Dare to Get Dirty '09!

Do you Dare to Get Dirty?? Today is the start of 3 days of challenges hosted by the Dirty Dozen at Splitcoaststampers. We have all sorts of wonderful challenges planned like Previous Themes, Sketches, technique, color and inspiration. There is something for everyone! You will need to be a Fan Club member to participate. If you aren't already, what are you waiting for?!

I signed up to host a previous theme. I remember the days when I was new to SCS, waiting anxiously every month for the Dirty Dozen gallery to be revealed! There are so many wonderful themes in the archives but I chose the January '05 challenge called, "It's in the Bag!" -- to make creative packaging using pre-made or invented boxes and bags. Talk about possibilities!

I have had weeks to think about my project and I thought long and hard....and nothing! I hate it when that happens, lol! Inspiration struck the minute I saw the new Perfect Package card boxes Taylor is now selling. Thanks to her lightening fast shipping, I had the boxes with time to spare, but not much. Here is what I came up with...

The boxes ship flat and fold together easily. The best part is they have strong magnets built into the sides to keep it closed. I knew right away I wanted to try to turn it into a purse. I covered all the sides with various papers from the Pretty Please line by My Minds Eye. There is even a bit of machine stitching on the front. The flower was made with the Spellbinders Blossom die and the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Other items used: Fiskars border punch, SU large oval punch, ribbon, ribbon slide, large brad, dimensionals, circle punch.

Here is a view of the side...

I had hoped to use the Crop o Dile for the jumbo eyelet and quickly discovered that the hole punch feature would not reach in far enough. Bummer! It pays not to get rid of things sometimes, because I was able to use my old eyelet setting tools to create the holes I needed. The box is quite thick so I worked the hole maker tool until I broke through (not as hard as it sounds). Fortunately, I was able to use the COD to set the eyelets so all was not lost. The ribbon for the handle is some retired Baja Breeze striped ribbon from SU.

The box alone would have cut it for the challenge but I was having so much fun I kept going. I made a set of 6 cards using more of the MME paper and the SU Top Note die. The design idea is inspired by Amy Rohl, she is the queen of the Top Note! The design makes great use of scraps. The sentiments are from PaperTrey's Damask Design set. I also added butterfly die cuts, brads and ribbon. There is tons of room inside the box, so I also made a matching notebook and beaded pen to complete the set.

So there you have my sample. I was lucky to recruit two of my stampin' buddies to make samples for this challenge as well~ Christine Okken (aka ChristineCreations) and Diane Zechman (aka cookiestamper). Their samples ROCK and are very different. It just shows the vast possibilities!

Check out the Dare to Get Dirty thread here.


Check out the submissions for this challenge here.


Thanks for stopping by!