Avra's Blog: Gift Giving Time!

Hi Artzy friends-

It's that time of year! It's time to make and send cards, shop, bake, wrap, and present gifts from the heart to our loved ones. What better way to present so many types of gifts than with an adorable box/backpack that you create yourself and personalize with your own creativity?!

I have made four of these backpacks now, and my most recent one is definitely the best, so I will share some little tips that I have learned along the way.

Cindy, the owner of Dare 2B Artzy, has done an amazing job printing step by step assembly instructions on the die packaging, as well as provided a video tutorial for you visual learners. She has also shared many examples of backpacks she has created. My observations are just my opinions, and things that worked well for me. When you get this die, I recommend you make your first one following along with the video or printed directions, and using paper that you don't "care about" until you find what works best for you.

Here is my favorite of the four that I've made.

I chose to create this one without the backpack straps, and it's still equally as cute and useful.

In my opinion, the backpack version is adorable and unique, and is perfect when paired with an appropriately sized teddy bear or other stuffed toy to present to a child (or adult!). But, for my purposes, I prefer to make the box without the straps. It makes a "neater" more compact presentation, and for me, has less room for error during the "construction process."

Here are two examples of boxes I made with the backpack straps. It really is a clever design!

Here are my "two-cents" in addition to all of the tips provided on the packaging and in the video:

1) I like to cut my main panels - front, back and sides, as well as the top, from a nice weight solid cardstock. I then cover the front, back, and sides with panels cut out of my chosen patterned papers and the dies provided. It provides quite a bit more structure and stability to the finish product. I used papers from the Snow Much Fun collection for my two holiday examples, and the SEAS the Day collection for my more summer themed backpack.

2) My other big tip won't necessarily work best for everyone, but I am a liquid glue girl. I know many of you prefer scor-tape, or other double sided tape when creating 3D objects. I tried scor-tape on my first two attempts at making these boxes. Like scor-tape, the right liquid glue (I use Art Glitter Glue) gives me a strong hold, dries fairly quickly, and can be applied to a small area. But it is much more forgiving than double sided tape in that it provides a little "wiggle room", or time to get my pieces lined up perfectly before I press them firmly into place. Like I said, it's a personal preference, but it's what works for me.

3) The only other additional tip I have is if you're making the backpack straps, use a really good quality cardstock. I'm not sure what the difference was, but the navy blue straps I made turned out really nice. The lighter blue ones got creased in a few places. It was probably just me, not being careful enough, but a nice heavy smooth cardstock will be easier to work with.

There are lots of gifts you can tuck inside this roomy box/backpack. It's the perfect size for a set of A2 cards. I plan to do this for my mother-in-law, once I can actually travel to take it to her. It will also hold candy and treats of all kinds, which is what I will fill this one with to give to my husband this Christmas.

I made a little tag with the Rectangle Fancy Framelit dies that can tuck into the adorable front pocket. The Happy Holidays sentiment is from the Toboggan Fun stamp set.