My First Post with the OCC! Candy Test Tubes.

This week’s theme was to make a 3-D Valentine project. While I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, I still eat candy and we all love each other so making this was no problem!

Wouldn’t these make cool wedding/party favours? They’d be awesome with bath salts, lotion, nuts, buttons, beads, brads, mini flowers, spices or sprinkles for cupcakes or ice cream! I’ve recently acquired some new paper I’ve been DYING to use! I am normally not a huge fan of copper but this paper has started to change my mind! Isn’t it gorgeous! I’ve had these test tubes from PTI for ages and I just never had a worthy reason to use them. I love making boxes and such so much that I thought I’d do a tutorial for you.

But first, I’d like to thank the gals at the OCC for choosing me! I’ve wanted this spot for AGES! I’m so excited to join such fabulously talented designers! If you haven't visited before, be sure to hop on over to the blog to see all the other gal’s projects! You can enter to play in next week’s challenge too. Just click on the OCC blog anytime you see it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Ink: Chocolate-SU!, sweet blush-PTI
Paper: sweet blush CS-PTI, AC Botanique DP, white CS-stash
Accessories: pearls-Dollarama, test tubes, ticket die-PTI, seam binding ribbon-Etsy, reinkers-SU! (I made a spritz to colour my ribbon), foam dots- Jody Morrow, badge-AC, punch-EK Success, plastic box-CDS

Test Tube Box Tutorial

Supplies
Three test tubes 6” long
Small Plastic Box 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 5/8”
1 sheet CS
Scor-Tape or similar
DP
Glue dots
Embellishments

1. Cut CS. You want your CS box to be long enough to cover the test tubes (the clear box is too short) and overlap enough to apply adhesive with enough wiggle room (the + 1/8” shown on the diagram) that you can slide the cardstock box on the plastic box smoothly. So I cut my CS as shown, 6 3/4 x 4 7/8”.

RED lines are SCORE lines, BLUE are cut lines, GREEN are optional flap trims that make the box go together more nicely. PINK areas show where the adhesive will meet in case it didn’t seem natural to you. I’ve shown where I added 1/8” to my dimensions. This is so the cardstock box will slip over the plastic box without binding. I could have used 1/16th of an inch but then the math gets messy! If you do not have a box or test tubes that match mine but still want to make it, I have directions for that to at the end.

In the picture below, the middle test tube is in place in the bottom of the cardstock box. I was checking to make sure my measurements were correct before I decorated it. There is plenty of overlap which is what you need.

2. Assemble the box and decorate. I used a tiny scallop punch-my new favourite!

3. Slide the plastic box inside the cardstock box. Use your test tubes to determine how far to push the box in. Temporarily adhere with Eclipse tape or painter’s tape. Using a stylus or embossing tool, pick up glue dots or Scor-tape and slide it in along the sides below where it can be seen, remember the box is clear and you can see inside a bit if you are looking in from an angle. Perhaps you can think of a better way to do this but I couldn’t! I was worried any other method might cause the box to adhere before I had pushed it in and straightened it perfectly.

If you are using products with different measurements:

1. Make sure your test tubes are narrow enough to fit in your plastic box. D’uh! LOL!! Measure your plastic box to determine how large to create your cardstock box. I allowed for 1/8” extra on each of the width and depth. I’ll discuss how to determine the height in a minute. Mine measured 2 3/4 x 5/8”.

2. For the height, insert your test tubes into the plastic box. Then measure how much cardstock you will need to cover the bottom of the test tubes and overlap the box a bit (excluding the flaps). Just hold the ruler up to the box where the flaps meet and measure to the bottom of the test tubes. Then add roughly 1/2” to get your height. Don’t try to simply measure the test tubes, then measure the plastic box and do the math because you might find, as I did, that the test tubes do not fit all the way to the top. Had I only measured without test fitting, I would have been very disappointed! For once, I got it right the first time!!

Cut your cardstock: WIDTH: width+ 1/8” x double the depth +1/8” (double it after adding the 1/8”) plus 1/2” for the flaps (1/4” each). LENGTH: height times 2 + the depth +1/8”. It is easiest to replace the measurements I used in the diagram above with your own measurements. I missed adding in the measurement for my width in the diagram. It should read 2 3/4”.

Proceed with directions above.