Landscape album, by Simply Made Crafts By Helen Griffin. - The Letter rack,

This letter rack should be much more attainable, thankfully Helen hasnt discontinued these dies that im aware of, so here goes, 

I called this the daffodil letter rack for obvious reasons, its also going to a friend who will appreciate the daffodil decals on it, 

This is the finished box. its simple yet cute i think,

These are the dies used for the project, the first one is from the Landscape album set, and the other two are from the editions set, these are the ones that give the nice decorative edge that makes it look pretty,

Cut 6 of this one

Cut 6 of this one

Cut 4 of this one

this is 2" x  6 1/4"

Cut 1

this is 1" x   6 1/4"

cut 2

You can cut a 3" x  6 1/4" piece to cover the bottom and give a neater edge, 

These are the side panels, cut 2 of each size 

1" x 2.5"

1" x 4"

1" x  5 1/2"

You can also cut pieces 

3/4" x 1 3/4

3/4" x 3 1/4

3/4" x 4 3/4

to create decoration panels for the side sections of the box

The 2" wide piece needs to be scored at 1/2 " then at 1 1/2 "

and folded as the picture below, 

Putting the whole thing together

Lets start at the front, first box first, this is the only one we make this way, 

Cut 2 of the curved panels down until the edges are 2" tall, i havent taken the curved detail into the measurements as they dont affect the sizes you need to cut the sides or bottom pieces., I also cut the decorative panel to fit, you can cut it shorter than I did and leave a decorative border all around, 

Taking the shortest side pieces and the 2" bottom pieces we can build up the box,

the sides have the first 1/2 " scored and folded to glue into the box to keep it strong

The bottom of the box is added on by gluing one of the side flaps we created placing it at the bottom edge, then gluing the side flaps we add to the middle part of the base.

when all parts are glued in place you should have a box that looks like this

the next 2 boxes are similar to make, I removed the side flaps from the decorative panel and glued it to the front of the flat panel, this adds extra strength,  The middle sized box lines up against the top of the straight panel and the largest box the decoration panel is added to the top inch of the flat panel to extend the height, i kept both side flaps on this, box

we have flaps at the bottom of the panels so we dont need a 2 inch wide bottom piece, so we just make up the box as before using the tabs and a 1" wide strip of card as a base, and the 4" side panels Scoring 1/2 inch on one edge to secure to the base of the box.

Please note that the boxes have the decorative panels in place whilst I made them into boxes, this was a mistake I made, I completely forgot that when I stick the boxes together I would be covering up the decorative panels, and not hiding the seams, there is a note later of when they should be added for best results,

The larger box works out at about 5" tall

 when attached to the flat panel,

 you will notice that both flat panels have decorative panels added to them, this is because I like to see the back match up with the level of the front of the box, and this decoration panel can be placed now if you feel it would be easier, 

at this point we should have 3 boxes in different sizes, 

Hopefully you will notice the mistake I had made here, luckily I was able to fix it after putting the 3 boxes together, by recutting the decoration panels and applying them over the top, but, taking the first box, glue the back and glue it to the middle box, then glue the large box to the middle box so you have 3 ascending boxes,  now would be when I advise you to glue on your decoration panels, covering the seams that show between the joins of the boxes, 

then last but not least, add in your decorations perhaps a ribbon, and some flowers or whatever suits your theme, there are some lovely decorative elements in the landscape album sets to embelish it with too.

This makes the curved edge letter rack much more acheivable, and im sure Helen Griffin could come up with a simpler way of showing you all, but please bear with me while i figure this all out, and share some of my favourite projects with you, and how they were made.

Please note .....   i really struggled to describe how i did this one, im hoping it all makes sense however, if there are any questions about making the boxes up or anything at all, please let me know.

I am autistic and sometimes i may not explain things that well and welcome any feedback to help make tutorials better, or projects you would like to see me try, 

My current plan is to make a Landscape album with the dies, as finding the pieces to make another letter rack was purely coincidental but I am happy it was there to do.

No die Letter rack,

 Hi again, 

I'd like to share a no die letter rack which is just like the oxford file box one, because I know just how hard locating the Oxford die set can be, 

we shall be making this, 

Our first task is to take 3 sheets of A4 card. I've used 300gsm because its strong,

Cut them to these sizes 

5 inches x 8 inches, 8 inches x 8 inches and 11 inches x 8 inches

and scoring them as follows

the 5x8 piece 

score at 2 inches, and 3 inches

the 8x8 piece

score at 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches

the 11x8 piece

score at 5 inches and 6 inches

then score all 3 pieces 

along the 8 inch edge at 1 inch and 7 inches

 cut the sides to separate the 3 fold lines, tapering the middle tab on both sides and then fold along the score lines 

Make up the 3 boxes and set them in ascending order

then glue the boxes together like below 

this will leave you with the basic shaped Letter rack

It's just like the Oxford one without the decorative edges.

If you have a different edging die you can always add them to the tops of each area of the box or you can decorate up your plain box and make it sparkle

the layering mats for the Letter rack are 

1 3/4 inch x 5 3/4 inch

3 1/4 inch x 5 3/4 inch

4 3/4 inch x 5 3/4 inch

and add a pretty bow to finish it off 

Heres one I added a different decorative edge onto, this is using the Tonic showcase die set this month called Decadent swirls, such a pretty edge design

Thank you for reading this and i hope to add more tutorials and pretty projects soon

The Nitwit Collections Lavender FQB set, a complete organisation set to get the new year started,

I am often sat in bed or in a chair too tired to move very far, its not my idea of fun but i had to adapt my normal. Im often awake but cant do much in the house for fear of waking the children up, so my life has been turned upside down thanks to chronic illness. It's very frustrating at times because people look at you and see a perfectly normal looking woman, the dont see the pain, the lack of sleep or total fatigue I live with but thanks to crafting I have an outlet, I have something that makes me smile. i have some amazing friends some who live far away and some just around the corner and to thank them for all the times they come to my rescue i make things for them, this set is just one of those things, and it gave me something to do between christmas and new year. 

This first project uses the Oxford file die set from Tonic studios. but not in the way it was originally designed for, it was made by the lovely Jodie Johnson, Tonics amazing front lady, she is the face everyone knows most but she is part of an amazing team that really inspire me, and yes i am a fully fledged Tonicaholic, but i do use other dies too, especially when they contrast so well with what i already have.

To create this i followed the tutorial by Jodie Johnson on Tonics youtube channel, 

This was also created with the Oxford File die set from Tonic studios, 

and it was made using the method in the tutorial on my blog.

Now we go off to see Helen Griffin at Simp;ly Made crafts, 

Using her new bundle

with the Perpetual Calender, and the mini file boxes. 

These are super cute and so simple to put together, 

The drawers below the calender are from another set, 

made by Helen Griffin 

and fit perfectly below the perpetual ca;lender. 

I am certain there will be more items added into this set just have to wait and see what dies are available or if my friend wants a rolodex with positivity quotes on to keep her smiling 

 

The Oxford File box Letter rack tutorial. Uses Tonic Oxford die base set.

This is the end product. 

Main body piece cut 6 of these

Decorative panels for the flaps

cut 6 of these

Decorative strips for the side  cut 4 of these

Cut the top flap from the 6 main die pieces

Then cut the tab from the top edge of all 6 pieces.

you should now have different shaped pieces that look like this.

take 1 of the flaps and cut off 1/2 inch from the straight edge

taking 2 of the box pieces and cut off 1.1/4 inches off the straight edge

Take 2 box pieces and cut 2.3/4 inches from the straight edge.

Join the sides of the boxes using the small flaps then get ready to complete the base. 

I tuck in the first long side and then glue inthe side flaps, 

then put glue on the last wide flap. 

This hides them both inside and out.

you will then have 3 boxes  ascending in size

glue the 3 boxes as shown, the boxes may not seem too strong but adding the decorative layers will strengthen the sides and hide the seams, 

place the decorative panels onto 5 of the flaps you cut from the main box piece, there should be one shorter than the others so you will have to cut 1/2 inch off the bottom to match the flap,

For the front layer I found it easier to glue the box like the picture below and then line up the shorter decorated flap to the bottom of the glued area, 

for the other 4 you can glue them like this, make sure you miss the top edge as that will be above the edge of the box, 

For the other flaps glue like below and add to the front of the flap with the decorative edge sticking over the top of the box layers

 covering the seam and strengthening each pocket.

Taking the 4 strips of card you cut to decorate the edges, and measure up to the box to get the best fit, i managed to get 1 long and short side out of 1 piece and then cut the middle sized side panel out of the second strip, but i cut 2 strips at a time to make it quicker and glued them down like so

side panels stuck down

you should now have your box like this, 

I used the spare decorative flap on the back, if you just glue the bottom edge and sides you can make a cute pocket for stamps or secrets. and once i had done that i added polkadot ribbon and the box now looks like this

Front

Back

I hope you like my first post. photos of the full set i made which led to this tutorial will be added soon,