Stampin' Up! Garden in Bloom Box

Summer is here!  Last week my order of new stamps arrived but I didn't have much of a chance to play with it because of all the last week of school festivities.  Even though I didn't get to use my new stamps, I had a lot of fun reading to first graders, spending an afternoon in the sun helping with Field Day, and making last minute thank you gifts for teachers, staff, and administrators.  I can't believe that another school year has already come and gone!  Now we have 11 weeks of Summer until we're back in the school routine, I'm sure they'll fly by.

On Monday I was hoping to take advantage of some nap time stamping, but instead spent the time trying to help my older two establish some Summertime routines.  So, once everyone was in bed for the night (and unfortunately it was an hour or so later than their usual bedtime), I finally had the chance to use some new product.  I decided to start out by making a project for the challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  This week's challenge is to make anything but a card, so I came up with a fun little box that features the new Garden in Bloom photopolymer stamp set.  I love this stamp set, it reminds me of so many fun 2-step stampin' sets that were around maybe 15 years ago (the type of sets that really made me fall in love with Stampin' Up!).  I almost felt like I was stamping with a long lost friend when I used them, and it felt good to be back together!

I started out by cutting a sheet of white and a sheet of Soft Sky card stock down to 6"x6".  For the bottom of the box, I scored the Soft Sky card stock 1-1/16" from each edge and then cut the corners and folded it into a box.  That way the width of the box was almost 4" square.  For the top of the box, I scored the white card stock at 1" from each side (that way it would be just a tiny bit bigger than the base and then it would fit over the base easily).  I wanted some of the color from the base to show, so after scoring, I trimmed 1/4" off each side.  In the past I've tried cutting the lid smaller to begin with, but I find it's easier to figure the math if I score first and then cut (and then I waste less paper from mistakes).  I stamped images from the Garden in Bloom all over the lid of my box before folding it.  I used Melon Mambo/Pink Pirouette, Crushed Curry/So Saffron, Pacific Point/Soft Sky, and Cucumber Crush/Cucumber Crush stamped off once. 

For the tag, I stamped the word "enjoy" from the Endless Birthday Wishes photopolymer stamp set in Melon Mambo and then stamped the small butterfly images from the Garden in Bloom set.  I punched that out with the oval punch, then layered it on some Pink Pirouette punched with the scalloped oval, and finally layered that onto some Soft Sky punched with the decorative label punch.  I punched a 1/8" hole into my tag so that I could tie some ribbon through it.  I used Melon Mambo cotton ribbon to tie my box closed, and instead of putting one end of the ribbon through my tag hole, I brought both sides up through it so that my bow would sit completely on top of the tag.  Have you used your stamps to make something besides a card lately?