Halloween Treat Box

When I was hosting my monthly Stamp-A-Stack this weekend, one of the gals saw this project I had prepared for another set of stampers. She asked if I had posted this on my blog, and I replied with certainty that I had. She didn't remember seeing it, so I lugged my laptop over to the table and, sure enough, I hadn't posted it!

This is evidence of my brain going in many directions in the past weeks, and I'll attempt to be a more regular contributor in the days ahead. Apology accepted? Okay, let's get on with today's project.

I first saw the template for this box on Vicki Burdick's blog, and I followed the link to Angie Kennedy Juda's blog. (Some might wonder why I send you away from here, but I'm not about to "reinvent the wheel" when someone as talented as Angie has already made a great tutorial. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChicnScratch#p/u/11/yMbujJsmxxE)

I loved the idea of this little box for sharing Halloween candy treats with classmates at school, and I modified hers twice to suit my purposes. I'll show you what I did today and tomorrow. I used Pumpkin Pie card stock, of course. While Angie tied a ribbon around her box, I wanted something more secure because I was making these with the idea that they would be transported for parties and would need to stay closed.

I used a retired punch, the horizontal slot, to create some slits for Early Espresso 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, but you could also use a 1/2" circle punch to accomplish this. I didn't want a scary Halloween image, since the crafters I was creating this for have young children. So I chose the XL 2-Step Owl Punch and added googly eyes.

The sentiment is from Seasonal Sentiments, a variety pack of sayings for the holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day being offered in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I stamped it with Early Espresso ink and then used our new XL Label Punch, which has such a neat shape, to give it some visual interest on the box. To create the shadow effect, I punched the shape and cut it in half horizontally at the points in the middle and adhered it, slightly separated, behind the sentiment. You could also cut it vertically and achieve a different shadowed look.

The owl and the sentiment were mounted on a 3" x 3" square of Peach Parfait Designer Series Paper from the InColor Collection. The crafters were quite pleased with this, and my favorite part of this project is that it uses 1-8.5" x 11" sheet and requires no cutting.

I'll be back tomorrow with a second modification made with this template, this time making a little goodie box for Christmas.