Exploding Box for the Husband

Me and my husband don’t celebrate our wedding anniversaries big, however, I wanted to give him something personal this year. It took a me a while to get any idea at all but in the end I remembered that a while ago I saw a box that kind of exploded into several layers. My box is quite simple and made from paper, which makes it perfect and easy to make at home. So I want to share how I made it and a few ideas on how to decorate an exploding box for your husband or boyfriend.

Material and tools (to make the base and decorated lid):

- 4 sheets A3 hard paper in any colors you want
- 1 m of thin ribbon
- scissors
- glue
- ruler
- pencil

To decorate:
- photos
- color paper thin and hards
- Scrapbooking paper or paper for business cards
- paper cutters, felted pens, acrylic paint and brushes...

From one sheet of hard paper cut a square 36 x 36 cm. Measure it into nine smaller squares of 12 x 12 cm. From a piece of paper cut a heart template that fits into one smaller square and aligns as shown in the picture. Using this template draw a heart in all the four corner squares. (picture 1)

Cut out the heart shape as you see in the picture. (picture 2)

Do the same in all four corners. Then score and fold all the black lines. Use a ruler and a pair of scissors to score the paper, or a paper cutter with a scoring knife. (picture 3)

When you’re done you should be able to fold the paper into a box shape. (pictures 4 and 5)

Lid

Next make the lid. Cut a square of 20,6 x 20,6 cm from hard paper. Score and fold all four sides 4 cm from the edge (red lines in picture 6).

Cut the 4 cm lines that are marked green in picture 7.

Fold the cut pieces upwards. these are the overlaps that you will glue to the sides of the lid. (picture 8)

Fold the sides of the lid upwards so they are perpendicular to the base of the lid, fold the overlaps inside and glue them. (picture 9)

Decoration

Lid

You can decorate the lid for example as follows: take two ribbons, cross them in the center of the lid and glue. Fold the ends of the ribbons inside the lid and glue again. (pictures 10 and 11)

Add bows in the center. (picture 12)

Inside the lid I put a simple paper envelope with a love letter:) (picture 13) To see how to make the paper envelope, check out this instructable.

And I used my acrylic paint for the little golden heart on the lid. (picture 14)

Base

Now decorate the first layer of your box. (pictures 15 and 16) If you want to make the same box for photos that I made, you can check out this instructable. In it you'll find how I made the envelopes with the blue ribbon - I put our family photos in them. Then I used the heart template to cut out half hearts slightly smaller than the corners of the box and glued them there. Each half heart has one of our "accomplishments" written on it - basically the numbers since we got together. You can write how many children you have, to how many countries you've traveled together (or how many km) etc.

Let’s make the second layer. Cut out another hard paper square, this time 33 x 33 cm and draw a grid of 9 squares 11 x 11 cm. Cut off the corner squares. (picture 1)

Score the lines connecting the squares and fold. (picture 2)

Glue the second layer in the center of the bottom of the first layer. (picture 3)

Decoration:

I decorated the 2nd layer with the following: (pictures 4 - 7)

1. Squash card - instructable here

2. Tiny envelopes - you can write short messages in them, "I love you" in several languages, put small photos...

3. Twirl card

4. A message in a "closed window" with a blue ribbon

Make the third layer in the same way you made the second one, just this time the square you start with will be 3 cm smaller. That means 30 x 30 cm and you draw a grid of nine squares of 10 x 10 cm. Then continue with the same steps. I also used the round corner cutter to shape the corners round. (picture 1)

Once again, there are no limits to your imagination and to how you decide to decorate the third layer. This time I went just for photos. In the end I made a smaller box which I put in the folded exploding box, it has a small gift in it. (picture 2)

Pictures 3 and 4 - finished exploding box.

I hope this instructable was helpful!