Monochrome and their Wednesday Challenge which will be ending in a few hours is Anything Goes featuring Technique Tuesday. When Archiver's was still open, I bought stamps by TT because of Ali Edwards. I rarely use their stamps nowadays with all the stamp companies coming out with their releases. So with both challenges in mind, I challenged myself to create one card. I didn't have a special occasion in mind when I was creating this card but it eventually turn out to become a Father's Day card which is very timely.

I am using the TT Ali Edwards All My Heart stamp set. At first, I was planning to stamp all the squared sentiments to create the background but it didn't have the same sizes. The clear stamps kept sticking together making it hard to lay out the stamps. I just picked one stamp and repeatedly stamp this on Strathmore Bristol paper using the Misti tool. The paper is cut at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I prepared the surface with an anti-static tool before I stamped the sentiment. I used Versafine Onyx Black for ink and embossed this using clear powder.

After the panel is filled, I blended various shades of grey inside the squares. I used a sponge dauber to do the job. I am not really being careful blending it. I would rather achieve different shades and am not particular if I go out of the lines. I used 5 shades of gray from 3 different companies (Close To My Heart, Hero Arts and Memento.) I applied white Wink of Stella to the spaces in between the squares. I don't think it is noticeable but I am having a hard time appreciating the effect of this particular Wink of Stella anyway.

I die cut a window on this panel using SSS This Is The Life Frames Cut die. I positioned the window slightly to the lower left of the panel. I also cut a black cardstock using this die. This metal die cuts 2 pieces, an outline piece and a solid piece. I used the black outline as an accent to the window.

For the sentiment, I die cut a dark gray and a white cardstock using the TT Say It Happy DIY Steel die. I stamped the rest of the sentiment from the TT Say It Happy stamp set on a black cardstock strip using Versamark ink. I embossed this using WOW! Silver Pearl Embossing powder.

I adhered a light gray cardstock to the back of the window panel. I adhered the black outline to the window. I adhered the gray happy sentiment on top of the white sentiment slightly off setting this to create a shadow effect. I adhered this to the window area and adhered the sentiment strip on the bottom. I ended with an empty space on the right upper corner of the window. To fill this, I adhered some sequences. For the final touch, I applied clear Wink of Stella to the die cut sentiment. I adhered this panel to a top folding A2 card.

Thanks for viewing my blog. Have a brilliant day!

Maria Giselle B.

I am submitting this creation to:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-anything-goes-27/

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=4800