Greeting Card storage box

So with the two weeks off over Christmas, I made loads and loads of cards from all of the Club Stamps' Greetings to Go kits, right? Well I usually keep all of my cards in a specific drawer - but the drawer is fairly small, so I can only store cards that are roughly 4.5x5 size. Well in the GTG kits you get three different sizes each month and the sizes vary greatly depending on the kind of card we get to make. So not all of the cards fit into my desk drawer.

Now in my desk drawer, I sort the cards by category, right? So I decided last night to do a project similiar to the expandable folder project I did a few weeks ago and posted - but make it large enough to hold the larger sized cards that I have been making. And this is what became of my idea...

The box roughly measures 6x6x12 - just perfectly for using 12x12 printed cardstocks to create it. I used all the great cardstocks from Club Scrap's (They are so awesome because they are printed and thick and yummy, perfect for this kind of project!!) Gimme a Ring kit.

Supplies:
(3-4 pieces) 6x12 Mat board
12x12 plain & printed cardstocks
bookbinding glue & foam brush
bone folder
Scoring tool
Ribbon, roughly 48 inches long
Decorative elements

Instructions:
1. Cut 2 pieces of 12x12 cardstock in half to get (4) 6x12 pieces of cardstock. Using your scoring tool, score lines every 3/4 in across the length of the 12 inch piece. Fold back and forth, creating an accordion fold, reinforcing each fold with the bone folder. Once done, you will need to adhere the end of one accordion piece to another - creating just two accordion pieces. Set aside for now.

2. Take a 12x12 and mark a line at 3in and 9in. Apply bookbinding glue to one of the mat board pieces and adhere to the center of the 12x12 leaving 3 inches on each side. (This mat board piece will be the base of the box.)

3. Apply bookbinding glue to one of the 3 in sides and add another sheet of matboard (this mat board piece will be the back side of the box), leaving a small gap (size of gap depends on how thick your mat board is, thick matboard=more space, thin mat board=less space, standard matboard=apprx 1/8 in). Repeat adding mat board (this mat board piece will be the front side of the box) to other size.

4. Flip project over and apply bookbinding glue to one of the showing mat boards, this is going to be the back side of the box we are working. Adhere another 12x12 cardstock. Flip back over and fold the cardstock down over the other side of the matboard to cover it, adhere with book binding glue.

5. Cut a piece of cardstock to cover the rest of the front side of the showing mat board (3x12) and adhere with bookbinding glue.

So now we basically have the base, the front, and the back, that can fold up into a square U shape. Now we proceed to create the top with front flap.

6. Adhere a long strip of ribbon to the backside of the box, centering the middle of the strip of ribbon at the back of the box.

7. Cut a strip of cardstock (roughly 2x12) to cover the ribbon, adhere with bookbinding glue.

8. Take a piece of cardstock 12x12 and score a line at 2in and 8in. If desired (I ran out of mat board) adhere a piece of mat board in the center of the 2 and 8 in section, you will also need to cover the mat board with paper too. Adhere with bookbinding glue the 2in flap to the back side of the box.

Now you have the box basically made and it is ready for the inserts. Here you will need 12 pieces of 6x12 cardstocks.

9. If you want to cut sections out of your pieces, you need to do that now. Starting at the front, adhere one 6x12 to the first accordion fold using the bookbinding glue, repeat adding each 6x12 sheet to an accordion fold.

10. Once you add the last piece, you will still have the last fold left, adhere this to the back of your box.

11. Adhere the front section to the front of the box.

12. Now you can embellish as desired. I used my rubberstamps and stamped the a greeting for each section - and for the birthday section, I did three separate ones - one with a stamp of guy (for mens birthdays), one with a stamp of a gal (for womens birthdays), and one with a stamp of kids (for kids birthdays). I added flowers as well.

Hope you find this tutorial helpful. Good luck and have fun!
Deb Weller aka DebDuzScrappin