Oz-somestamps: Matchbox Valentine with surprise inside

I just love it when you stumble upon a project and it is so stinking cute you have to run out and get all the stuff to make it yourself - especially when that involves a trip to the Dollar store! (dollar spot at Target counts too!) Well when I was in San Antonio last month - yikes it has been over a month already - my dear friend Stephany showed me this darling project that she did at her Texas Angel Gathering in November using matchboxes she found at Dollar tree - 12 for $1 - yes ONE DOLLAR for TWELVE! You just gota love projects like that! I copied her ink for ink paper for paper stamp for stamp! That girl is GOOD! She had put one of those Hershey Miniatures Candy bars inside - they fit perfect! Cute right?

Well I wanted to put a top 10 list inside.

so I drug out my handy dandy Scor-pal of course! Measured it out and voila!

It really does spring up when you open it up too! It is so kewl!

Stamps: Love Doodles and This Boy Stamps from The Angel Company
Ink: Claret and Noir Palette Ink
Papers: Uptown Girl Papers and White Cardstock
Accessories: Matchbox, ribbon, Scor-pal, Mini Kai Scissors

So you wanna know the measuremeants? Here is what I came up with:

4 1/2 x 2 1/16 Uptown Girl Pattern Paper

12 x 1 7/8 for the accordian piece

Plus some scraps of white and your pattern piece for the paper Piecing of the heart.

1 matchbox

ribbons of choice

Claret and Noir Palette Ink

You will begin by inking the edges of the matchbox with Claret Palette ink.

I also take a sponge and try to get inside the edges a bit.

Then adhere your pattern piece around the outside of the box. Be sure your adhesive gets right up to the edges so that the paper sticks down nice and tight.

Next you will paper piece your heart - start by stamping your image onto white and a scrap of your pattern piece.

Place a piece of tape on the back side of the pattern piece and cut out - The Mini Kai Scissors work great for tiny cutting jobs..

Adhere heart over top of same heart on white piece. Cut out white piece.

Color in the edge with a blender pen and ink pad - by simply tapping the tip of the blender on top of your ink pad and then coloring like a marker. When the colors get lighter just tap again and repeat.

Add to top of matchbox and tie ribbons around.

Now to score your accordian - the Scor-pal makes it SO easy! Because you want to score every 1 1/4 inches you need to take your 11 1/2 x 1 7/8 piece and place it at the 3" mark. on your Scor-pal. Score at 4 1/4.

Now slide your scored line and place it into the 3" line. (the dent of the score will sink right into the line!) Now score again at 4 1/4. Repeat until you reach the end of your paper.

I like to stamp mine after I score but before I fold - so i can see where the fold will be but they do not interfere with my stamping.

Fold on lines and voila!

Slip it into the matchbox.

How cute is that???

Happy Valentines Day!

Oh ya - I am sure you are all just DYING to know if I did the tax thing for eric....

well....

I can tell you that I did get my girlfriends valentines stamps and mailed - it just sounded like so much more fun than sorting and adding! I got distracted by a call and had to divert my attentions to other things - like projects for our Angel Gathering NEXT weekend! ACK! SO - i still have all day tomorrow to get it done - and i bet i coud write it all on an accordian in a matchbox too...