Eileen Hull Designs Book Club Collection - Valentines Box

Hi everyone! Here we are in February already and Valentines Day will soon be upon us. Tomorrow I'll be sharing a card for the occasion so make sure you come back for that. Today it's time to focus on the gifts for that special person in your life.

If your plan involves giving a special little something, be it choccies or a bit of bling, what better than to personalise your gift than with a handmade box. You can even coordinate it with your card! The finished internal dimensions to this one are 4"x 3" x 1" so plenty of room to to fit a treat or two inside. It has been created using the Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die - 'Book & Pages, Trinket Box & Frame' by Eileen Hull Designs. That name is long, but it's because this die can create so many different things, including this box! The link above is for US customers but I'm thrilled to say I know of a couple of UK retailers who are already taking pre-orders for Eileen's Book Club collection of dies (links at the end of this post).

My Valentines Box was simple to construct and decorate but then I couldn't resist adding vintage style finishes and even a touch of glitter. First up lets see how easy it is to create a professional looking box.

Box Tutorial

Cover several pieces of mount board with papers of your choice as it's easier than cutting papers separately and sticking them on a die cut piece.. I used DCWV 'The Far East Stack' using a sheet of the Oriental red floral pattern on the outside and a sheet of the chocolate flourish pattern for the inside of the box. You'll need;

• 2 x pieces of 8" x 2" board covered on one side with the red paper and on the other side with the chocolate paper.
• 3 x pieces 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" board with paper on one side only, one red and two chocolate.
• 2 x pieces 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" board covered on both sides with the red paper.

I've put the corresponding die cut shapes on top of each piece of card so you can see how they match up. Remember, all these shapes (and more) are part of the one die and include the Movers and Shapers Oval to insert into the 'frame' shape.

At this stage I took the opportunity to cover any white edges with Dina Wakley's 'Gilt' Acrylic Paint. This is not essential. You can leave the edges white if you prefer or cover them with ink, paint, pen etc. If you coordinate with the papers you've used it does give a more professional finish. Should you want to go further with the finishes now is a good time to add stencilling, pastes, stamping as the pieces can be laid flat.

Now it's time to assemble the box; begin by folding the pre-scored lines on the longest die cuts and glue together to create the sides of the box. I use wet glue and pegs to hold the pieces together while they dry. Glue the red 'ATC' shaped piece to the underside of the oval aperture frame piece.

To finish glue the box sides to the frame base (placing something flat and heavy on it like a book until dry). Then stick one of the remaining chocolate paper covered 'ATC' shapes on the bottom of the box to cover the folded edges and stick the other one onto the underside of the box lid to help it stay in place when sat on the base. Your box is now complete and ready for that gift. Or you can add more...

The Finished Valentines Box

Being unable to leave things as they are I covered the paper with Crazing Distress Collage Medium to give it a subtle crackle finish, and applied white gesso, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and clear Distress Glitter over the gold edges. The floral arrangement on top of the box includes flowers cut using Eileen's Stitchy Flowers with hearts and branches to match the paper design.

So that's it for my Valentines Box serving suggestion and tutorial. Hope you're feeling inspired to get the die and make your own gift boxes (and so much more).

Tomorrow I'll be back with the Valentines Card. Hope you can join me for that.

For now, get creative!

Jenny xxx

Pre-orders available for Eileen Hull Designs 'Book Club Collection' dies by Sizzix from these UK stockists

(if you know of any others please let me know);

Sir Stampalot

Handmade At Helens