Exploding Box Birthday Card

Hi Folks! Welcome to Itsy Bitsy Blog. We are going to present you with a series of tutorials about all things crafty! It will be our goal to include different kinds of crafts, so there will be something for everyone!

Today we are going to show you how to make an exploding box card! Exploding box style cards are very popular right now and why not!? They are exciting, mysterious and give you lot of room to express your creativity! They look like gift boxes and you can use them to put in photos, a little trinket or gift, write notes, pretty much anything you would like to include. There is an element of mystery and surprise for the recipient too.

In this tutorial we are going to make an Exploding Box Birthday card.

Supplies used in this card:

· 2 Sheets of 12”x12” plain Cardstock (green)

· 1 sheet of coordinating plain Cardstock (Pink)

· 2 Coordinating 12”x12” pattern from the DCWV Cherry Liemade paper stack (Pink dotted paper and Green floral paper)

· 2 Coordinating Ribbons (0.6mm) – White and Green

· 1 Paper Doily 3.5” – white

· Die cut paper flowers – Sparkle Florettes Strawberry fields

· Paper Roses - white

· Handmade Mini cupcake embellishments and Sentiments

Note: You can choose paper in any colours and patterns as per your choice.

Tools required:

· Craft Glue

· Paper cutting Knife

· Cutting Mat

· Scoring tool

Method:

Take one of the 12x12” card stock sheet and make score lines for folding. The score lines should be 4” from each edge. This will divide the paper in nine 4x4” squares.

Cut out the corner squares using a paper cutting knife or scissor. You will end up with a large plus sign like the picture shown above. With this your basic structure of the box is ready. Now we will make the lid for the box.

Cut the other 12x12” card stock into a 6 3/8” x 6 3/8”. Make 4 score lines as shown in the figure. The score lines should be 1” from the edge.

Snip one side of the corner squares up to the score line as shown in the figure (a one inch cut).

Glue the flaps inside the lid sides as shown above and your lid for the explosion box is ready. We can now start embellishing the base box.

We are going to layer the inside of the panels of the card. Layering adds a 3D effect and breaks the monotony of a single colour/pattern. It’s also a great way to frame your focal points in a card. Cut six 9cmX9cm squares of your choice of pattern paper. We are using the pink and white dotted pattern paper for this layer. Centre them and glue them carefully onto the five square panels of your box base.

Make sure that the base paper is showing on all side of the pattern paper. Glue the sixth square on the top of the lid. Make sure that that pattern paper is centred properly before sticking it. It is important to get a neat finish.

To add some more interest we will add another layer. For this layer we are using a floral print in coordinating contrast colour. Cut five 8cmX8cm squares and stick them on the four side panels of the box. Again, you need to make sure that the squares are centred and the previous layer is visible equally on all sides. For this layer, we have used pattern paper for 2 sides and the green card stock for the other two sides. The fifth square piece will go on top of the lid.

Stick embellishments of your choice on the side panels. Since this is a birthday card, we have used birthday themed embellishments.

To make the sprig of flowers cut thin strips of the green cardstock. These will make the stems for the Sparkle Florettes. Glue flowers to 5-6 strips of paper to make a spray of flowers.

Glue the flowers to the one of the side panels. Glue the doily to the centre panel. We have left the fourth panel blank. You can write a personal message on the fourth side panel.

In the next steps we are going to assemble the cake. Cut three ¾” wide strips of the pink cardstock. The length of the strips should be 16, 20 and 24 cm.

Glue the two ends of strips together to make circles as shown. You will get three circles of graduating sizes. This will make the basic structure of the three tiered cake.

Apply glue to the edge of the circle. Stick it to another piece of paper. Once dry, carefully trim off the excess paper. The tiers for the cake are now ready.

Apply glue to the edge of the tiers and assemble the cake as shown in the figure. Make sure that each tier is perfectly centred.

Glue the green ribbon around the base of the each tier. Apply Glue to the edge of the base and stick it onto the centre panel on top of the doily.

Glue the paper roses on the cake as shown in the figure. Make a bow with the ribbon and stick onto the sprig of flowers. The exploding box is ready! All we need to do now is add some finishing touches to the lid.

Glue a strip of ribbon onto the third layer of paper. Make a ribbon bow and stick on top of the ribbon. Top it with another paper rose. Once everything is dry, hold the side panels of the box up and close the lid. Your exploding box is now complete! When the recipient opens the lid, the flaps will fall open revealing the mysteries inside J

Note: It is important to let the glue dry properly between steps.

Please let us know what you think of this tutorial and do send us pictures if you try it.

Happy crafting!

Link for Supplies:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-boards/cellulose-card-stock-12x12

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5500_5506&sort=20a&page=2

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/scrapbooking-card-making-paper

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-flowers/handmade-paper-flowers

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/dcwv-stacks/dcwv-stack-12x12-inch

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/papers/doilies

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-flowers/mulberry-roses

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/seasons/valentines-day