Seahorse Trinket Box for Eileen Hull

Today I have a stunning seahorse trinket box as part of the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team. April showers bring May flowers & also lots of parties! The design team are playing with all things DIY spring party prep. I hope you go over to the blog & check out what my teammates have been up to. There are some amazing designers on this team!!

I decided to create this box that can be used for a beach wedding. My idea actually came from my son's high school graduation. I put out a bunch of project life cards & pens, letting his friends jot down a note or memory that they had of him. Some of the cards are hilarious, some silly, some shared a special memory. All together they are priceless. I thought this would be a great thing to do at a wedding... hence my project. 

I have a bit of a tutorial for you. HOT TIP: Before you start figure out what type of closure you want for the box. It may change the way you assemble your box (you will want to punch any holes before assembly) & if you should adhere the inside paper after to hide brads or screws. I do have to say this box is pretty amazing & very well designed. It fits together easily & looks very professional, if you follow the tricks for success. I decided I wanted my box to have a very mix media top but paper for the rest of the construction. Tip: Paper side down on the die will be the paper that shows on the outside of any scored piece.

For ease I cut a sample of the box out of green paper to use as a template. That allowed me to cut out the individual pieces, saving mat board, paper & adhesive. For example I wanted the blue pattern on the outside of my box. You will need 2 pieces of this cut as it makes up the rectangular base of the box. I cut 2 pieces of mat board slightly larger then my template. Adhere paper front & back using double sided adhesive. The blue paper went face down on my die. 

I use pieces of washi to hold the mat board in place on the die. To save some time I followed the same procedure & cut the spine piece. Place that beside 1 of the side pieces in the proper spot & run it through your Sizzix machine. For my 2nd run I made the 3x4 card & the 2nd side piece. You only want to cut 1 layer at a time but can cut multiple shapes. 

It worked! Using my templates I cut more paper/mat board/paper sandwiches. After cutting all the edges were distressed & a marker was used to color the white edges of the mat board.

1. This is the spine of the box, because a template was used it was possible to cut out a specific part of my scrap book paper. Cool seagulls!!

2.This is the bottom piece of the box, (simply remove the oval mover & shaper) which I decided looked better with the wood finish on top.

3. For the lid of my box, paper was adhered on only 1 side of the mat board. I cut another portion of the blue paper leaving the mover & shaper die in which cuts out a beautiful oval. This is going to be the inside of my lid as the outside is mixed media.

4. The inside bottom of my box. This piece hides the side piece's flaps & gives your box a nice spot for some pretty paper. I used a portion of the paper that has a compass, shells & ship. 

5. Here is the 2 side pieces assembled which make the base of the box.

* Tip: Use Therm*O*Web Supertape to adhere your box together it is just super strong.

 * I am going to make templates out of clear acetate so I can better position my pieces if I want a certain pattern (like the seagulls).

Time to assemble. 
1. Assemble base of box.
2. Adhere card in bottom of box.
3. Adhere left side of spine to bottom of box.
4. Adhere bottom of box. 
5. Adhere top of box to right side of spine.

This ships wheel brad was added to hold the top down with an elastic. It has been hard to open & close so I may change the brad to something else. 

The die cut "Moments" was added to the end of the box. I took some Project Life cards & added beach theme stamps. I also added in some Kaisercraft cards that totally matched the theme. For presentation these will be wrapped with a ribbon with a charm. I will also put the ribbon at the bottom of the cards to make it easier to pull them out of the box. 

Supplies:

• Eileen Hull dies by Sizzix- Trinket Box, Flower Arch & Words.
• Tim Holtz die by Sizzix- Garden Greens
• Matboard by Sizzix
• Double sided adhesive & Supertape by Therm*O*Web
• Paper for box by Stamperia
• Paper for cards by Becky Higgins for Project Life & Kaisercraft
• Stamps by Tim Holtz, Kaisercraft & Prima.
• Inks- Archival by Ranger

Thanks for joining me today, I will have a follow up post showing how I made the mixed media top of this Seahorse Trinket Box. Have a wonderful inky day!