Crafty Crease #20: One Page Exploding Box

For my big 40th Birthday last year, my talented sister in law made me this amazing multi page exploding box.  She revealed to me later that she discovered it on YouTube.  So I thought that I would give it a try.  Well...there are so many to choose from and so many varieties.  But the one that stood out for me was the one page box (plus a bit more for the lid).  It was ridiculously easy to make that my young nieces could make it.  It basically consists of nine 4" squares.  Each square can be be decorated with a photo or embellishments and then the whole thing can be folded up into a box that will stay as such with a lid.  You can put something extra special in the box if you wanted to.

The Tutorial

In this tutorial, I will use my scor pal with imperial measurements.  However, if you don't have one you could easily measure this out.

This is what you will need to make the basic box and lid:

1 x12' square piece of patterned card
1 x large piece of co ordinating scrap card for the lid
Scor pal OR 
Ruler & pencil
Scissors
Bone folder
Double sided tape

Metric Preparation:

Most card for scrapbooking is made in 12' squares.  This equates in metric terms to 30.5 cm.  Before ruling up, you will need to cut off 1/2 a centimeter from the side and bottom to give you a 30 cm square card.

The Box 

Place the 12 inch sheet on the score pal and score at 4' &8'.
Or rule at 10 cm & 20 cm
Rotate 90 degrees.
Score again at 4' and 8'. (10 cm &20cm)

Your sheet will how have 9 squares.

Make a cut up to each intersetion as indicated by the red arrows above.

The Lid 

Using the scrap card, find or create a flat corner to align to the top left of the score pal.
Score at 1', 5' & 6' or rule at 3cm, 13cm & 16cm
Flip over or rotate the card 90 degrees

Score again at 1', 5' & 6'
Cut out using the outside score line as a guide.
Cut the left hand score line up to the fold line intersection on each side to create flaps.

With the right side facing up, place double sided tape onto each tab.

Peel off tape and fold the tab inwards to sit on the fold line.
Align the long side to the tab corner.
Repeat for the other 3 tags...

The lid completed!!

Putting it all together

Use a bone folder to fold up the small flaps.
Press firmly to create a good crease.
Repeat this on all sides.

Use a bone folder to fold up the large flaps.
Press firmly to create a good crease.
Repeat this on all sides.

With the wrong side facing up, pick up one of the large flaps.

Half of the flap should be able to fold around creating an 'L' shape
that will sit on the fold lines of the middle square.

Pick up the next large flap and repeat the previous step.

Keep repeating this action until you have a loose box.

Secure the box with the lid!

Now that the basic box has been completed, you are able to decorate and embellish it as you please.  The box is a perfect alternative to a card.....you have 9 squares that you can add photos, mementos, stamps, stickers, messages, anything really.  However, if you make the box bulky you will need to add a mm or two to the lids dimensions so that it can all be secured.

Depending on how generous you feel, you can put your gift in the middle, chocolates, a cupcake, etc...

When the recipient opens the box, the whole thing should easily fall into a flat one page with just a little encouragement.