Other than Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday to create anything from grungy, ghoulish fun to traditional vintage looking pieces. So, when Simon Says Stamp and Show decided to make this week all about "FAVORITES", I decided to create this 4x4 jack-in-the-box style decor piece to add to my Halloween collection of handmade home decor.
Here is my box...made from Graphic 45's Happy Haunting 8x8 paper pad filled with such beautiful and very sweet vintage images of Halloweens gone by.
It is sort of hard to photograph this project because every side features a different scene and the lid also opens to reveal a fun little vintage-ish moon man to great you.
This project began with six 4x4 squares of chipboard to form the box and one 4 1/4" square of chipboard that a larger lid taped directly on top of the lid that is hinged to the box.
You need sixteen "hinges" cut 4x2 and scored at 1" (down the center of the hinge). Then miter all of the corners so that they will not show underneath the papers that will cover the outsides of the box. You will also need four 4 1/2x2 hinges out of black cardstock and scored at 1" lengthwise to cover the four edges of the larger chipboard lid (to give you all finished edges). Special note: When you are attaching your Scor Tape to the hinges, leave a little bit of space between the scored joint and the tape. This allows a little more "give" at your joint.
Next, you will join all of the chipboard squares together to form the box.
In this picture, I am showing you how I like to attach one side to another, so that you get the perfect "joint" in between the chipboard pieces. Attach the hinge to one side,lining up your edges of of the mitered hinge to the outside edge of your chipboard and making sure that your scored joint is straight with the edge of your chipboard. Then attach the one side of the taped hinge to your chipboard.
Then take you next piece of chipboard that you want to attach and stick it on the scored joint of your hinge at a 90 degree angle. Make sure you chipboard edges line up. Then pull up the taped cardstock hinge that is laying on the table surface and gently attach it to the chipboard square that is at the 90 degree angle. Then lay the chipboard piece down on the table and be sure that the hinge is pressed firmly into place. That gives you a perfectly sized "joint" between your chipboard pieces; so when you fold them to complete the box, they will be as square as possible. Helpful???
This picture gives you a better idea of what I am talking about when I say "miter" your cardstock hinge corners off. Every raw chipboard edge should be covered with a "hinge"; whether it is attaching chipboard side to chipboard side or just covering a raw edge.
When you are attaching the final hinge...the top lid of the box that will open and close, be sure to add a small piece of 3 3/4x1 1/2 Tyvek taped to the center of that hinge so that the hinge will never wear out from being opened and closed too much. I colored where the white Tyvek might show through the that jointed area with a few lines from my Black Soot Distress Marker. It worked perfectly to conceal the white.
With the construction of the box being complete, then comes the fun part...decorating it!
I began with creating the moon man for my interior. He is also on a ribbon pull...so I needed to get him completed and in place before I could put the larger lid on my box to hide his pull mechanism.
First I cut two of Tim Holtz' larger rosettes using complimenting papers. I then scotch taped them together, leaving an edge of the black paper showing, on the back side for strength and so that the would not move when I put them together to create a double rosette. I also distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.
Then I put the rosette together with Glossy Accents and let it dry and added Black Diamond and Paprika Stickles before creating my moon man to sit on top of the double rosette.
I cut out a circle piece of scrap chipboard to use as my base for my little vintage moon man. I made a little black crepe paper ruffle to encircle his head. I added Paprika Stickles around the edge of the crepe paper ruffle around his head and let it dry. For me, crepe paper and Stickles just scream "VINTAGE" when I'm working on a piece! Next, I used a piece of honeycomb paper cut in a 1/2 square to form the arms of my moon man. I cut strips from orange and black crepe paper to form a little decorative body underneath him. His hands are actually some Micky Mouse hands that I found online and sized them to fit my little guy's hands. Then I attached a "Happy Haunting" sign found on the Graphic 45 papers, stickled around it with Platinum Stickles and glued it into place.
Here is a picture of the finished vintage moon man. I think he's really cute. The moon image is also from the Graphic 45 8x8 paper pad. I covered his face in Distress Crackle Paint and really like the vintage feeling it adds. Before I could attach the moon man to pull up and down in the box, I had to add the ribbon. I used a black and orange polka dot ribbon and glued it in between the moon man base and the double rosette. And, of course, before I could make the moon man rise and lower, I needed to decorated the interior box lid with another of those fun Graphic 45 papers....an orange and black paper featuring witch hats. I added the Dresden trim to give it even more of a vintage feeling.
Now that we've gone through the construction and how to do the moon man, I can show you my finished box; each side with a different scene and so fun to put together.
Here is the front....
And a closeup up of the little trick or treaters hanging out at the pop dotted fence.
Here is the left side. I like to call it the BOO Garden. The "BOO" flowers are created using Tim Holtz' Foliage and Memo Pins. I stamped "BOO" onto manila cardstock, placed a memo pin over each letter, filled the hole with Glossy Accents and then wait for it to dry. Cut out around the memo pin and then glue the foliage flower to the back of the pin with Glossy Accents. Let dry. I added a little more black Dresden to showcase those lovely Graphic 45 vintage images.
I fashioned the little flower box from scraps off of another paper I'd used and added the sweet little girl in the corner from yet another of these wonderful papers.
The back of the box features some wonderful old vintage post cards in the traditional orange and black. I added the strip of black cats and the mini numerals "31" that have been colorized using Terra Cotta Alcohol Inks and a Alcohol Ink Applicator. Then I lightly distressed the numbers with Black Soot Distress Ink.
Here is the back of the box with the ribbon coming through and a charm I fashioned out of a few Swarovski crystals, a little skull and spider charm dangling from the polka dot ribbon. The ribbon pulls up and down, working the moon man inside of the box but sliding in between the lid of the box and the larger lid that is added at the end of the construction process.
The right side of the box features more great images and Graphic 45 papers. I added a Swivel Clasp and one of Tim Holtz' Seasonal Halloween Muse Tokens to hang freely. I also made a little book out of jump rings and little images from the 8x8 paper pad that seemed to be telling me that they needed to be a book!
Here is a closeup up the little book and you can see that I made it using three jump rings, punched through the glued together pages of the book.
And here is the book, securely attached to the side of the box but able to open and close freely.
Finally...the top of the box. Again, I love crepe paper and Stickles on vintage pieces. So, I added the crepe paper to the top of the attached lid of the box before I stuck on the larger cover lid. I made my own ruffle using 1/4" Scor Tape stuck all around the perimeter of the lid of the box and then I simple folded the crepe paper to create the two ruffles...one in black and topped with one in orange. I added Platinum Stickles to the black crepe paper and Black Diamond Stickles to the orange crepe paper. Let it dry. Then I added my top piece of paper, cut out the cute clock design and backed it with chipboard for a more sturdy appearance. I edged it with black soot and then stickled the outer edges of the clock with Paprika Stickles. They are such a great vintage orange color! When that was dry, I added the mini metal gear and clock hands and stuck them in place with a long fastener. I then pop dotted the clock face to the center of the outer lid. I ran some more thin Dresden trim about the perimeter of the paper and added four little metal corners that I had. I love the finished, vintage look.
So that is it...my jack-in-the-box style Graphic 45 box.
My little vintage moon man says "Boo! Happy Halloween and thanks for stopping by!" Please take time to stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog if you've not already to see some of the wonderful art that my Design Teammates have created just for you. Lots of wonderful ideas and techniques!
Stop by Simon Says Stamp and Show's blog and check out the wonderful "Favorites" of each of my Design Team Buddies. Then, create something that is your FAVORITE and post it to our blog! You could win a ...
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Here are all of the products from Simon Says used in creating this piece:
