Lunchbox Love Notes

Every year the older kids struggle with having to go back to school.  While they are excited to see their friends, they’re not so happy to leave behind the fun and freedom of summer.  For them – and I’m sure just about every child out there – school days, while jam-packed with activities, can seem never-ending.  That’s why this year I decided to create a little project to hopefully interject a little note of cheer and encouragment to each of my children when they are at school.  The nice thing about this concept is that if you don’t have children it can be adapted for adults as well and used as friendship notes, or even love notes for a spouse.

There are many different variations of Lunchbox Love Notes out there in the blogosphere – so many in fact that I have no idea who came up with the idea first.  This project – which I posted yesterday in the Paper Crafter’s Library for members – is my version of Lunchbox Love Notes.  I created two different versions.  In the top right you can see an altoid tin which I altered to fit the notes.  I bought a bunch of these tins years ago, and still have tons left.  I figured that I would gift each of my children with one of these tins so that they can store their love notes from me.   The little note cards were sized to perfectly fit inside the tin – they are 2 1/8″ high x 3 1/2″ wide.  I used a lined patterend paper from Scenic Route which I’ve also had in my stash for at least a year. The tin will hold up to 8 notes.  The adorable apple stamps are a Papertrey Ink stamp set. Since Altoid tins aren’t always readily available to everyone, I also created a cardstock portfolio option which is sized to fit 6 notes.

A cool technique I learned at the summer CHA is to use the glaze only portion of Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze to give a lustrous finish to the apples.  All you do is ensure that you don’t shake up the bottle so that the glitter stays on the bottom.  You then brush it onto the apples. Unfortunately it doesn’t show up in the picture, but boy is it beautiful! 

Here’s a full supply list of what I used:

Stamps: Just a Note and Teachers Apple (Papertrey)
Ink: Regal Rose Stampin’ Write Marker (Stampin’ Up!); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (Tsukineko), Adirondack Red Pepper ink, Adirondack Citrus ink (Ranger)
Copic Markers:  Copic Sketch E15 (or other brown marker)
Paper: Whisper White CS, Poppy Parade CS, Green Galore CS (Stampin’ Up!); Lined pattern paper (Scenic Route)
Accessories: Modern Label punch, 1 1/4″ Circle punch, 1 3/8″ Circle punch, bone folder, paper snips, SNAIL adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, 1/2″ Poppy Parade Poly Stitched ribbon, stamping sponges, Basic Rhinestones (Stampin’ Up!); Icicle Glimmer Glaze (Tattered Angels), Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Tombow multi-purpose liquid glue (Tombow), double sided tape (3M); Matte Accents (Ranger); acrylic graph ruler, altoid tin, pencil, printed greeting sheet (other)