June 2017 ONE IN A MELON Paper Pumpkin Kit Stationary Box, Part One: Making the Box!

Hello! Thanks for your patience waiting for this tutorial on the Stationery box. It took me some time but its finally done! I am not a demonstrator for Stampin' Up so I'm not used to making tutorials like some of the talented people I have seen post on youTube! I now have a lot more respect for the demonstrators and others who post blogs and videos on a regular basis. It can be a lot of work! Lol Kudos to them!

I was inspired by some of my Paper Pumpkin Fan Club FB page friends and one adorable dog GIF to put this together. Hope you enjoy it and have a great time making one of these beautiful gift sets.

All right, let's get started. All the products I used for this project are from Stampin' Up.
First I will list the items I used from the June 2017 Paper Pumpkin kit, "One in a Melon."

The stamp set, of course. Three of the Watermelon Bags, three sheets of the Pink Watermelon Tissue paper, three of the mixed fruit cards, four of the envelopes, leaf stickers, 2 circles, 2 Yellow watercolor wash banners, two small squares with yellow watercolor wash and the Melon Mambo Baker's twine.

Besides this kit, I also used stamp sets and some elements from some other PP kits.

• Flora & Flutter, December 2017 - Stamp set and the extra Oops! leaves*
• Back in Plaid, November 2017 - Stamp set
• Sprinkled with Love, May 2017 - Stamp set
• A Sarah Thing, April 2017 - Stamp set, washi tape, envelopes
• What a Gem, July 2016 - Green Bakers Twine
• Hello Sunshine, February 2016 - Stamp set

I also used some retired SU stamp sets for the cards:

• Bring on the Cake, 2011
• Best of Greetings, 2013
• Me = Grateful, 2015
• Suite Sentiments, 2017, Spring OC

You will need some SU card stock:

• 5 pcs. Emerald Envy
• 6 pcs. Basic Black
• 4 pcs. Melon Mambo
• 1 pc. Crushed Curry
• 1/2 sheet Lemon Lime Twist
• One 12" x 12" coordinating Designer Series Paper (DSP). 6" x 6" paper packs work well, too!

*Now I know some of you are wondering, "What on earth are the 'Ooops! leaves?"

If you were subscribed to receive Paper Pumpkin in December 2017, Flora & Flutter, you may have gotten an extra pack of leaves with your kit. This was due to a miscut of the leaves in the original kits. The error was found before the final packaging but not before some kits components were already shrink wrapped. So instead of repacking all those kits the company decided to cut the leaves correctly then include them in the boxes that had the wrong ones. Not all the kits had them. I was lucky enough to get those and used the incorrect ones in this project. If you did not get those, don't worry. We will just resort to punches or dies to make our leaves. More on that in the card section, Part Two.

I used a 12" x 12" paper from SU Pop of Pink DSP from the Spring 2016 OC. It is no longer available so you don't have it in your stash just find something in a Melon Mambo print or other paper you have. I'm thinking this won't be a problem for most of us! Hehehe! I myself am a paper hoarding queen! This is not a complete list of all the elements but I will list those later as we need them.

There are several videos posted on YouTube if you want to see a video tutorial. That's where I started. I simply did a search for Stationery box tutorial. I watched several videos before I made my own templates. This one will show you how to make the box from 12 x 12 paper. Danny also shows the best way to make the lid, IMO. Danny Hussey Video Tutorial Part One. Part Two will load when the first video is done.

Here is another one by this young lady, Schell Fabian Tutorial who explains how to cut from 8-1/2" x 11" paper and explains how she removed the extra flaps that are folded over in other instructions! I also liked the way hers turned out so decided to do them this way. She has detailed instructions on decorating as well.

There are several other videos on the web, and they are all very creative, so have some fun researching.

The box uses a 12" x 12" piece of card stock in most of the videos. The instructions here will be making the box from two pieces of 8-1\2" X 11" card stock. Makes the same shape box.

NOTE:
I have made some changes to my box to make it more sturdy. Don't worry, I will explain as I go. I do recommend making a practice box for your first attempt if you haven't made one before.

Starting with two pieces of Emerald Envy card stock cut both pieces to 7" X 11". You will score each piece at 5" on the 7" side. Here are my templates. The orange lines are the score marks, black lines are cut marks.

TOP

On the 11" side of ONE piece you will score at 1-1/4", 2-1/2", 8-1/2", 9-3/4". You will notice that I did not score all the way down past the 5" score mark. Don't worry about this. This is more important if you are making the box from 12 x 12. For these instructions we will be cutting away those pieces as I will show you below. This is the TOP piece. 

BOTTOM

The second piece (BOTTOM) is scored at 1/4", 1/2", 2-1/2", 8-1/2", 10-1/2", 10-3/4".
This piece will be the front flap that falls open to reveal the cards. After scoring go ahead and crease, and burnish all the folds.  Now we will cut away the bottom corners on both pieces. ( I used my scissors) See photo below.  On the second piece (above) we will also trim off the 1/4" on each side.  Here I used my trimmer so I got an even edge. You will have two pieces now that look like this:

TOP & BOTTOM match up 2" flaps

Next, we will glue the two bottom flaps together to make one piece. Basically  you are lining these pieces up to make the bottom of the box.

I have used white glue to make my box. I also tried my ATG (Advanced Tape Glider) tool which is great! SU's Fast Fuse is also a good adhesive to use for 3D projects like this one. If you bought the December PP Flora & Flutter you may have some 3M adhesive strips left over; that stuff works great, too! 

In this photo above I have put down the adhesive on the 1-1/4" side flaps. Most tutorials tell you to cut this part off but I am keeping it there and simply folding it over and securing with glue to give this part of our box more strength. I also trimmed off a 1/16" from the outside edge to prevent bulk at the corner when you fold it in.  This will be the part of the box that holds the A-2 cards. I'm calling it the BACK of our box but it is still the TOP part of our project right now. It's important to remember the Top part is where we attach the pocket to form the box. Yes, it is possible to put it on the wrong side. Ask me how I know! So don't do that! Lol

I am also keeping the leftover 1/4" on the bottom piece, and gluing those down. Sorry, you can not see it in this photo as I actually cut at the 1/2" mark instead as it seems I can not follow my own altered instructions! Imagine that, LOL! Either way it will work. You can see in the next photo of my first box how I have reinforced the edge by folding over and gluing the extra 1/4" fold of card stock. My first box started to fray at the corners here which is why I decided to reinforce this edge where it gets handled frequently.

Now we will need another piece of Emerald Envy Card stock to make our pockets. Below is my template (pale green) showing how to cut the pieces.

The bigger pocket is:  8-1/2" x 4-1/4". Cut it right from the top. Perfect. Then we can cut out the two front pockets from the leftover as shown on my template. This is where I made a small change to the two front pockets. I added 1/2" to the bottom to make these front pockets more sturdy and I felt it was easier to add them to the box as one piece. More about that below. They are

• 5-1/2" x 2-1/2" and
• 4-1/2" x 2-1/2".

In my first box, Merry Little Christmas with October PP 2017, I made the front two pockets like all the videos showed. And of course it works just fine that way. And it's open like this at the bottom:

I decided that I wanted to make it with a bottom to the pocket so I didn't have that opening. So I added another 1/2" on the 2" side and added a score line. See template above.
.

Here we have our pockets scored and trimmed. On the extra 1/2" at the bottom, I trimmed away the corners, made a small flap, and the longer bottom piece. This is how they should look!
Next we will attach the bigger main pocket, the piece on the left.

If you've watched any of the videos you have seen how to place the bottom flap, lined up with the crease in the bottom back piece. I made this one in black to see it better.

I placed the adhesive to the bottom flap along both edges. Same for the side flaps.

Be sure you line up the sides nice and straight and even so it all lines up when folded. This is a good place to check before you get too far along. You can check this by pulling up the other piece and making sure the tops are the same height. if they are not then it may be crooked.

You need to make sure the bottom of that side is nice and straight and flat.

Not good!

Nice and even!

Ok, now we are ready to add the front pockets. First I glued my little flaps to the bottom to form the box on both pieces.  Next I glued the two together so the two sides in the middle are together. I added glue to the flaps that attach to the box.  I did not place glue on the bottom, but feel free to do so if you wish.  Place it onto the box being sure to get the side edges straight along the edge.

So that's the box. Now we can decorate it. You can of course, decorate the panels as you go so it is easier to apply them to the box when its flat. But it's just as easy to add the panels after it's assembled, too! Same goes for the lid.

Oh, I suppose you want to make a lid, too! Ok, let me explain that and then I will get back to the decorating the outside.


Here is the template I made for the lid. I wrote down the measurements for the matted pieces on my templates so I didn't have to keep looking it up. For now we only need a piece of Basic Black cut to a piece 10-3/8" x 6-3/8". Now Score at 2-1/8" on all four sides.

Fold and trim to look like this.

Now we will need a piece of Melon Mambo and one piece of the Watermelon Cotton Tissue paper for the layered panels.

This tissue paper is part cotton so it can be ironed if you wish. The color will bleed so if you do this protect your work surface. I did have some pink color transfer to my ironing cloth but I'm glad to report that the color washed out completely.

I am mounting the tissue paper onto the Melon Mambo as the tissue paper is somewhat transparent and too thin to work alone here. I found that adhesive didn't stick well to the cotton tissue.  Glue works but it is too wet. I discovered that placing an all over adhesive on the pink paper then sticking the tissue paper to it, worked the best. SO the ONE thing I used that was not a SU product was my Xyron Sticker Maker. SU does sell adhesive sheets that could also be used if you choose to do it this way. I am going to try them after I purchase some.

I made a template (light pink) showing what sizes to cut from the Melon Mambo card stock. I've written notes onto my template for which pieces need the watermelon tissue pieces as well.

From each paper,
cut three pieces - 1-7/8" x 5-7/8"

and two of each - 1-7/8" x 1-7/8"

You should have all these pieces.

Next I ran the Melon Mambo pieces through the Xyron which gives the paper a sticky backing.

Then I placed the tissue onto the Melon paper with the sticky part face up, that is. I was able to lay it down and smooth it out with no wrinkles. Because the paper is made of cotton it is a little stronger. If the paper gets misplaced it is quite easy to carefully pull it off and reposition it! Amazing really. However I must add that it can tear so you should still be careful not to do that. Now that those pink pieces are together as one piece we can simply adhere it to our cover.

Placement of Pink Panels

Cut as shown on four corners

In this photo I used adhesive along the sides. Fold in the cut pieces to form the lids' corners, lining up the edges. Viola!



Add ribbon, trim, flowers and leaves. The tags are cut using SU Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.
Hello sentiment and flower are from December 2017 PP kit, 'Kindly deliver to' is from this PP kit. Ribbons used: Emerald Envy Ruched Ribbon (2016) and Black Vintage Crocheted Trim, Holiday Occasions, 2017. The ribbons are tied in bows. I used the Pink Bakers Twine to attach the two tags and just tie it around the ribbons.







For my second box lid I used some  retired Scallop polka dot trim and glued the ribbon ends together around the lid. I made a bow from Lemon Lime Twist 3/8" Finely Woven Ribbon and glued in place to hide the seam. Decorated with leaf stickers and an Ooops! leaf and I made flowers with the flower center stamps From May 2017 PP  (stamped onto Crushed Curry) and the retired Petite Petal Punch.

Now for the decorating. I had pre-cut most of the panels so I can layer as I go.

Here is what we need next.

Four (4)  Basic Black panels   -  5 7/8" x  4 7/8"
Four (4)  Basic Black side panels  -  1 7/8" x  4 7/8"
      (shown below)
Two each for the outside and two each for the inside.


Next take two of the watermelon printed bags from the kit and gently pull apart at the seam.


 I cut away the torn seam part then the bag will fit into my 12" trimmer.

Now we will cut lengthwise so we get a piece 12" x 4-3/4".

Now we will cut

• a pc.  -   5-3/4" x 4-3/4"
• a pc.  -   1-3/4" x 4-3/4"
• a pc.  -   3-1/4" x 4-3/4"

You will need TWO each of these pieces.

The two pieces that are 3-1/4" x 4-3/4 will be used for one set of the smaller Note cards - You are so Sweet. Set those two pieces aside. Save all the other pieces for the smaller card elements, in part two.

Mat your two larger Green Watermelon rind paper pieces, 5-3/4" x 4-3/4", onto the black panels we cut earlier and the two sides, 1-3/4" x 4-3/4"mounted onto the black side panels.  I also cut one of the mixed fruit 3.5" x 5" cards off its base and cut it in half. These will be used on the inside.

Now we will also need two pieces of DSP,    5-3/4" x 4-3/4"
for the inside panels. I used a pink pattern from, Pop of Pink DSP.

These photos show where I placed all the layered pieces for the outside....

                                                              .....and the inside

 NOTE: On these two side panels with the fruit print, we will need to trim the black pieces down approximately 1/8" to fit along side the 1/4" we folded over and glued in place. I had to then trim a little off the print paper too. Remember that this is just the way I did it and it is optional.

For the inside back I first placed the matted piece (white background in this box) into the back. In my original box (below) I decided to use the opposite side of the Melon DSP which was black. So then I wanted a Melon Mambo mat instead of the black one I had cut out. I used pink for the mats on the front pockets also.

The pink strip on the middle pocket is a 1" x 5-3/4" strip that I just attached to the top edge. In the above photo I used a Melon print from a retired 6" x 6" DS Stack, Have a Cuppa from Spring 2016 OC

Original Box

Here, in my original box I used a piece of Melon Mambo polka dotted Ribbon adhered to the top of the pocket.  With all the cards in place you don't see that middle pocket very much.

For the small front pockets cut from Basic Black (or pink):

• one piece  2-1/4" x 1-3/4" and 
• one piece  3-1/4" x 1-3/4"

From the watermelon rind paper scraps, cut:

• one piece  2-1/8" x 1-5/8" 
• one piece  3-1/8" x 1-5/8"

Matt the pieces and adhere to pockets.

                                    Postage Holder and Booklet/Sticky Note Holder.

For the booklet: Cut from the leftover green CS left over from our pockets. I altered the size to fit to the sticky notes.  6-3/8" x 3-1/2."

Score lines @ 3-1/8" and 3-1/4".  I matted Pink watermelon onto Melon Mambo like it was done on the lid. Mounted that onto Lemon Lime Twist CS. Added the bee I cut out from SU Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits. Added a scrap of Crushed Curry behind it for the bee color.

Postage stamp Holder:   2" x 3"
When I made this per the instructions I found that the postage stamps sold today do not fit well in the sleeve. SO  I simply added another 1/8"score line, to add depth to the pocket.
Scored at 3/8" and 1/4" on three sides.

Cut off the corners up to the 1/4" score line.

Fold in flaps at the 3/8" score line leaving the 1/8" 'walls'
and glue at corners to form the little pocket.

I added the decorated panel on the front, added a small flower and Pink Bakers twine from the kit.

I took a bunch of sticky notes that were about 1/8" thick to put inside the booklet.

These can now be adhered to the bottom pink panel.

The pen holder is just a scrap rolled into a tube, glued together and then into place using the pen as a placement guide. I found these pens at an office supply store which are just 6" and fit nicely. As you can see I also decorated with some more of the Crushed Curry flowers and leaf stickers.

Ok, that is the box.

I am including all the templates I used so far here.

Top Box piece

Bottom box piece

Pockets for cards and Booklet, scraps

Box Lid

Emerald Envy Layout for 3 x 3 cards and other elements

Pink Watermelon Tissue Layout for Lid & card elements.
Pieces that are yellow shaded do NOT need tissue paper.

Part Two: Making the cards. 

All right, here we go! These are the finished A-2 cards and Note cards I made for the box, two of each. First, I want to mention that I used four black envelopes from the "A Sarah Thing", April 2017 PP kit and lined them with one sheet of Pink Tissue paper cut into four pieces. I trimmed the tissue to match the envelope flap. There is a print inside those envelopes and the tissue paper doesn't quite hide it, but it works. To be honest the paper didn't quite go all the way down inside the envelope but I wanted to make it work for the contest SU had for the #redboxchallenge! If you do not have that kit, other envelopes will do, it's up to you!

Here I have gathered all the elements that you will need for the A-2 cards (4-1/4" x 5-1/2").

• Four Basic Black card bases
• Melon Mambo and Pink tissue paper cut per the template below
• Two of the yellow watercolor wash squares from the kit
• Stamp set from February 2016 PP kit, Hello Sunshine
• One more of the Green watermelon bags to cut out the bottom part of the Birthday card
• Layering Oval Framelits Dies, #141706
• Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies, #142749
• Leaf stickers from the kit
• More of the extra leaves from Dec. 2017 PP, Flora & Flutter or punched out leaves
• Emerald Envy Ruched Ribbon, retired from 2016
• Black Vintage Lace Trim and Black and white Striped ribbon from Holiday OC 2017, retired
• Black striped Washi tape also from A Sarah Thing PP kit
• Crushed curry flowers and some green watermelon scraps

You will also need several pieces of Whisper White CS for the insides of the cards and gift tags plus some to stamp your greetings.

This template is for the pieces we need for the card fronts. You will need to cut from a piece of Melon Mambo card stock AND the pink tissue, two pcs. 4" x 5-1/4", and two pcs. 4" x 3-1/2". These will be layered together just like we did on the Box Lid. The two pieces that are 4" x 2-1/4" are for the small gift tags which we do not need tissue paper for. Set those small pcs. aside for now.

Correction!  Bottom pieces are 4" x 2-1/4".

 I had to cut open another Watermelon bag to get the two pieces here, 4" x 2". I only used half of this bag. You may also need to cut out a couple ovals from this for our 3"x 3" watermelon gift card later on.

Assemble your card as above. I sized the pcs so they will overlap 1/4" to adhere together. Then I wrapped the ribbon around before I adhered it to the card base. I also trimmed the ribbon as pictured to reduce the bulk of the ribbon edge. The main words are stamped on Whisper White card stock in Emerald Envy and the smaller words in Memon Mambo (the two ink spots that came with the kit.) Cut out the 'happy birthday' with the size oval you need. The scalloped oval is cut from Lemon Lime Twist card stock. (For the inside verse, please see the part on making the Note cards below.)

Now for this card. I attached the pink tissue and Melon Mambo papers together, then wrapped the Ruched ribbon around and secured it, then added the Black Lace trim. Adhere to card base. For the Watercolor wash piece I turned it at an angle on the card and then placed my washi tape to be aligned with the ribbon. But do not adhere it yet. Now I used another small stamp from Dec 2017 Flora & Flutter, the curly vine thing. I stamped a couple times just above the washi tape. I added an Oops Leaf and a leaf sticker. Then I adhered it to my card.

I want to show you how I cut out the Oops! leaves. You can see that with a pencil I drew in the ends of the leaves and then fussy cut them out. I also ended up cutting away some of those leaves at the bottom of each stem so they fit my designs a little better. I saved the individual leaves to use on a gift tag later.
I used two of these square leaf frames and got six leafs. We will use two of them here.

Now you may not have these extra leaves but there are other options, of course! Maybe you have a leaf punch or dies that you can make some leaves of your own. Here I have made the leaves from the Eclectic Layers Dies, because I ran out of stickers.

Bumblebees are cut from black using the Detailed Dragonfly die set. I used small scraps of Crushed curry to 'color' the bee. Attach to card.











This Small Oval punch is also retired now but it made the nicest little watermelon for the card!

I punched it so there was a lighter stripe across the middle.

I took my Emerald Envy marker and drew some squiggly lines on the small oval. Add to card.

Added a small flower and a small bow from the Pink Baker's Twine.
Stamp the 'thank you' in Black, cut oval to size, scalloped oval in Emerald Envy. The inside verse is from a recently retired stamp set, Me=Grateful.

Ok, we are ready to start on our Note cards. Here are all the elements you will need. We are using the  stamp set from, A Sarah Thing. Here we need those green watermelon pieces (3-1/4" x 4-3/4") we saved from earlier. The 'Sweet' word is a stamp from this kit and I stamped in Melon Mambo then cut out with Layering Circle Framelits. Also cut a large circle from Emerald Envy and cut in half to make two watermelon halves.

The small flower for the pink card is a stamp from Jar of Love and then cut out from the coordinating dies, Everyday Jars Framelits. Also used the Stitched Shapes Framelits for the small circle sentiment and layering circles in Lemon Lime Twist and Emerald Envy. The pink polka dot pieces of the DSP were the scraps I had left over from earlier. I think they were 2" wide by 4-3/4".**

First we will need to cut out the card bases which are approximately 7" x 5" (actual size is 6 7/8" x 5") - Use the card from the kit as a guide. Cut two of each from Emerald Envy and Melon Mambo.

I needed some more scraps of Melon Mambo to mount behind the yellow watercolor wash banners. I don't have that measurement, but I know you are clever enough to figure it out. I stamped the "You" onto the banner. I stamped the two words, ARE SO onto white paper then cut out. I did some stamp 'surgery' and cut apart the words, SO MUCH. Then I could line up the two words, ARE SO onto my clear block.

 Here's how it all goes together. Added the leaf sticker then the watermelon 'slice' and the two little words. I added the trim to make it look like the banner was hanging from the lace trim in an arc. Glued it in place as shown, then trimmed off excess at corners.

This is the stamp set I used for the verses for the cards shown. It's an older retired wood stamp set called, Very Versatile. It is one I have used so many times. It has lived up to it's name! I also used this stamp set from the Flora & Flutter again. I was able to ink up the flower in just Melon Mambo and the stem part in Emerald by carefully lining up the ink spots on the stamp to get the two colors. You could also use Stampin' Write markers for this step.

Small flower and leaf sticker

On this card I wrapped the ribbons around the polka dot DSP and glued in place. Layer the circles and attach. I fussy cut the word You, then popped with mini-dimensionals. Used a sticker leaf or die-cut leaf and flower.

Die-cut leaf and medium flower

Inside verse is from Suite Sentiments, Spring OC, 2017

Gift Cards and Tags

Starting with the 3"x 3" cards we will take two of the mixed fruit cards and cut them down to size.



Here is the cutting diagram for the fruit card. FIRST, with the card folded, I cut the edge off the open side through both layers at 3". Then turn and cut to 3" square. This will be our card. You need two. With one of the leftover bottom pieces I cut off the back fold and cut in half to use for the gift tags. Only need two pieces like this.

Next we need two pieces of green watermelon paper 1" x 3" cut from your scraps. I used some scraps of pink DSP and the Ruched ribbon, wrapping ribbon around the edge of the green to secure. This stamp set is from a 2017 SAB set, Party Pants

For the Watermelon cut two ovals from green stripe as shown. Stamp is from the kit, Emerald Envy on white, trimmed to fit. Layer the pink papers together. Used one Leaf sticker here and a small flower.     

I layered Emerald Envy and Lemon Lime Twist onto the black cutting down 1/8" for each layer.
Envy -  2-7/8" x 2-7/8"
Lemon Lime -  2-3/4"x 2-3/4"
Pink DSP -   2-5/8"x 2-5/8"
Used one of the Oops leaves
Flowers from Petite Petal Punch, retired
stamped flower center with a pencil eraser in Lemon Lime Twist.
'Just Because' words are from, Tin of Cards.

The Gift Tags. You will need a piece of Crushed Curry for the yellow tags. Cut two 4"x 2-1/4".  Melon Mambo the same. Reference the template. You should have a piece left over that is the perfect size. The Emerald Envy is 4"x 2-1/2".

The FOR YOU stamp is from PP kit, Sprinkled with Love, May 2017. Mounted on Melon Mambo. I used 1" and 3/4" circle punches for the small 'Thank You' word, (Full of Blessings, 2012) and the green melon paper circle. Pink Twine is from this kit, Green Thick Baker's twine from What a Gem PP kit, July 2016, & Black/White Baker's Twine. I used a 1/8" circle punch to make the holes for the twine to go through.

These are the punches I used to make the layered flower for this gift tag.This is where we are using those extra leaves that were removed from the leaf stems. I actually changed the flower from my first design. Do what you like for the flowers. Have fun with it!

I stamped the inside of all these small tags with a 'TO' and a 'FROM'. This one is from the November 2017 PP kit, Back in Plaid, the one with the stockings.

I found I had several other stamp sets that have this stamp.  Several of the Christmas Stamp sets have this sentiment also. Cookie Cutter Christmas comes to mind.

Well, I think that's it! I hope I explained everything. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. Thank you for inspiring me to get this posted. I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do!
Good Luck!