Explosion Box Tutorial

 Can you believe that we're already thinking about Christmas? Danny and I are getting new holiday items ready for the Etsy shop, so we're really getting in the spirit.

One of my favorite new pieces is this Christmas explosion box. On the outside it's just a pretty box ...

... but inside there is a surprise! It's a triple explosion of pages perfect for journaling, photos or other memories.

It's not as difficult as it may seem - read on to find out how easily you can put your own explosion box together.

The first thing you'll want to do is make a template. You'll be making a few measurements and cuts, so I find it quicker and easier to make a template first and cut the time to make another one in half.

You'll need five pieces of 12x12 inch card stock to make your template. Measure it into nine 4-inch squares.

Then cut out the four corners on the lines you just made. Don't fold it. Just set it aside.

Do the same thing with a 10.5-inch square of paper, measuring out nine 3.5-inch squares. Again, don't fold it, just cut out the corners.

Do it again with a 9-inch square of paper, measuring out nine 3-inch squares and cut out the corners.

Finally, cut a 6 1/16-inch square for the lid. The extra 1/16th of an inch will allow the lid to easily slip over the box sides. Measure an inch border around the entire square. From the bottom righthand corner, cut up the vertical line to make a tab. Rotate the paper and do the same thing in all four corners, making four tabs.

And there's your templates. Use these to easily cut out the colors of card stock you want to use for your project, as I did here with the Christmas colors. This is so much easier for me than measuring and cutting over and over.

Then just decorate however you'd like! The inside is as tall as your outside box is, so you can put all sorts of 3D objects inside - a tall tree, an ornament, candy, birthday cake, candle - you name it. Make sure you decorate the lid, too, and make it all coordinate.