Beloved Box

Beloved Box

I'm pretty sure I gave fair warning a few weeks ago that I'd fallen for this Beloved paper from My Minds Eye. I picked mine up from Eclectic Paperie and I'm off now to buy another package since I've used nearly all of it.

This little project just about finished it off. But its okay, I can (and will!) get more!

After all the watercoloring I'd done on my projects last week, I thought that I owed you a tutorial on how I do it. I so enjoyed watercoloring all those samples, and I think the technique is just perfect for these Pure Innocence girls with all their wide open spaces for coloring.

So, I as I worked on this project, I taped it step by step so that you could see how the coloring comes together. I'll warn you, it is pretty long, but hopefully you'll find it helpful. If you're interested, the tutorial is here.

You might recognize that this is the "An Apple for You" image from My Favorite Things, but as I finished the project, I used a kraft knife to open up the image, remove the apple, and instead, tuck this chipboard heart into her hands.

The box itself is a Taylor's Perfect Package, and I just love them. I've got two more on my shelf for an emergency gifting situation! LOL!

On the front of the box, I've spelled out LOVE with MFT's Bling Bet and in place of the "O" I've used a flower punchout, all crumpled, rumpled and distress inked, with a twine bow button.

The letters were stamped with red ink to white paper, then trimmed and matted on Kraft, then trimmed and matted on red. The dots in each letter are filled with stickles, though I don't think it shows in this photo?

Each panel of designer paper has been matted onto red cardstock, then inked with my distress ink, then stitched with my machine.

The actual gift isn't the box - the gift is inside! Right now, the box is filled with assorted valentine chocolates, and you'll see a Target gift card sticking out of the pocket on the lid.

I made this for my cousin who is headed back to college after a semester abroad. I know that she's going to have a lot of things that she'll need to get settled back into school. And of course, that any late night study session requires some late night snacks!! I told her that the pocket will also store a book of stamps and that I'll send her some cards to send home to her mom!

I'm off to add the Tutorial as well as a related Challenge with Blog Candy! Be sure to stop by to see it all. And warning, grab a coffee, my video is long!