An Explosion Box!

Here is an idea that I saw on Pinterest and loved ... by the way most of the home-made gifts I make are inspired by versions found somewhere on the net, which is why I'm sharing my creations with you too - how great that we can all inspire each other!

So this gorgeous little keepsake is called an Explosion Box, because once you lift the lid it falls open to reveal loads of little pages, and each page has some-thing special on it which would be meaningful to the receiver.

 

 

I created this one here for my husband on his 30th birthday. Inside I added lots of little photos that represented his 30years ... ones from his childhood, of his parents and sister, one of his work, one that represented his faith, holidays we had been on etc etc. All in all there were 21 pages for me to fill as I used both the back and front of the top 2 layers and the front of the bottom layer. This also included a tiny birthday letter that I stuck in the middle.

 

 

I had so much fun creating this! Ontop of some of the photos I had glued little captions and once it was all closed up I popped one of his favourite Lindt chocolates in the middle. Granted, this was not whipped up super quickly, so if you plan to do something similar then make sure you give yourself a few days! This could also make such a sweet gift for an anniversary, to celebrate some-ones achievements or simply to let some-one know how special they are!

 

 

 

Here are the instructions ...

 

 

You will need:

 

 - Square scrapbook or coloured paper - the size depends on how big you plan to make you box, and the number of sheets depends on how many layers you want to include in your box. (My box was mini, with each page measuring only 3cm, so I started off with small 10cmx10cm sheets and created 3 layers - so including the lid I needed 4 sheets). If you have rectangle sheets then you can easily make these square by folding one corner down to the opposite side of the page, creating a triangle, before cutting off the bottom rectangle. When you unfold the page again it will be square. 

 - Bits to glue onto each page. I included a tiny letter, lots of photos and some itty bitty captions. You might light to also include newspaper/ magazine clippings, stickers, drawings, quotes etc.

 - Scissors and glue.

1. Fold your square sheets into thirds both vertically and horizontally, so that when you open it out again it has 9 squares.

2. Cut out the corner squares, leaving a centre square and four pages coming off each side.

3. Glue the centre's off each layer ontop of one another.

4. Add your special bits and pieces to each page!

To make the lid:

1. Fold the last sheet of paper into thirds as before, then measure and draw a line 2cm from the edges of the centre square. (So you will have a larger square draw around the centre square).

2. Cut out around the square you have drawn.

3. Fold each edge in along the lines of the smaller square, then fold in the corners and glue down.