Welcome to the fourth installation of "A Simply Scored Christmas!" For those of you just joining me, or catching up on the weekend, I am in the midst of a new blog series featuring the fantastic new Simply Scored tool from Stampin' Up. There will be a photo tutorial every day December 1st through 15th, 2011.
Today's project is a Hexagonal Tall Box (Green and Gold--GO PACK GO!!). As with any project that has a non-rectangular or non-square bottom, people have come up with different (and sometimes pretty hokey) ways to close the ends and/or get at the insides. I think I have hit upon an excellent solution, as well as something that looks purty darn cute! Hope you think so, too.
To begin, you're need a single 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock, the 2.5 inch circle punch, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet or a liquid glue such as Tombow Mono, your Simply Scored board, Sticky Strip, a brad and a snippet of ribbon, plus stamps, ink and other stuff to embellish a desired. All of these supplies can be purchased at www.lyssa.stampinup.net.
Score the cardstock on the long side at 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5 and 9 inches, as shown by the exclusive Simply Scored place markers above. Turn the cardstock 90 degrees and score at 1.5 and 7 inches (not shown).
Next, trim as shown. This looks a little complicated but it's just the normal slicing up to the folds, and notching out the corners of the flap piece--with the added twist that you are also notching out a wedge of each flap. It doesn't have to be perfect at all, so please don't do anything drastic like tracing or measuring. Stamping is supposed to be fun : )
On the opposite side, you're doing the same slitting up to the score mark, and notching out a wedge from each fold--with the addition of a matching wedge notched out on the other side, so that your flaps for the top of the box are roughly triangular. Again, they don't need to match each other as they will be almost completely covered, so don't sweat it.
One more thing to do before assembly, pictured below. On the panel closest to the side closing flap, with the top closing flaps facing right, score a line at the 5.5 inch mark (shown by the place marker). Slit down from the top flaps just to that score line, ONLY on that one panel. This will be the only way to get into the box, so this is an important step!
Use Sticky Strip down the side flap to create your hexagonal tube. Now here's a clever tip for you: when you're creating a many-sided tubular box like this, use a paper cup as another pair of hands to help you hold the box in the correct shape while you are adding adhesive. I stuck one end of my hexagonal tube into a styrofoam cup, and worked on the other end without fear of winding up with a lopsided or misshapen box. You can see just the rim of the paper cup in the photo below.
Work on the bottom end first--the one with the single-notched flaps. The 2.5 inch circle punch just works awesomely for neatly closing the bottom, without resorting to tracing and trying to create a neat bottom for our box. Fold all the flaps in and cover them with a Designer Series Paper circle that has been backed with the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (normally used in the Big Shot, you can also punch this amazing product). Make another circle for the top, too.
Once the bottom end is secure, you can remove the paper cup from the other end and close that with the other Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet/DSP circle punch in a similar fashion. However, as shown below, make sure you leave the little door panel we created out of the sticky circle! I stuck a piece of scrap cardstock inside, pressed up onto the circle, to cover up the adhesive on that part so it wouldn't catch on the door.
We want people to know how to get into our box, so I added a small ribbon pull with a brad, and punched out a little notch in the lid so that the brad has a convenient place to land. It's cute and quick and will clue people in as to how to access the candy! Very important!
Your box is all done--now the fun part! Here's a side view of how I decorated mine using the For All You Do stamp set, mini library clips and some Lucky Limeade DSP and ruffled ribbon.
I hope you try this fun and sturdy box--don't let the length of this photo tutorial scare you off. I just put in extra pictures this time to help eliminate confusion, because some people find non-square/rectangular bozes intimidating. This one is not!
Next up: the Christmas "Step-Out Front Door" card from this post. Come back and visit "A Simply Scored Christmas" tomorrow! And don't forget to tell your hubby that the Simply Scored board is tops on your Christmas list.
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