JUST THE CUTEST LITTLE "BALLET SHOES" TREAT BOXES!!!

Hello, everyone!!!  It's Audrey and I'm back again with another monthly DT project thanks to our wonderful hostess, Pam!

Well there it was 5:11 p.m. last evening (Thursday), and I was just sitting with my elbows on my knees, my face in my hands, looking down at the floor while thinking of a project to do for today.  I don't  know how long I sat there, but...all of sudden there it was!!!  My project was staring me right in the face!!!  So, do I have your attention as to what I saw?!!!  LOL!  Well, first let me show you my project:

Aren't these just the cutest little ballet shoe treat boxes?  Here they are without the footies:

And here's what I saw that was my inspiration for these adorable "ballet shoe" treat boxes:

That's right!  Right there on my own feet!!!  I have about 4 pair of ballet shoes in different colors because they're comfortable and I practically live in them for leisure wear during the summer!  I won't pull them all out but, see, here's another pair:

Excited over the idea, off I ran to put together these little sweeties that I'm sharing with you today and, of course, showing you how I made them.  For each shoe, you will need a 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock.  First, I figured out a pattern and drew a really quick cut.file:

I cut out my 2 pattern pieces; the upper shoe and the sole.  The pattern pieces looked like this:

The widest round end of the shoe's sole is the "TOE" of the shoe; the narrowest round end is the "HEEL" of the shoe:

Aren't those the funniest looking tabs on the sole of the shoe pattern that you've ever seen?!  LOL!  I made them round for fun... but mainly because it was fast; however funny, you have to admit they did turn out the cutest little box!!! 

Anyway, I began by first turning up all the little round tabs on the sole, then after locating the middle tab at the "TOE" of the sole I grabbed the upper shoe, found the middle on the top shoe side of it  (the closed end), and glued the 2 middle pieces together:

Then it then looked like this:

Next, starting on one side and, very carefully aligning the edge of the sole to the edge of the upper shoe, I counted out 7 tabs and glued the sole and upper shoe pieces together.  I DO NOT GLUE FURTHER THAN 7 TABS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE SHOE AT THIS TIME.  Next, I counted out 7 tabs on the other side and aligned, then glued the sole and upper shoe pieces together on that side.  This is what my shoe looked like after I'd glued both side pieces together:

Now, from either side (doesn't matter which),  I glued down the back end of the upper shoe to the remaining tabs on the sole but only up to the  middle back tab on the sole, and then I cut off the excess paper; like this:

I then glued the other side of the upper shoe to the last remaining tabs on the sole, then attached the remaining upper shoe end to the upper shoe end on the opposite side making certain to aligned them evenly down the middle (to assure the glued seam down the middle back of the shoe is even and straight); then I cut off the excess paper down the middle of the seam:

Lastly, to cover the unsightly tabs on the inside of the shoe, I cut off  a 9" strip of ribbon, (or you can use a strip of decorative paper); I doubled it, held it together by holding the open ends together between my thumb and forefinger then inserted the closed end of the ribbon into the back of the shoe.  Once in place I glued it to secure it in place: 

And here's the ballet shoe treat box!  

For a pair of shoes, just repeat the procedure to do another shoe!  It's really easy-peasy -- you're really just wrapping and gluing!!!  Now all that's left is decorating and embelling it!!!

A helpful suggestion is to use your glue gun for this project -- you'll get instant gratification! You won't have to hold the pieces together or clamp them until they dry enough to adhere before moving on!  Any hot glue "strings" can be easily removed by just pulling them away once the glue is dy and your shoe is together.

In my project picture at the beginning of this post, I added a pair of ladies footies; however, this little box can be used for soooo many things!!! Let your imagination soar!!!  Try pretty little packaged foot baths, tea bag samplers, babies booties, etc.  Here are examples using toiletries and candy:

I have made available the cut.file (made using the George cartridge) at the bottom of the post on "my" blog post for today.  Because I'm always asked, again, the cut.file is available on my blog post for today.  You can click on my name at the top of this post to be directly linked to my blog..

PLEASE NOTE: Because I did the cut.file on a rush basis to get my project/tutorial completed, this cut.file will only be available for several days.  I will be removing it to make an adjustment/correction to it.  Fortunately, the available file will make the shoe treat boxes; however, as you've seen in the tutorial, you will have to cut them to size in the back of the box, and I want to adjust/correct the file for a more perfect fit.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to figure that out in time to complete this project and tutorial -- I went with what I had.  As I may not do this immediately, I am making my file available to you now with the understanding that you will have to cut to adjust the back of the box as shown.  But, I will also let you know when the correction to the file has been made.  Normally I make my cut.files for my own use, and I'm not a professional, so even though I have no problem sharing them, they may not be very pretty to look at at any time!  LOL!!!

This file can be converted to a gypsy cut.file and, if you need assistance doing that, please post me a comment on my blog.
 
I hope everyone enjoyed my project today, and thank you so very much for stopping by!  I appreciate you taking the time to joinime, and hope you'll join me again next month.  Until then hugs to you all, and...

I'll be seeing you!