The Devilish Dish: Mother's Day Craft: Kleenex Caddy

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day Craft: Kleenex Caddy

Maybe it's the graphic arts background in me. Maybe it's because I had a Mother that gushed over macaroni ornaments like I was Picasso. I always feel like I need to craft up some kind of fun for my Mom and the other lovely ladies in my life. I usually wind up making gifts for my Mom, her twin (Mom II), my Mom-in-Law, and a couple of my aunts. With that in mind, I can't paint 5 Sistine Chapels for Mother's Day, it has to be something quick and easy. But still cute. Because I still want my Mom to gush. A while back, a friend of mine brought me the cutest little "tissue holder" that had a little magnet slipped inside. Or it could be a bookmark. Or both. I have no idea where she got it, or who came up with the original idea, so I can't give credit where it is originally do. But trust me, it's cute. A great little Teacher's gift, pick me up, get well treat, you get it. Everyone needs a tissue once in awhile.

Here's the finished product. Pretty cute don'tcha think?

Here's all the stuff you need: cardstock, scrapbooking adhesive, ribbon, scissors, sticky backed magnets, and of course a little pack of tissues.

I started by making the bookmark/magnet. The finished piece
should measure approximately 5 1/2 -inches long by 1 3/4-inches wide.
Of course I had to make things more difficult by using more than
one layer of cardstock. All because I wanted that fancy paper
that matched the tissues You'll have to excuse my crummy
pictures. I was working in my bedroom on my lapboard because
I needed to catch up on some back episodes of Ghost Adventures.
The lighting isn't so great in there, but hey, that's where the DVR is.

You can decorate the magnet however you want, with stickers
and what not. Once the front is finished, add a strip of
magnet on the back. Now Mom can hang a pretty picture of
you on her fridge. Or use it as a bookmark when my cookbook comes out.

Next you need to measure out the pieces that form the caddy.
I'm calling them the "horizontal piece" and the "vertical piece."
Keep in mind the sizes of the little packs of tissue vary, so these measurements are only a guide. You may need to add or take away a little. (Don't shoot the messenger, I made this whole pattern up!)
The horizontal piece should measure approximately 1 3/4-inches wide and 8 1/8-inches long. (This forms the band around the tissue packet.)
The vertical piece should measure approximately 1 3/4-inches wide and 9 1/2-inches long. (This forms the long piece that creates the caddy the tissue pack sits in.)
Again, I had to be fancy and use that black and white paper instead of cardstock. You could avoid a small nightmare by simple choosing cardstock instead of trying to mat paper with cardstock. Oh well, I've never chosen the easy road anywhere.

Now that those pieces are measured out, you want to "score" them. I used to have a fancy little scoring tool on my paper cutter, but who knows where that ran off to. I just used a straight edge and a popsicle stick. Because I like very high-tech tools. On the longer piece, make your score lines (from the top) at the 4 3/4-inch and 5 3/4-inch point. On the shorter piece make your score lines at 1 7/8-inch, 4-inch, 5-inch and 7-inch Bend these a little back and forth. You just want a nice crease so it creates a
little box that looks nice and neat.

Like this. Use a little bit of your scrapook adhesive to adhere the short piece together to create the band that wraps around the tissue.

Next wrap the long piece around the short piece and adhere
that together. (Before you do this, you might want to stick your
package of tissue in there and make sure everything is going to fit
before it's all stuck together and you can't do anything about it.