A 'Swaddle' Baby Boy & Baby Girl Exploding Box With Tutorial

For today's project I have my very first try at an exploding box.  I've used both the baby boy & baby girl versions of the 'Swaddle' collection by Authentique for these projects.

I got the idea for this sort of exploding box from a YouTube video that I saw promoting a die that creates the cuts for this style of box.  The origin of the die is in the United Kingdom.  I loved what the die did & I searched for it here in the states--but was not able to find it.  I found a shop in the UK that would ship worldwide but found it a bit costly to have it shipped here.  In the end I decided to try my own version of what this die creates & these exploding boxes would be the end result.

It's a bit more work but I like how they came out.  What I like best about creating your own--is the flexibility of this project.  You can make the boxes bigger or smaller--you'd just have to adjust the measurements based on what size box you decide to make.

The boxes measure 4 3/4" x 4 3/4" inches & are approximately 3" inches deep.  These exploding boxes open up to reveal four smaller boxes.  The four inner smaller boxes measure approximately 3" x 3" inches.

The smaller boxes can be used to store several types of different items.  Anything from chocolates to mementos, memorabilia, photos, trinkets...just about any sort of bits & bobs can be stored.  These would make for a really cute baby shower gift and just think of the possibilities when you make these in a different theme--such as for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day etc...

Here's the baby girl version.  I kept the decorating of these boxes similar for both the boy & girl versions.  The baby girl exploding box is available for sale in my Etsy shop The Midnight Kraft Desk.

This baby rattle 'shaker' was made from one of the 3" x 4" inch cut a-parts from the collection.  I had circle dies in my stash that matched the diameter of the baby rattle in the cut a-part...from there I created a miniature shaker & then fussy cut the rattle from the cut a-part & adhered it to the lid with pop dots to give it some dimension.

I love collecting mini items of just about everything.  :-)  Mini flocked teddy bears, ducks, bunnies, mushroom birds, mini lambs...anything in miniature I collect.  As you can see, they make for such a cute embellishment for these sort of projects!

I also loved the fact that for both boxes, the 4" x 4" inch cut a-part that I used as the base for my boxes places the face of the baby images right in the middle so they are visible from top.  This was such an awesome coincidence!

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Embellishments - Authentique, Fabric Flowers - The Midnight Kraft Desk, Other - Felt Flowers, Mulberry Paper Flowers, Sequins, Seed Beads, Rhinestone Frame

Below you will find two videos.  One is an overview of both boxes.  The second is a tutorial showing how I went about creating the base for these boxes.  Thanks for stopping by & enjoy!