One of my favorite parts of volunteering at Paper Playful is that it gives me a chance to visit lots of great blogs. While updating the Wednesday winners list last week, I ran across the "Gift Box with Matching Cards" challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies, and was really moved by Susan's heart-felt appeal for entries. I've been trying to think of something special to make my best friend for his birthday, and I felt really inspired to pull out my *new* Silhouette Cameo and make this Hexagon box with matching card/envelope set:


I had so much fun making the cards that I ended up making 12 with matching petal-fold envelopes!

Since this is for a man, I wanted to keep the design clean and simple. I used 3 colors of Kraft paper (Recollections, Jo-Ann, Kraft Outlet), plus a printed Kraft (Recollections). I also used Recollections' shiny brown & gold papers, and some white, blue, and orange cardstock from my stash. He's very social, both personally and for work, so I think these will come in handy.

The cards in the bottom row are topped with handmade papers I have in my collection; wish I could say I made them myself, but I did trace and hand-cut the hexagons. I also used these papers to cover the inside of the box.

Oooh, I love my Silhouette! It was a birthday gift from my Mom, and I've been having fun learning their software as well. It was pretty easy to use Samantha Walker's Hexagon Card Silhouette file base design to create hexagon-shaped overlays, mats, and frames. The overlay cut files are from the Silhouette store, Scrap Your Story, and Bird's Cards. The envelopes were cut using Lori Whitlock's Hexagon Petal Fold Card Silhouette file.

I've gone a bit crazy with buying Silhouette files, so instead of buying a hexagon box cutting file, I used the same base shape to create the box in Silhouette Studio. The lid is the same as the bottom, except just a touch bigger. I folded the sides in half and trimmed the tabs to create fold-over edges.


I included a "pull" ribbon to make it easier to get the cards out of the box. This is one of my favorite twill ribbons, from the Kraft Outlet.

I also made a matching birthday card for my friend to include along with the set. I designed the Happy Birthday sentiment in Silhouette Studio again, using the font Eccentric Standard.

Thank you Susan for reminding me how much fun this kind of project is!
Update: This project was chosen as one of the prize winners for Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #12!

Update: My friend really enjoyed his gift, and sent me this fun photo of the cards lined up on the top of his refrigerator:


Thank you for visiting,