Hi folks, I'm excited to share with you a little video of my exploding box - the first I've ever made - and I confess to being really pleased with it! I'd not come across exploding boxes until I saw a post on a Facebook forum - so I headed over to YouTube to see what I could find.
As you might expect, there are all sorts of crafters who make these boxes from all over the world, with some amazing ideas about decorations - from the sublime to the totally over the top! I liked this tutorial for the basic box from Lisa of stampuplisa.blogspot.com - the basic box took me no more than about 20 minutes to make. I used 12x12 cardstock, with a lovely contrasting sheet for the box lid.
Tip - don't throw away the off cuts - they come in handy later!
Then came deciding what decorations to do - this will be a gift for my lovely daughter-in-law's birthday, so I needed something that is pretty but classy and not overblown - less is more! Two things helped my focus
1 She likes nice cards to write little notes, thank you notes etc
2 She loves luscious smelling candles
Using an envelope as a template I created little pockets which I stuck, using sticky glue - sets quickly but gives you enough time to position decorations - to the inner side of each flap - 12 pockets in all, using contrasting paper. For the last layer on the inside, I used the off cuts of the box lid to make pockets.
Next step - make the cards and envelopes. The cards are super simple to make:
** Cut white (or any colour of your choice) card stock 6 inches x 3 inches, and score on the long side at 3 inches. If you don't have a scoring board, simply fold the card in half making sure that the edges all line up exactly, and press the fold down firmly.
**To decorate, I cut little squares of patterned paper that I found in a crafting magazine, cut to about 2 7/8 inches square. I rounded the corners with a neat little piece of kit that snips the corners for you - very cool! I also rounded the corners of the cards themselves for a good finish.
Of course, you don't have to do that - I just like the look of it.
Making the envelopes comes next - again, not difficult and you don't need a template - just follow this YouTube link
Next step - I decided to use the printed paper off cuts stuck to white card off cuts to make gift labels - I have a couple of label punches which are brilliant for this and you can make them using a ruler and scissors, of course.
To make them more interesting and substantial, I used contrasting labels for each little set, using the off cuts from the main box. So, each green tag had a cream and a black one placed under it and tied with some narrow cream satin ribbon.
The decorations are very much a matter of personal taste. To start off, I used the larger off cuts from the main box to create smaller squares that I glued to the panels as contrasts. Then I used paper craft flower shapes that I brushed with green ink and then curled the petals to make the flower shape and stuck them on.
And finally to the centre box. I used black and cream A4 cardstock for this and created a bottom box to fit the centre square - I planned a 3x3x3 inch cube but found the card wasn't quite long enough, so I made the sides 2 3/4 inches.
I made the lid out of cream card - making the top 3 1/8 inch square and the sides 2 1/2 inches all round. I stuck the black base to the central square in the main box securely - lots of sticky glue all over and then left to dry. The lid I decorated with some black chiffon ribbon that I found in my ribbon stash, for that classy finish.
I bought a votive candle in a pretty ceramic pot that my daughter-in-law will be able to use again - as you will see from the video, it fits nicely in that centre box.
I hope you enjoy the video - and have fun making your own!
