MFT - Guest Designer Challenge - Perfect Packaging

Good and Happy Monday Everyone!!  I hope that you all had a beautiful weekend!  Mine was very busy with lots of family fun but I was able to squeeze in a bit of crafty time for myself in order to play along with the MFT gals in this month's Guest Designer Challenge - Create The Perfect Package.  I had to think on this and NOT look at the SCS Gallery so as to not be influenced by anyone else's amazing creations!

My creation this month is for my darling husband.  We are coming up on our 15 year wedding anniversary this month and I've been doing small things here and there to give him an extra smile to show him how much I love him.  This is a little gift for him to keep at his desk at work for when he needs a bit of sweetness.  He LOVES Smarties Candies.  So when we went to our favorite penny candy store yesterday as a treat for our kiddies, I picked up a few handfuls of the different types of Smarties candies, original, tropical, sour and bubblegum along with two packages of the jumbo style for him.  When I got home I was unsure how to package them up perfectly for him.  So, I went to my stash of boxes that I refuse to throw out knowing that I will eventually put them to good use.  And I have!  I pulled out a Crayola Crayon box that had 48 crayons in it.  It's the type of crayon box that has the three tiered layers.  PERFECT for packaging the Smarties in!!  I then set to work altering the box.

 As you can see I've covered the entire box first with Kraft cardstock and then SU! designer paper, stamped over top with hearts from the "I Love MFT" set that was a promo a few months ago.  I stamped the hearts in Brilliance White craft ink and then heat set them with white embossing powder.  I then did the reverse paper wrap - SU! first followed by Kraft on the top of the box (the part that flips open) and I've stamped and heat embossed the dashed line - also from the "I Love MFT" set using Versamark Champagne ink and clear embossing powder.

I've used Pure Innocence - Meet Emma and Wyatt as my focal stamp for the body of the box.  I stamped both on Neena white cardstock, colored with my Copics and paper pieced with my new 6x6 MME pad - Lost and Found Two.  I paper pieced Wyatt's jeans with old jeans of my hubby's.  (giggle)    I used a couple of pearls to embellish Emma.  I stamped the sentiment "Hi, Sweet Cheeks!" on a scrap of the same MME paper using one of the fabulous MFT Bracket Die-Namics.

As you can see in the sample above the Smarties are all lined up and snugged in where the Crayons used to be!  (grin!)  Next to Emma and Wyatt I've added some buttons as an added dimensional accent.  Before I added them, I stamped them with the hearts from the Flapper Doodles Set - I Love Us.  I stamped them using Black Colorbox Ink and Black Stampendous embossing powder.  Once the hearts were stamped and heat embossed, I threaded them with hemp twine and adhered them to my package.  

I then set to embellishing the top part of the box.  I used the same "I Love MFT" stamp set to create a pretty, pleated rosette. 

I used a Tim Holtz die to cut the pleated, scalloped edge, rosette.  I'm using the same SU! paper here as I did to cover the box.  I stamped the background from the "I Love MFT" set onto some notebook lined DP with Brown Colorbox ink and heat set it.  I then added my sentiment from the same set in Black Colorbox ink and heat set it as well using black embossing powder.  I then cut two Fancy Flourish Die-namcs using my MME paper and layered them behind my rosette.  I'd tied a neat bow and anchoring a foam dot on each side of my knot I was able to lay the rosette and flourishes flush to the front of the box.  I trimmed the edges of my ribbon neatly into "V's", fluffed up the edges of my ribbon and was happy.

Above is a bit of a closer shot of the edge of the rosette, the interior of the box and how it opens.

As an accompaniment to the box of mixed Smarties, I also decorated two packages of Jumbo Smarties that I know my hubby LOVES and they are hard to come by unless you know the right store.  These will be the "in case of emergency" Smartie stash.  (wink!)

Here they are - one semi-wrapped (not quite finished) and one unwrapped to give you an idea of how they look.  And here is a shot of them completed!

I used the "I Love Us" and the hearts from the same Flapper Doodles set to embellish one package and the "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" from the Emma and Wyatt set along with the dashed line from the "I Love MFT" set mentioned earlier.  I tied the ends of the candies with the same ribbon and twine used on the box above.  As you can see I inked the edges a bit using Pumice Stone Distress Ink and an ink blending tool for a bit more depth.

Here is a shot of the entire gift pack together!

I do hope you've enjoyed and been inspired to create some Perfect Packaging of your own!!!  And here's where you can find all of the details on this month's MFT Guest Designer Challenge!