Tuesday, September 18, 2012

O-o-o-o-o-h it's magic............. heh.

A couple of weeks ago, Kittie and I were oohing and aahing over the beautiful explosion boxes by Elaine at Magic-Boxes.com - since neither of us had really done anything like these before, we decided to give it a go together! Hope you'll check out her project too, and let us know what you think! Kittie's our newest DT member at Impression Obsession, and it is such a treat to work with her!

Here is the basic tutorial that we followed, in case you'd like to try making a box too - leave us a link if you make one so we can see!

I have to confess that my initial attempt at making one of these boxes was a major FAIL. Apparently I failed to really read the directions... I didn't reinforce my box sides, had too much 'stuff' in my box, and my butterflies were way too tall, so everything was bulging.... and instead of opening with an impressive 'sproing', my box opened like this........ a lovely, tangled mess. 


 THEN I read the instructions. "Oh, LAYER the panels... and the tallest butterfly shouldn't be higher than the edge of the box...? Mmmwhoops..."

At that point my creative process became one of surgery and rescue. I removed the main elements from the box base, and made a few trims. The lid was fine, and I reused the side panels... so here's what I ended up with. It's still not perfected - the sides need more weight, and it was a little work untangling the branches and butterflies, but..... it's better. A little.

OK, just pretend.

Kittie and I decided we would try these just for fun, and not allow ourselves to be stressed over them. I don't know how her process went, but knowing her detailed work, I'm sure hers will be much more impressive than mine. I chose not to stress. I laughed. A lot. At myself. I am just not skilled with dimensional projects. It's why I work on small canvases, and I have no decorations in my house. 

All the dies I used are from Impression Obsession. I also used a smaller butterfly punch from Martha Stewart.

I'm proudest of the bird nest that I made using the wreath die - I have another one on a card project I'll share Thursday. I used the center cut-out as the base, cutting it to the center and shaping it into a shallow cone shape. I laughed at the proportion of the butterflies to the nest too. Pretend it's a hummingbird nest.

I hope you'll pop over to Kittie's blog to view her magic box! It's fun to try new things sometimes... but I think I'll stick to coloring!  I'll be back Thursday with my nest card.... have a great day!

  Thanks for stopping by!

11 comments:

  1. Dina, this is amazing. Your bird's mest is wonderful and I can't wait to try it. I love all of the wonderful flying butterflies. Your leaf and butterfly arrangement on the box top is perfect. Thanks for all the fun and encouraging me to try this. From one dimensional detai challenged girl to another. What fun to stretch ourselves and laughat ourselves, too. Hugs!

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  2. Totally awesome. I love seeing explosion boxes at their best and you and Kittie have done that. I need to follow your blog. If it wasn't for Kittie, I would be about $300 richer....I started buying more dies...haha Oh my...now I see your blog and you've added to that continuing buying of dies. I almost bought the wreath die at a show last week. Now I'm heading the the web to get the wreath after seeing your beautiful porject. Thank you for the inspiration and started my day off with a bang....explosing box that is...haha

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  3. Dini, your magic box is lovely! The idea of having a butterfly flying out of the nest reminded me of the process of the caterpillar/butterfly. It was just a lovely idea. I got a good laugh at your first attempt. Not at the project itself but... I didn't read all of Kittie's blog or yours at first. And I couldn't figure out how the acetate was attached ~ duh, read the whole thing (including the directions). See, you're not the only one. : ) Thanks for sharing your boo boo with us LOL.

    I'm going to definitely try this. Good for the two of you for sharing some fun and passing it on to us.

    God Bless my friend,
    Susie Lessard ~

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  4. And for sharing your finished (after some trimming) project too. See, not only do I not always read though the piece, I hit the send button to early too! LOL

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  5. Dina this is beautiful...love that even you had to re-work it...makes me know you are a mortal and that gives me hope that I can possibly create such a gorgeous project. I love the nest...my blog is called the Empty Nest Crafter so I know that I have to try to make one of them! I loved this and can only imagine how much work it was to create.

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  6. I made an explosion box a few years ago and gave it to my daughter for her birthday with pictures of her growing up inside. When she opend it she was pleasantly surprised. She has it displayed in her glass curio cabinet and stores it proudly. I know she loved it and meant a lot to her. It makes a lovely gift.

    Yours turned out devine!!! TFS...
    Hugs...Leanne

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  7. Your explosion box is beautiful. Thanks for sharing your "failure" with us. I would probably have done the same thing -- overloaded the box with too much stuff (more is better, right?). I'm not sure I will ever be brave enough to try one of these, but if I do, I'll be sure to keep your suggestions in mind.

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  8. Simply amazing! You are so inspiring!

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  9. This is wonderful! I love the bird nest and all the great elements!

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  10. Dina, explosion box investigation yielded lovely elements and a huge pat on the back for courage in art! What grand adventures! Well done!
    Keep Looking UP! mt23stamperatyahoo

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  11. That is the most beautiful and unexpected thing I've ever seen... I'd love to make one for my Mothers 88 Birthday!!!

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