Boxing Clever

Boxing Clever is an interesting idiom which I have hijacked for another of my cringe worthy little word plays. Pillow boxes it seems are a favourite amongst the paper crafting community when it comes to customisation (there are some stunning owls out there!) so I decided to create some festive themed custom jobs just for you.

the ideas are not completely original however I will show you a few little tricks of how to give them a little extra spice by using your favourite Sizzix dies.

Here is a list of dies used, click on each link to see the products:

• Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Pillow Box w/Labels by Tim Holtz
• Sizzix Framelits Die set 8PK - Circles#2
• Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8Pk - Squares
• Sizzix Framelits Die Set 6Pk - Squares, Scallop

I wanted to make a couple of festive gift boxes which will compliment each other and what better double act than Santa and Rudolph.

I started by die cutting and assembling the box from red patterned paper (My Mind's Eye Collectable Collection) 

Next, I die cut a scalloped square from gold matt card and a square of black card. I then cut a strip of black card long enough to wrap around the box and trimmed one end to a point. I scrunched the strip and black square into a ball to add a little texture before lightly applying a little pewter coloured gilding wax with my fingertip.

 The rest was easy, I wrapped the 'belt' around the box and matted the black square onto the scalloped buckle before attaching to the belt. For the finishing touch I threaded a couple of small wooden buttons with raffia and attached to the box using a glue gun.

Isn't it amazing how a few simple shapes and colours combine to leave you in no doubt as to who or what the image represents?

Rudolph is a little more challenging and even though you can find some ideas on the internet, I made this without seeing any of them as I had a few ideas I wanted to try out.

I wanted to start with Rudolph's eyes. He may be the baby of the reindeer team but he's been pulling that sleigh for centuries now so I wanted to give him a Sagacious, world weary disposition and the best way to convey a characters emotion is through the eyes which after all are the windows to the soul!

I folded a piece of white card in half and placed a circle die so that it slightly overlapped the crease, I ran this through my trusty Big Shot and ended up with two linked circles. I then repeated these steps using a slightly larger circle and corrugated card.

I folded the two corrugated circles back together and trimmed at an angle to make Rudolph's eyelids. Next, I die-cut two small black circles and carefully snipped away a couple of triangles before attaching to the whites of the eyes, This adds the illusion of highlights (Check out early Mickey Mouse cartoons). Finally, I gently inked the edges of the eyelids to add contrast using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and attached them in place with adhesive foam pads to add a little dimension.

I die-cut and assembled the pillow box from corrugated card and gently inked the edges before mounting the eyes. The nose was cut from red glitter card, after all, as the song says, it was 'very shiny' 

To create the ears I die-cut a circle from corrugated card and folded it in half before placing my circle die back onto the folded card in such a way that I ended up with two leaf shapes which I then inked around the edges.

The ears were attached with a glue gun and the last thing to do was brave the elements and collect a few suitable twigs to use as antlers. I sealed the top of the box and used a craft knife to make a couple of slits at the corners into which I inserted the trimmed twigs.

I think they make a lovely couple, I hope you agree?