Whoohoo!

I was able to get the internet hooked up on Daniel's computer, so I can post again! Whoohoo! Let's celebrate with a tutorial! First, though, here is a picture of Rhonda last night at craft night. She used hemp twine to tie her hair back. It was so cute!

The tutorial for today is for a lip balm holder. Those of you who know me or have been reading my blog for a while know that my MIL, Shirley, is an Avon lady. Last year I made lip balm holders for her to give her customers at Christmas.

When Rhonda and I were at Regional in Milwaukee in April, a demonstrator made a little box using the Print Pattern background stamp. Rhonda suggested it could be a lip balm holder. I had to lengthen it, but it worked! Well, I really didn't want to stamp that 20 times, so I took apart the one I had made and converted it to standard measurements. I even wrote them down!

First, I wheeled a full sheet of cardstock. (Here I've used the retired Wild Wasabi cardstock, Garden Green ink, and the Scandinavian wheel from the upcoming Holiday Mini.) Each lip balm holder is 3 3/4 X 5 1/2, so you can get 4 from one sheet of cardstock. Place one 3 3/4" side against the top of your cutter and score every 3/4". This divides the piece into 5 equal sections.

Next, I turned the piece over (plain side up) and put the 5 1/2" edge against the top of the cutter. I lined it up at 4 1/2 and used a pen to make a little mark across each score line and at the top and the bottom. I made the marks inside the area where the blade would normally score or cut. Then I flipped the cardstock 180 degrees and did the same thing again. This made all of the marks 1" in from each edge.

Then I used the 1/4" square punch to make a diamond shaped hole where each mark was. (Fold on the score line and line the punch up as shown above with the mark in the center.) I also punched a triangle on each edge.

I used sticky strip to adhere the box together; two of the sections overlap to form the box. The punched holes make notches to hold the ribbon in place when you tie the ends of the box shut. 8" of ribbon is the perfect length for each end.

I'm going to stamp the star from the coordinating stamp set, Scandinavian Season, and emboss it in gold for Shirley to use as a little tag.

I think this would also be cute to hold a lipstick or some small candy.

Happy stamping!