Hats off to the New Year

Happy New Year! Let's start the new year out with a fabulous and new template from Clear & Simple Stamps. Check out this amazing hatbox template, designed by CSS's Sue Berker. It's the perfect packaging for a gift of handmade cards. You can download this free template here. Sue also has a tutorial posted on her blog to walk you through the template's assembly step by step.

In other CSS January news, this month's Copic Trio of the Month is Red Violet 1 {RV02, RV04, RV09}. And, the Stamp of the Month is the new Monogram 1 set. This set's great for making personalized monogrammed items to give as gifts (in a decorated hatbox, maybe?) or use for yourself.
And, in my last piece of CSS news, we're excited to announce that you'll be able to find CSS at the upcoming CHA Supershow in Anaheim, CA. We'll be at booth #659. I'm so excited to be going along for the ride. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of CSS fans and introducing others to CSS for the very first time.

Here's my version of the hatbox. I paired avocado cardstock with some floral October Afternoon designer paper to create it. I don't know what it is, but something about hatboxes just screamed florals to me . . .

Anyway, I used the solid avocado cardstock for the base and lid of the hatbox. The pieces are held together with ScorTape--works great on projects like this one! I covered the top/outside of the hatbox and lined the inside of the base with the coordinating designer paper.

I decorated the front with images from the Live Life stamp set. I stamped the floral silhouette image in moss ink on a matching panel for a soft look, then added the sentiment in avocado ink to match the hatbox. I added a Prima flower with a button center as a simple embellishment.

The hatbox handle is made from some aqua ribbon to match the flower on the front of the box. To give the ribbon some stability, I sandwiched some floral wire between two pieces of ribbon before attaching it to the box.

Now, on to the inside of the box. The inside of the box's top is lined with more of the avocado cardstock. I used some of the patterned paper to make the pockets. I filled one of them with a pair of mini gel pens and I'm looking for a note pad that will fit inside the other pocket. The bottom is lined with more designer paper and waiting to be filled.

I'll have some coordinating circle cards to fill the box with to show you later on in the month . . .

Materials Used:

Live Life stamp set, ScorPal, ScorTape (Clear & Simple Stamps); Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, and Aqua Mist cardstock, Ripe Avocado and Spring Moss inks, Aqua Mist grosgrain ribbon, Spring Moss button, twine (Papertrey Ink); designer paper (October Afternoon-Girl Friday line); flower (Prima); white gel pen (Ranger); circle dies (Nestabilities); floral wire