Boxing Clever!

Hi everyone!

So we're well into January now and with the New Year it's time to try something new!

I've long been meaning to have a go at making an exploding box card. There are two types of box card - the type that have one, two or three layers which open out flat and fold up to make a box with a cute little lid. The type I prefer, and have had a go at here, fold flat to fit in an ordinary envelope.

There are loads of examples on Pinterest and you can also find different size templates. I have used a piece of card 81/2" x 5" and each box 'wall' is 2" wide, the extra 1/2" being the tab to glue it together. This is my template.

Once you have cut out and folded your piece of card it should look like this:

I used white card and then covered the box 'walls' with embossed or patterned paper for my designs and then embellished accordingly. You could use a piece of coloured card and then just embellish the sections. Make sure you embellish all the outer sides (except the back of the tall section) and the inside back tall section before sticking the box together using the tab. Next cut the middle 'pop-up' supports - that's the separate bit on the template! Fold the end pieces different ways so that they form a sort of zig-zag. Stick them into the card so that they are both facing the same way and will fold flat when the card is folded flat. You should find that it folds naturally to the right as shown in my photo.

Here is my completed card:

I used co-ordinating papers from the Trimcraft Floral Fancy 6" x 6" paper pad. 6" x 6" papers work really well for this size card - you can cover and embellish using 2 or 3 papers. I used a vine die to add height to my card and stuck flowers to it but you can add a couple of vertical card supports or use larger die cut shapes and stick smaller ones to them. Cut a piece of co-ordinating plain paper 2" x 5" to fit the back of the tall section, Add your greeting before sticking to the back.  This size card fits into a 5" x 7" envelope providing you don't make the embellishment too tall!

Here are a couple of other designs I made:

An 18th card for a friends daughter, I used my nesting star dies for this one and a star burst die to add height. I cut larger stars and stuck smaller ones to the points.

This was my first box card, I used a fancy heart die for the silver hearts, a large scallop heart punch for the white hearts as supports for medium punched sparkly hearts.

Exploding box cards are now my favourite cards to make so I think quite a few people will be receiving these for special occasions this year!

Back soon with some more fabulous makes!

L x