Hello everyone!  Karen Ellis here today on the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine blog.  I have had the distinct honour to have met so many of you in person at scrapbooking shows and conventions in cities all over Canada and the USA.   I love representing the magazine, meeting you and creating make n takes in the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine booth. A few weekends ago we were at ScrapFest in Kitchener, Ontario.  I wanted to show you what we created with the attendees and what I’ll be creating at other shows this year. This embellished pillowbox gift box from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Supplies Used
Pillowbox and Happy Flowers  Dies – Elizabeth Craft Designs Gel Plate Petites – Gel Press Printing PlatesClearsnap ColorBox Pigment Ink Creative Scrapbooker Super Stock

3 in 1 Glue – Beacon
String – unknown
Felt Star – (cut from) Camelot Fabrics
Button – unknown
Wood Cut Leaf – unknown

Here’s how we create it!
Using the Gel Press Printing Plate Petite shapes and some pigment ink I showed everyone how I use the tools to create my own pattern paper designs.  These little printing plates are  perfectly sized to easily mount on acrylic blocks so you can use them like stamps!!!  Cut out a couple of happy flowers and a pillowbox form from a sheet of super stock.  Place your flowers randomly on your pillowbox and prepare your mounted plates for stamping.  Simply ink up your gel plate shape like you would a design stamp with your favourite ink (I used Clearsnap Colorbox aqua and gold) and press it onto the pillowbox over your flower diecuts.
Essentially you’re using the flower die cuts as a mask!  When you remove the mounted gel plate you’ll have a inked shape with the positive floral image showing where you placed your die cuts.Most of the time, your flower die cut will stick to the gel plate when stamped on.  Remove the flower (if that happened) and then stamp the plate again on the top of pillowbox to use the remaining ink on the plate.  This gives you the lighter, negative “ghost” image.  I love this!  Repeat this process, overlapping the gel press images until you’re happy with your design.   Ink the outside edges of your pillowbox to finish it off, ready to assemble.Using the glue or a piece of tape, put some adhesive along the score line underneath the handle hole (in the space between the handle hole and the score line underneath it).  Hold in place for a moment to allow for the adhesive to set.  Once set, fold the sides in to create the pillowbox. It’s time to embellish!I placed a star shape (approx 2.5”) cut from some adhesive backed felt down first, then added the wooden leaf shape.  From there I used the two flower die cut shapes I used as masks to create the box pattern as the focal embellishment.   The process of stamping the box with the gel plate inked the flower shapes to match your box!   How handy, right?  I finished the cluster embellishment with a miscellaneous button.   You’ll see from the photo that I also wrapped some string vertically around the box!  I figure all gift boxes need to be string wrapped and it doesn’t hurt that I love the look! Thanks to the 150 scrappers who created this with me at ScrapFest!!  It was FUN!

Katharina and I will be at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo in Orlando, FL in a couple of weeks and at Mega Meet in Novi, MI in May as well.  If you’re in the area, be sure to drop by and create this make ‘n’ take with me at the show!
Looking forward to meeting you all!
Have fun!   Stay Crafty

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