Punched Character Matchboxes

Aren't these cute?!!! I'd seen them on Angie Juda's blog a looooooooooong time ago and when I was invited to the craft fair I thought these would be perfect little gift boxes for any kind of treasure!! My mom and I made 4 of each kind in about 2 hours --> not bad for gabbing and crafting don't you think?

OK, so what did I use to make these ... hmmm ... let me think (I didn't write it down, so I'm gonna guess!). First of all, take your Matchbox Bigz XL die, and die cut the matchboxes for each shape. I used Basic Gray for the Hippo and Creamy Caramel for the Lion and sponged the edges with the same colours.

For the hippo:

• Punch 3 Large Oval shapes out of Basic Gray. One is for the nose, the other two are for the ears.
• Punch two 1-3/8" circles out of Basic Gray. Both are for the face --> one only shows slightly below the nose.
• EARS: Punch two Small Oval Shapes out of Basic Black. Mat them with the two large ovals and adhere behind one circle.
• NOSE: Punch two 1/4" circles out of Basic Black and adhere on the nose. Add detail with a white gel pen. Adhere nose to face.
• EYES: Punch two 1/4" circles out of Whisper White and attach the newly punched eyes to the face. Punch two 1/8" circles (using handheld punch or Crop-a-Dile) out of Basic Black and attach to the eye centres. Add eyelash detail with a Basic Black Stampin' Write marker.
• TEETH: Punch one Word Window shape out of Whisper White. Cut in half and attach side by side under the nose. Attach remaining circle under the teeth.

For the lion:

• FACE: Punch one Scallop Circle punch out of Chocolate Chip. To achieve the more "pinked" edge rather than lovely scallops, simply re-punch the scallop by turning it in the punch making sure the curved top of the punched scallop will be punched (does that make any sense?). Punch one 1" Circle, two 1/2" Circles, and two 1/4" Circles out of Creamy Caramel card stock. Punch one 1/4" Circle out of Chocolate Chip card stock (nose). Adhere together like pictured. I did the dots on the cheeks and the eyes with a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker.
• BODY: Punch one 1-3/4" Circle punch out of Creamy Caramel card stock. Attach under face.
  
• LEGS: Punch one Small Oval punch out of Creamy Caramel card stock and cut in half. Attach on the body.
• TAIL: Using the Large Oval punch and a piece of scrap Creamy Caramel, punch a thin sliver of card stock by punching the oval twice moving the punch back 1/8". Punch one blossom from the Boho Blossoms punch out of Chocolate Chip card stock. Attach to body.
  

Now, hopefully that makes sense. I'm a pretty garbled speaker that tends to use sound effects so describing my thoughts in text is not easy, hee hee!!

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