I've wanted a takeout box die for a long time, and Stampin' Up! finally added one to its lineup in the 2018 Holidays catalogue. Like most dies meant to go in the regular Big Shot, the resulting box is quite small. But quite adorable. It was one of the first things from my preorder I was drawn to trying out so that I could judge by myself how big it was and how the dies from the set could be used. Here are a few things I noticed:
- The box is not square. The sides are narrower. This is important to know since the die set includes a piece meant to cut a layering piece to decorate the box. This layering piece can be centered on the front and back, but not on the sides. It would be the same width as the sides, but not the right height. That being said, it would help you get the right shape and you could certainly trim down the pieces by hand so they are the right size for the sides. I would have liked the side layering piece to be included in the set, though. This is where I feel Stampin' Up! something miss the boat in their sets. They include a lot of hearts and stars repeatedly, but not always all the core pieces a set could benefit from.
- The layering piece leaves a wider border than I expected. This is in part why I decided to stamp my boxes, because the box still felt bare even with the added patterned paper. Personally, I might have prefered a larger piece with a narrower border. Personal taste here, though.
- To me, a takeout box usually has a handle, and one that can swing up and down. The die set does not include anything handle-related, so I made my own with a decorative border and brads. It makes opening and closing the box a little harder if the handle is up, but that is not a problem when using brads since you can rotate the handle out of the way.
- The die cuts two slits on the top of the box to secure the box shut the same way you would a takeout box
The colour inspiration for those boxes was the MFT Color Challenge #99 (Crumb Cake + Tango Tangerine + Basic Black + Going Grey). Based on the sixe of the boxes and the colors, I think I could slip a small Reese's Cup inside as a treat. I wound up with two boxes because I hesitated between two cardstock colors and cut out two boxes before deciding on the grey one. I figured I would use the kraft one for a Christmas box but as I was working on the first box, ideas kept coming and I already knew what I could do to decorate the second one, so I kept going. I'd like to give candy boxes to colleagues at work again this year and I always prefer to work on it over a few months rather than do assembly-line work all at once (which takes all of the fun away from it for me, since I like creating and despise repeating). So two down and 2½ months to go to work on the rest.
To include the kraft colour on the first box, I stamped and colored my images on Crumb Cake cardstock using Prismacolor pencils. My pencil coloring keeps improving and the images turned out pretty cute. I didn't have the matching dies last year when I bought the stamp set since they were always selling out but I managed to put my hands on them since, so I was able to cut the small images out neatly. I hung the spider from a piece of black twine and glued the end of the twine inside the box using a piece of grey washi tape. The handle was made using the Mini Provincial Impresslits from Tim Holtz. I used the new Joyous Noel Glimmer paper from the Holidays catalogue but I spaced out on the fact that I had to be mindful of which side of the paper I was putting face down in the Impresslits. The embossing ended up on the white wide instead of the sparkly one. Not to worry, I used a blending tool and my Ripe Persimmon Distress Oxide ink to turn the white backside to orange. The sparkly side of the handle is still showing, so that's a fun little surprise. The same paper was used to add a punched star to the top of the second takeout box.
The Takeout die set includes a little banner with fold lines on it to give it dimension. (Going back to my previous comment, the just retired Popcorn Box die set had the exact same die in it, but I guess you have to repeat some pieces to replace the retired ones.) I had a look at which Halloween sentiments I had that could fit between the two lines and spotted what I needed in the Frightful Friends stamp set. The first one reads, "Love You to Death" and I paired it with the tombstone image. The second one reads "Happy Haunting" and it goes well with the cemetary theme, with all three other sides decorated with tombstones from the Grave Situation stamp set. When I made the second box, I was running a little low on coloring steam and I didn't feel like going back to my Prismacolor pencils again, so I stamped the images directly on grey cardstock and just did very simple shading using Smoky Slate and Basic Black Stampin' Blends. Sometimes, it doesn't have to be fancy to be cute.
You can see based on the size of my fingers how tiny the takeout box is!
Color Combo: Crumb Cake + Smoky Slate + Basic Grey + Tango Tangerine
Supplies
Stamps: Frightful Friends, Fab-BOO-lous Friends, Grave Situation (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Tango Tangerine
Designer Series Paper: Happy Haunting (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up! Archival Ink);
Ripe Persimmon (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Accessories: Basic Black and Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Baker's Twine,
Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Mini Star Punch, Takeout Thinlits Dies, Black Rhinestone Basic Jewels (Stampin' Up!);
Mini Provincial Impresslits (Tim Holtz); Tangerine Cord (Lawn Fawn); Blending Tool (Ranger); Pencils (Prismacolor)
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