Art Caddy using Meg's Garden Damask Papers

Hi everyone and a very warm welcome to the blog.  Thank you so much for visiting.

Today I'd like to share with you a Caddy I created from scratch.  I have to warn you though that this is going to be a pretty long post as I've created a Step by Step Tutorial as well.  So, I do hope you won't be put off.  Anyway, here goes.

First up, a little sneak peek of the finished piece.  

I hope this will entice you to stay till the end.  LOL!!

Step 1 ...  You need to determine what type of box you want.  In my case, I needed a box in which I could keep my Art Journals and a few supplies, such as Water Colour Pencils and Crayons.  So for that purpose, I decided I wanted a Caddy so I could have my Journals in one side and my supplies in the other.  You also need to decide what size you want your box to be and that, of course is determined by what you wish to keep in the box.  I measured the height, width and depth of the Journals and supplies and this is the design I came up with.

Step 2 ... Work out what pieces are needed for the box and the size they need to be.

As you can see, the size of these pieces corrolate to the dimensions on the original drawing.

Step 3 ... Cut out the pieces needed from your choice of product.  You can use cardboard or chipboard or any other material which has some strength to it.  I have actually used paperboard which is available from the Newsagent.  This is very similar to Chipboard but it does work out a little cheaper.

As you can see, the sizes of the pieces cut out are the same as the sizes on the drawing.  For the centre panel, the straight edge is 8" high and then I used a plate to draw the curve.  The heart shape was cut out using a Fiskars Cutter and Heart Template.  It didn't actually cut all the way through the board but I simply cut the rest of the way with a craft knife.  On the base, draw a line at the half way mark.  This is the guide for placement of the handle.  You should also mark the half way point on the longer side pieces for the same reason.  I forgot and had to do it after it was put together which was a bit of a pain. LOL

 Step 4 ...  To join the pieces together you need to cut some strips of card stock.  They should be about one and a quarter inch wide.  Then score them down the middle lengthwise and place double sided tape on each side of the score mark.

 Step 4 ...  Adhere the joining strips to each piece of the box.  For the base you will need to adhere a joiner on all sides as shown below.

 For the sides you will only need to adhere a joiner on one side edge of each piece.

For the handle you will need to adhere the joiners on both sides at the bottom and also on both sides of the side edges but only up to the height of the box.  In my case that was 5". 

 I have only shown it on two sides here but you will have to place the joiners on the other side edge as well.

Step 5 ...  Now we can start to put the box together.  When joining the side pieces to the base I found it was a good idea to first, take the backing off the double sided tape and then stand the side piece up along the base and push the joiner onto it making sure it sticks down really well.  

As you can see below, it leaves that little bit of space between the two pieces which is necessary for movement in joining the side edges together later.  If you butted these two pieces together, you would not be able to lift the sides up to join them.  

Make sure you have one side joiner at each corner of the base. Here you can see how it looks with the sides attached.  

Now you can lift up each side piece and join the corners together ...

 ... and here is the basic box all joined up.  Now it's time to insert the handle.

Take the backing off the double sided tape on one of the bottom joiners, line the handle up to the centre guideline and stick the joiner to the base of the box.  Then stick down the joiner on the other side of the handle base.  Once it is stuck to the bottom you can then adhere the handle to the sides, lining it up on the guideline as shown. 

 Here is the basic box all ready to be decorated.  I really do hope you are still with me.  I did warn it was going to be a long post, didn't I ?????

So now I can show you the completed box.
TA!! DAAAAA!!

 To cover the box, I have used three different papers from Meg's stunning Damask Collection.  I will give you a list of all Meg's Garden products used at the bottom of this post.

 Although these papers don't need a lot of enhancement I did decide to do some masking and stenciling to make it more uniquely my own.

I've also used some Washi Tape and did some fussy cutting  as well.   Ran the frame on the front  through an embossing folder, coloured it with Black Soot Distress Ink and Versa Color Gold, and then it was clear embossed.  The quote was printed on some scrap DP and also clear embossed.  The clock  and the label were fussy cut from Meg's papers. 

 The sides were decorated with stencils, stamps, washi tape, a bling flourish and some flowers. On this side I fussy cut the label from another sheet and mounted it on some paperboard to give it a bit of dimension.

 I also fussy cut some of the leaves from the papers.

 A closie of the stamping and stenciling.

This is the other side before ...

 ... and after decorating.

 The inside ....

... and the handle.

I had a great time making this box and I hope I made the instructions clear enough for you to follow.  I also hope I didn't bore you to tears with such a long post and thank you so much for your patience.

As promised, here is the list of Meg's Garden Products used

Blue Belle Jardiniere 12 x 12 Paper - P6380
Blue & Green Damask 12 x 12 Paper - P6368
Framboise Fleur  12 x 12 Paper - P6371
Forget me Not Mini Pack - S113
Old World Time - 1037
Small Rectangular Parisian Frame - fr005

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless
oxox Marg