I've always been intrigued by those explosion box albums (I think that's what they're called). I wanted something like that for my clubs, but didn't want anything nearly so involved...after all, there's buying to be done! As it turned out, this ended up being too time consuming for club, but it would make a fantastic class. So I just decided to do the class right here!
I just took the general idea of the box, without quite so many layers and added a flap to close it instead of a lid. I had to make lots of adjustments to get everything to fold and fit the way I wanted. So I've included finished, decorated pictures first, then I backed up to show you how to put it together and gave measurements later.
The final folded card measures 3 x3 and the flap has a magnetized closure. I used a 2-7/8" square piece of designer print to cover this outer panel. The flap has a 1 x 2-3/4 piece of coordinating print, and I rounded the bottom corners. I used the 3-heart punch, both oval punches and the scallop oval punch for outside decorations. The sentiment is from the new set Teeny Tiny messages. It will be a new favorite.
Magnets are great for these types of closures. I purchased mine at Archiver's but they are made by Basic Grey. They are self adhesive on one side.
The picture below shows the first opening. I used the owl from the new stamp, Animal Stories, stamped them in Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry, two of the new SU in-colors. The owls are backed with a Scallop Circled punched from Crushed Curry cardstock.
The lower panel is decorating using corner punches, and punched hearts. The faux stitching is done using the white gel pen from SU.
The next picture shows the bottom panel as it unfolds. It reveals the cross-piece that will also unfold. I just decorated the bottom panel with strips of paper and more hearts. The first flap of the cross piece is decorated with a strip of Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon and three punched flowers using the Trio Flower punch. Again faux stitches on flowers are the gel pen.
Once the outer flap of the cross-piece is unfolded you see the last flap. I decorated it like the previous flap.
When the card is completely unfolded it looks like this (below). You could put pictures or sentiments on any of these panels.
So, let's move to how you make this fold-out card. The 3" x 9" base is made from Melon Mambo. Lay it horizontally and score at 3" and 6" as shown.
Cut a 2-7/8" x 8-1/2" piece from Crushed Curry cardstock and score at 2-7/8" and again at 5-5/4 inches.
Turn the cross-piece (Crushed Curry) over and put strips of adhesive on just the middle panel.
Flip the cross piece over and adhere horizontally to the vertical Melon Mambo piece.
Make any additional trims on the outer right edge of the cross piece to make sure the left flap will fold over the right one. See how the right flap comes inside the score line on the left?
Your two score lines on the cross piece should fit just inside the outer edges of the center panel of the Melon Mambo piece.
Now you are ready to make the flap. Cut a 2-1/2" x 3" piece from Crushed Curry and round corners of one long side as shown. Score at 1" from the long straight edge, then again 1/8" from the first score line (toward the flap side). That score line doesn't show well here.
Put tape on the inside of the 1" portion of the flap as shown. This adheres to the back of the top Melon Mambo piece.
Here's a few of the flap from the back side of the card. You can see the second score line a little better in this photo.
Now turn the whole piece back over and you are ready to decorate the panels as describe at the beginning of the post.
Hope you enjoyed! It's an adorable little project and would make a great mini brag book, or a wonderful interactive addition to a scrapbook page.
As always, thanks for stopping in! Blessings on your day.
Gotta run. Thanks so much for taking the time to peek in. Your comments are always so encouraging and uplifting. They make me feel like an upsy daisy!!!
