Beer Crate Big Rig Box Card re-using Packaging

Hiya! Inspiration can come from some weird and wonderful places, and this week's card inspiration was no exception.  I had a card to make for a beer-loving friend, and wondered how I could incorporate the gorgeous impressionistic landscape design from the packaging of one of our favourite beers. A quick browse around the Simply Crafty SVG shop, and I found the perfect SVG cutting file - the Big Rig Box Card.

I made up the card with a few little changes, and I've detailed these below in case you'd like to make one too. The instructions here refer to the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software, but could easily be adapted for other die cutting software and machines such as the Cricut.

Materials Used:
Cardboard Packaging
Black, Grey, Yellow, Brown & Light Green Medium weight Textured Cardstock
Yellow Pearl Cardstock
Red Paper Scrap
Double-sided Decorative Card/Paper (for the envelope)
Beacon 3-in-1 Craft Adhesive
Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops in English Mustard
Plaid Embossing Folder & Embossing Machine (Cuttlebug)
Bronze Metallic Sketch Pen (Silhouette)
Bronze Metallic Marker Pen (Sharpie)
Silhouette Cameo or other Digital DieCutting Machine

Files Used:
Simply Crafty SVGs Big Rig Box Card
Simply Crafty SVGs Beer Bottle Card

Other Font Files: 
Ariel Bold font (pre-installed)
Lettering Delights Simple Italic sketch font

Colors
I picked out some matching colours of cardstock from my stash. Most of these are American Crafts medium-weight textured cardstock. I also added some pale yellow pearl card stock (not pictured).

Assembly
I cut the pieces from the various cardstocks, using the yellow pearl in place of the metallic cardstock recommended by the designer. The designer has provided a YouTube video with instructions, and I followed these changing out the decorative panels. The pieces fit together perfectly, so it was a fun and easy assembly process.

Decorative Panels
One long and one short panel were cut from a trimmed piece of the packaging, which I secured to the cutting mat with additional washi tape, as it was somewhat thicker than regular cardstock. I placed it upside down because I wanted to cut a piece from the lower part of the picture, and it was easier to align that way.

Additional Decorations
I cut out the word 'beer' in Ariel font from the front fender/bumper then backed it with a second one in a contrasting colour. I cut the brewery's emblem out of the packaging too. I didn't have the embossing folder suggested in the assembly video, but made do by using the striped parts of a plaid embossing folder.

Bottles
I used a bottle and the simple cap piece from the Beer Bottle Card. I copied them into the rig file, then reduced it in size, replicated it several times, then overlapped them slightly. Then I welded them together and cut two identical strips of bottles.

The bottle tops were drawn on with a bronze metallic marker pen, and then the bottle strips were adhered to the insides of the rig.

Sentiment
The final decorative panel was cut from the smooth side of a piece of textured cardstock and I used a Silhouette sketch pen to write a sentiment on it. The headlights were made more dimensional with the addition of some yellow crystal drops and allowed to dry completely (overnight). As an afterthought I added plain black circles of cardstock on the reverse of the wheels.

Envelope
The more eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed my big faux-pas. I first cut the envelope at the original size, and once the bottles were added to the rig it was too small to fit the card in. I simply cut another one (the polka-dotted one), but stretched it length-wise prior to cutting to be tall enough hold the rig and its load!

Here is the finished card with an uncut box. I think the recipient will like this one and I hope you do too!

These are the files I used. Just click on the photo to visit the page in Simply Crafty SVGs online store.


Blog: Crafting Quine 
Instagram: @CraftingQuine

Simply Crafty SVG Files:
Big Rig Box Card
Beer Bottle Card