Daisies Stepping Up to the Sky

Phew,

we had one busy weekend and I haven't been able to get near the computer. First the weekly shopping, then taking the kids off to get photographed (they are only little for such a short time, although when you're sleep deprived it feels alot longer! and we rounded the weekend off with attending a birthday party). I actually had written this post up on the lap top nearly a week ago but posting well I guess that's another issue altogether. So here it is:

I managed to squeeze in an extra nights crafting this week to work on a special project – a birthday present for a good friend (hi Sam). Since she is superb paper crafter I wanted to do something special and the project I came up with was to make a Stepper Box. I first saw one on Caroline Le Bel’s blog last year (in Dec I think), when she showed the box she did as a workshop class. Caroline was kind enough to send me the instructions she had written up to make the box. You can also find instructions through this link, which was kindly sent to me by Splitcoasters (as they didn’t have a tutorial on their site for the box). (Tip: Make the Lid box a little bigger than suggested). So what kind of box am I talking about – well this is what I mean.

Using chipboard panels covered with DSP you make a casing that wraps around, 4 little box “shelves”, that are adhered each on a different panel at different levels so they “step” and the whole box can fold up on itself – how clever!!

After ummming and ahhing I settled on the Urban Garden DSP I wanted to use. Basic Gray wouldn’t normally be my first choice for a birthday card but I really liked the vertical flower pattern and thought it would work for the box and a matching card. So the colour palette is pretty simple – Basic Gray, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. I won’t go into details of how to make it – just follow the link if you want to check it out. One thing I will say is that it looks, initially to be really complicated to make all the boxes, but it is actually really simple and the boxes almost come together like magic.

There was no way that I was going to chop off the flower heads on the DSP or cover them up when the lid sits on the box, so I decided to cover the outside, side of the chipboard with white paper first then at a lower level layer with the DSP. I scalloped the top of the DSP on both the card and box. Inside the box I used another Urban Garden pattern to line it. The stepper boxes and lid are all made from Baja Breeze cardstock, all decorated with a matching DSP. The final touch for the box lid is a Baja Breeze corduroy button from the new Mini catalogue.

The little internal box steps are perfect for stashing a special little array of birthday treats – choccies, brads whatever takes your fancy.

The card is pretty simple but I hope effective. The same Urban Garden flower DSP scalloped at the top. Set on a layer of white, then the card base is Baja Breeze. To accentuate the DSP I paper pierced above and below. The sentiment was stamped in clear embossed Baja Breeze, punched out and set in a silver hodgepodge frame. That was laid over a strip of Baja Breeze ribbon and the frame was also embellished with the ribbon and some rhinestone brads.

I liked the result so much I think I’ll make one for me!! And my little Miss Four is dead keen on having on for her use as well.

Thanks for visiting.

Recipe: All SU unless noted
Box
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Baja Breeze
Ink: None
Accessories: Bella Chipboard sheet, White copy paper, Urban Garden DSP, Baja Breeze Corduroy Button, Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch1 3/8 circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, SNAIL adhesive, Tombow Multi

Card
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Versamark
Accessories: Urban Garden DSP, Silver Hodgepodge, Ice Rhinestones, Striped Grosgrain Baja Breeze Ribbon, Mat pack and piercing tool, Clear Embossing Powder (for the sentiment), Scallop Edge punch, Designer Label punch, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape