Transforming An Old Shoe Box Into A Beautiful Gift Box - Tammy Tutterow Designs

Hi Everyone! I'm so happy you stopped over to check out my project. I'm so appreciative you're here and hope you find some useful ideas for your next craft project. I decided to honor Earth Day by recycling an old shoe box. With birthdays, graduations and even Mother's Day coming up, it's a perfect way to create a beautiful package for your gift. I hope you enjoy the tutorial I put together below. Happy Crafting!

I chose a large, sturdy shoe box and covered it with craft butcher paper. You can find small rolls of this online for a reasonable price and it comes in white too.

I ink all the edges of the box, top and bottom, with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a mini ink blending tool.

Next, I stamp on the Dear Ruby background stamp in random areas of the lid with Vintage Photo Archival Ink. I did not mount the stamp onto a stamping block, I ink small portions of the stamp and apply the image while holding it in my hand.

To define the edges and make them stand out, I ink the edges and small portions of the top with Ground Espresso Distress Ink. 

I decorate the inside of the box with some old card stock I had in my stash.

Now onto creating the pretty lid decorations:

I cut some foliage from the Tammy Tutterow Pom Pom Posies die set and Tim Holtz Garden Greens thinlits dies out of Bazzill Kiwi Crush card stock and ink the edges with Forest Moss Distress Ink.

I creat two different flowers from the Shabby Posies die set. This is a must have set for me. I have created several different types of flowers out of it because the shape of the petals can be manipulated in so many ways. 

For the rose, I cut out the petals and ink the centers with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. You can find my tutorial for creating these roses here. 

For the flower with stamens, I use the same die set. I just cut out the petals, ink the centers with Simon Says Stamp Teeny Bikini ink and punch a hole in the center of each petal to push the stamens through. I offset the petals to form the layers of the flower.

To finish the gift box, I make an arrangement with the flowers, foliage and raffia atop a pretty white crochet ribbon. Below are some close-ups of the gift box.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I transformed a shoe box into a beautiful gift box and that you use some of these ideas to create a beautiful box of your own. Have a great weekend! ♥ 

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Tutorial - Create a Beautiful Rose

I learned to make my roses from Dr. Sonia S V. As a design team member for the Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenges I see a lot of talent from our participants.  In one particular challenge, I was mesmerized by the roses on a project that was entered by Dr. Sonia. I scoped out her blog and came to find some of the most BEAUTIFUL handmade flowers I had ever seen.  My tutorial below is based on her tutorial with different tools but I suggest you see her tutorial. It is exquisite and you can find it here. My roses are no where near as beautiful as hers, but with more practice, I hope to get them to look just as incredible. 

  

Tutorial for making roses:

I used Tammy Tutterow Shabby Posies die set and cut 2 of the smallest size dies and 5 of the next size bigger.

I punch a hole in the center of both of the smallest size petals.

I use the end of a small paintbrush as my tool for forming the inner section of the rose. I put the paintbrush handle through the hole I punched in the center of the petals and wrap one petal at a time around the paintbrush making sure to glue each petal as I go along.

Here, you can see my petal forming as I wrap each petal around the handle.

I complete the center of the rose and continue to add more petals.

I remove the center of the rose that I just created from the paintbrush and add another die cut flower onto the handle.

I place the rose center I created over top of the die cut petal piece and continue wrapping the petals around the center of the flower continuing to build the rose.

Here, you can see the rose beginning to take shape after the second set of petals are wrapped around one another. This completes the center of the rose.

I now use the larger size die cuts for the outer petals of the rose. I shape the petals using a stylus and foam pad from the McGill flower shaping kit, using circular movements to break down the fibers of the paper and shape the petals.

Here is the shaped piece ready for the center of the rose.

I glue the rose center to the middle of the shaped petals.

I continue to add all the petals to the flower by gluing each set one under the other. I make sure to offset the petals as I glue them together.

Now that all the petals are glued together, I begin to shape the petals by using the tweezers that come in the flower shaping kit to bend the petals backwards. I continue shaping and bending until I'm happy with the way the rose looks.

I'm happy with the rose and make two more for my card.

These roses are perfect for cards, gift boxes and so many other projects. Practice, practice, practice and don't give up, trust me, you'll get the hang of it.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - We've Got Your Number

Hi Everyone! It's time for another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. The theme this week is, We've Got Your Number, and we're asking you to put a number somewhere on your project. Simple, right? I love adding numbers to projects. They don't have to have any significance, I just think they look cool. I chose to create a beautiful garden scene in an old and rusty garden. Below is a tutorial, with photos, on how I created my rusty garden background. Enjoy!

Also, don't forget to stop by our lovely guest designer for the month of April, Amy, from Amy's Card Obsession. This is April's last week with us and she's been amazing. I love her artwork and plan on following her for a long time to come. Check out her website to see her unique style. You won't be disappointed.

I start by cutting a 5" x 7" piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Board and stencil on the Simon Says Stamp Leaves Stencil with Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste. I set that aside to completely dry.

I embossed a 5" x 7" piece of Neenah Solar White 110 lb. cardstock with the Tammy Tutterow Horsehair Embossing Folder and tear it along two of the corners.

I attach the two torn pieces to the dried stenciled leaves panel.

I use the Tim Holtz Trellis Frameworks die to create small pieces that I want to add to the panel. These pieces are cut out from white chipboard. I use the trellis along with the leftover cutout pieces.

I adhere the trellis pieces to the panel in random areas.

After the pieces are securely adhered to the panel, I cut off the excess from the edges.

I cover the entire panel with Dina Wakley White Gesso.

(If you're wondering why there is a slight pink hue to the background, it's because I sprayed it with Distress Spray and hated the way it looked so I went over the entire panel again with white gesso. I wasn't worried about the pink left behind because I was going to cover it with Distress Crayon but if I didn't want the pink hue left behind I would have just covered it with another layer of white gesso.)

Now back to the tutorial.....I cover the leaves with Peeled Paint Distress Crayon by drawing it on around the lines of the leaves and move the pigment around with my fingertips.

I cover the trellis pieces and rest of the background with Gathered Twigs and Wild Honey Distress Crayons. I color on the pigment in random areas and move it around with my fingertips until I'm pleased with the way it looks.

To get the rusty hardware look, I use Prima Rust Effects Paste on the trellis pieces. See below on how to apply the Rust Effects Paste.

To create the window frame for the panel, I cut out the Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals as shown above.

Here you can see what I have left over after cutting two ovals inside each other. I will save the one on the right for a future project and use the one on the left for this project.

To apply the Rust Effect Paste to the frame, I start with the darkest brown color. I dab it on with a paint brush until the piece is completely covered. (There is no need to dry the paste between layers.)

Next, I dab on the rust colored paste using the same paintbrush in random areas around the frame. (There is no need to clean the brush between applications. You can use the same brush throughout the process.)

Next, I dab on the yellow colored paste to the frame.

For the final step, I return to the dark brown paste and dab that on over all three layers in random areas. You can repeat the three layer process as many times as you want until you're happy with the way it looks.

I adhere the oval frame with 3D foam tape to the center of the panel and my background is complete.

To complete the project, I create two butterflies, one from the Tim Holtz Detailed Butterflies thinlits dies and one from the Mini Detailed Butterflies thinlits dies. They are colored with Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Oxide Inks. The flowers are from my stash and the ruler pieces are from the Tim Holtz Dapper Stash that have been distressed around the edges and inked with Black Soot Archival Ink. The sentiment is from the Tim Holtz Paperie Quote Chips with Vintage Photo Archival Inked edges. I adhere the completed panel onto a 5-1/2" x 7-1/2" piece of Simon Says Stamp 100 lb. black card stock and my piece is done.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process I used to create my We've Got Your Number project and that you join us for this fun challenge by adding your project to Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 gift voucher to their amazing store.

For more inspiration, tips and tricks for all types of papercraft creations, follow Simon Says Stamp on:

          

You can find all the following supplies I used to create this project at Simon Says Stamp:

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