Explosion Box Pt 7

I've almost finished the explosion box now. I've just got to make one final pop-up mini-card to go in the last empty slot inside - I'm very grateful to Carol of Extreme Cards and Papercafting Blog who, despite not having time to do a full tutorial at the moment, has very kindly emailed me some photos and instructions which I shall do my best to follow if I get time tomorrow.

I've decorated the outside now. The sides still bulge, but it can't be helped - and I've noticed that other people's bulge as well, so I don't suppose it matters! I did the panels with 2 different Spellbinders Nestability dies and rubber stamped the butterflies. There are some more butterflies on the top as well.

The large flower I made, following some excellent instructions on Youtube from Dawn of Stampin' Up - very easy to do and great fun too. You just cut 8 scalloped circles from card stock, ink the edges and then damp them down well with a water spray. You then screw each one up into a tiny ball, and carefully flatten them. They are very fragile when wet. Then you make a hole in each one, and thread them all onto a brad, and pinch each layer upwards separately. After that you gently tease them down to "fluff up" the flower. I'm too impatient to wait for things to dry, so I speeded up the process with my heat gun, and then I sprayed it with glimmer mist for a final lustrous finish. The other flowers were purchased ones, but I added a quick spritz of glimmer mist just to finish them off.

The ribbon round the sides of the lid is from an Easter egg and there was just the right amount! (Shoshi never throws anything away…) I think the little decal I made shows the bow off better than without.

Adding the panels to the sides, with small extensions to cover the edge at the base, and then sticking on the final base, means that the outer flaps of the box don't flap down absolutely flat when you "explode" the box. This actually gives a better effect.

If I manage to finish the last pop-up, I'll post a photo.