Tissue? I Hardly Know You! by Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

Those of us of a certain age will remember this line: “Kiss you? I hardly know you!” (To the young folks among us: It’s what a nice girl said when a guy got ‘fresh’ – and if you don’t know what ‘fresh’ refers to, go ask your grandmother.)

Today’s tutorial is a play on those words, with emphasis on the word ‘play’ since this project is playful and fun – recycling, re-purposing, with a touch of silliness thrown in for good measure thanks to the ‘BFFs’ and ‘Start a new chapter’ stamps from RubberMoon that I picked up at The Queen’s Ink!

It all starts with a boutique tissue box that has something interested printed on it. (Almost all of them do!) Usually, the main portion of the box has one pattern and the ends that are overlapped and glued have a second pattern. And the nice thing about boutique tissue boxes is the oval opening that provides a great frame without any die-cutting.

One box provides enough cardboard to make two 4.25” x 4.5” cards, but as you’ll see in the ‘Options’ after the instructions, there are lots of other possibilities.

1. Carefully open the tissue box and lay it flat on a cutting surface.

2. Cut off the side pieces, leaving the four squares connected. Discard the skinny scraps, keep the four printed flaps. Cut the remaining piece in half, yielding two already folded card bases, one with an oval opening in what will become the front. Trim as needed so front and back of each card base are the same width.

3. Using a craft sponge or dauber to apply the ink, distress all edges with ink in a compatible color.

4. Using the same ink, stamp people, animals or other motifs that fit into the oval opening (shown: BFFs by Sunny Cavalho) and a sentiment (shown: Start a new chapter) onto lightweight mulberry paper. Leave plenty of space between them for tearing random shapes. Tear around the stamped images and tear some extra un-stamped pieces.

5. Adhere one flap piece under the oval opening. Adhere another to the back of that card base. Adhere the remaining two flap pieces to the front and back of the second card base.

6. Create collages as shown or as you prefer, covering various areas of the printing on the front and back of the card base with gold notary seals or die cut circles. Tie it all together with the stamped and torn mulberry papers and be sure to leave some of the original printed patterns from the box visible.

7. Line each card with more mulberry paper or other lightweight patterned or solid color paper.

More Options:

Instead of making two side-fold, cut into four separate square panels and use them as card fronts for four cards, doubling the output! (Solid color cardstock for the four card bases.)

Use the four pieces as front covers for four coil- or wire-bound journals or notepads. Make pages from old envelopes or folders, watercolor paper, printer paper, or a combination (Plain chipboard for the back cover of each.)

Use the side-fold cards as covers for a stitched book with one signature (2 sheets folded in half for 8 pages).

Instead of cards, layer the flap pieces over the folds, add all of the collage except for the stamped mulberry paper. Cut the resulting 4.25” x 16” down to 3.5” x 15”, and then cut into six 2.5” x 3.5” Artist Trading Cards. Finally, add the stamped pieces to the individual ATCs.

Use the oval opening to frame a photo, poem, or hand-written note instead of a stamped design.

It’s your turn! Get your friends to save their interesting boutique tissue boxes and see what you can come up with!

SUPPLIES:

• BFFs by Sunny Cavahlo (RubberMoon)
• Start a new chapter by Kae Pea (RubberMoon)
• Boutique tissue box
• Craft knife, straight edge, cutting mat
• Lightweight mulberry paper (shown: Pink)
• Gold rotary seals
• Glue stick.
• Ginger or other dark color ink