Box making 101

If you're local, and shop at the lss where I work, then you've probably already seen this box on display at the store. My friend Denise is a talented bookbinder/box maker/stamper with a degree in engineering, and it shows.. her boxes are impeccably well made. After a year of wanting to learn how to do these, I was finally able to take a class with her last week. And it's not as easy as it looks, believe me! The box was made entirely from scratch, but thankfully Denise cut the eska board for us beforehand, or else mine would have definitely turned out looking like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. ;P It was hard enough to cut everything to the right size, and there's a definite trick to getting the corners folded just right and using the pva glue without making a huge mess all over. The darned stuff dries fast, and you have to work quickly. Have I mentioned I'm not a glue person either?

I'm not very *ahem* adept with precise measurements, and I was possibly the neediest person in the class that night, having to have her check my poor math skills. It didn't turn out perfect like her's, but it's so pretty!

I did up the cards that came inside with some of the leftover scraps, and added a few other embellies from the Dear Lizzy Line. I'm planning to give this to a friend of mine for Mother's Day, so I thought the decorated cards would be a nice touch.

I totally recommend taking a box making/bookbinding class if you've never tried it- I'm dying to make another one now, but I'll have Denise on speed dial just in case I can't figure out what 5/16th is on my trimmer....