The Artists on the Block - A Money Box

Hello everyone, as it is the third Thursday in the month, I am back with my Design Team piece for The Artists on the Block.  This time I have kept it fairly simple as it is a gift for a young man called Logan, who is absolutely dotty about buses.  He has recently had a few days in London with his Grandma and I thought it would be nice for him to have a money box to save up for his next trip.

My London themed money box also follows Eileen Hull's monthly challenge (HERE) which is red, white and blue.  Eileen has a fantastic prize on offer and you don't need to create an ATB to enter, so why not give it a try!  You have got to be in it to win it.

I started my project by cutting the largest of Eileen's Artist Trading Block (ATB) from Sizzix Mountboard.  As this was going to be a money box I also used Eileen's fabulous Money Slot Movers & Shapers die.  I used masking tape to hold it in place on my ATB base and cut it.  With hindsight I should have attached my paper to the box first and then cut it.........

I also used the die to cut through my patterned paper.  The paper is a recent release from Craftwork Cards and this pad is simply called London.  They do a Paris theme too which is also lovely. You can see the money slot in the top of the box.

I cut my pieces of card slightly smaller than the base and glued these in place.  You need to be careful and glue the papers on - the right way up for your box - ask me how I know that !....  Once assembled I decided to make a rosette to decorate one side.  I used a Darkroom Door London stamp set on one side of the box but the rest was decorated using the same paper pad.

Rosettes are easy to make.  Ideally you need a piece of paper that is 12" long but the paper pad I used was 8" x 8".  I took  a full sheet and scored the whole sheet at 1/4" intervals. and then cut two strips about 1.1/2" wide.  I added an extension to one piece to make it up to 12", concertina folded the whole piece and glued the two ends to form a 'circle' which you can see below.

Cut a circle of card or paper, take the concertina piece, place it over the circle which you should cover with strong glue or use a glue gun. Press the concertina circle down from the middle, onto the glue covered circle and hold for a few minutes.  Place another circle on the top, this will hide the centre, again using strong glue and if necessary place a weight on top until the glue has dried.

In this case I added the letter 'L' to signify London and also Logan, the young man's name.

This is a view of the top of the money box and you can clearly see the money box slot opening, which easily takes the largest of coins, and is big enough for paper money too.  I just had to add a bit of Tim Holtz in the form of the lettering for Logan's name. 

This really was the easiest of boxes to make and I do love the idea of a money box, they would make wonderful gifts for Christmas for people of all ages.  They can be sealed as in this case, or left with the lid unsealed - for easy access!

Thanks for looking and I hope to see you soon.  Take care.  Hugs, Anne xx