Harry Potter Book Box

This will be a longer post. I made this project for my grandboy's 9th birthday. He's really into Harry Potter, now reading the 6th book. 

I saw the pattern for this on Miss Mandee's blog. She provides a multitude of cut files and great projects for free. When I saw this one I knew I had to make it. I was a little overwhelmed with the extent of the instructions. I had previously found a shadow box frame that I really liked from Birds Designs, Picture Perfect Collection. So, I decided I'd just make the entire project on my own, using a couple lovely graphics of Miss Mandee's on the lids of the boxes.

I'll go through some of the steps I took to make it. I was using two of the box frames, which are 1"x1" sides. However, I wanted one to be 1.5" edge for a deeper box. So, I altered the pattern to be that size. I also wanted this to be stronger than just cardstock, so I lined all of the cardstock with chipboard.

I also wanted the door of the boxes to have magnets to hold them closed. I made a bridge in the bottom box to have two separate compartments, and an overlay for the top of each frame. Magnets are embedded under that overlay and between the two layers of the lids.

For the lid, I wanted to use images of Miss Mandee's, which are beautiful. I also wanted to use my foil quill in silver for the back lid. I first cut the cuttable part of the lid on white cardstock and removed the center (the lid). I then cut only the lid from the dark blue cardstock. I put the blue lid onto the mat inside the outer portion of the white cardstock so that my cutter could read the registration marks. I then did just the draw part (the image) using the foil quill, which transferred the metallic silver onto the dark blue cardstock. It turned out beautifully.

Removed the inside.

Then placed the blue lid inside the cut out on the white. This way, the cutter could read the registration marks for placement of the image.

And, here's how it looks:

Since there are two layers of the dark blue door/lid, I glued the left edge of one along the top of the box frame and the other down the side of it. and, before gluing the two tops together I inserted the second magnet in between. The other magnet was inserted into the actual frame. Once all of the magnets were inserted and the lids glued on, I put the overlay to cover up any raw edges.

I used the top section for a sealing wax set. I made a matching box with it's own magnet closure to put the wax chips in. I made a window with acetate so you could see inside. 

 

Next I made second box with a 1"x1" edge. I was able to do a regular print-2-cut, since the background was parchment and the registration marks were easily viewed by the cutter. This one was one large section.  Again I used Miss Mandee's artwork on the lid. I designed the artwork on the inside of the box and the overlay.

Inside this parchment box I put a birthday Hogwarts' acceptance letter, personalized for my grandboy. I also made a little Gringotts' money holder, as we gave him the cash to buy his wand when he goes to Universal Studios this week. I also inserted a book mark, and a mini Book of Spells. The Book of Spells came from Wizardry Workshop (Danny). What an amazing site he has. He gives away tons of free DIY printables. 

The Book of Spells

Hogsmeade coupons and Night bus tickets.

I'll be adding more printables; just didn't have time to get them printed before his birthday.

Next the binding of the book box has a drawer on the bottom of the back side. In it I put some HP pencils and a mini Dumbledor wand/ink pen. All of this was made with heavy chipboard.

The covers were made with chipboard and printed cardstock using digi paper purchased on Etsy. I also purchased the book border images and placed multiple borders together to fit across the 12" cardstock (it took two). I also printed all of the parchment patterned cardstock. The bottom/back cover was one solid piece. The front one was in two pieces with a little space between for a hinge. I used some book binding tape to support the area of the fold.

I made a hinge with magnets to hold the book closed. Two layers of cardstock, with some Tyvek between to make it stronger. I used brads to secure it to the chipboard before gluing the box frames in.

The lower section in the dark blue box had night bus tickets, coupons and a Hogwart's ID (personal info has been deleted), as well as a time-turner keychain. I'll be making more printables to add to it.

Lastly, I made the binding from Kraft Tex. This is an untearable thick paper product. It's pretty stiff, so I went to YouTube to see if you could wash it and soften it up. And, I could, so that helped immensely. I crumpled the Kraft Tex up as much as I could, over and over again. Once it was sufficiently crumpled, I washed it. It made it so much more pliable. I then ironed it. I used a test piece to see if I could use the foil quill on it, but it was a fail (it could have easily been user error). So, I cut out the binding art with gold htv, then pressed it onto the Kraft Tex. It worked wonderfully.

A few add-ons:
I made some Gringotts checks and receipts, as well as some Platform 9-3/4's tickets and some Hogwarts Express stickers.

And here is a Hogwarts diploma. I left the name blank for this post, but of course his has his name on it.

And, it was finally done. I spent a lot of sleepless nights just thinking about each step. I think that was the most exhausting part. But, I'm pleased with the outcome, as was my grandboy. 

He (well, and his mom) got 1st place for best hand/homemade costume. This was my daughter's first time sewing anything, ever. She did a fabulous job on it.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy! 

Little Halloween Mummy Monster treat box

This was a quick little box that I made two of for my grandboys. I first saw this on Instagram. I thought it was darling. I tried to find out if there was a pattern, but I was on my phone (small screen) and had trouble finding any info on it. So, I looked at the photo and made it from scratch by myself.

However, after I was done with them I went onto my desktop computer and found that the designer was dianas.decorative.designs. And, she had an svg cut file on there for free! So, if you're interested you can check her out. If you're interested in making it, you can click here: dianas.decorative.designs

They are really cute. She makes hers as a banner with a couple of other monsters. I made a small rectangular box and glued the mummy on top. I also used a spider in my cutting machine software, and added some red glitter glue on the back so that it came out of the spider eyes.

Thank you, Diana, for sharing this darling project!

It's Haunting Time!

Filigree Pumpkin

 This filigree pumpkin from SVG Cuts is just beautiful. I especially love the pattern the light makes on the wall surrounding it.

I also love the texture of the pumpkin stem. I used an embossing folder for the texture, as well as a background stamp that gave it a even more textured look.

If you're interested in purchasing and making this pattern, you can find it here:
Fox Bend Farmstand SVG Kit. I believe you can also purchase individually (not in the bundle).

Happy Autumn!

A Camera for Sunny

This project is for my 4-year-old grandson. He gave me a list of what he wanted. This included:

1) A camera
2) With a knob to turn
3) To be able to put something in the box and have it come out of the lens.
4) It had to be "Bluey" themed.

So, here we are. I think I spent more time trying to figure out what and exactly how I'd go about this....like hours.... sleepless hours too. Most all of the pieces for this file had to be altered to make it all work. This is the SVG Cuts file for the basic camera that a friend and I made almost ten years ago.

You can find the pattern here: Instant Memories - SVG Cuts

Camera Lens:
The camera lens was made without the acetate, and was opened up where it attaches to the body. There is also a little insert (four layers of card stock) that goes into the top edge of the lens to close it off so "stuff" doesn't pour out. I added some lamination to a couple of the layers by the slit so that it would withstand the insert being removed constantly.

I had to make it fit the contour of the lower part of the lens.

Camera Body:
I had to modify the bottom quite a bit. Firstly, I needed to make a hole in the front center panel so that it would be open for marbles to fall through. I made a small box (about 2"x2.5") for the center bottom that aligned with the bottom of the opening of the lens. I used small scrap chipboard pieces for the sides and back  center edge of the inside so the new floor would have a place to rest to get the right angles.

I made a second camera bottom (two or three layers thick). This needed to be strong to hold lots of marbles. It also needed to be bent into a "V", and also be higher in the back. 

I also had to put a little channel from the front hole down through the lens, again so the marbles could easily slide through.

Camera Top:
This was the part that really messed with my brain cells.😂 I had seen a video done by Sandra Createinspain (click here for her YouTube), showing how to use LED lights with an off and on button. Hers was a bit different in concept, but I decided I needed to give it a try to work with my own. This took a couple of remakes before it finally worked.

If you're not familiar with them, the LED lights come in many different styles. But, they use the same principle. I used the Chanzon 3mm LED lights for this project. I've used the Chibitronics sticker LEDs for other projects. They both work great.

There's a negative and a positive that are attached to their side of the LED light, and then to their respective +- sides of the battery. I wanted to be able to turn it on and off. This required that I "break" the circuit on the positive side.

I cut some rectangles with two curved edges, and found the flattest (lowest profile) brad head I could. I glued the first four of these pieces (see photo below) for the switch in the order shown. I then inserted the brad. The three with the square cutout fit the brad nicely and it was flush to the other layers. Then I glued the fifth piece over that.

I added some copper tape on one of the curved edges (you could add to both curved edges if you wanted). I also cut three layers of the larger round cardstock circle for the top of the camera. 

This is where the led light ended up. There was a fold from the top to the side of the lid, but there were no problems getting the connection. You can see where I inserted the the LED light (into the hole on the lid edge). There was copper tape as shown in the map below, the tape ending up below and on top of the prongs of the LED light. Just a note: It's highly encouraged and effective to draw a circuit map. It will help to get exactly where you are placing things, and prevent having to re-do it a second time (like I did😕).

I inserted the braded piece up through the bottom of the lid and then through the larger circle, then fastened the brad as close and secure to the camera top as possible. I turned the top circle to make sure that the light turned on.

I made a knob out of two wooden rings, some foam spacers inside, and a little "flash" image with Glossy Accents. That was glued with strong glue to the large circles on top of the camera.

This turns and moves the inside piece (which has copper tape on one side) to complete the circuit and turn the light on or off.  

On the opposite side of the lid is a hole. I reinforced this with "rings" on a number of layers. This is where you drop the marbles, then travel down and out through the lens, when opened.

When completed, there was a piece of cardstock that covered the entire inside top and electronics, including an extra tab to cover the LED chip on the top front edge. 

Here's a little video of how the marbles travel:

As a side note. All of the graphics were made by me. The Bluey images were purchased on Etsy. I designed the digi paper from the images, lens circles, the marble drop ring, the lens insert, etc., and added print-2-cut images.

I'm sure there are more details, but I've probably bored any viewers well beyond what they could stand at this point.

Little grandboy loved it. He spent the night tonight and played with it the entire time. Marbles were going everywhere! He kept saying, "I love my camera!" Sweetest boy ever!

Smile! You're on Sunny's Camera!