Heart-shaped box

I have just tried out my new heart box dies. This is the first one, warts and all:

I used some very sturdy patterned Kanban kraft card I have had for years. It’s not a terrible effort, but you can see it is untidy at the top. Also around the ‘shoulders’ of the heart it is not a seamless join. So I tried again.

Attempt number two is now introducing itself to the contents of the bin. It has plenty of other craft disasters there to keep it company. I tried making it from really thin card, thinking it would be easier to bend into shape, but actually it just magnified every flaw. I can’t show you a photo because I screwed it up in frustration!

So, how about a medium weight cardstock? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you attempt number three:

This time before adhering the side panels I went over the fold lines on the base and lid with a ball embossing tool, hoping that this would help the heart shaping of the shoulders to happen, and paid more attention to getting the join at the top neatly finished. Better, but not perfect. Still, I liked it enough to stick a ribbon on it.

So, am I happy with my purchase? Yes, I think so, but I need to play with these dies some more to get the best out of them. I can think of worse things to have to do!!