Jam Packaging Tutorial

Okay, I'm back, and just bear with me; I've never posted a tutorial before.
This is the package that I used for my little jar of jam on yesterday's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop, and a couple of people had asked about the template, so I thought I would give this little tutorial a whirl.
Start with an 8" x 11" piece of cardstock, or whichever paper you prefer. Papertrey Ink's cardstock is a wonderful weight, and is sturdy enough for almost all of the packaging I make.
I wanted to get the most out of my sheet of paper, without using more than one sheet.

 Score the 11" side of your cardstock at: 2 1/2", 5 1/4", 7 3/4" and 10 1/2". Of course you won't do this on your own project, but I've drawn a line on the score lines so you can see what it should look like.
The second photo is just a close-up of the score line points, for the more "visual" people. ; )

 On the 8" side of the cardstock, score each end at 1 3/4". Too easy, right? Just score at 1 3/4", flip the cardstock around (not over, just around, and I'll explain why in a bit), and score again at 1 3/4".

 On the 11 inch side, you'll want to clip the 1/2" strip of cardstock to where the points intersect, because this is going to be the flap where the box sides will connect. To reduce bulk, and make a smoother edge, clip the ends slightly at an angle.

 Now for the fun part. Remember I told you not to flip your cardstock over when you were scoring the 8 inch side of the paper? That's because (to make it easier and neater) you'll want all your score lines to match. When you use a scoring tool (Scor-Pal, Martha Stewart board, or whatever), you'll notice on one side of your paper is an indention (what I call the "ditch"), and on the other, is a raised line (what I call the "speed bump"). If all your ditches are on the same side of the paper, your finished product will be much nicer.
I've colored in a bit of the "speed bump"- again for the visual people.

 For cutting purposes, I like to have my cardstock with the speed bump side up, and clip on EACH side of that speed bump, all the way up to and through the intersecting speed bump. Doing this makes sure that your flaps and folds will always come together neatly.

 Also, when cutting the score lines that are going to be your flaps, choose one side of the box to have angled flaps. In this case, since one side of box is 2 1/2", and the other is 2 3/4", I chose the 2 1/2" side to have the angled flaps. This is again, to make sure that everything fits together well, and reduces a bit of bulk at corners. Your angles certainly don't have to be perfect; they will be on the inside of your flap structure. I always just angle my scissors a bit and let it rip, or cut, I guess. Ha!

 Up to this point, I have not attempted to fold any of the sides. In what experience I have, I find it much easier to do the preceding steps if everything is still flat.
So now that all my lines have been cut, I'm ready to burnish my edges with a bone folder. Actually, I think it's a plastic folder, do they really make any out of bone anymore? I digress...
Burnishing the edges of all your score lines makes for a nice crisp line on your project. Another thing I'd like to note is the direction of your fold. I believe everyone has their own opinion on this one, but I always do my folds speed bump in. That means the indention made when you scored the paper (the ditch) is to the outside of your project. If that's clear as mud, just look back at the first couple of photos where I used a pen to trace the indention, or the "ditch". you don't see the pen lines in the photo below because they are on what is going to be the outside of my box.

 If you want to make the cut out window, you'll want to remember just a couple of things.
The box template is too wide to fit flat on a Cuttlebug. If you have the Grand Calibur, you might not have a problem with the width, but well, you see in the photo below what I'm using. Just fold the flaps over the die before stacking your sandwich, and you're good to go. I know everyone uses a different sandwich, so for those of you that stack your sandwich with your die facing upward, just remember to fold the flaps out of the way of the die.
The other thing is that the outside of the box is facing downward in this instance, so you might want to either use a new B plate (for Cuttlebug users, of course), or place a sheet of copy paper between the cutting plate and the cardstock.

 One last thing before I end this incredibly LONG post (bet you'll never ask ME for any more instructions, huh?)- when you attach your sides and flaps together, make sure the adhesive is placed where it will be on the outermost side of the joining point. In this case, you'll see below on the little 1/2" flap that will join your box sides. Just pick up your box for a dry run to see where the points will join. By placing the adhesive, and by the way, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend Scor-tape for packaging projects, it holds better than anything else I've ever tried, and where was I? Yes, by placing the adhesive on the outermost part of the join, you will have a much nicer, neater, more professional looking end result, with no sagging edges.

I hope this was of some help to you. If I left anything out, or you have a question about something, please feel free to send me an email.
I have to go do some laundry now. yay.