<anno> so.. teach me to make a box.

<Janet> Oh yeah. Okay. BOXES!

<Janet> Let's think inside the box. :)

<cak> any urls to load?

<Janet> I think initially this was paper mache boxes. (nope, yesterday was a fluke because I'd taught those before)

<Janet> and those are really easy.

<Janet> they're also really pretty cheap to buy, but hey, occasionally you want one exactly your own odd size instead of whatever the craft store has.

<Janet> and it makes a good cheap/free craft for a group, too

<Janet> (already asleep?)

<cak> (I am)

<Janet> LOL

anno is not asleep.

<Janet> anybody want to try to make one of these right now?

<cak> what would we need?

<Janet> ohhh... a piece of trash like a cereal box...

<Janet> some water and glue and flour...

<Janet> scissors

<Janet> then tomorrow or when it was dry, you'd want paints or something to decorate it.

<cak> (water + glue + flour + cak = big mess on the keyboard) I think I'd better watch for now.

<anno> stickers.

<Janet> LOL

<Janet> stickers rule

sparkle is still at work <G>

<anno> glue and flour?

<Janet> or that new product at AJ's booth? the metallic paint and the tarnishing stuff

<Janet> that looks awesome on a box

<Janet> yep, like elmers and betty crocker

<anno> 'k.

<anno> pillsbury.

<sparkle> oh! I love that stuff.

<Janet> yeah. pillsbury

<sparkle> its so easy to work with

<Janet> it really is.

sparkle has some..

<Janet> and what looks really cool?

<sparkle> its been used even

<sparkle> <G>

<anno> paint and tarnishing stuff.

<Janet> use some clay (sculpy or whatever) and stamp into the clay?

<anno> Ok.. poof. we made our box. now we're tarnishing it.

<Janet> then put that onto the top of the box and use that tarnish stuff and it looks like a fancy carved metal box

<sparkle> Yep.

<Janet> but yeah, we gotta MAKE the box first.

<anno> oh.

Janet backs up

anno went with a store-bought box.

<anno> hehe.

<Janet> When thinking about this class, I was thinking that valobra had done decorating box classes every way from Sunday. What I had that was new was how to make the box.

<Janet> LOL

<sparkle> lol

<Janet> Sooooo... pick out an Evo's template<g> in the shape you want your box to be.

<Janet> cut two pieces of cardboard with it.

<cak> size of the bottom of the box?

<Janet> actually this will be the size of the top of the box...

<cak> gotcha

<Janet> the bottom needs to be smaller than the top, so after you cut two, you skin off like an eighth of an inch off one, and that one is the bottom

<Janet> You can use cartstock (heavier) to do these. I personally use cereal boxes.

<cak> So far, so good!

<Janet> okay!

<cak> (I have lots of 4-ply and 2-ply mat board)

<Janet> now decide how tall you want your box to be.

<Janet> (would work well)

<Janet> and cut a strip that much wide

<Janet> uh, that didn't make sense.

<Janet> if you want your box 2" tall? cut a strip 2" wide

<Janet> Oh. I forgot. You need masking tape or paper tape or some tape

<Janet> but scotch tape doesn't work as good because it goes wonky when it gets wet

<Janet> I could sound real precise and say cut the strip twice the length of the diameter of your desired box...

<cak> but...

<Janet> but the real way to do it is to cut a strip as long as the junk box you're using, and then cut it off when you get to the other side as you're making it around your bottom bit

<Janet> Jillie and Francie, to catch up quick, get a cereal box or something like that...

<cak> (I'm much better using the piece rather than a ruler to measure)

<Jillie> at work, but I have a cracker box

<Janet> cut a top and bottom whatever size and shape you want your box to be...

<Janet> I always cut the top and bottom identical, then pick up the bottom and cut like an eight of an inch off all the way around.

<Janet> (this is so the lid ends up bigger and will fit on top of the bottom)

<Janet> cracker box is perfect.

<Janet> When I don't have an empty cereal box, I almost always have an empty cracker box.

<Janet> then cut a strip of the cardboard as wide as you want your box tall.

<Janet> Then tape that strip around your bottom...

<Janet> then cut a strip like an inch or so tall and do that around your lid piece.

<Janet> Now if you're going to decorate your box so that the ridge of the tape won't matter?

<cak> do you try to score or crease the folds before you apply 'em to your top/bottom?

<Janet> like if you're goign to cover it with sculpy or something?

<Janet> (and yes, score the corners, it really helps)

<Janet> but if you're making a round or oval box, don't score the corners.<g>

<cak> lol-good tip

<Janet> anyway, if you're going to cover with sculpy or something sorta thick, or with those gold leaf flakes? blow off the paper mache part.

<Janet> one thing that looks really cool is to put a decorative bit around the box, corragated cardboard...

<Janet> it makes cool ridges

<cak> So the paper mache is to give you an interesting surface to decorate?

<Janet> at any rate, you're probably not going to paper mache a lot on your box, but you can if you want...

<Janet> just remember to not paper mache so much that the lid won't fit.

<Janet> and before you start, try out your lid and make sure it will fit

<Janet> if it won't? cut the bottom a little bit smaller.

<Janet> am I making sense?

<cak> yes!

<Janet> (whew)

<Janet> but say you're going to paint your box with acrylics? and then stamp on it or put stickers on it or paint it with that cool metallic stuff that AJ's got?

<Janet> you'll want to smooth out the ridge of that tape where you taped it together and taped it to the top and bottom

<Janet> smooth out with paper mache.

<Janet> OR (this is skipping a step and is cool)...

<Janet> paper mache with a decorative paper like Enchanted Ink's tissue

<Janet> That decorative tissue works best if you rip it into random pieces and then glue/mache it on. Just paint a portion of your box with your water/glue mixture (or gesso works good)...

<Janet> other stuff would work good, too, mod podge stuff, whatever you like...

<Janet> then stick down a piece of tissue, then paint your stuff on top. as long as you've used "dries clear" stuff, this will turn out marvelous

<cak> automatic collage?

<anno> modpodge works great.. I bet diamondglaze would do it too.

<Janet> yeah!

<Janet> So anyways, Uhhhhh I think I'm at the end of my box making instructions. Want to talk about decorating possibilities?

<anno> yeah.

<Nikki-NZ> yes please

<cak> sure!

<Janet> you can collage these. easy deal. paint them.

<Janet> texture them

<cak> tp charms?

<cak> (or would they be too soft?)

<Janet> heh, I accidentally textured one and now it's a favorite trick. I'd sprayed adhesive on the top of one and then went to do something else and when I got back someone (not to mention any DH names) had salted a piece of watermelon over the top of it

<Janet> oh, no, they would be great!

<cak> lol!

<Janet> alla this salt, stuck to my box. I was more than ticked.

<cak> the salt textured it?

<anno> sure.. salt-textured.

<Janet> so I had a choice, I could sand it down, I could throw it away, I could make the DH feel really bad, or I could salt it some more and paint over the salt and say I meant to do that.

<Nikki-NZ> did the salt stick or eat out the glue?

<anno> if she was really lucky, he spit a few seeds on it too.

<cak> lol

<Janet> LOL

<anno> brb, gotta go whip up a batch of biscuits and some eggs.

sparkle is going home early

<Janet> So I made him feel really really bad and salted the rest of the box.

<sparkle> see y'all inna bit

<Janet> okeys.

<cak> (the best of both worlds?)

<Nikki-NZ> lol

<Janet> and the salt didn't react much with the acrylics I used on top, I used them pretty thick

<Janet> well, yelling and making him feel bad was almost expected. I didn't want him taking my temperature because I didn't go ballistic

<cak> lol

<Janet> another thing I really like to do is using rub and buff (or rubons) on the edges of my boxes.

<Janet> like around the rims and around the corners.

<cak> of course sand would do pretty good too

<Janet> looks cool. hides if I didn't have the edges meet up perfectly.

<cak> Do you have to seal that?

<Janet> sand would look real good. and wouldn't do funny things to the paint.

<Janet> I musta gesso'ed over that or something. It worked.

<Janet> and since then I've salted then gesso'd or sealed it

<Janet> Howdy, Nancy.

<Stampin_Be> Hello everyone!

<Janet> Remember that microfleur we all Had To Have a few conventions ago?

<Janet> (Wacky Wagon still has them, too)

<cak> (good I resisted)

<Janet> Dried flowers on top of these boxes, just sealed down, those look way cool.

<Janet> I've got a box "working" now that I'm sticking rose petals on as the rose petals in my daily bunch fall off onto my desk

<cak> little wooden knobbies for feet/handle?

<Janet> my plan is to have to completely covered over with petals, then do something else to it.

<cak> Oh, that sounds lovely

<Janet> Ooo yes! you can add feets or a lid knob. can use icko wooden beads you don't like anymore and paint 'em over, or use lovely glass ones and let them show

<cak> ooo, write the story of the roses on a strip of paper and apply it to the inside of the box

<cak> (or in the lid)

<Janet> maybe in the lid, then fill it with rose potpourri

<Janet> however you spell that

<cak> yes!

<Janet> Deborah was telling how you could decorate a box with seed beads, too. Same technique as covering over a Christmas ornament. LIke peyote stitch with a lot of airy places.

<Janet> I've never done that. I have used those flat backed ones Artform sells to decorate boxes before, though.

<Janet> those work great.

<cak> If your real anal (I'm not looking at you Janet), you can glue them down, one at a time--one their sides so the hole shows.

yamamama waves bye

<Janet> (Yama, you just got here)

<cak> (you can make lots of patterns that way)

yamamama sees cak lookin at janet

<cak> (just outta the sides of my eyes)

<yamamama> still have a house ful

<yamamama> LOL

<Janet> LOL. Not that I'm anal or anything. (you mean you're not supposed to glue 'em one at a time, carefully, positioning those tiny holes just so?)

<cak> well, *we* are. Everyone else could probably coat it with glue and roll it in a pile o' beads

<yamamama> iwill try to be back for annos social,,, then I am off to bed to get up at 2 or 3 am to head off to grandmas

<Nikki-NZ> lol, you mean you are ssppose to?

<Janet> ya know? I bet that liquid sculpey that RK is going to teach in a bit? I bet that would be awesome on boxes, too.

<cak> Yes!

<Janet> Amazing how my "free" project here can add up in cost... buy beads from Artforms booth. Buy Liquid Sculpey from Just Jhone's booth. Buy that metallic paint stuff (ChemTek?) from AJ's Stamp World booth.

<Janet> Buy a microfleur from Wacky Wagon. And of course the Evo's templates are invaluable.

<Janet> Oh and the Enchanted Ink paper, too.

<cak> lol! You've always laid claim to the Shopping Queen crown. You're just protecting your title

<Janet> (not too shabby, how many booth plugs in one class?LOL)

<cak> (good job)

<Janet> I really love the one I did where I painted it with acrylics, then used my texture stamp (lots of people have those, I think my new fav is at Red Castle)....

<Janet> with embossing ink, just put texture all over that box. Then brushed powdered pigment (Evo sells powdered pearls) in gold all over it. Then sprayed it down good with spray seal.

<Janet> It's gorgeous. It was supposed to be a gift only I kept it.

<cak> It sounds lovely

<Janet> I was really really impressed with it.

<cak> Would it stand up to the heat of an embossing gun? (thinking miracle tape and ep)

<Janet> NOW I think I need to get me some 6mm gold beads and put feets on it

<Janet> Oh yes! I've embossed these a lot.

<Janet> or you can do it the lazy way, just drag the edges over an embossing ink pad, then ep

<Janet> and you can texture with ep too. use a toothbrush to splatter it, then quick before it dries dump ep on it so it sticks in flecks

<Janet> (guess you could splatter with glycerin, only I didn't have it last time I did this)

<cak> I love those random organic patterns

<cak> UTEE would be nice too I bet

<Janet> Hi, Jay!

<jay> Hi all.

<Janet> ooo yeah, dump a lot of UTEE on the top, get it all hot and liquid and stamp into it.

<Janet> and then dump in a lot of glitter and beads and powdered pigments and stuff.

<cak> Float one of your rose petals in it?

<cak> (probably burn the poor petal though)

<Janet> almost any stamping technique can be adapted to decorating a box.

<Janet> I think I'm gonna have to try that.

<Janet> Any quick questions? I think it's about time to go stampin and cruisin' isnt' it?

<cak> (I wish it were for real)

<Nikki-NZ> thanks Janet for some wonderful ideas

<Janet> (I NEED to go on that cruise. I think I will.)

<Janet> Y'all report back what kind of boxes you make.

<Janet> You can make whatever you can imagine.

<cak> Do you want jpgs?

<Janet> Now let's go cruising!!

<Janet> Yes!!

<cak> (like I'm going to make one)

<cak> Thank you Janet--another idea and action-packed class!

Log file closed at 6/30/00 7:06:48 PM