Oh well...

Craft fair was a bust.  Made $45.  Minus application fee.  Minus material costs.  I think I'm deep in the hole.

Well, if anyone is interested:

Card size Boxes:  $20 each

Fits standard A2 cards with envelopes.  Store photos, candy, tea, playing cards, jewelry.

6-3/4" x 5-1/4" x 2-1/2" deep

Ladybug

Snowflake

Pine Cone

 

Poker Chip

 

South Pacific

If you need other pictures or descriptions of the above boxes, just ask.  More boxes to follow:

Catching up

Too much of my real life has occupied my time all week.  So today, I'm scrambling to get a few more things done for the upcoming craft fair.  I could get away with what I already have done, but I really wanted to do a couple more themed boxes.  I might not have enough space to display everything, so let's hope that lots of people come by and decide to buy.  I'd hate to have to bring home all this inventory.

So if you're in the Melbourne area, please stop by the Indian Harbour Beach City Art Show at Gleason Park on SATURDAY, 20 November from 9 AM - 5 PM.

See you there!

Daisy Blues

I love pretty paper.  I 'collect' too much of it.  I hoard it.  It's my disease.

I'm forcing myself to use it.  Making these boxes is the easiest way to use it up.  I've been starting with some of my favorite patterns just to get the big separation emotions over with.  Plus it helps to see how well the boxes come together when I'm loving the paper.

I made this box yesterday.  I've had the paper for a year or so.  It's relief embossed so the daisies are puffed out.  I just love the way it feels!

When coordinating colors, I found the striped paper in a stash from SU! that I've had for years and years.  I think the striped papers have the best WOW effect for the tray part of the box.  It's getting it lined up that's the hardest part.  And I'm so particular about that too.

I think it looks best open!

Craft Fair Samples

Here's a composite pic of some of the items I'll be selling at the upcoming craft fair.  From top right, clockwise:  Card Box, Pencil Box, Pocket Calendars, Recipe/Photo Box.  I'll post other samples later.

Blue Dazzle

This is the latest box I've made.  It's for a friend's birthday.  While it's hard to see in the photo, the flower paper is embossed and glittered.  It really is sparkly.  I paired it with a red print texture and then a soft pale polka dotted blue for the inside tray.  The tray fits standard A2 size cards and envelopes (as do all the ones I'm making right now). 

Here is a picture of the box open.  I hope she likes the paper I've chosen.
BTW, the backdrop is a crocheted lapghan that my husband made for her.  YES, he crochets (and knits).  That's because he's WAY more talented than I am.

First Box

This was the very first box I made.  It had its imperfections, but overall, it came out better than I had expected.  It's a drop spine version and it was probably about 5"x7".  At the time, I had a hard time visualizing paper lengths, so this was done in more pieces than I had hoped.  After this, I re-engineered the box size and used my paper more effectively.

I gave this box away a couple of days after I completed it, so I didn't get many pictures of it.  The colors were soft golden yellow and deep olive greens, though the picture looks more brown.  This was before my husband built me a light box too.  I hope the lady who owns this box still uses it.  I have a special attachment to it, mainly because it was my first attempt.

It all began...

I've been papercrafting for years.  A close friend of mine gave me my first rubber stamp set, along with some packs of paper and other accessories.  She showed me how to use it all, and then it sat on the shelf for over a year.  When I desperately needed a card for my sister's birthday and no time to go out and get one, I remembered the stamps and set about making my first real card.  I was so proud of it at the time, though I'm sure it was pretty awful by my standards of today.  But ever since then, I've been hooked on cardmaking and other paper projects.
Fast forward. 
I was introduced into chipboard by another friend of mine.  Nice sturdy embellishments that you can manipulate in various ways.  That led me into the world of matboard and bookboard.  All these flimsy paper folders could now be reinforced with some sturdy board.  Hmmm...see where this is going?
My husband does woodworking.  Some of his first projects have been boxes.  Most made out of exotic or just beautiful woods.  I am the proud owner of some of those gorgeous boxes.
Now, wouldn't it be nice if I could make boxes out of some of these lovely art papers?  I researched for weeks on box-making and bookbinding and then set about to design and craft my own boxes.  Having all the tools from my engineering days, I began drawing blueprints for several ideas.  Then I started building.  It took a few tries to get a method going.  Then I shared my boxes with my friends.  They were so impressed that they begged me to teach them.  I've now got a few classes under my belt and am getting ready to hold a few more.  In the meantime, my dear friends have encouraged me to share my creations at a local upcoming craft fair.  I've been busy building, altering my original creations every now and again just to spice things up.  I decided to start displaying some of my boxes here on my blog.

It's started

Well, here I am.  We'll see how it goes.