Tammy Tutterow Designs Creative Crew: Shine Back to School Lunchbox Surprise

Hello, Friends!  Day by day, summer is slipping away.  I heard the first migrating geese calling as I was walking the other evening, and the days are definitely getting shorter.  Both are sure signs of fall.  Another sure sign is all the back to school sales!  Everywhere I look I find notebooks, pencils, erasers and glue being advertised.  This inspired me to create this bright and cheery Shine Back to School Lunchbox Surprise.

 

Let’s face it: the first day of school can be a tough one.  Tears and fears and new surroundings call for a little lunchbox surprise.  Imagine how fun it would be to open your lunchbox to find this cheery card and uplifting sentiment!

Shine Like the Star that You Are

This is such a fun card to make, and I think that (maybe) I’m getting the hang of making these clean(er) and simple (er) cards!  LOL  Here’s how I put this one together:

• Create a 5″ x 7″ top fold card base from primitive white cardstock.  Be sure to add a 1/4″ spine to accommodate the surprises on the inside.
• Using Authentique Paper’s Sunshine collection, cut, mat and assemble the following card panels:
  • Sunshine Print: 4 7/8″ x 6 7/8″ (NOTE: I stitched my paper panels to the primitive white cardstock, but that is not required. I do like the look of the contrasting stitching, though.)
  • Stripe: 3″ x 6.75″
  • Green Quatrefoil Print: 3″ x 5.5″

The Sentiment Panel

• Cut an additional  4 7/8″ x 3.75″ panel of the sunshine print paper.
• Stamp the Shine Cling Stamp sentiment directly onto this panel, using Jet Black Archival Ink.
• Heat emboss the stamped sentiment with clear embossing powder.
• Stitch the stamped sentiment and the rays of sunshine on the sewing machine
• Color the image.  I am not a colorist!  This is an area I am working hard to improve, but it sure does take a lot of time and practice.  I used Zig Writer markers to color, as I seem to have the best success with them at present.  I am personally in awe of all you Copic gals!
• Fill the open letters and the large sun rays with Glossy Accents.
• Now, sprinkle Go ManGo Prills over the rays.
• Lightly dust the open letters with superfine Gold Glitter.  I used Lion’s Mane Glitter from Art Institute.  I also added a little litter to the sun.
• Set this aside to dry overnight.  Do not even think about rushing the time frame.  One tiny touch on Glossy Accents before it is fully set will ruin all your hard work.

Finishing Touches for this Shine Back to School Lunchbox Surprise

• The next morning…because, remember…you let the sentiment panel sit overnight, right… stitch a large yellow button into the center of the sun.
• Add a small star button above the letter “i” in Shine.
• To give the sentiment more dimension, adhere with foam tabs or a panel of waste cardboard from a Priority Mail package.
• Cut a half moon side tab using Tammy Tutterow Tab Set Two Die by Spellbinders.. Stitch on a button and glue in place.
• Create felt flowers with Tammy’s  Floweret Posies Contour Steel Rule Die by Spellbinders. I cut two sets, one from yellow and one from blue.
• Cut the scalloped blue felt layer in half. Glue half above and half below the sentiment as seen here.  This is a great substitute for a doily, only with more texture.
• Add  school themed novelty buttons and star stick pins.
• Finally, tie a double loop bow from Turquoise Glitz Ribbon.  Top with a smaller bow tied from Diamonds and Dots Copen Blue Satin.

Shine Back to School Lunchbox Surprise: The inside scoop!

The fun continues on the inside of this back to school lunchbox surprise!

Chocolate makes everything better…even the first day of school!  After layering the last little bit of sunshiney paper with a sunflower seed packet, I added this mini chocolate treat with repositionable glue dots.

And don’t you love the sentiment strip?  It’s like getting a hug on paper! Authentique always adds a fabulous sentiment to the header of each paper in a collection.  I never throw these away.

Here’s a pocket full of sunshine!  I’ll talk more about the bookmark in a second, but let’s look at the tag first.

I used my absolute favorite Shortie Tag Die to create this happy tag.  This would be so cute as a locker ornament, don’t you think?   I used some stamping and masking techniques to get just the “Shine” portion of the sentiment stamp and the sunshine rays on the tag base.  Then I stamped the sunshine on sunshine paper, coloring it in with a yellow marker. And this is where the yellow flowers were planted.

Using the Mini Tag Book Die to Make a Shine Bookmark

One of the things I love the most about working with Tammy’s stamps and dies is their versatility.  You can tell that Tammy has been creating for years, and knows first hand what crafters like, want and need.

I’ve used this Mini Tag Book Die more than a dozen times in lots of different ways.  This time, I turned the cover into a fun bookmark.

This is such a quick and easy process, that I know you’re going to want to make a bunch of them.  Here’s how:

• Fold patterned paper in half
• Lay the Mini Tag Book Die so that the straight edge is at the fold line.
• Position the die so that the folded paper is just below the cut line.
• Run through your die cutting machine.  The cover will not be cut into two pieces.  You should have ONE piece that you can fold in half.
• Stamp with Tiny Sentiment and color.
• Cut the reinforcement tab from contrasting paper.
• Add a large paper clip to the center of the Mini Tag Book Cover
• Die Cut green felt leaves from Pom Pom Posies and hot glue in place.
• Hot glue Floweret Posie Layers together.
• Add a button center to the flower.
• Glue over the paper clip.

The paperclip provides just enough tension to hold the bookmark in place, but has enough “give” to allow you to slip it over a book page to mark your place.  If you used an assembly line approach, you could make dozens of these in no time flat!  And aren’t they cute?

So that’s all for me today.  I know this was a long post, but I wanted to be sure you got all the details so that you’d have all the info you need to make this Shine Back to School Lunchbox Treat for someone you love,

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy