Hexagonal Exploding box – stamped, tongue-in-cheek

30/11/2009 by UKMA 6 Comments

I always struggle between naming my posts something silly and catchy or naming it what it is, to make finding it easier. The Librarian in me thinks “card catalog” (or “search database”, as it is the 2000s) but my cheeky side wants to try to pun, or make some other sort of verbal joke with the title. I’ve not reconciled that quite yet.

It’s funny, in any case, how something like this comes together. Working on the UKS Library post on Exploding Boxes for the Home Page today, I realized that I have never made one. I see all the lovely examples and have 100 ideas for making one, but then it all seems to come to nothing in the end. But I was looking at examples and re-reading Voodoo Vixen’s instructions for the octagonal one she did for the UKS Summer Mini-Book event and said, once again, “I really must make one of those!” Then, while I was clearing up some debris from other projects on my desk I was forced into my stamp drawer. Looking at some of the oddball images I have had for years, which rarely work on a scrapbook page, I found many that seemed to be people in tears, or looking upset in some way. I started pulling together images that felt like they “went” together and in the end I had quite a few. Having recently experienced a few cases where people have been less than complimentary about the whole idea of scrapbooking, the seed of an idea began to flower.

I went back to VVs instructions and re-jigged them based on a hexagon. I got the basic shape from the net, just dragging the .jpg into a drawing program and re-sizing it as need be to get it where I wanted it to be. One problem I have had with EBs is they tend to be a bit on the small side, and my stamps were not tiny decorative ones. I based the largest hexagon on one that would give me the size sides I needed (nearly 2.5 inches) and still cut from a single sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock. The inner hexagon (and I went with just the two as I wanted to be able to see the images as clearly as possible when the box opened – three layers obscured more when it “exploded” than it revealed!) images of gossips, busybodies, and rubbernecking crowds, while the inner layer has what might be called despairing family members. The very angry red queen is my nod to the fact we live in the UK LOL!

There are a few bits of text (“Have you heard? She Scraps! NO!” “She does WHAT!?” “She’s got bats in her belfry!” and “What could be more embarrassing?” [yes, I added another R after the photo was taken too!]) and a scattering of popped bats (one has been added to the lady with the net, but you won’t see it on these photos) with some old Scenic Route papers and some coordinating bright scraps from a variety of lines. Cutting the SR surf board paper made it work, which I was pleased with as it would have sat in my stash for years otherwise. Stamped all the images with coloured Staz-on, and edged most edges with Distress Ink and that is about it. It went together faster than I thought it might, but I put that down to excellent instructions

It’s all for me, just my own private joke – it was fun and I am happy because now I can say I made an exploding box, even if it is a very non-traditional version.

 

 

If I get around to it I’ll do another photo with the changes incorporated but for now you can at least see what it looks like – sitting on my desk, it just makes me smile!

Happy Monday!