March Pals Blog Hop - celebrating spring

Welcome to the March Pals Blog Hop where we are celebrating spring. This month we are featuring spring related projects for Mother’s Day, Easter or any other occasion that celebrates winter coming to an end.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from #9 Denise Hoepfner at The Mountain Magpie  on the Pals Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all of the amazing creations.

 

This spring, I'm thinking of babies. My niece is due any day now and her and her husband didn't want to know the sex of the baby and want it to be a surprise.  Her shower was last week, so I opted for a gift card holder in the form of an exploding box!  I knew the beautiful colors of Lullaby Designer Series Paper, Something for Baby Stamp Set + Baby's First Framelits Die bundle would be perfect for this project!

Remove the lid and box explodes open, revealing adorable baby images in neutral green & yellow.  I will admit, this project did take a little time to create, but it was so worth it and so much fun.

The inspiration for this exploding box is from Agnieszka of scrappassion. Her exploding boxes are works of art and I'm astounded by her talent. Unfortunately, I believe it's in Polish, so I can't read her blog, but I still enjoy gazing at the photos of her creations.

I'll try to walk you through the process on how I created it:

• I started with a sheet 12" x 12"  Whisper White Card Stock.
• Score at 4" on all 4 sides. Score on the fold lines and cut out the 4 squares on each corner. 
• Cut 10 pcs. of pattern paper measuring 3-7/8" x 3-7/8" and adhere to 4 to the outside of the box and 5 on the inside, reserving 1 for the lid. I used Stampin' Up!s - Lullaby. All items I used to create this box can be viewed at the very end of this post, unless otherwise noted.

• I found this wonderful tutorial for baby shoes for either a boy or a girl from Tara's Craft Studio. They are so precious! I chose the Mary Jane pattern and printed it on the wrong side of my pattern paper. I cut the shoes using my Paper Snips, which by the way,  are the bomb for fussy cutting.
• I glued a little lace around the bottom, because I'm secretly hoping for girl ;)
• I also found an awesome tutorial for making tiny roses using punches by Kathy Orta Files.

• Lift the flap where the baby shoes are attached to reveal a sentiment and spot for a gift card or cash.

• For each of the 4 flaps, I cut a 3-1/2" scallop circle using the embossed Irresistibly Yours Speciality DSP, currently free with a $50 purchase during Sale-A-Bration.  If you don't own a 3-1/2" scallop circle die, you could substitute a plain circle using the Circle Framelits.
• The inner circles measure 2-3/4" and I cut two in pattern paper for each flap, tearing one in half and adhered to the center.
• Most of the images, I stamped twice and cut using the matching framelit. To give it dimension I  popped up the 2nd image using Stampin' Dimensionals.
• I stamped the images in Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding and So Saffron onto Whisper White CS. The color yellow in the Lullaby DSP is actually Hello Honey, which I thought was too dark and So Saffron was a nice substitute.
•  A few little pearls are the finishing touch.

• To make the lid, I cut a piece of Whisper White CS that measured 6-1/8" x 6-1/8". Score 1" on all 4 sides. Cut on the 1" score lines up to the intersecting score line on one side and then repeat on the opposite side.
• Attach 3-7/8" x 3-7/8"pcs. of pattern paper to the center. Cut and attach 4 pcs. 7/8" x 3-7/8" for each side.
• Add adhesive to flaps and assemble lid.
• Add doily to the center with a mini glue dot.
• Tie bow using the 5/8" Whisper White Satin Ribbon and attach to the center.
• The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamped in Pistachio Pudding ink onto Whisper White CS and punched out using the Oval Punch. Layered it to Pistachio Pudding CS I punched out using the Modern Label Punch and layered again onto So Saffron Oval.
• I added a pearl and punched a small hole on the opposite end using a paper piercer and tied to the bow with Whisper White Bakers Twine.

I will definitely make more of these exploding boxes and I hope that I may have inspired you to make one too!

The next stop is #11 Natalie Bradley at Soiree by Natalie Bradley on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you next month.

1. Susan Itell at Simple Stampin
2. Angela Curry at Kindred Stampers
3. Sherrie Gross at Stampin' Sunshine
4. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
5. Jackie Diediker at Stampin' Jackie
6. Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping
7. Amy Whelan at Amy's Inklings
8. Patti MacLeith at Papercrafts By Patti
9. Denise Hoepfner at The Mountain Magpie
10. Beth Beard at My little craft blog
11. Natalie Bradley at Soiree by Natalie Bradley
12. Michelle Gleeson at StampinMojo
13. Debbie Crowley at expressively deb...
14. Jane Knudsen at see jane stamp
15. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
16. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven's Retreat
17. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits from Dawn
18. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
19. Candy Ford at Stamp Candy
20. Karen Hallam at Karen's Blog
21. Susan Lankford at Stamp and Create With Susan
22. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
23. Kerry Willard Bray at Peonies and Paper Chains
24. Kim Jolley at Stampin' Artfully
25. Martie Pollard at The Crafty Bandit
26. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin'
27. Benjaman Turner at He Stamps
28. Lynn Kolcun at Stamping with Avery's Owlery
29. Liz Gautreaux at Kind Deeds Stampin
30. Amy Hoptay at Inking of You!
31. September Gray at septembergray.com
32. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper
33. Becky Volpp at inkblossomwithbecky.com
34. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
35. Brian King at Stamp with Brian

Please click on Stampin' Up! product images below for more details about the product and easy on-line shopping:

Something For Baby Clear-Mount Bundle

$39.75

Something For Baby Wood-Mount Bundle

$46.50

Lullaby Designer Series Paper

$10.95

Whisper White 12" X 12" Card Stock

$5.95

Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Baked Brown Sugar Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

So Saffron 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

$6.95

Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper

$0.00

Tea Lace Paper Doilies

$2.95

Glue Dots

$4.95

Liquid Multipurpose Glue

$3.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon

$6.95

Twine Baker's Whisper White

$2.95

Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments

$4.95

Paper Snips Scissors

$9.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Paper-Piercing Tool

$3.95

Large Oval Punch

$15.95

Modern Label Punch

$16.95

Extra-Large Oval Punch

$16.95

Big Shot

$99.95

Circles Collection Framelits Die

$26.95

Teeny Tiny Wishes Wood Stamp Set

$36.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.