Owl Valentine Box

Last year, I finally threw away the old shoebox-covered-with-tissue-paper Valentine Box I'd been using since I was a little girl....it had seen better days!  That meant this year, I would need to make a new box to use for my pre-kindergarten classroom, and I think this is definitely a step up from the old one.   I also made owl Valentines to give each child; check for those in the next post!

Several people have asked for directions for this Valentine Box, so I'm providing a basic outline of the steps.  Note that most of the materials listed are from Stampin' Up! so if you aren't sure what a certain item is, please ask.  Also, several of the materials used may be retired, such as the fabric, but you could easily substitute with another choice of fabric.

Body:
1. Start with an empty cereal box. Tape the top closed to provide for extra support; I used packing tape.
2. Use an Xacto knife to cut a horizontal, rectangle slot on the back.
3. Cut a straight line down to the bottom of the box, then across the bottom of the box to make a door. I used my stylus from my Simply Scored score board and a ruler to make an indention down the left side, and creased the door open and shut a few times. 

4. Cover the box with paper. I used Stampin' Up!'s textured cardstock in Real Red. Measure from the bottom of the box to the top. My 12x12 paper was very close to the same height, so I decided to leave the slight bit of overlap on the top.
5.  Wrap the paper around the box to check the width. I had the paper start at the crease of the door and wrap around to the other side of the slot.  If you lightly squeeze the sides, the paper will have the shape of the box and be easier to adhere.
6.  I used sticky tape, which I applied to the box, then applied the textured paper. I used one strip at a time to make application of the paper to the box easier.
7. Measure the size of paper needed for the door, and adhere.
8. Cover area above mail slot with paper also.  I also covered the top and bottom of the box. 
 

Latch:
1. Punch two 3/4 inch circles from cardstock.  Circles shown are in Pink Pirouette.  Punch a smaller hole in the middle of them using the 1/16 inch Handheld Circle Punch.
2.  Determine placement for your latch, and punch two small holes through the box, also using the 1/16 inch Circle Punch.
3.  Use two brads to attach the circles to the box. Shown are two Basic Gray 3/8 inch Glimmer Brads.
4.  Tie Whisper White Baker's Twine under one of the circles, then loop around both circles to complete the latch. 

Wings:
1.  Cut a medium circle (I traced something round....I don't remember what) from the Real Red cardstock.  I traced the same circle on the back of fabric and adhered the two together using my ATG double sided tape gun.  The fabric shown is Candy Cane Christmas. 
2.  Cut in half to make the two wings.

Face:
1.  I punched the large white circles using the 2 inch circle punch.
2.  I used the Scallop Punch to punch two Wild Wasabi scallops.
3.  Punch two 1 inch white circles.
4.  I used dimensionals to pop out the Bashful Blue 3/4 inch circles and heart punched from the Small Heart Punch.
5.  Her nose is created from the Full Heart Punch and Champagne Glimmer Paper.
6.  I again used my ATG glue gun to adhere the pieces together.  You could also use a different adhesive.

Feet:
1.  I punched two scallops for each foot using the Scallop Punch and Crumb Cake card stock.

Dress:
1.  I cut the material into 12 inch strips, approximately 2 inches wide.
2.  I started at the bottom and used a hot glue gun to run a bead of glue across the box and pressed the material into place.  As the layers went higher, I also glued the material together on the sides.
3.  I used Real Red Satin Ribbon across the top of her dress, and to make the bow for her head. 

Please leave comments; I'd love to hear your feedback.