Happy 4th!

I've wanted to make this star box and sculpted star accent for a while now!  It has been a quiet holiday with Matthew away from home (on mission with the youth from church at TEAMeffort in Georgia), so I pulled out some of last year's patriotic papers and Flower Soft's newest color, The Patriot, to play for a while.

I strayed from the tutorial just a little by cutting my scored piece in two to make a bottom and a lid, which when completed stands ~5 inches tall.  Instead of tracing the box ends as directed, I used a Sizzix star die, because I don't really like fussy cutting!  The die was quick and easy although it does slightly overhang the box edges. The accompanying card features the sculpted star with a sentiment from Gourmet Rubber Stamps' "Happy Independence" set, which is on sale now at i {heart} papers.  I used markers directly to the stamp to echo the bright blue, turquoise and red that are in the designer paper.

If you're like I am, it is sometimes hard to get in the mood to stamp "out of season," so it really works well once the holiday arrives and the ambiance is right, to make and stash holiday projects for the following year.  I do that a lot at Christmastime too, especially in the week between Christmas and New Year's, when the house is decorated and the calendar is quiet!

I'd like to wish a happy 4th of July to my American friends, and a happy hump day to the rest of you!  :)