Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 8

There's a reason that manufacturers put a lot of thought and effort into their packaging. It's a big part of what attracts us to their product in the first place. It has to be eye catching as well as pleasing to the eye. These are some examples of some packaging that I have stashed.

The examples above are all chipboard weight and would make great embellishments. This week I chose to use the cookie box in the first picture. This box of cookies was part of a Christmas gift basket. What caught my eye about this box was the beautifully embossed letter A.

How would I use it? I didn't know at the onset, but I did know that I have a couple of friends whose names begin with that letter. My second thought would be to use it as the beginning of a longer word such as Anniversary or Always. Or possibly it could be used as the beginning of a phrase like A Big Thank You... and so on and so forth.

Well, when my friend and co-worker Anthony was named the Teacher of the Year at our school it all fell into place. He needed to be congratulated. Check. He is a guy, so the colors would be good. Check. He is a guy so the design should be simple. Check.

I used a background of More Mustard and framed the letter in Real Red and Basic Black. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black using the SU Hostess set Congrats. The last touch was the red and black grosgrain ribbons.

The picture was taken from the side to show the metallic embossing that the letter had and to also show the edges of that piece. You will usually find that the color is only on the top layer of a box or package and when you cut it the back layer(s) will show. If you don't want that color to detract, take a marker the same color as the front and run it around the edges. It will blend in much better.

So don't be surprised if someday in the future you see something with that eagle, or Yankee emblem, or.... I'm thinking those flowers would make a particulary cute die cut butterfly..... hmmmmm.