SugarGem's Mini Easter Egg Box and Template Tutorial

Embellished

Handle is from a  border punch and the flower is the begonia from SVGCuts.com 3D flower collection.

Keep it simple.

 I wish I knew how to make a template in SVG format for you because I would make it in a heart beat if I knew how and could figure it our! But since I don't here is my best tutorial for you on how to make my cute little egg box.

What you will need:

1. Paper
2. Scissors
3. Scoring tool
4. Circle punch or SCAL/MTC
5. Glue
6. Scoreboard or Something to score with.

How to make SugarGem's Mini Easter Egg Box- 

1. Trim one sheet of paper to 9.5"x11.75" and another to 4.5"x4.5"(the small piece you might want to make in SCAL because you will need to cut a circle in the center if you don't have a circle punch. Read the whole tutorial first to decide what you want to do.)

 2. With the 9.5"x11.75" piece you want to score as follows.
        In this order
        a. Along the 9.5" side: Score at .5", 3.5", 6" and 9"
        b. Along the 11.75" side: Score at .75" 3.25", 6.25" and 8.75"
        c. Then flip the paper again back to score part way along the 9.5" side: score at 3" up to the 6.25" score line then stop and restart from 8.75" to the end. (there will be a gap of scoring between 6.25"-8.75")
Do the same thing at 6.5". Score at 6.5" up to the 6.25"score line then stop. Restart score at 8.75" to the end. (there will be a gap of scoring between 6.25"-8.75")
See photo above to see how this should look.


3. Remove the areas I have shaded in the pic above. It should look like the pic below.

 4. You will want to cut the corners for easy folding. The picture below shows the before and after.

 5. Now you have your box. Fold and glue.
6. To make the insert to hold the egg you can do a couple things. But first you need to start with your 4.5"x4.5" piece of paper.
      a. You will need to score at 1" on every side.
      b. Cut a 1.63" circle in the center. (I used SCAL to cut the circle) You can either cut a circle and draw it onto the center of your paper then cut out that circle by hand. Or your can make the 4.5"x4.5" square in SCAL and place the 1.63" circle in the center and "exclude" it from the square then cut out on your machine. OR you could use a hole punch if you have one big enough.
      c. Next you will want to cut away the shaded areas. Look at the picture below to see what it should look like.
 
7. Fold the insert and place inside box. That's it! If you like the box the way it is that's great or you could embellish it more like the first couple pictures!
I used a Martha Stewart punch to cut a little flower in the front of my simple box for a little peep hole to see the egg.
 
You can use a REAL egg or a cute little plastic egg filled with goodies. I made the box large enough for either one! I found some cute plastic eggs at the Dollar Tree. It came with 12 eggs for a buck!
I work hard on these tutorials and designs please feel free to share this, but don't forget to give credit where credit is due! And remember these are not to be made for profit. They are for personal use or gifts only.  Happy Easter everyone!
 
If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

Favorites Friday- Get Your Glue On

Today is Friday and time for another Favorites Friday! Dust off that glue gun or go buy yourself one. Joanns has mini glue guns for less than $5.00. I never use to use mine, but now it's one of my most favorite tools. Especially when doing any 3D projects. Nothing has staying power like the old hot glue gun! The little mini's are just so handy you gotta get one! You can get low temp and/or high temp. I think I prefer my low temp the most because I never burn myself with the low temp, but I took a pic of my high temp because it looks prettier!

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!


XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

Paper Armoire

I LOVE the new Amelie collection  from SVGCut.com. I started out making the armoire set for a girlfriend's baby, but I should have done a protoype first! I should know better by now not to use my good paper on something I've never made before. Needless to say the baby armoire didn't turn out great. I screwed it up and the drawers won't slide nicely. Because of my frustration I was determined to make one correctly. So I made one for moi.  Hope you like it! I love the mirror knobs. You can find those little round  mirrors at Joanns for only a couple dollars. I recommend using the glue gun to adhere the mirrors to the knobs. The hot glue gives it extra staying power.

You can find the Amelie collection Here.

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

Baby Shower Buggy

We finally got home and let me tell you I couldn't wait to make something. I had an invite to my cousins baby shower sitting on the counter when we got back that I didn't know anything about. So in a rush to find something I decided to go the gift card route and make something special. I got the baby buggy file from My Time Made Easy. It's a little expensive, but it is so adorable and unique. Plus it's something they can put in the nursery if they like it enough.    I used DCWV Linen closet paper stack. The gift card holder is from SVGCuts.com Give a Gift collection. Here is the link.

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

Easy Little Cards and My Tsunami Story *Update*

I have been working on making more cards just by cutting cute embellishments right out of cute paper packs. Here are 2 super simple cards I made on one of my crafting dates. I have been finding this to be an easy way to craft at crops because all you need is paper, glue, pop dots and scissors. It cuts down on over packing to go to a friends house. Which I have a major problem with.  Oh and if you are wondering, I used AC Dear Lizzy paper stack for this set.

My short tsunami story I want to share with you-.
Some of you may  know from SugarGem's Facebook page that I am in Hawaii. We have been here for about 2 weeks. We went into Tsunami watch on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 8:30pm Hawaii time after Japan's 8.9 magnitude earthquake.  Something you might not know about me is that my fiancee owns a charter boat here in the Islands and we come here a few times a year.  When the Islands go into Tsunami warning the Captains are required to take the boats out of the harbor into open ocean to save the boats and harbor from damage. At 9:30 the Islands went into WARNING Stage. We knew from the internet that Hawaii was going to sound the tsunami sirens within 10 min. Which is full blown warning and evacuation stage.  We had just moved out of a home up on the mountain to a condo right on the water. It was good in some ways because we were still packed so all we had to do was throw our bags in the car and head over to the harbor.  Luckily we did this all before the sirens went off so there wasn't any traffic yet. Right before we got to the boat the tsunami sirens went off. The whole town had to evacuate up the mountain. While everyone was heading up the mountain there we were down on the water heading out.

We loaded everything up and headed out to sea. Let me just say it was bit scary. We didn't know what to expect at all. We didn't know if we were going to feel the waves.  We were out in the ocean with hundreds of other boats in darkness. We stayed up all night long in suspense looking out for large waves and other boats that  were out there without their running lights on. We did feel the tsunami waves. They weren't big waves out in the ocean, but more like really really fast current running under the boat. You could feel the boat start to spin. My fiancee had throttle all the way up to ride it out. After the first couple surges the water got extremely choppy.  All the rhythm of the sea was gone and turned into large sloppy waves coming from every direction. On top of all this we learned that now we had to be aware of rogue waves from the tsunami waves bouncing off the islands and colliding.  It was a very very long, dark and stressful night. 

Once day broke we were the first to try and enter the harbor, but quickly found that the harbor was completely flooded up over the seawalls and was not accessible.  We, along with over 300 hundred boats, trolled outside the harbor for hours waiting for the water to recede.  Along with the harbor being flooded the water was surging in and out of the harbor like a river for hours and hours.  None of us had seen anything like this before. Many boats tried entering the harbor after us to turn out and high tail it back out of the harbor before the water sucked them up onto the rocks.  At 9:00am the United States Coast Guard closed all harbors and water ways in the Hawaiian Islands.  Not knowing anything was probably the hardest part after the actual tsunami. No one was allowed back in town to asses the damage so we had no idea what had happened on shore. The harbor officials left all of us to fend for ourselves and did not help anyone. They were nowhere to be contacted to fill us in on what was happening. We were completely in the blind.

1:00pm rolled around and we'd had enough of the not knowing what was going on in the harbor.  We decided to give it a second chance at entering the harbor........We MADE IT!

There were multiple boats that sank that never got out of the harbor before the tsunami. Countless boats damaged. All the pipes were broken in the harbor.  The whole town of Kona is still shut down 36hours after. The whole seawall in downtown Kona was wiped out. All stores, restaurants and shops in downtown are still shut down.  Multiple hotels are still closed. The news is not reporting any of the damage here. I'm asking you to get the word out and ask for thoughts and prayers for the people here and their families dealing with the damage. As well as everyone else that is dealing with loss and damage from the earthquake and the tsunami.

Update* March 13. Yesterday we drove around to the harbors and town. The town is starting to open up. Some stores were damaged much more then others. Some are completely ruined and some are just fine. My favorite area of the whole island is called Keauhou. We have a friend that owns some property down that way and the whole harbor is completly ruined. My favorite dive shop is GONE. The Keauhou Yacht Club is GONE! We had just been there earlier that day with our friends showing them around because it was so cute there! It seems that all the harbors were hit the worst. Almost like the waves escalated inside the harbors.  It's so sad. I hope that they are able to rebuild because it's the best place to go hands down.  Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!
If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

Cute Coupon Book Gift

I got the cutest little gift from my friend, J, the other day when we went craft shopping. I have seen many different coupon organizers, but this one is my favorite by far.  I love the retro paper she used. She's so creative.  I want to try and make one for my grandma and a few other friends.  Some of it came from Germany so we aren't sure if we can find all the parts here in the US yet.*** Fingers Crossed!*** We are hoping to be able to make some when I get back from vacation.......can't wait! I will post more when we find everything!

If I can inspire one person today I have done my job!

XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date posts! --------------->>>>>---------->>>>>>>>----->>>>>> over there!

Easter Time!

Simple little Easter card I made really late the night before we left. I think I might enter it in the SVGCuts.com Challenge, but I can't decide. I was trying to cram in as much crafting as I could before we left! haha

I used all SVGCuts.com files for this card.

Here are all of the collections I used: You can find them all Here

A2 Laced Edge Cards Collection - Queen Ann card I blacked out and made 5.5x5.5" square.
Easter Bunnies Collection- Striped egg
Rosie's Ribbons Collection- I used #7(ribbon) for the 2 blue scalloped border strips.

I used the Garden Party Stack from DCWV it looks like this. You can usually find it at Joanns 50% off. I absolutely love this stack! It's so bright and cheery.

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job.
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to "like" SugarGem's Facebook page for updates!

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patricks Day card!

Here is my 2nd project for RSMobleys Designs Creative Team. I wanted to design a cute St. Patricks Day card for you guys to make. I used the March St. Patricks  RM00098 file. You can find it Here.  I started by using 2 pot of gold shapes and flipped one to mirror each other. I welded the two together to create a card. I then welded the rainbow to the top. This created the base for the card. Next I cut out the different colors for the rainbow. The rainbow was HUGE so I just cut it off after I glued the pieces together. Then I cut another pot of gold  and used clear Utee to make the pot look shiny. I only did one layer of Utee so it gave it some neat texture rather then a perfectly smooth texture. I used Zig glue all over the top of the rainbow then sprinkled clear glitter on top. Then using basic shapes in SCAL I cut out a few little circles and ovals to emboss with gold embossing powder to make them look like gold coins! I adhered most of the coins with little mini pop dots to give more dimension. I think that is it, if you have any other questions please let me know I will try and answer them for you!

*Itty Bitty Tippy* When using the Zig glue and glitter work quickly. You want to try and apply the glitter when the glue is still blue to get the best staying power.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

My First Creative Team Project

I have been wanting to make a luminary for quite some time now so I took this opportunity to make one.  There was a lot more work involved than I thought, but I think it turned out pretty cute. I started with just the pot of gold, but when I showed it to my fiancee he asked where the rainbow was? I decided I had to add the rainbow and it was an adventure from there.  Trying to figure out how to get the rainbow to look good with a tiny battery operated tea light was not as easy as I thought.  But I finally figured out how to do it. First I started with just vellum rainbow strips that I cut out with Sharon's file March St. Patricks RM00098 file. You can find the file Here. I added a rainbow array of Stickles(glitter glue) to the top of the vellum rainbow strips thinking it would be glittery and sparkly when the candle was lit, but let me tell you now that DOES NOT WORK! So what I did was use these LePlume markers to color the back side of the vellum (I'm sure any marker would work) and that gave it a deeper more vibrant rainbow affect.  Also I used a light gold ink by Dew Drops which you can find Here to ink the vellum under the gold stickles on the pot of gold to give it a more golden glow when the candle is lit.

Here is the finished project.

I also embossed the 3 leaf clovers, inked them to give them dimension then added stickles to give them some sparkle. My motto is if it doesn't look great just add glitter it ALWAYS finishes off the project.

This is a picture of before the rainbow adventure.

You can also check out the creative team blog here and my very first post.

If I can inspire just one person today I have done my job!
XOXO SugarGem

Don't forget to check out SugarGem's Facebook page and "like" it to get up to date information! --------->>>>>---->>>>>>

I've Been Keeping A Secret From You.....

I'm so excited to finally share with you a little secret I've been hiding. I have been chosen to be part of the RSMobleys Designs Creative Team from March through July.  This will be my very first Creative Team. I can't wait to create for her and with the other team members!
I posted all of my team members blog links on the left for you to check out.  Along with a blinkie to link you to RSMobley Designs website. Check out her website and all of her cute cut files. 
I have a couple projects I finished before I left for vacation. I will be sharing it with you soon.

A special thank you to my sweet friend Jan for the encouragment and believing in me.

Cheers!
XOXO SugarGem