The summer has been a whirlwind of lots of fun and tons of pool time!! Life is good!!
It has been too long since my last post!! So much has been going on that I want to share. Since life will be changing once again when the kids are back in school, I am hopeful that I will be able to get back to my more "consistent in-consistent" posting pattern!! I absolutely enjoy blogging and sharing my ideas with all of you...I certainly admire all of the "hard core' bloggers that are able to post everyday!! Way too much pressure for me in my life as it exists today. I will commit to do my best, which of course "my best" is different today than tomorrow!! Ok...enough about all that....let's get started today!!
Meeting new people and making new friends is one of my **faves** about being a SU! Demo!! This past friday night I did a workshop with some new friends!! Kimberly and her sister Kelly are lots of fun...they really should do stand-up comedy!! No surprise they invited some more fun girls to join us!! I met Kimberly at the Bath & Body Works when she spied my "very cool if I do say so myself" bag, that I hand stamped. You can check it out here in my SCS Gallery. I love when someone new discovers SU! for the first time and I love it even more when someone hasn't stamped in a long time and I can inspire them to re-discover their love of stamping!! I am looking forward to lost more 'girls nights out' with my new stamping friends!!
One of the projects I demo'd was the 2-4-6-8 box which is ALWAYS a favorite!! The girls quickly saw the endless possibilites in this great ol' standby and requested directions since this was not one of the projects they were making. They did make 2 other cute projects tho!! I thought since I was going to go through the effort of creating directions, I might as well create a tutorial for all of you too, right??!!
Before you read on, I want to be sure to tell you that the number of steps look more 'scary' than they really are. Honestly, these boxes are not scary at all, but they are definitely "Bad to the Bone"!! **Wink** I can make one of these boxes in under 1 minute....really I CAN!! And you will be able to as well, once you start making them :) So.....Get your supplies and your timers out!! On your mark....get set....GOOOOOOOOO!!
Step 1. Gather all of your supplies. All products are Stampin' Up! and can be ordered through ME, of course!! Wanna make these fun projects with your friends?? Of course you do!! Contact me to pick a date!!
The basic box requires one 8/12 by 11 sheet of card stock. A paper cutter with scoring blade. Snail adhesive, Scissors, stamps and ink.
To recreate my "Snow Box" with all it's delightful shimmery embellishments, which by the way make this cute little box just that more darling, you will need...
Night of Navy Jumbo INK Cartridge - Jumbo "Snow" wheel - Jumbo Handle - Paper Snips - Snail Adhesive - Bone Folder - Fiskers Triple Track Cutter with Scoring Blade - Grid paper - Rectangle Hand Held Punch - Silver Elastic Cord - Navy Grosgrain Ribbon Two-Way Glue Pen - Dazzling Diamonds - Snow Blossom Punch, 1/16 inch Hand Held Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch, Metal Edge Tag.
Step 2. 
Since the image I selected to use has words on it, the best way to roll the text is going to across the 8 1/2 length of my card stock. This 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock will make 2 boxes.
Step 3. 
When wheeling onto cardstock it is good technique to begin rolling off the cardstock, roll onto the cardstock and continue to roll off the cardstock. This technique will give you an "un-interrupted" image.
Step 4. 
Continue rolling your image onto the entire piece of cardstock. It's always fun to roll the image on BOTH sides of the cardstock, so when the box is opened the image is a unexpected suprise inside :)
I LOVE surprises!!
What about You??!!
Step 5. 
Cut the paper on the 11 inch side at 5 1/2 inches so that you have two pieces of cardstock the size of 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
Step 6.
Along the 8 1/2 side, score at the 2 inch mark. Slide the cardstock to the 4 inch mark and score again. Slide the cardstock to the 6 inch mark and score. Slide the cardstock to the 8 inch mark and score.
Can you guess why someone named this the 2-4-6-8 box??!!
Step 7.
Rotate the cardstock 90 degrees so that you will be scoring on the 5 1/2 inch side. Score at th 2 inch mark. This score mark will intersect your previous score marks
Step 8. 
Using your paper snips, cut on the scored lines that are 2 inches long. You will need to only cut until you reach the intersected score mark. These will be your flaps for the bottom of the box. You will also need to cut off the remaining 1/2x2 cardstock that is shown on the lower left of this photo.
Step 9. 
Fold the cardstock in half on the score line and with your bone folder, make a nice sharp crease. Fold the remaining 1/2x2 cardstock IN towards the middle of the cardstock along the score line. Make a crease with your bone folder. Add adhesive to the 1/2x2 cardstock and fold over the larger cardstock.
Step 10.
Pick up the folded box and push the opposite sides towards each other to form the 4 sides of the box (this sounds trickier than it is).
Next put adhesive on the flaps and start folding them in on each other. Be careful not to put adhesive on the inside of the flap that will be the inside bottom of the box and be sure not to put adhesive on the outside bottom of the box. To secure the flaps, put your hand inside the box and one hand on the bottom to press the layers together.
Step 11.
Using your right and left hand, squeeze the front and back of the box together. Since I was taking the photo, I am only showing you with one hand :)
Step 12.
Using the Rectangle Hand Held Punch, hold the front and back of the box together. Place the punch only 3/4's in and squeeze HARD since you are going through several layers of card stock. Repeat on the other side. This creates the notches for your ribbons/cording to lay nicely. Warning: Skipping this step will result in a box that you will not be able to close properly.
Step 13 
Remember to fill the box with yummy treats!! Hershey Kisses, Nuggets and mints work great!!
Embellish with ribbon/cording and 'delighful' embellishments, including **UBER FUN SU! Square ICE Rhinestones** to complete this sweet little box!!
C'mon!! Give one of these boxes a try!! The possibilities are ENDLESS!! Send me a photo of your work and I will post it on my blog.
Other ideas...Leave the box 'open' and add handles for a adorable basket. Change the sizes and the box takes on a new look too!! SU! Demonstrator friend and stamping extrodinare Jenn Balcer shows you here how to make a 2-5-7-10 box.
Here are a few more boxes that I made using my current FAVE set from SU! "Batty For You: and the Jumbo "Batty" Wheel! I told these boxes are "not that scary" to make!!
My cool Halloween treat boxes are 'Bad to the Bone"!!
