Valentine Exploding Box

I made this box back in the Autumn as a project for the February issue of Creative Scrapbooking. It was featured in the January issue on the back page as an up and coming feature but sadly, as the magazine folded, it was destined never to be used.

If it is any use to anyone it may as well be used here.

The word document available for download here has all the instructions (and I have left quite a bit of the article in there too)

Class Instructions for Exploding Box   Download exploding_box_blog.doc

As I had taken all the pictures I thought I would include those too. It didn't go to waste anyway as it is my Valentine gift for Nigel. We have now been married for almost 21 years and when I was making the box I was suprised at just how many pictures I found of the two of us together, from before we were married right up to the present day.

I printed all of the pictures in black and white as it gave the box a unified look rather than being a mix of so many different colours and styles. It was the fact I wanted the pictures in black and white that led me to use red black and white as the colour theme for the box.

  I used the same colour cardstock for the box and for the lid, again to give a unified theme, and I used up lots of love themed stickers and die cuts I had lying around. I stick them on top of the photos and raised them up on foam pads to give the finished box more dimension on each page. You don't have to use photographs on all 20 of the 20 inside 'pages' but I wanted to on this occasion as I wanted to show us, together through the past 21 years. It's pretty scary seeing how young we look in the first few layers. I put the oldest pictures in the central layer of the box and we get progressively older as the 'pages' get larger. Bit like us really - older and larger!

I hope that the instructions are useful to some of you - I based mine on the example on Two Peas by Lucasmom and that, if nothing else, it may inspire you to make one of these quick and simple boxes - yes they really are quick and simple .... honestly - for your loved one for Valentine's day.

Comments

[Jennie]

I saw this on the last issue and am so glad you have shared this instructions as I was SO disappointed when the mag folded. Looking forward to doing this at the crop next week. Thanks Karen.
Jennie xx

[jakki]

And I can vouch it's even more beautiful in real life.

Married for such a long time and still so much in love. You are truly blessed.

[Cath]

Its really stunning Karen. I'm sure he'll treasure it!

[Lori]

I'm so glad you've put this onto your blog, I did think it was a shame that no one would see it when the mag folded. It really is a fantastic piece of work.
Thank you also for your kind words on my blog. We still miss our little one dreadfully but I'm really finding scrapping theraputic. Hopefully I will have pics of some finished LOs posted soon.
x

[Paula]

So glad we can see this at last as I got all excited about "the coming issue" only to never be seen again. They did that with SBMagic too. Someone had done a fab layout with flowerpots, seed packets & never saw the light of day!!

[Suzanne]

It's so beautiful Karen, such a real shame it never got to print :(

[Eleni Gratsia]

Beautiful, beautiful work!!! :D

[jakey]

At last! Well worth the wait karen... :-)

[Jennie]

Loved this box Karen and was so disappointed that the mag didn't see the light of day. I did the class though and there is pic on my blog - though its not that good a shot - no natural light at this time of day! really enjoyed it - so another Thanks from me!
Jennie xx

[Susan]

Absolutely Beautiful! Thank you for sharing! I can not wait to make one!

Susan =^..^=

[Amanda]

wow that is so pretty. great job

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