This craft is one of my favorites that I have ever made. The box holds about forty-five pictures, a few notes, and numerous pockets. In total I spent less than ten dollars on supplies, not including printing pictures. The best part, everything was found at the dollar store! There are many different variations to this box and the flaps. Take this tutorial as a guide and put your own flare to your creation. At the bottom is a video tour of my DIY Explosion Photo Box. So sit back, relax, and craft!
Supplies needed..
Box cutter or X-Acto knife
Foam board
Large gift bag (scrapbook paper can be used instead of gift bags)
Small gift bags 4 (pack of 2 was $1)
Poster board (red 2, white 2, black 1)
Pictures
Glue sticks/liquid glue
Ribbon
Lettered squares
Sharpie
Coloring book/printable (optional)
Velcro (optional)
Getting started..
Cut out the foam board on the dotted lines only to the dimensions shown (box cutter works best)
With the box cutter cut the solid lines only half way through the foam board (this allows for a hinge) If you accidentally cut all the way through the board just use a bit of tape to create a hinge
With a red poster trace the dimensions of the foam board and cut out (scissors)
With white poster board, trace the same dimensions; When cutting, cut a half-inch inside the traced lines
Repeat step three with black and red poster board, cutting a half-inch smaller each time (if you prefer to measure a half-inch, draw the lines, and then cut, feel free to do so!)
Print out any little messages you may want to color in, or draw and color a few on your own ("You mean the world to me" pictured above, is a printable I found online)
Assembly..
Glue the first red poster that is the exact dimensions of the foam board to the foam board (I used a glue stick but liquid glue may hold better)
Fold the foam board sides up, this will crease the red poster's flaps
Next glue just the center square of the white poster to the center square of the red poster that was just glued down; repeat step two
Repeat the previous step with the black and red poster board, just gluing the center squares down
Below are the items that I feel need explanation, again I want you to put your own creativity to the pages! Flip through the above photos for an idea of how to layout your photo box.
Envelopes: with a square piece of paper fold the bottom corner about 2/3 to the top corner (as shown). Fold both sides to the middle overlapping a bit. Fold the top down to where the top crease meets the top of the sides that were folded in (step 3 in picture). Place a tiny piece of Velcro on the flap to fasten it. Glue a small piece of ribbon to the back of the note that is put inside of the envelope for easy maneuvering.
Folding Pages: Chose five photos that you want to be able to fold out. I used the remainder of one of the red poster boards. This technique was used to display my daughters holiday pictures. Glue the first and second photo down leaving a half-inch between them. Continue to glue the other three pictures to the poster board. Carefully fold between the first and second pictures. Continue with the other photos. Glue the other three photos onto the back leaving the space on the back of where the first photo was glued blank. This technique holds nine photos.
File Technique: In this technique I fit six photos labeled "family"pictured above. I found a small piece of scrap paper from the gift bags and measured it to the length of poster board I wanted to put it on, leaving a half-inch on either side and about two inches tall. Fold both sides in by a half-inch and the bottom as well. Glue onto the desired flap on all sides except for the top. I followed the same instructions for a second "file" to go above the first, to hold shorter photos.
Flip Photos: This design holds about three or four photos. Gather the photos and place them on top of each other leaving about a quarter of an inch from the top of one picture to the top of the other. place the next photos on top leaving the same amount of space from the previous photo. The pictures are now in a descending pattern. Take a piece of tape and tape all the tops of the photos leaving the spaces between. Now they are able to flip-up one by one.
Other accessories..
To add little designs to pages or photos cut out hearts from the bags and glue them on. I also used ribbon to add borders around photos by gluing them on the top or bottom of photos. All of the backgrounds around the pictures were cut out from the gift bags. Use a Sharpie to write little notes on the sides of photos. I included: "Life with you feels like a holiday", "I love you", "Family", etc. I even cut out the entire design on one of the bags "Be Mine" and placed it on a flip page. Finally, I placed a piece of Velcro on a long strand of ribbon and attached it to the back of the box to be able to tie easily.
Notes for best results..
When choosing the gift bags look for bags with designs on all areas including the two sides. Purchase a few more poster boards if you want to make more than two "Folding Pages"or have a mishap. Always place your designs down first and glue second. Periodically fold the flaps up into a box formation to make sure that none of the designs prohibit the box from folding up. Take your time, and have FUN!!
This photo box fits a fairly large gift inside. You can add jewelry, chocolates, just about anything inside for your special someone. This project only took a few hours, and once I was passed assembly I was very excited to add my photos.
If you have any questions or want to share your photo box and be featured on the blog feel free to reach out!
Follow EASY PEASY LIFE BLOG on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM!
Comments