Hi there!

Irises have always been one of my favorite flowers. In fact, my wedding bouquet included Japanese Irises as the centerpiece. So, when I saw that @teamspellbinders released a bearded iris as part of the “Susan’s Garden Favorites” collection I knew I had to have it!

Like many of you, I came out of the holiday season feeling a bit “carded out” so I thought it might be fun to switch things up and make a treat box band instead. I had a pattern for the box that I found on Pinterest years ago (there are literally dozens of patterns out there now) so I thought I’d start with that – but you can start with any box you have on hand since all we are doing is making a band to go around the box!

For the band, you’ll need to measure your box so that you can cut a piece of cardstock long enough to wrap around it – and then score it accordingly. I used scrap patterned paper for mine.

You can make the band any width you want. I made one 2.5 inches (the one with the purple iris) and another 3 inches (the one with the yellow iris). My boxes are 3×3, so the 3-inch band covers the entire top of the box, while the 2.5 inch one leaves a bit of the box showing at the top and the bottom.

Locate the section of the band that you’ll be using for the top of your box and cut a bit of glitter cardstock so that it peeks out the edges.

Now that you have the band ready, you’ll want to make your flowers. I used Susan’s Garden Specialty Cardstock and a bit of ink blending for my petals and my leaves. I shaped my flowers and added a bit of pollen to the centers before assembling them. I added a tiny stripe of glue with a toothpick to the large flower petal that is in front and added a bit of pollen there, too, in order to give it the “beard” that is typical of bearded irises.

Once my flower was assembled, I arranged it and the leaves on the top of my box and glued it securely. I added a few gems to bring out the sparkle in the paper.

I hope you enjoyed this project and I hope you’ll stop back again soon!

Hope you have a wonderfully creative day!