Easel Box Tutorial

UPDATED 11/1/12: You can purchase the 2013 My Digital Studio Calendars I created by clicking HERE.  Also, here's a 2012 example I sent to the wonderful Becky Roberts!



I'm finally getting to upload some pictures with instructions for this easel box calendar.  Let me know if you have any questions or want me to post more pictures.  Remember that you can click on the pictures below for a larger view.

For the easel part, you'll need 2 pieces of cardstock; refer to photo below.  You'll start with a piece of cardstock cut at 6"x12" and you'll score it on the long side at 3" and 6". Cut another piece of cardstock at 6"x6"; this will be the calendar panel.  Take the 6"x12" piece of cardstock and fold it in half at the 6" score line; then fold it in half again at the 3" score line.  After folding at the score lines, you shoud be able to form a triangle.  In the picture below, you can see the panel of the triangle where you'll need to place Sticky Strip adhesive.  Once you have the calendar panel decorated, you can peel off the film from the Sticky Strip and attach the calendar panel to the triangle to form the easel.

Below is what the easel looks like once you adhere the 6"x6" calendar panel to the triangle base.  I then die cut from the 2-Tags Big Shot Die a piece of Designer Paper to hold my business card.  The base of the easel is 6"x6" and you can see that the Tag Die cut is helping to hold the calendar panel (easel) upright in this picture.  You can use a die cut, brads, buttons, or any other cut out stamped image as a "stopper" for the calendar panel to sit up against.  In my original Tote-ally Tess box, I used her head and 2 cut out stamps as stoppers (refer to photo at the top of this post).

Then I started on the drawer portion.  Below are the pieces you need for the drawer holder.  Sleeve 1 is cut at 8 1/2" x 7 3/8" and is scored at 1 1/4" on three sides; this is the outside sleeve.  Sleeve 2 is cut so that it is just a smidge smaller than Sleeve 1 and is the inside sleeve.  A smidge is equal to 1/16" and is the small hatch mark on your cutter.  So, sleeve 2 is cut at 8 7/16" x 7 5/16" and is also scored at 1 1/4" on three sides.  Refer to the photos below for how to cut slits. 

Once you cut the slits where indicated and adhere the flaps together, use Sticky Strip to glue the two Sleeves together as follows: since Sleeve 2 is a smidge smaller than Sleeve 1, it will fit into Sleeve 1.  Once the Sleeves are adhered together, the drawer holder measures about 6" x 6".  NOTE: Before adhering the 2 Sleeves together, check the placement; you may need to cut a smidge off one of the Sleeves to get them equal at the opening.

Then work on the drawer.  Cut a piece of cardstock at 8 1/8" x 8 1/8" and score at 1 1/8" on all four sides.  The drawer will measure 5 7/8" square.  For the drawer handles, punch out 2 pieces using the Modern Label punch; cut off an end from each and adhere them together.

Once you cut the drawer slits and adhere the flaps as shown in the photo above, the drawer should slide easily into its holder as shown in the photo below.

Now simply adhere the easel portion to the drawer portion using Sticky Strip and you have a really great 3-D project!

Again, click on the images to enlarge them and I'll post a picture of the the calendar pages later this week. Thanks for looking!