Strawberry Card gift and tutorial

First, let me thank all of the great crafters out there that share their talents! I get so many ideas from all of you. This card gift box comes from a fellow crafter, Deb.

I LOVE the Sharing Sweet Thoughts set from the back page of the annual catalog. Another plus to this set is that it helps the RMHC.

This card is created from Real Red cardstock. I stamped the image of the jar with Smokey Slate, then the strawberries with black, all on Whisper White. I used black ink to stamp the lid onto Real Red, cut it out and added it to the top of the jar with dimensionals. I colored the strawberries and covered the jar with Crystal Effects, then set it aside to dry. (You could also use the Fine Tip Liquid glue for the same effect. This is then mounted on DSP and attached to the front.

The cards stands alone with a box base, but lies flat to mail. Or to give it as a gift, add kisses, treasures, or some other small candy to the inside. A mint patty will fit in the upper part, too. (Never too much chocolate!)

NOW for the tutorial on how to make this. As usual, I have tweaked Deb's idea to fit my own ideas. I think I should warn you that my tutorial creation wasn't going exactly perfectly for me, as you will soon see!

Start with one piece 8 1/2 x 4 1/4, scored at 1/2, 1 1/2, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 along the long side. This will be your base.

For the front, cut a piece 3 x 5, scored at 1/2 and 1 1/2 along the long side

Crease all of the score lines in the same direction
Add strong adhesive (Fast Fuse works great!) to each 1/2 tab.
With the larger piece form a small box at the end with the scores. The tape will attach to the card base.

Flip the smaller piece over and add adhesive to the other end.

Lie the base down flat and adhere the smaller piece (not the scored end like I did, which is why it looks a bit rough on the top of the picture) to what will be the front of the box that was just created.

This is what it should look like (ignoring the extra score on the box, remember the warning I gave you at the beginning, well, scoring in the wrong place is where I started!!!)

Now press this all down flat and fold the taped tab in to attach to the base.

When you open it back up, this is what it should look like (without the extra score lines!)

And this is how I finished it! The strawberry panel was the same size as the front of the card panel, but the door was a bit taller, so I just extended it over the top. All of these images are from the At Home With You set, then colored and cutout with the thinlits, attached with dimensionals. The garland is actually the holly garland stamp and I just randomly colored with my fall colors, using the images as a guide.

Fold it flat and it will fit in a standard A2 envelope or as stated before, add some surprises to the "box" or "boxes" and give as a special gift.

I hope you will give this a try. It really isn't difficult once you figure it out AND if you get the score lines correct!

You can decorate the back as you would the inside of a card.

Have a great day and let me know if you have any questions.