A Tisket, A Tasket, A Creepy Little Basket...

Above is the finished sample of a nifty little treat box that's easy to make, and perfectly fits 3 peppermint patty candies inside! The sample basket above contains 3 candies, so you can see how high they stack in the basket--the extra one leaning on the front is another sample. This basket is great for Halloween, using the Batty for You set. It would also be great for any other holiday, spruced up with appropriate colors and any of the other seasonal Stampin' Up!® sets with images that can be punched with the 1-1/4" and/or 1-3/8" Circle Punches.

To make the basket, you'll want to start off with an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock. Trim your sheet so that it is 8-1/2" square. (Keep the 2-1/2" x 8-1/2" strip, you'll use it for basket handles!) Then take your 8-1/2" square sheet and cut it into 4 even 4-1/4" squares. You'll end up with all the pieces shown below, which will make 4 complete baskets:

Take one 4-1/4" square, and score it at 1-1/4" on each side. You will then use your Paper Snips to make two cuts opposite each other, as marked by the white lines on the picture below:

At this point, you will want to trim each of the 4 corners at a 45 degree angle. You can do this on your Paper Cutter by lining up the score marks at each corner with the groove of your Paper Cutter, as shown by the arrows in the picture below on the right.

The picture on the left, below, shows the octagon you will end up with after trimming all 4 corners correctly. The next step is to apply adhesive to the triangle shaped pieces. I used SNAIL, and ran two strips of adhesive on each triangle, as shown by the grey lines on the picture on the right below:

You will then turn your octagon over so that the adhesive is facing down. Do this on a table or cutting mat so that your SNAIL doesn't adhere to any paper. Take two of the triangles and pull them up as shown below on the left, to meet at the bottom. Then take the squared off flap behind the triangles, and pull it up to adhere over the triangles, as shown below on the right. Do this with the remaining triangles, and you will end up with a little box that's open on the top. This is the bottom of your basket.

If you intend to decorate the entire basket bottom, you may choose to cover your card stock with stamping or with Designer Series paper before cutting, scoring and assembling. I wanted the color of the card stock to show, and chose instead to place a strip of Creepy Crawly Designer Series Paper around the basket bottom. I cut the strip 1" wide, and 8" long, in order to wrap around the box and overlap a little at the end. I then placed the paper face down on the pattern I wanted to have showing, and put SNAIL adhesive on it as shown below by the grey lines.

Start wrapping your paper around the box from the center of the back of the box, as shown on the left below, so that your overlap ends up in the back. Do not choose either of the sides with triangles as the "back" of the box, we're going to use those for our handles later. As you wrap around the box, try to keep your paper centered on each side, and carefully bend it over each corner. When you get to the end, your paper strip will overlap itself slightly.

Now, you'll want to grab that 8-1/2" x 2-1/2" strip, and cut it into 4 even strips of 8-1/2" x 5/8". Each of these strips will be the handle for a basket. Take one strip, and place it down to the bottom of the box, along the inside of one of the sides with triangles, as shown below. Holding the strip there, make a light pencil mark at the top of the box edge, as shown by the black line in the picture below. Mark both ends of the strip in this manner.

Lay the strip on your table with the pencil marks facing up. Apply adhesive from a point just below the line you marked, to the end of the strip, on each end. Then, erase the pencil marks (carefully, to avoid eraser gunk getting stuck to your adhesive) and place each end of the strip back into the box, in the center of each side with triangles. Using the 1/16" Circle Punch, punch a small hole through the handle on each side of the basket, and place a coordinating brad in each hole, as shown below:

The reason we put the handles in on the sides of the basket with the triangles, is to give each of those sides a little more card stock support. Now, your basket is done...but I happened to notice that a scalloped piece of Designer Series Paper folds in half perfectly over the edge of the box, so I used the Scallop Punch to add more variety to the front and back of the box, as shown below:

I had my Scallop Circle Punch handy, because this is what you'll use to create the "covers" for the peppermint patty candies. Simply take one piece of scallop punched paper, place adhesive on the side you DON'T want showing, and place a peppermint patty in the center. Take a second scallop punched piece, again place adhesive on the side with the pattern you DON'T want facing out, and place that piece on top of the peppermint patty, as shown in the photos below.

The only thing left to do at this point is to add some decoration to your peppermint patties, if you so desire. The images from the Batty for You set are perfect for this, as they can be punched out with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch, as shown on the left below. And, a backing circle of coordinating card stock can be punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch, for mounting behind the image, as shown on the right below:

You can color coordinate the images and layers on the front of your peppermint patties...mix 'em up or make 'em all the same. Have fun with it, and try not to eat the whole bag of candy before you get all the baskets made for your friends!



Stampin' Supplies: Pumpkin Pie card stock, Creepy Crawly Designer Series Paper, Whisper White card stock, Garden Green card stock and marker, Lovely Lilac card stock and ink pad, Bold Brights® Brads, Blender Pens (to color in the ghost a little), 1/16" Handheld Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Cutter (with scoring blade), Paper Snips, SNAIL.

Spooky Little Box

The box above is a recreation of the Hostess gift I gave to Christi at her stamping party this weekend! It was filled with a stamp she chose, an ink spot (mini ink pad) and of course--CHOCOLATE! This is called a 2-5-7-10 Box, and I promised to post a tutorial on making the box, so here we go!

You'll need a sheet of 12x12 card stock. Score it at 2", 5", 7" and 10". Then turn the card stock 90 degrees and score again at 2" and at 7".

You will cut and fold along these score marks, as directed in the picture below. Cut on the black lines, and fold on the white lines. (Click on the picture below to see it larger.)


The picture below will show you what you'll end up with after you cut it out:

FYI: The large rectangle that is sticking up on the top will actually be the flap of your box. The next step is to decorate your box, which can be done quite easily using a Stampin' Around® wheel. The wheel I chose was Happy Jacks, and because the images on the wheel have a definite right-side-up, I covered the flap of the box with scratch paper while I rolled over the main part of the box. Then I switched the scratch paper, to cover nearby areas of the main box, as I rotated the box around to roll over the flap. This way, the Happy Jacks will be upright on both the box, and the flap. See the pictures below for a visual on this:

Next, you'll want to trim the flap of your box. Since all the sides are square, you can do this on the Paper Cutter, as shown on the picture on the left, below) I ended up backing my flap with another color, so I cut it off at about 1-1/4". You'll also want to trim the side of the box that is going to be adhered under the rest, so that the edges don't stick out and get in your way. If you cut away the areas you see marked in grey in the picture on the right (below), and then trim about 1/4" from the straight edge that runs across the bottom of the picture, that should give you plenty of breathing room.

And finally, you're ready to apply Sticky Strip adhesive to the edges, to assemble your box. Place Sticky Strip as shown in the picture below. There are 4 strips to place on the box. Please note that one of the bottom flaps needing adhesive is turned up. Place the Sticky Strip on the card stock, and leave the red covering in place. If you like, run a Bone Folder over the red covering of the Sticky Strip to help adhere it to the card stock, and to make the red covering easier to pull away. Only remove the red covering for the adhesive strips you are working with, as Sticky Strip adhesive is very sticky, and you don't want to accidentally stick the wrong parts of your project together!

I first rolled the box up and adhered the side panel, as shown in the picture on the left below. I then folded in the two smaller bottom side flaps, first folding down the one with the exposed adhesive strip, then folding the other side flap onto the top of that adhesive strip. Then I did the same with the larger flaps. You'll want to follow this order so that the bottom flap that shows, is folding from the front to the back, which will give the bottom front of the box a cleaner edge.

The next step is to take your fully assembled box, and pinch the top corners in so that the flap will close neatly over the front. You do this by pushing each side of the box in towards the center, and making gentle creases as shown below:

Don't pull the flap over the front of the box just yet, there is a minor amount of trimming you can do that will further help the flap to lie flat. Cut each front corner of the box towards the center front of the box, as shown by the white arrows on the picture below:


After that, your front flap should fold over neatly. If it does not, you may also need to trim very slightly across the straight edge at the top front edge of the box opening. If you want to add a different color to your box flap, as I did on my sample, you'll need to adhere that now. I scalloped the edge of the box flap, so I'll go ahead and show a small demo on that right here. I removed the plastic guide from the 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, as pictured below:

I then turned the punch over, to line up my paper across the flat part of metal 'V' shape of the punch, as shown in the picture below on the left. I made sure to place my punch in the center of piece I wanted scalloped (you can make a small pencil mark) so that the ridges would be even from the center to each edge of the piece. For each scallop going out from the center one, I overlapped the punch so that the space at the very end of the scallop next to it was just barely visible. Click on the picture to the right below, to see this in detail.

Sometimes I don't overlap my Corner Rounder Punch enough, and I get a little boo-boo tab. Click the picture on the left below to see the boo-boo up close, it's marked with a white arrow. I have found that if I use my 1/8" Circle Punch, I can trim the little boo-boo tab out and it looks as good as new. Click the picture below on the right to get a close up of how that works, then check out the picture underneath the first two, to see the repair work.

After your edge is scalloped, you will need to make some holes for ribbon, so you can open and close your box numerous times without damaging it. I used the Rectangle Punch, and first punched holes in the box lid, as you'll see in the picture below on the left. After that, I closed the box flap and marked the location of the holes with a pencil, onto the box front, as shown in the picture below on the right. Then I punched the holes in the box front with the Rectangle Punch. You can see all the holes in the picture under the first two.

Next, you'll want to string about 18" of 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon through the box front itself, as shown in the picture on the left below. Center the ribbon so that equal lengths are coming from each hole. Then take each end of the ribbon and string it through its respective hole in the box flap, from the backside, as shown in the picture below on the right.

When you pull the ribbon taut, the box flap should lie flat against the front of the box, and if you tie the ribbon in a bow, this is what it should look like:

You can leave it as it is, or add a gift tag or decorative medallion as I did on the sample at the beginning of this post. This project is fun for Halloween treats, but would also make a great gift box for the holidays. If you are like me, you have plenty of friends you'd enjoy giving a gift to, but financial limitations keep you from giving anything you really feel would be meaningful. So, instead, give a little bit of your time and talent by creating hand-stamped gifts, and I guarantee you it will be priceless to the recipient.

Stampin' Supplies: Bold Brights® Textured Card Stock (Only Orange and Lovely Lilac), Happy Jacks wheel and roller handle, Lovely Lilac ink pad (used both for the wheel and the ghost stamp), Blender Pens (for shading on the ghost), Paper Cutter (with scoring blade), Paper Snips, Sticky Strip, 3/16" Corner Rounder, Rectangle Punch, 1/8" Handheld Circle Punch, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals®, SNAIL.