Matchbox Box

I just love little boxes that hold all odds and ends that I do not know where to put. Last year I made an advent tower/box out of matchboxes that I had made, but I did not have a score board so I drew up a template to use and hand cut 24 boxes and covers and scored using a ruler and embossing tool, it took what felt like forever.

I have seen these matchbox kits on the internet for a long while and have always wanted to make one but have been too stingy to buy the kit, so my summer holiday challenge to myself was to make a matchbox using my Martha Stewart scoreboard. I know I could probably have done a web search to find instructions but I am not that good on a computer plus broadband is pretty pants in the area I live in, the connection keeps breaking up. 

I am pleased to say that once I had the pattern sorted in my head it was fairly easy to do. I have even managed to do the measurements so that each side is scored the same.

 But as yet I haven't been able to work out the cover in inches only in centimetres, so I mark where the score lines should be then line up the card on the MS board and do it that way.

This box is just the right size to keep four different sets of brads in, or Lucy could keep some of  her jewellery in it. Now I know I can make these  boxes easily I can make lots of storage towers, or mini desks, or sets of drawers. Then I can buy more brads to go in them!!  

Special Date Book

This book is like a birthday book but it holds all the extra dates you need as well, like anniversary's. I first saw this book  in  papercraft inspirations about two years ago and thought it looked amazing as well as extremely useful.

I made my book big enough to hold A6 cards but the book can be made to hold any size card. I decided to use book rings to hold my pages together but it could easily be made using the bind-it-all. I have now made four of these books for close friends.

To make this book:

I used chipboard

 book rings

 plain card stock

 patterned paper

 ribbon

 punches cricut to cut the top note shape

 The tabs are made from my 'stampin up' tab punch to which I have added a tiny oblong of white card to write the month on. I have also made 3 wallets to inside the book by cutting down A5 plastic wallets, these can hold slightly bigger cards than the pockets allow.

 As you can see I have put the printed out months on the left hand side and on the right hand side the patterned paper is the pocket for cards to be stored in. All I need to do now is fill the book with cards ready  for everyone's birthday.

I finished  the outside of the book by tying various types of ribbon around the book rings.

The lovely thing about making these books is that you can use any paper and card, it can be from a set or  paper that you would not necessarily use on a layout. If the card stock is not heavy enough you could glue or stitch two pieces together. 

Karen is making one of these books too, hers is bigger, it will hold A5 cards and she has matched the paper to the months, so for February the paper reflects valentines, for September the paper reflects the start of autumn.