Tutorials | Catered Crop

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate — you know someone's fingers have been all over it.
~ Julia Child

I am so honored to introduce you to Elaine, who, for me, brings to paper crafts what Julia Child brought to cooking, rich gourmet goodness. This weekend I tripped onto Elaine's blog, Magic Boxes, and was immediately entranced. The magic she makes with her exploding boxes is just spellbinding.

When I was able to tear my eyes away from the seductive pictures of those boxes, I also saw her generous tips and tutorials. I had to know more about the genius behind these boxes. Since our Catered Crop party this week gives us a chance to make paper boxes, I asked Elaine if she would be our guest all the way from her London home. She agreed, and our Texas/London conversation began. Okay, you can eavesdrop if you insist.

Catered Crop: How did making boxes become a passion for you and what do you enjoy most about them?

Elaine: Packaging styles, boxes and the different ways they’re constructed have always fascinated me. I love working in three dimensions and graduated with an honours degree in furniture and product design so I’m constantly redesigning things in my head.

My magic boxes came about when I started playing with the traditional exploding box. It just wasn’t three dimensional enough for me. I wanted it to truly explode. I played with paper springs but wanted something less visible, something that made the butterflies really look like they were flying – that’s when I came up with the idea of using acetate strips.

I love making my ‘magic boxes’, I slip into a little fantasy world all of my own. I’m totally engrossed when I’m making one and when it’s finished there’s nothing better than to see the joyfull surprise on someone’s face as they lift the lid and my little world pops out at them.

Catered Crop: Your boxes seem to travel the globe: India, the Orients, Scotland, and one my my favorites, the Tropics. Where do you get your inspiration?

Elaine: I don’t make my boxes commercially, they are a hobby, but I have been commissioned several times simply by word of mouth. Commissions are always for someone special and I am usually given a theme – favourite colour, flower, country, hobby – things like that. I have a passion for nature, wildlife and gardens so this theme runs through most of my boxes.

Catered Crop: How did you learn to make those amazing flowers? Do you have any tips for making paper flowers so real looking?

Elaine: Before I make a flower I study it, even if I think I know it well. Where possible I look at the actual flower, sketch it, photograph it and make colour and texture notes. I hit google images big time and often set the images as a screen saver for the time I’m doing the project. It helps fix the details in my head.

I have a checklist in the back of my mind:
- overall shape and colour of the full flower,
- number, size, shape and colouration of the petals
- flower character – is it petite and delicate, bold and showy, droopy, spikey, they each have their own personality.
- is it single – like a snowdrop or does it work in a group – like a bluebell.
- leaves – shape, colour, texture, size
- stem – shape, colour, texture, size.

I have a five-petal flower punch, which is really useful as a base for a lot of my flowers. Where the punch isn’t suitable I make my own paper pattern.

Looking at my notes and images I start playing with paper to see how I can imitate the three dimensions of the petals and flower. There’s a lot of trial and error before I manage to come up with a paper pattern.

Once I know I have the shape I draw round the elements, scan them into the computer and trace them digitally. This way I have a final pattern that I can size up or down to fit my box. I print the pattern pieces (repeated several times) onto lightweight , appropriately coloured card and cut out. From there I colour, texturise and fix the pieces together, always referring back to the flower images and notes.

Elaine was kind enough to give us an exclusive sneak-peak into one of her sketch books showing how she researches and notates her flowers.

Oh darling crafters, there's more. Tomorrow Elaine is going to give us some more exclusives – some tips for how she gets all those amazing textures and colors and the behind-the-scenes look at the magical box commissioned for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip's 60th wedding anniversary. Cheerio until then.

March 22, 2011 | Filed Under: Featured Guests, Tips and Techniques Tagged With: Magic Boxes, Tutorials | 1 Comment

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
Wrap your presents to your darling from you
Pretty pencils to write I love you
Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
~ Willie Nelson, 1963

Sometimes, the gift is the box it comes in. I know, profound, right? But honestly, sometimes I have as much fun with the packaging as I do with the package. Since one of the ingredients in our Catered Crop Party FTR8 is to create I box, I thought I'd scan the blog-o-sphere for some inspiration.

Starting from Paper Garden Projects Tips and Tutorials, from top to bottom and left to right, here are a baker's dozen of my favorite paper boxes. (Just follow the hyperlinks for the instructions.)

From Catered Crop:

From our Catered Crop winner, Dorcas Designs:

Free and available for purchase (cheap) from Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Becky Roberts:

Want more? Head to Splitcoast Stampers Resources and search on "box" for 47 more tutorials (or, just click here). Thank you to all these amazing craft artists for sharing their paper box talents.

And then, when you think you've seen it all, there's this!

Stay tuned. (Ah, I love a good tease.)

March 21, 2011 | Filed Under: Follow the Recipe, Gift Sets, Tips and Techniques Tagged With: Follow the Recipe, Tutorials | 2 Comments

And I knew (I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew)
she could make me happy (happy, happy).
Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere.
~ The Cowsills, 1967

These felt flowers are so much fun to make – and so versatile. Depending on what you put behind them, they can be a hair clip, bookmark, brooch and, of course, they can be a card embellishment.

I love it when paper craft supplies cross over into fabrics and other crafts. (Helps justify the expense, right?) I used my die cut system (Big Shot) with my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die and my Nestabiliites, but you could also use just about any flower-building die, like My Favorite Things Upsy Daisy and Stampin' Up! Flower Folds. If you don't have a die cut system, many local scrapbook stores will let you use theirs for a small fee or with a purchase. You can also make your own pattern by tracing flower shapes, like I did for my leaves. Paper punches will not cut through felt.

Gather your ingredients:

Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die.
One circle die, no more than 1" wide. This is going to cover the back of the flower, so you can also free-hand cut a circle.
You won't need any more than a 6" by 6" panel of your choice of two felt colors: one color for the flower blossoms and another for the leaves. I guess it's no secret I love Benzie Bazaar heirloom quality felt. It comes in 80 different colors, die cuts beautifully, and comes in a great size for card making.
Coordinating embroidery floss. Ecru (off white) or browns work well.
An embroidery needle.
Fabric glue. I like Fabri-Tac. It's gooey to work with, but it dries clear and quickly.
Optional – tulle netting for just a little more texture (often in the wedding isle of your craft store).

Depending on what you want to do with your flower, you'll need hair clips, paper clips or corsage pins (found in the wedding isle at Michaels or Hobby Lobby).

Use your die cut system to cut your felt flower petals and circle back. You can cut your tulle netting at the same time.

I didn't have a die to cut a leaf so I drew my leaf on grid paper to create a pattern. Pin your pattern to the felt and cut it out twice.

When you've cut out all your pieces, you should have two sizes of flower petals, two leaves, one circle back, and, optionally, two different sizes of flowers cut from tulle netting (which, by the way, is impossible to photograph).