Hello and welcome to this month’s exciting hop featuring the straw box.  You may have just hopped over from Tanja or starting with me, either way I’m happy to have you joining me.  Below are the lovely team joining me today and they are all very talented ladies.  I’m a guest designer whilst Zoe Tant is recovering from an operation and it’s great filling in for her.  In case you don’t know me, my name is Carrie and my picture is in the top right hand corner below.

The Straw Box

This is a great little box for you to have a go at by yourself at home.  In the UK temperatures have dropped this week resulting in a cold spell so a hot chocolate themed box seems fitting.

I hand stamped a sheet of whisper white cardstock using the Beauty Abounds stamp set.  This is one of our new cling stamp sets and believe me they love to stick to your clear blocks! The colours I’ve used are Highland Heather, Balmy Blue and Daffodil Delight.

I filled a mini Kilner jar with Cadbury’s hot chocolate powder and a clear acetate box with marshallows to pop on top.  Additionally, I topped them both with Gingham Gala designer series paper, a matching butterfly punched from the butterfly punch.  The straw has been covered with Gingham Gala designer series paper and added a gingham square inside the straw box to give it a base (this measured 10.5cm x 8.5cm.

Let me share with you how you can create the straw box using designer series paper or cardstock.

Straw box tutorial – step 1

Take your chosen A4 sheet (if using designer series paper it needs to measure 29.8cm x 21cm) and fold it in half and score along the fold with a bone folder. For the purposed of the tutorial I’ve used double sided designer series paper so you

Straw box tutorial – step 2

Fold each side in to the middle so it looks like the front of a wardrobe as shown below.

Straw box tutorial – step 3F

Fold over the top left corner to meet the middle fold as shown below from left to right.  Repeat on the top right corner and again for the bottom corners so you end up with a shape that looks like the one below.

Straw box tutorial – step 4

Turning your shape sideways as indicated below – snip along the left and right hand edge to the first fold line to create your flaps.

Straw box tutorial – step 5

You can start to assemble the straw bow by popping your preferred adhesive where shown to stick down the folded over corners.  I would recommend the tear and tape adhesive like I have used.

Straw box tutorial – step 6

Fold over the edge as indicated below and pop some more adhesive along the triangles which fold over to create the strong sides. The final element is to punch some holes on the triangle points if you wish to slide a straw through.  Another idea might be to create a mini desk caddy and you could swap the straw for a pen or pencil.

Finally you need to pop your contents into the straw box and then gift to someone special.

Thank you

Thank you for joining me and I hope you will pop to see what Annette has designed with this month’s theme.  I have included a product list after the blog list in case you want to purchase any of the supplier.

Just click the buttons below to navigate around the blog hop and I’d love it if you would leave me a comment below.

Inky hugs,

Carrie

Blog list

1. Tanja Kolar (Germany)
2. Carrie Bates (UK) – you are currently here
3. Annette Elias (Netherlands)
4. Dena Rekow (USA)
5. Beate Wacker (Austria)
6. Aude Barbara (France)
7. Barb Stewart (Canada)

Product List