A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop - Flora & Flutter

This month is our NINTH #APaperPumpkinThing Blog Hop. Our kit this month is called Flora & Flutter. It came with supplies to make 8 cards, 4 each of 2 designs, with die-cut layers over some of our beautiful Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper that peeks through. The picture below shows how the cards would look if you made them according to the kit instructions:

As per usual, I tried to stick closely to the Paper Pumpkin kit supplies...and I think I came up with a pretty bright idea for my 3D project! (yes, I like puns)

The Flora & Flutter kit was produced with a slight error the first time around, where the green was printed on the wrong side of the leafy die-cut layer. To remedy this, and to ensure the green leaves would show through the card front as pictured on the kit instructions, Stampin' Up! had the correct version printed up and ADDED a package of them to each kit that was affected. That means I got FOUR EXTRA DIE CUTS...SCORE!!! Look at their cute little oopsie:

Okay, so I already had my little string of lights set up in my stamping area upstairs. I got them from Target probably over a year ago, so I have no idea if they are still available, but I based my measurements and assembly on those. I've been paper crafting as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for over 23 years, so I've gotten pretty good at visualizing what I want and then creating it, but I'll be darned if I'm not tickled pink (or Berry Burst-ing with pride) at having simply measured the diameter of the paper lantern ball and fitting my luminary covers together perfectly the first time around without even a rough draft!

Let me see if I can walk you through it without boring you to death. The green (Lemon Lime Twist) and Peekaboo Peach die cuts that came in the kit are 4" square. The Calypso Coral die cuts come from card fronts in the kit, which folded over to 4-1/4" square. I cut those card fronts in half, so the die cut was a 4-1/4" single layer square. Then I trimmed 1/8" off each side of the die cut square so it would end up at 4" square like the other ones. {Note: the Calypso Coral luminary boxes are not shown in this post, as I had a rough time getting the right light for all the pictures, and getting my computer to upload them today...so I'll see if I can add a post tomorrow with them.}

I decided to use some Glossy White Card Stock to put around the paper lantern, with the glossy side facing the inside of the box, so it would help the light reflect out the front. I cut a piece of Glossy White Card Stock to 4" x 10", then scored at 1/4", 3", 7", and 9-3/4".

This piece goes around the back of the paper lantern ball, so I adhered the cut square of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper onto the shiny side of the Glossy White Card Stock, centering it in the 4" square panel, as you see below. Although the kit contained adhesive strips I could have used, I like to use Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue to secure boxes.

The top and bottom of my little luminary covers are each 3-1/4" x 4" Glossy White Card Stock, scored 1/4" in from each short side. That will give you a 2-3/4" x 4" piece with 1/4" tab on the front and back. Again, the glossy side of each of these will be facing into the luminary box, to help reflect light.

Here's a little bit of a tricky part...where the tabs for the box bottom panel, and the tabs for the box wrap around panel meet, I didn't want to deal with any overlap. If you don't care about that, just skip this step, but I mitred the edges of the tabs so they would not overlap. I only did this on the bottom front, because the lights are up above eye level, so I wanted the bottom to look as smooth as possible. The easiest way for me to do this is to temporarily adhere the corners that will overlap, mark across lightly with a pencil, and then cut at the line (and pull the little cut corner pieces off the temporary adhesive if they are still stuck).

I adhered the die cut to the front of the wrap around piece, with the glimmer paper inside. Then I adhered the bottom piece, with the tabs inside the box.

This is where it can get complicated. I wanted something removable, so I punched holes  around the luminary box top, to pull ribbon through to hold it closed. To do this, I first glued the top cover to the top outside back of the box. Then I used the 1/8" Handheld Circle Punch to punch a hole in each corner of the top front.

Then I held the box top closed and drew a circle with a pencil, through the punched hole and onto the box top tab (see pic below). I did this for both the top front circles, and punched over the pencil circles with the 1/8" Handheld Circle Punch. That way, the holes in the lid would line up with the ones in the front.

I then punched the top back holes, punching through both the glued down tab and the back of the box at the same time, because it was easier and the punch goes through without any difficulty. I just eyeballed the placement of the holes, but if you imagine that you are centering each hole in a 1/4" square at each corner, you'll be fine. Make a template with your Grid Paper if you need to.

Then I ran 24" of Old Olive Baker's Twine through the holes, going around the back, like you see in the pictures below. If you just want to use the Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding that came in the Paper Pumpkin kit, like I did on my leafy green luminary box, you'll have to do it carefully because there is not enough to wrap around the back of TWO luminary boxes (which is the amount I wanted to make of the leafy green design). There's only 36" of that seam binding in the kit, so cut that in half, then cut each half in half again. You should end up with 4 pieces that are each about 9" long. Tie a triple knot at the very end of each one, then just thread a ribbon through the holes from the back to the front on each side. Then you can tie that in a loose square knot so it can be untied easily. Or, if you want enough to wrap around and tie a bow, just buy yourself a spool of the Berry Burst Crinkled Seam Binding and use 24" or more on each box!

In the picture below, you can see how I wrapped the Baker's Twine around the back of the box. You'll also notice I cut about a half circle in the middle of each side of the box at the top, using the 1/2" Circle Punch. This is because I actually want my box top to close OVER my light string, and the light string will end up in that notch.

If you were just going to use these for peek-a-boo boxes, you could adhere a piece of Window Sheet behind the die cut area, then put your treat or gift inside, and tie the box closed. It would look like the box below. However, my instructions are not for a sealed box, so you'd probably want to add extra tabs to the bottom piece...or use some washi tape...to secure those bottom two sides.

The Flora & Flutter Paper Pumpkin Kit came with a cute little stamp set that features a butterfly, and the kit also included a mini Berry Burst ink pad, and some die-cut butterfly shapes for stamping the butterfly! I added one butterfly to each of my boxes.

If you wanted to hang these as luminary boxes over a string of lights like I did, you'll want to pull the string out of the top left and right holes in the box front. Then you'll slide the box up to the light string, thread each string back through the front hole, and tie the ends in a bow to hold the box in place.

Here's what they look like again when they are on the light string, when the light string is turned off, and then another shot when the light string is turned on.

SAFETY DISCLAIMER: my light string is LED lights...and they don't get hot, but I still don't leave them on when no one is around to keep an eye on them! Place luminaries over light strings at your own risk.

Stampin' Supplies: December 2017 Flora & Flutter Paper Pumpkin Kit, Glossy White Card Stock, Old Olive Baker's Twine, 1/2" Circle Punch, 1/8" Handheld Circle Punch, Stampin' Trimmer (for trimming and scoring), Paper Snips, Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Adhesive.

The Flora & Flutter Refill Kit can now be purchased the on the PAST KITS page in my Online Store. There are sometimes full Kits available on that page, but many are just Refill Kits which include the consumables only...meaning everything but the stamp set & ink pad. By the way, you're gonna have to be a Paper Pumpkin subscriber to buy whatever's available on that PAST KITS page, so go ahead and sign up HERE to get your email address in the system first!

NEXT UP: Click the Next button below to see what all the flutter is about on Rick's post!

DECEMBER 2017 A PAPER PUMPKIN THING BLOG HOP ROLL
Sara Levin
Kelly Acheson
Lori Mueller
Kimberley Morris YOU ARE HERE!
Rick Adkins
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Jenny Hall

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~Kimberley Morris Colorado Springs, CO
Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator since 1994
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