We R Memory Keepers Gift Box Punch Board

Hi, guys. It's been...busy...around here. Obviously by "around here" I mean around my house and not around here on the blog, because, well, I've had a few other things going on. Like putting down the last of the new flooring (in the kitchen) and painting ceilings (also the kitchen), and more painting, painting, painting, PAINTING (like, everywhere). We are slowly but surely getting there though. Just a few more little things and we will be ready to list.

So between that and the soul freezing winter weather Tennessee has been hit with lately, things have been a little uncrafty. But last night I finally had a chance to sit down and put together a post about one of my favorite crafty tools, the We R Memory Keepers Gift Box Punch Board.

First of all, I want to make a disclaimer - these pictures, guys, they're not my favorite. Late night crafting with incandescent lighting is almost always a bad combo, but we work with what we've got here. And my poor, poor kitchen table that is (somewhere) on the to-do list to get a makeover makes for a pretty lame backdrop. What's really sad is that my mom passed this table on to us several years back, and when she did she had just refinished it. Three kids, one crafting momma, and all the abuse of being a staging area during our house revamp has left it looking a bit worse for the wear. No judgment though, someday she'll have a fresh white coat of paint (if I have anything to do with it), and all will be redeemed.

So anyway, that out of the way, here's the Gift Box Punch Board.

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My mom bought me this board for my birthday, and I love it! In fact, I bought my SIL Leah one for Christmas. Basically it makes a self closing box (no separate lid!) with one square of paper. And they can be made in a variety of sizes of course, depending on your starting paper size and the shape instructions you choose.

I started out with a 6x6 sheet I cut down from this fun Disney paper. I scored the whole 24 sheet pad at a local dry goods store for $1.99!

As always with the WRMK punch boards, the instructions are printed right on the board, and the score tool stores in a slot on the underside of the board, so there's nothing to keep track of.

I chose to make a 1.75 x 1.75 x 1.75 inch box. Based on that, here are the measurement instructions to follow.

Using this board is a lot like using the Envelope Punch Board - just punch and score. It's important to pay attention to the line instructions, because they may not both be the same depending on your box size. If your box is taller or shorter than it is wide, your start and diagonal lines will be different.

Start out by lining the left edge of your paper up with the appropriate start line, in this case the small (S) line.

Punch using the button.

Now score using the tool along all three score lines, the two lines leading off the button (follow the little guides trailing off the button to find the grooves) and the diagonal line.

Now rotate your paper 90 degrees to the left and repeat all steps.

This is what your paper will look like at this point.

Also, our paper is small enough to fit entirely on the punch board, but if you're making a bigger box, there is an arm that swings out to extend your score line surface.

Now, flip it over and do all the punching and scoring again.

Now you have two notches on each side.

Here you can see the score lines a little better.

Now insert each corner into the punch at the top of the button and punch again to cut the curved slits you will need to lock the box flaps together. It's very important to make sure your corner is well seated into the corner of the punch before punching, otherwise your slits will be off and the corner will not round well.

Just make sure you have the same side of the paper facing up during the punching of each corner. This is what it should look like at this point.

Go ahead and crease your scored lines, starting with the longest ones.

Now bring your sides up and crease the diagonal lines inward so they are toward the inside of the box.

You can leave these interior flaps as is if you would like the box to be able to be flattened back out when opened, but I like to adhere them with either glue or an adhesive runner. I find it easiest to go ahead and add the adhesive to all 4 sides before folding up the box.

If you look closely, you can see the lines of adhesive.

When folded up, they will adhere the interior flaps to the sides of the box.

Now you will gently hook the opposite flaps together using the curved slits we punched earlier. Be careful here as these can be easy to tear, especially if you used thinner paper.

All done! Isn't it cute? This size is perfect for gifting jewelry, or it would be just right for holding a cake ball or truffle at a wedding or baby shower. 

Since you can't see the date on that ring, we're going to say I graduated 5 years ago.

Here's one I didn't adhere the sides on. Okay, fine, I graduated in '95. Whatever.

I made a whole stack of these for Lily, who loves anything Disney. And now I'm kicking myself for not buying up all the cheapo paper stacks!

These are really cute using just about any paper. Here's one I made using some cool printed vellum I found at Tuesday Morning.

Oh, and how cute would these be in craft paper for a gender reveal party, with a pink or blue cupcake inside? So many possibilities! I can't get enough of these punch boards, and I can't wait to see if they come out with any more!

My Favorite Crafting Tools {Paper Punches}

We've got family coming in later today, so I may have to be a bit scarce this weekend.

Today I wanted to continue my Favorite Crafting Tools Series with my favorite paper punches. Here's a not-so-secret secret about me. My name is not Grace. By which I mean, I'm a little clumsy. And that translates into me being unable to cut paper and fabric precisely without seriously stressing myself out. Which is why I love my rotary cutters so much. And my Sizzix Big Kick. And my Silhouette SD.

But for certain projects, nothing beats the perfect paper punch. They are quick and easy, and generally affordable. These are my favorites:

Earring Card Punch

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You can buy this punch at the Etsy shop sourced, although I got mine at my local Michael's using a coupon. I love how this punch allows me to create my own earring cards that look professional, yet also allows me to choose from any available card stock color or print, or even something fun like playing cards or greeting cards. My friend Danielle started a handmade jewelry business last year (you can see her stuff here!), and her colors were purple and black and white in a zebra print. So for her birthday I put together some earring cards in various sizes and sent them off to her with a couple of the zipper pouches like I showed you a couple of days ago and a corner rounder punch. She loved them, and she ended up buying an earring card punch of her own. :)

Corner Rounder Punches

These come in a couple of sizes, small and large.

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To make the earring cards shown above, I used an assortment of bookmarks, blank inside cards, and printed card stock. I used a paper slicer to get them all cut into straight pieces. Then I rounded the corners using my punches. There's something so satisfying about getting that neat rounded corner! It's important to note that you do need a perfect right angle to start with to get a perfect cut. Another thing I use them on is wallet size photos. My photo lab offers die cut wallets, which are awesome, but they are a little more expensive than just getting an uncut sheet. So if I'm just ordering them for myself, I get a sheet, cut them apart, and round the corners myself!

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Crop-A-Dile Eurohook Power Punch. This punch makes the little cutouts at the top of some of the earring cards I made, which allows them to be hung on a display rack. It's definitely a specialty punch, but one that you will use a lot, especially if you take your products to craft/jewelry shows or have a permanent booth in a local shop.

Long Reach Ribbon Stitch Punch

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This of course is great for making a place to thread ribbon through if you want to add a little bow to a card. But what I use it for is to cut slots for the prong of a hair clip to go through on my display cards. I usually use the double pronged clips, just because I like them better, and the slots this punch cuts are just a smidge too short for the clips I use. But I just make the first punch, move the tool straight down just a tiny bit and punch again to get taller slots. However, you could just use single prong clips and they should work as is.

Standard Hole Punch (1/4 inch)

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I really only use this for one thing, but it's a good one: Shrinky Dinks! This punch is perfect for punching a hole in your Shrinky Dinks before baking so that you can add a jump ring or a key chain.

1/8" Circle Hand Punch

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This one is also great for Shrinky Dinks. It's best for items you want to use for jewelry and will be attaching to small jump rings.

1/16" Circle Hand Punch

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This is great for punching tiny holes for cards for multiple pairs of earrings and also for punching a couple of holes to feed the bar of a pin back brooch through.

One Inch Circle Punch

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This is hands down my most reached for punch. It cuts the perfect size circle for both bottlecap images and glass stone magnets. And if you cut out one inch circles from Shrinky Dink material, they shrinks down to perfect tiny 1/3 inch circles that makes darling earrings or charm bracelet charms. 

What are some of your favorite crafting tools?

My favorite crafting tools {Hand Tool Edition}

The other day I posted about some of my favorite crafty tools, like my sewing machine and my Silhouette machine. Today I thought I'd tell you about some of my favorite and most used hand tools. None of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I'm not being compensated in any way to promote these items.

Point Turner and Seam Creaser:

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I mentioned this handy little thing yesterday. For the longest time I turned corners with the little tapered sticks that come in bags of Polyfil,and they worked okay. But this tool is so much better for getting sharp corners on things like pillow covers and zipper pouches.

Babyville Boutique Snap Pliers

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These things are awesome! My mom bought them for me a few years ago, and I've used them a bunch! They allow you to add plastic snaps to all kinds of projects quickly and easily, and the snaps come in all kinds of colors. Plus you can get even more colors at http://www.kamsnaps.com. I will tell you that I've never actually used the Kam Snaps products, so I can't vouch for their quality, but the pricing is reasonable, and I'd like to try them someday. Babyville Boutique is awesome to work with though. The first set of pliers I had kept splitting the snaps, which turned out to be caused by a faulty presser. I contacted them on Facebook, and they not only sent me a brand new set of pliers, but they sent me a whole new bag of snaps (60 sets) to replace the 8 or so sets that were damaged. I've used these to close bracelets, add closures to bags and pouches, and make stacks of doll diapers.

Rotary Cutter

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I have 3 different sizes of these, but this is the one I use the most. A must have for squaring up fabric.


One Step Looper

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I got this with a birthday gift card, and it had been so handy for jewelry making. It will even cut and loop memory wire.

Jewelry Pliers

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I don't have this exact set, but I have all of the pliers in it, which include bent nose, flat nose, round nose, long nose, and side cutters. I think I actually got my set at Lowes (easier to talk Nick into shelling out money for jewelry supplies if they can be found next to power tools ha ha). But this set is less than $10 on Amazon.

Nylon Jaw Pliers

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These are great when making wire jewelry to prevent tool marks on your wire. They are a little pricier than some of the other pliers, but with a sale or a coupon they are still well under $10.

Bead Reamer

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This is for enlarging the center of beads that may be a bit too narrow for the wire or cording you are trying to string them on. But I also use mine for sharpening the individual dies or the next tool...

Leather Punch

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These can be really expensive. I opted to get the one linked for around $6 with free shipping. When it came, only the smallest two punches would work well on even thin patent leather. I contacted the merchant and they very quickly shipped me a replacement at no charge. The second one worked a little better. But I had the idea to sharpen the edges of the dies with my bead reamer, and the performance vastly improved. I use these for punching holes prior to installing rivets, eyelets or grommets in leather. 

Eyelet Tool

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This simple tool is what I use to set eyelets. They are available for every size eyelet you can buy, and can generally be bought with the eyelets as a set or by themselves.

Snap Fastener Kit

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This little kit sets metal snaps in fabric (or leather or vinyl, etc.). The snaps can also be bought separately. 

Self Healing Mats

I have several sizes of these, and I use them all.

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6 x 24 Quilting Ruler

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I use this thing ALL. The. Dang. Time. For tons of stuff. I live in fear that my kids will break it.

Fabric Marking Pen

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I'm on my 3rd one of these. Love them!

Elastic Threaders

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Yes, you can absolutely use a safety pin to thread elastic through a casing. But these are very inexpensive, and they keep the elastic from twisting, something I always struggled with using safety pins. I'll never go back.

Ring Sizer 

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Sometimes you will see these called a mandrel. And they can be pricey. But I got mine at Joann's for less than $2 with a coupon. If you make rings at all, this is a necessity.  

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the tools I use the most. Happy crafting!