Explosion Boxes!!

Following the wonderful tutorial that Nicole posted, I was able to build some really cute explosion boxes.  Can I just say her video tutorial was excellent and I am really glad to now know how these go together.  They are really very simple; just take some time to put together.  Anyway, here are mine:

I made three.  Each contain pictures of my 3 adult sons and are going to be gifts to my daughters-in-law at some point in the future.  So, if Kristiana, Elisha or Olivia are reading this...the cat's out of the bag! :)  (I don't think you will mind too much?) 

In case you are one of the few people that are really not sure what an explosion box is all about, I will fill you in.   Once you remove the cute lid to the box, something wonderful happens.....

All the walls come tumbling down and a fun scrapbook in box happens.  This one is about my oldest son, Jeremy.  He is now 25 and almost a daddy!

Here is a close up on a little envelope I made with a photo hidden inside.

Something I incorporated in all of the boxes for my sons was some information I gleaned from them at an early age and added to their scrapbooks many years ago.  I thought it would be fun to add this as some fun journaling.

This box was made for my 3rd son, Jordan.  He is 20 and serving in the Coast Guard.

I used my cricut frequently while putting these little pages together.

The 3rd box was made about my son, Brandon.  He is my 2nd son, 23 and attending college.  I used some of the same elements for each of these boxes, but it was fun to find how differently they looked with each application.

Here is a close up.  Even a boys' page can have a little bling on it.  :)

I tried to be a little creative and make a family photo into a flower pot, then I was able to use a few extra photos as the "flowers".  Kind of different.  Hopefully Brandon won't mind too much that he is a flower AND has a page with "bling"!

I guess you could say in my home this motto has always been true.  My 4th son, Trey, who still lives at home asked me if when he gets married someday I will make his wife one of these too.  (he's 14!)  Kind of cute....I told him he can never get married....at this point, he's okay with that!

If you like this idea and want to make one for yourself, go watch the tutorial by Nicole and be sure to tell her I sent you!  :)

~Shelley