Make My Day Camp: Explosion Box (Part 1

I made this explosion box last year for Brooke's graduation present - yes I made it a year ago and am just now posting! It's just that it's a bit of work (but not hard, just time consuming) and there's so much I added to it that I just kept putting off writing it up for you. But it's time!

An explosion box is folded pieces of paper layered on top of each other creating the base of the box that you decorate as you like, with another piece of paper folded to make a top. After adding however many layers you want to the base and decorate/fill it, you fold up the box and put the top on. When the recipient lifts the top off, the box falls open to reveal all the surprising layers and gifts.

my explosion box is 4 layers with pockets, pull outs,
accordion folds...there's a lot going on here!

You can make it much simpler than I did, I kept adding layers and went a little extra because I was having so much fun making it! I searched for different ideas online, there's a lot of inspiration out there if you want to make your own explosion box - everything from very detailed and layered, to a simple one-layer thing. Up to you!

There's too much to my final product to show you all at once so I'll space it out over a couple-three posts. Today I'm going to show you how to make the base layer and lid without any decorations. For the finished product I combined a whole bunch of ideas, but for the base layer and lid I followed the directions found at 'it's always autumn'.

Here is her instructions, and she made a video that you can watch if you click on the above link. I took pictures of the process that follow her printed directions:

4.75 from 4 votes

Explosion Box

Learn how to make a cool explosion box full of photos and notes for a fun DIY gift. Use our printable template and cutting chart to make it easy.

Prep Time1 hr

Ingredients

12x12 inch Solid Colored Card Stock 1 per layer you'd like to include
1 sheet Printed Card Stock
Adhesive
Paper Trimmer with Scoring Blade see note
Photos
Embellishments

Instructions

Print the cutting decide and decide how many layers you would like to make your box. My box has three layers and uses the dimensions that are highlighted in light yellow. Cut your solid card stock to the dimensions listed on the cutting guide.
Find the scoring measurement for the largest piece of cardstock. Measure in from one edge of the cardstock and score (for example, 4 inches in on a 12 inch piece of card stock). Rotate the paper 90 degrees and repeat. Repeat twice more until the card stock has been scored 4 times. This will divide the sheet of paper into 9 equal size boxes. Repeat with the other layers of cardstock.
Fold in the card stock along all scored lines. Again, you should see 9 equal size boxes on each sheet of card stock.
On the largest piece of card stock, make a diagonal fold through each of the corner boxes. The diagonal fold should fold "down" while the other folds fold "up". Watch the video for a good explanation of this step.
On the largest piece of cardstock, trace the heart from the cutting guide and cut it out as shown.
One the other pieces of card stock, cut away the corner boxes. Layer the largest piece of cardstock on the bottom, then center the next piece over it and adhere on the center box only. Repeat with any other layers.
Print the lid template on the back of the printed card stock (trim it to fit in your printer if needed). Cut along the solid lines, then score and fold along the dashed lines. At each corner, cut up to where the dotted lines meet from one side only. You are not removing the corners; you are making a flap so you can glue the lid together.
Fold over the flat at each corner and add adhesive, then press to adhere the flap to the side next to it, creating a box lid.
Decorate the box as desired, adding pictures, notes, embellishments, etc. When finished, gather up the sides of the box, folding the hearts in toward the center, and place the lid on top.

Notes

If you don't have a paper trimmer with a scoring blade, you'll need another way to cut and score your cardstock. You may use a ruler and an exacto knife to cut the card stock, or even scissors if you cut carefully. For scoring, you can use a ruler and the back of a butter knife, or a different type of scoring tool.

starting with a 12" square piece of cardstock, score and fold every 4 inches
for a total of 9 (4") squares.

her site gives you a heart template to shape the 4 corners. Turn the paper
over and trace around or freehand a heart shape as seen above. Please note
this photo is wrong, I traced on the paper before turning it over.

with the paper turned over, score a fold line thru half of the heart as seen above and below,
you want the score line thru the heart the opposite of the score lines on the squares. This will
help when folding the box. The diagonal line thru the heart will fold 'down' while the
other score lines will fold 'up'. See the next pictures:

hopefully the pictures above and below help you see what I was talking about with the folds!

To make the lid, she has a template that you can print onto your piece of paper so you don't have to measure as much. My problem with the template is that the score/fold lines aren't the same on all 4 sides for some reason. So I just measured my own fold lines. The box I made above ends up being 4" square so I wanted the lid to be just a little bit bigger, I made it 4 1/4" square.

For the lid - start with a 7" square piece of cardstock or decorative paper. In the example below I'm using purple cardstock but for the final product I used decorative paper which is the first photo at the top of this post. Score at 1 3/8" on all sides, fold. Using the photos below as a guide, cut one side of each of the corner squares just to the fold line: