Karen Bearse Designs: Photo Box Organizers with Eileen Hull

Hello Die Cut fans, I am here today with some fun Photo Box Organizers using a few of Eileen Hull's dies by Sizzix. This month the Inspiration Team are organizing! There are some fantastic projects to make, so check out Eileen's blog. Make sure you click through & give the team some love! For these projects I used Paper House Productions paper pads. It really takes a lot of the guess work out of design. The papers & stickers all match making your project so much easier!

Photo Box Fun!!

I love the idea of having a place to put my photos, cards, stamped images to take with me when working on a project. Grab & go!!

This idea was inspired by the New York City box I made as a sample for Creativation 2018. The bonus is you can design the box to match your project & have extra storage for photos or ephemera.

For these projects I love using paper packs. It makes it easy to stick to the theme and makes for faster design. I have used Paper House Products for these samples. The paper is of great quality and the images are detailed and luscious!

Let's Design!

I followed the same steps to make all these boxes. Designing once, then making multiple projects saves time & allows for more play! Start by cutting out a few boxes using Sizzix Mat Board. For each box, cut the bottom flap out of one piece. Adhere a magnet on the piece with the flap still attached, with the flap at the bottom & the magnet at the top, this is the front of your box. I put my magnet 1 3/4" down from the top & in the middle- 2"

Hot Tip:

Next is one of my favorite tricks! Cut a piece of plastic from some packaging in the size of the box- 4x6 (this leaves a small border). Use the packaging to figure out what part of your paper makes a good front & back. Simply draw around the plastic & cut out. Distress the edges of your paper if you like. I also like to adhere the SuperTape on the box flaps at the beginning so I don't add paint to the areas that are holding the box together. Tape does not like paint so much & this will make my box stronger.

The directions on the packaging show where the tape goes & how to cut one flap.

Time For Ink:

Paint the sides, edges & top portion of the backside down a couple of inches. That way the inside of your box will have color. This photo shows the inside box on the left & outside of the box on the right. Using a piece of felt & Eileen's House/Pocket die I cut my flap. You may need to trim the sides a bit to fit. Tip: fold the piece of felt in half to trim the edges- it will make the piece even on both sides. Punch holes on the back piece using a cropodile. This is to add brads to hold your felt piece.

Adhere your paper to the front & back pieces of the box, being careful to keep the top of the box in the right direction. I like to put an arrow on the mat board so I don't adhere my papers upside down & end up with a box that won't go together (I may or may not have done this multiple times). For the flap I added a piece of paper cut with the house die & trimmed to let the felt border show. Adhere these pieces together (I used SuperTape as felt can be tricky). I attached this to the box 1st with SuperTape & then added the brads. I have had these brads for years in a box & they are finally on a project! I did paint the brads to match the trim.

On the inside of the box I added SuperTape over the brads to hold them (left side pic) & a strip of paper so the brads don't catch on what is going inside of the box.

Putting It All Together:

Following the directions put the box together. I like to adhere the bottom of the box first as it is easy to line up. Once that is done you can do each side & use a ruler inside the box to put pressure on the glue line so you get a good solid bind. Adhere the other part of the magnet to the felt flap. You will want to add the magnet directly to the felt on the side that touches the front of your box. I tried to hide the magnet on the front of the flap between the paper & the felt but the magnet was not strong enough to go through the felt layer. If you have a stronger magnet you could try that.

Finishing Touches:

If you don't like the white edges on your box where the creases are, simply take a marker to get rid of them. I used Distress Paint in Ground Espresso and it was easy to use the same color marker to match the edges. Use your finger to smooth the ink if your marking goes astray. I also added some cut-outs & stickers from the paper line, you can see the supply list below. The word "Moments" is from Eileen's die Floral Arch & Words. I also added a cool button from a wonderful company called A Flair For Buttons. Love her products & her store has great service.

Now that my box was complete I cut up the sticker sheet & pocket page sheet from the paper pad, to put inside my box. I also added some stamped images that match the theme. Now my kit is ready to go! Ohhh I am going to have to make more of these... Thanks so much for joining me & be sure to join the Eileen Hull Fan Group on Facebook to get lots more inspiration. It is truly amazing what wonderful creating is going on over there!! I hope you have time to make something crafty today! Cheers.

**Affiliate info- I have received product or compensation from some of the companies listed but I work with products I love and the projects & ideas here are mine.

Supply List:

Eileen Hull Dies by Sizzix: