Snowflake Tree Explosion Box

Beginning last year all of us grandkids give our grandparents a variety of gift cards instead of things. They have said themselves that they really don’t need “things” so the gift cards were a great solution. This year was my turn to create the packaging for the gift cards. I really wanted to make something unique that would really wow them. So I created a tall explosion box using Night Sky shimmer cardstock (not SU) for the lid. For the sides of the box I used Bashful Blue cardstock that was stamped with Serene Snowflakes in Whisper White Craft, Bashful Blue, Frost White shimmer paint, and Pacific Point. I used some silver ribbon with snowflakes from my stash (not SU) to tie around the box.

On the inside the panels are layered with Night of Navy and Very Vanilla on four sections, and Night of Navy and Whisper White on the other four sections. The patterned paper is from my stash (not SU). Three of the panels have more Night Sky shimmer paper cut and punched with the slit punch to hold the six gift cards. The last panel is left blank so we can write a message to our grandparents. The “tabs” on the panels have sponged scenes.

The tree in the middle took the most amount of time. I use my electronic cutter with the Winter Woodland cartridge and cut hundreds of Snowflake #4 in the various sizes from 5 ½ inches down to one inch from Whisper White cardstock. I then glued two of the same sized snowflakes together for each layer of “branches” on the tree. I then pierced a hole in the center of the snowflake layers and threaded them onto a wire from my jewelry making stash. To separate the layers of the snowflakes I glued together a stack of circles that I punched out and used my cropodile to punch a small hole in the center of the stack. These are used on several of the bottom layers for the larger snowflakes. When I tried to just use a bead between these layers my large snowflakes rested at a downward angle. The stacked circles solved this problem. For the smaller layers I just used a white bead in between each layer. After threading on all of the snowflakes, circles, and beads I used my needle nose pliers to bend a small loop in the end of the wire at the top of the tree. This is to keep the snowflakes from falling off. I then cut off the tabs on two pewter snowflake brads and used several mini glue dots to glue the brads on either side of the wire loop for the star on the tree. To finish it off I made some glimmer mist from alcohol and the Frost White shimmer paint and sprayed the tree to give it a slight shimmer.

Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the box closed up before Christmas, but the real WOW is the inside anyway.
I just love this box and it really did wow everyone in my family. It took a lot of time, but it was well worth it.