Mini Backpack and Indoor S’mores

Kids at a very young age learn how to make s’mores. Grab a marshmellow, put it on a stick, hold it over the fire until it catches on fire and sandwich it between a graham cracker and piece of chocolate.

But how do you have s’mores at an indoor camp-out without a fire? Easy! Serve indoor s’mores! Simply mix Golden Graham cereal, mini marshmellows and chocolate chips in a bowl. and there you have it – indoor s’mores!

And what better way to serve indoor s’mores to your little camper than to package it in a mini backpack!

I created my backpack using Mel Wilson (The Hybrid Kid) and Mari Koegelenberg’s collab Back to School – Backpack Album template and Elise Hansen’s new release Happy Camper

Here are the other supplies I used to create my backpack:
-scissors
-Tombow adhesive runner
-Crop-o-dile
-6 eyelets
-scor-pal tool
-approx 24 inches of coordinating ribbon
-tiny piece of velcro (optional)
-Scotch brand Scrapbooker’s glue with 2 way applicator
-Stampendous! Crystal snow
-Stacey’s 3 inch box template from Splitcoaststampers
-a sheet of translucent Vellum

First, I used Mel’s backpack template and a paper (recolored) from Elise’s Happy Camper kit to create my backpack. I always recolor the score lines on my project by picking a color from my background paper and then making it a few shades lighter so that the score lines don’t stand out so much on my finished project – a HUGE thanks to Kelleigh Ratlaff for that tip!!!!

Next I printed my backpack using my printer’s best print option. I highly recommend borderless printing for this template since the template sits very close to the canvas edge. For borderless printing, read Kelleigh’s tutorial here.

After cutting around the backpack, I scored all my lines using my scor-pal. Next I decided where I wanted to punch the holes for the straps on the back and where I wanted the holes on top of my backpack. I used my crop-o-dile to punch the holes and set the eyelets for a finished look.

For the back straps: I cut two 9 inch lengths of ribbon. Thread one end through one of the top holes and tie a knot on the inside of your backpack. Thread the other end through the bottom hole on the same side of the backpack and adjust the length of your strap to your liking. tie a knot on the inside of your backpack. Repeat for the other side of your backpack.

For the grab handle on top of the backpack – repeat the above steps with a shorter piece of ribbon.

TIP: cut your ribbon pieces a little longer than you will need so that you have ribbon to work with when tying your knot!

Here’s what the backpack looks like from the back:

From here I needed to create a smaller container type box to put my s’mores in. I printed Stacey’s 3 inch box template onto plain white computer paper. After cutting it out, I positioned it on my vellum paper and traced around it. Next I cut out my vellum box template and scored all my fold lines.

I then assembled the box using my Tombow adhesive runner to hold the box together. I secured my box to the inside of my backpack by using my adhesive runner on the inside bottom and inside on the back panel of my backpack.

I used a small amount of my scrapbooker’s glue to glue a tiny piece of velcro on the underside of the flap to my backpack and where it meets the front of my backpack. I also applied some glue to the edges of my tree, to the flame of my fire and to the moon before sprinkling Stampendous! Crystal snow on it for some added sparkle!

Fill your little box with some yummy indoor s’more mix and it’s ready to go!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and project (and also the yummy indoors s’mores mix recipe!). I’d love to see what you come up with using Mel and Mari’s backpack album template – and I know they would too!

If you have any questions about my tutorial, please feel free to email me at wildblueeyez at comcast dot net.

Other Articles by wildblueeyez:

• Card Caravan: use flowers - April 28th, 2013
• Card Caravan Challenge - Shaped Cards - March 18th, 2013
• Simon Says... Use this free mini kit! - March 4th, 2013
• Card Caravan Challenge #36 – Winter - January 20th, 2013
• Simon Says… use this template! - January 16th, 2013