A few months ago I found that my friend Rachel Greig owner of
Darkroom Door had produced a sheet of
Photobooth images. I was so inspired by these tiny images that I knew I had to get a sheet to work with. I know this project is going to be the first of many using these so I hope you like them too. Here's what I came up with.
I used 2 pieces of 7gypsies
8 x 8 black book board to make the box. I always cut my book board with my rotary cutter. Okay, I always cut everything with my rotary cutter, but it works great on book board.
My box is 5" x 7" with sides 1 1/2" deep. You have to remember to cut the top pieces a smigie (that's a technical term) bigger than 1/8" longer than the back piece. Meaning, if my back piece is 5" wide, I need to cut the top and bottom side pieces 5 1/8" + so the back will fit inside the sides. If that sounds confusing, you must be a visual learner like me. My husband frequently uses salt and pepper shakers as visual learning tools when we are out to dinner! So just follow the pictures and you will "get it", I promise!
The back and the sides
The top and bottom (1 1/2" x 5 1/8") plus another piece 4" x 5" to use in the center later on. There are 3 leftover pieces that you can save for later.
Cover all 5 pieces with vintage music paper (or whatever you want)
Cut a piece of packing tape
Tape all the side together but remember to butt the long sides up against the 5 1/8" top and bottom piece so the final box will be 5 1/8 x 7".
Ink with Distress Ink if you like. I used Vintage Photo and Tumbled Glass. Love this blue color. NOTE: Vintage Photo is the color I use the most so my pad (okay, I have more than one) gets a lot of use. Therefore, the pad is "perfectly seasoned" as I like to call it. When you buy a brand new Vintage Photo it will be dark so be careful to pounce it on a paper towel first when working on lighter paper.
Now push the back into the frame. It should fit snugly.
Use the packing tape to tape the sides to the back.
Cover the sides with patterned paper.
This one is from 7gypsies Avignon Collection.
NOTE: If you have long 12" x 1 1/2" pieces of paper you can just wrap the strips around the box, but I only had smaller pieces on my desk and I just didn't want to go look for some longer ones. That's the truth!
Cut 4 scraps 1 1/2" wide
Add to the corners of the box. NOTE:
This technique works best for heavily patterned paper.
Now cover all the sides. You could cover the back of the box if you like. I did not since it was just for me.
You can finish the edges a bunch of ways but I decided to use silver foil tape from Ranger. It comes on a roll with a paper backing. To use, just peel back the backing and lay on the edge of the box. This tape is very sticky and can rip easily but it is also forgiving because you can just start another piece and no one will know. Fold down each side of the foil and burnish with a bone folder.
After I used the bone folder, I knocked back the shine with an old piece of sandpaper.
Now take another piece of foil tape and cut down the center with pinking sheers.
Add this to the inside edge to make a decorative border.
Perfect Pearls
If you have never tried
Perfect Pearls from Ranger...well, you should. It's fun and somewhat addicting! Today we're just going to work with some gold and copper because all my blue and green are packed in a box on their way across the ocean. Oh, and my brushes too, so I am working with this old paint brush. When you buy a set of Perfect Pearls they come with two brushes, one small and one big and fluffy. You should start with the small one to brush the powder on and then brush away excess with the big fluffy brush. Well, today I only have one brush so, it is what it is.
For this technique you need the Perfect Medium that comes in the kit with the powders and brushes. This is a photo of the 3" x 3" pad that is sold separately. Cut a piece of black cardstock. I used a 4" x 5" piece of Bazzill textured cardstock (Raven) for this project. When you look at the pad, the Perfect Medium looks dry. It's not. If you touch it, then rub your fingers together you can feel your fingers are a bit sticky.
Rub the pad over the cardstock to coat the whole surface. Don't skip this step! I know it doesn't look like there is anything on the paper, but it's there. That coat is what the Perfect Pearls are going to stick to.
Paint on the powder.
You can mix colors or layer them. Whatever you like. I did three colors, one at a time.
Now take your Perfect Medium (this is the little one that comes in the kit) and rub it on a large stamp. This stamp is a favorite of mine. I got it as a gift from a friend when I was in South Africa. Lucky, right?
Now stamp the card. Make sure you get a good impression.
Fabulous, right?
Here is another important step...mist the card to set the Perfect Pearls. You just need a quick, fine mist (not a lot of water!). I use the Mini Mister to do this because the spray is so fine.
Next step is to adhere the card to a piece of book board. To be quite honest you could do this before you even add the Perfect Pearls powder. I just didn't think of it sooner.
Once you are done with that, add foam tape to the back. I like these from ThermOWeb (8 strips in a package). Now, you can set this aside and move on to the butterfly.
I downloaded a free clipart
butterfly from
The Vintage Moth. I use a MAC so I just drag the butterfly to the desktop. Open a Pages or Word document, then drag the image to the blank page. You can size it from there to fit your card. You can copy/paste the image to make multiple sizes on one sheet. Pick "floating" so the image can float wherever you like it on the page. Print on cardstock and cut out.
I decided to give it another layer of thickness so I glued the butterfly to a black piece of cardstock and cut out again.
and here is the finished result.
Here is the photobooth sheet from Darkroom Door. The Photobooth pictures are printed on super heavy weight cardstock. Really nice. There are 25 pictures to choose from on each sheet.
There is also a sheet with gentlemen.
I cut out a picture and added it to an old 7gypsies fork from my stash of junk.
Add some glossy accents glue to the back of the butterfly. I only added it to the center so the wings could fly a bit.
Then add both pieces to the book board plaque. I added a few more things from my junk pile: a mini
handle to the top of the box, and a small clock face to the center. I put a mini brad in the center of the clock face and then glued it to the fork with Glossy Accents. Add a strip of a
metal paper edge under the plaque. Here's how I did it-
Cut a metal paper edge. The Tim Holtz scissors work like a charm for this step.
Mark with a sharpie for holes. Use the small hole on a Crop-a-dile to punch.
Add any saying you like, but remember to peel back the plastic coating that protects the metal. I sanded mine with a piece of sand paper too. Turn over to peel off the white backing and reveal the sticky back. Add 2 small eyelets to each end and add to the box.
I hope you liked today's project as much as I do.
Just for fun and mostly because you have been so patient with us as we have prepared for the upcoming trip. I cut a extra kit of the Butterfly box that includes almost everything you will need to make it (including an entire sheet of the Photobooth ladies), vintage music, a fork and clock face.
If you are interesting in winning, leave a comment by Sunday at midnight. I have to mail on Monday before we go. And as always, maybe it will be your LUCKY DAY.
-paula
