The Mini Bloom Box Tutorial

A special thank you to Laura Bicks from my Creative Team for writing up this wonderful tutorial for my brand new Mini Bloom Box Template.

Take it away, Laura!!

Today I will show you how to make a Mini Bloom Box or “exploding box” as some of you might know. It is so easy and fun to make! Let’s get to it shall we?

Products used:

• Used Photoshop to create this project but you can use any software that can manage .png files!
• Every Life Has a Story- The Collection by TDC Designers
• Coordinating color cardstock paper
• Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Mini Bloom Box Template
• Premium matte photo paper
• Glue dots/ tape runner/ hot glue gun
• Cutter Bee scissors and paper trimmer
• Bone Folder
• Paper edger (rounded)
• Paperclips
• Tim Holz distressed ink in “Walnut Stain”
• Flower embellishments, ribbon, and buttons

HOW TO:
1) First I opened up Kelleigh’s template in Photoshop. I knew before starting that I wanted to add an additional little matte to the photos. To do that, I made a small square on each template where the photo should go. I sized them so that you could see all the edges and then I clipped my pictures to the smallest one. I left out the middle one (my matte) so that I could use it as a template later on. You can see in the photo, I have a gray square. This is my matte template. I did this for all 3 layers of the box. Of course, you can achieve the same effect digitally, however I wanted my project to have even more dimension. When I printed my papers, I flipped the paper over and printed an additional patterned paper on the back so that when I cut out the shape, the back had a design on it too! (You don’t have to “clip” it to the template either.)
2) Now let’s get to cutting!! Cut everything out with scissors or a paper edger. I wanted to assemble the lid first to let it dry while I worked on the rest of the project. I cut out the top box and assembled it. I placed paper clips on the sides to hold the edges in place.

3) Now it’s time to cut out the photo mattes! I used regular cardstock that I had lying around. I cut out each of the 3 templates I made, and then traced them on my cardstock.

Then I used my paper trimmer to cut them all out.

4) For a different look, I rounded all of my edges with a paper edger!

5) This is what it should look like when everything is cut out and ready to go.

6) Once you have everything cut out, you will want to score each of the layers of box. I also inked my edges.

7) Now we are going to put the box together. Start with the largest one and put tape around the edges in the middle. Do this for the next two layers.

When finished it should look like this….

8) After putting the box together, I started to glue the photos to the photo mattes. Then I glued those to the box.

9) Now that it’s assembled it’s time to decorate! I used flowers, buttons and ribbon!

And now here is the finished product!! It wasn’t so bad huh? Pretty easy and lets not forget FUN!!

So there you have it! These make awesome gifts for family or friends. Thanks for letting me share this with you!

The Mini Bloom Box Tutorial

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