To Eileen Hull, With Love

Happy Valentine's Day! Today, the Sizzix Design Team is celebrating Eileen Hull's From the Heart die collection. I first saw these dies at last winter's CHA show and fell totally in love with them. The hardest part was choosing which dies to use!

I'm sure you've seen all the things I've put on Eileen's Cupcake Stand die - imagine how excited when I got her Square Box die and discovered it fit perfectly on top of the stand! The question was - now what do I do with it? I thought I'd do a French theme, but wasn't sure what exactly that would be. Then, I thought about putting ruffles around the box. Oooh...pretty! But what else? Then I thought of those Barbie cakes - you know, where you bake a round cake and stick a doll in the top? I guess the fluffy skirt made me think of Marie Antoinette and my idea was born. I would make a little square cake on a stand - how appropriate. Qu'ils mangent de la brioche! Or not.

The hardest part was finding the right image for the top. I was beyond thrilled to find this collection from RhondasOriginals on Etsy. You need to check out her store - I am going back for more! Her collage sheets are gorgeous and couldn't be more perfect for this project.

Lift up Marie's skirt and what do you find? Chocolate! :) I really wanted to keep this as a functional box. Making it out of mat board means it's sturdy enough to hold just about anything you want to fill it with. If you'd like to make one yourself, here is a quick tutorial on how I made mine.

Marie Antoinette Candy Box

1. Begin by cutting the Large Box and Cupcake Stand from white mat board.
2. Assemble the bottom of the cupcake stand and cover with platinum glitter.
3. Cover the sides of the platform with glitter and adhere to stand. Assemble box according to directions on package.

4. Cut a 6' length of white crepe paper streamer and sew a gathering stitch about 5/8" from the edge. Gather and fold over, using the stitched line as a guide (this gives you a double ruffle).
5. About 1" from the bottom, adhere a piece of Scor-Tape. Press crepe paper ruffle onto tape, going all the way around the box. Clip and continue up the sides of the box.
6. Adhere the flap as shown. Cover the rest of the box with ruffle, making sure not to interfere with the lid.

7. Cover the top with Scor-Tape and continue the ruffle, applying in a circular fashion, working from the outside edge to the center.
8. Cut a foam block (saved from Sizzix Texture Fades packaging - great tip from Jan Hobbins!) to size and adhere it to the center of the box. Use a piece of leftover ruffle to camouflage it. This will be what you adhere the Marie image to.

9. Stack several white coffee filters together and cut using Eileen Hull's Flower Layers #9 die (I only cut the smaller flower). Color using Spun Sugar Distress Stain. Let dry.
10. Cover a toothpick with Scor-Tape. Adhere one end of the die cut and continue wrapping the paper around the toothpick, creating a flower.
11. Snip excess toothpick from blossom. Coat edges with glue and dip into glitter.

12. Punch a hole in the center of the box lid. Add a jump ring and clear idea-ology Bauble. Adhere flowers as desired.
12. Line box with decorative paper.

To finish off the box, I assembled the paper doll and adhered her to the foam block (I trimmed a bit of the skirt off to get it to fit right). Finally, I glued the box to the cupcake stand using Beacon's 3-in-1 adhesive. Her little sign is one of the images included in the collection. For that, I glittered a toothpick and glued the sign to it and then to her hand.

I am so in love with how this turned out! I can't wait to use Eileen's Square Box die even more. So many possibilities!

Many of the products I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Remember to use my coupon code - stamptramp - to save 10% on your order!

Scor-Tape 1/4" Stickles Dry Glitter - Platinum Inkssentials Glue N' Seal Ranger Collage Glue Stick Spun Sugar Distress Stain Idea-ology Baubles idea-ology Jump Rings

InLinkz.com

While we're on the subject of love, don't forget this month's challenge over at the Inspiration Emporium blog. If you play along, you could win a $50 gift certificate! Thanks SO much for stopping by - have a LOVEly day! xoxo