French Country Recipe Box

Erin Stevens, a busy mom and energetic artist, discovered the art of stamping just two years ago, and it has changed her life. Along with beautiful greeting cards, Stevens has discovered many great venues for her stamping skills. Stevens takes a plain hinged, wooden box and applies stamped decoupage to the exterior to make a decorative recipe box, and then using four funky stamping techniques creates some fabulous interior recipe dividers.

Materials:

plain, hinged wooden box
dress pattern
jet black inkpad
wooden knob
silk flower
metallic buttons
white and black gingham ribbon (wide and narrow)
hot glue gun
decoupage glue
sponge brush
red spray paint
black craft inkpad
cardstock, pink, black, white, Creamy Carmel colors
marking tags
glossy cardstock
ink refills
rubbing alcohol
cotton balls
mini glue dots
French Script background stamp
various Parisian stamps
leaf rubber stamp
flower rubber stamp
Memory of the Heart stamp
Stampin' Up Basic Black Classic Inkpad
gold metallic re-inker
used dryer sheet
spray adhesive
More Mustard classic stamp pad
Ruby Red classic stamp pad
Close to Cocoa pad
Versamark pad
bleach
used blender pens
black embossing powder
painter's tape
sponge wedges
Close to Cocoa classic stamp pad
stapler
scissors
embossing gun
embossing tray
Mono Adhesive Tape Runner

1. Paint a plain, hinged wooden box with red spray paint and let it dry. Roll the wooden knob in the black craft inkpad and let it dry.

2. Randomly stamp Parisian stamps on the dress pattern with black ink (figure A).

3. Apply a thin coat of decoupage glue with a sponge brush to one section of the box. Cut a piece of the stamped dress pattern to fit that section of the box and lay it on the box. Apply more decoupage glue to the top of the dress pattern section and smooth it out with the sponge brush. Cover the entire box and let it dry (figure B).

4. Hot-glue the gingham ribbon around the edge of the lid of the box (figure C).

5. Hot-glue the metallic button to the inside of the flower. Hot-glue the silk flower to the front of the box (figure D). This completes the outside of the box.

6. Note: This is an extra step provided by guest, not shown on-air. Make four cards from cardstock to fit inside the box. For the first card, adhere a torn piece of the dress pattern to the Ruby Red cardstock cut to the dimensions to fit inside the box. Adhere a piece of black cardstock then glossy cardstock to the dress pattern piece.

6. On the glossy cardstock, drop two very small drops of the gold metallic refill. Saturate a cotton ball with the rubbing alcohol and add two drops of each of the following re-inkers to the wet cotton ball; Real Red, More Mustard and Ruby Red. Dab the inked cotton ball on the glossy cardstock shiny side up. Wipe with a tissue in a buffing motion.

7. Stamp a black leaf into the middle of this glossy cardstock using Basic Black Classic Inkpad and a leaf rubber stamp. Thread thin black gingham ribbon through the marking tag and staple it to the recipe divider.

8. Place a metallic button under the tag using mini glue dots.

9. For the second card use black cardstock and overlay a small piece of Ruby Red cardstock that has been stamped with French Script.