Karen Bearse Designs: Eileen Hull Post Box- Full Tutorial

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Eileen Hull Post Box- Full Tutorial

Hello Blogland, wow the 1st week in 2021. How ever did that happen? Hopefully you have made it to this year relatively unscathed and are ready to enjoy some art time. This month Eileen's teams are taking on all things card. I don't really make cards in the traditional way but I do enjoy making art cards. They come in different sizes like ATC of a size that will fit onto other art journal pages. I also love making cards that fit into Eileen's various boxes.

Today my tutorial will be making this wonderful vintage Post Box to store some of the cards I make. The cards that fit in the box perfectly are 3x4". Also * hot tip before you start plotting paper, ink & ephemera, figure out your closure. Some need to be added before the box is assembled.

Grab Your Die-cut!

I experimented by making this box out of card board & was not overly happy with the result. The mat board is just so much stronger & so much better for making these structures which, let's face it, need to be built to last. To make the directional paper work for me, cutting the paper separately seemed a good idea. I used Tim Holtz paper from his 8x8 Collage Pack. The images are smaller & worked perfectly for this project. I used easy cut adhesive to attach my papers. Strong, simple to use & wrinkle free.

This Post Box cuts in one piece and assembly is super simple so it really is easy & fun to make these. For the inside I chose this airmail style pattern paper. To shape the lid pieces simply run your paper through the die-cut. Cutting the pieces into 3 makes the box bend easier. Simply cover the cardboard that shows with paint, marker or washi tape.

One of my favorite techniques to use in any project, book etc, is to paint, stamp & emboss. This combination was used to color the sides of the box. Matching my project paper is Distress Paint in Candied Apple.

Once the paint was dried random stamping & a few pieces of ephemera were added. This is coming together well. Remember it is easy to duplicate this project in any style just by using different papers & ephemera.

Here is a photo of the box as I build it. You can see that I am cutting and adding the paper as I go which makes it easier to make sure the paper right way up! The sides of my box also have that layer of Glistening Glass emboss powder which make it look so good & give it a finished look. Seriously love that embossing powder.

Time For a Title

What an original & unique title! Sometimes it makes sense to go with the obvious. I cut the letters using the die-cut Classic Upper from card stock. Hot Tip: use a heavier card stock or layer a few pieces of paper together. These were embossed with Golden Rod, so metallic shiny!

Adding the elements as I build the box is the best part! However I always seem to forget to...

Figure Out The Closure!!

The downside to forgetting the closure is the project stalls out while I imagine, figure out or wing some kind of closure. The upside is, quite often I come up with a new way to do it. I ended up tying hemp through 2 holes in the cover to make a loop.

The key is attached to the flap with a brad & slips into the loop to hold the flap closed. As I had already put the inside paper on, the back of the brad shows through. The perfect solution is this stamped image to cover it up.

Pretty simple idea but I really like how it worked out. Just had to poke 2 holes and tie knots on the inside of the flap, creating a loop.

I added Red Line tape over the holes to create a really strong hold. Washi tape was put on top of this and then decoupage glue so the cards won't get stuck as they are put in and out of the box. All that was left was to adhere the side flaps together to finish up the box.