Glitter Exploding Box! (plus altering a cutting file)

Hello! I have an exciting project for you today using glitter cardstock to make an exploding box! I use a pre-designed cutting file, but alter it to make it bigger! This box is a great way to give small gifts in a fun and exciting way!

I started with a pre designed cutting file for an exploding box. This is a great file and you can make the base of the box from a piece of 12×12 cardstock. But I needed something a little bigger than that.

The first thing I did was enlarge the box to the size I needed. Make sure that you select the top of the box (that is the piece off to the left of the mat on the screen), this way they will be enlarged at the same proportions and fit together when cut. That is the only alteration you will need to make to the lid of the box – it will fit onto a 12×12 piece of cardstock. That center square will be the bottom of the box which will give you an idea of how big the box will be when put together. This goes outside the lines of a 12×12 piece of paper so we need to adjust it.

I made a cut line across the middle of one of the flaps. This will allow us to cut the base of the box onto a 12×12 piece of cardstock – but the side flaps will be short. The next step is how to fix that.

I used the square tool to make a square the same size of the unaltered flap. We can cut four of these from the same cardstock we cut the base and then just glue them onto the base. This will give us our enlarged base!

I copied and pasted that square onto a new cutting page to get 4 of the same size – these will be the panels we glue onto the base to make our full box base.

I used the DCS White Glitter heavyweight cardstock to make the base. It is 111# and is thick and sturdy – a great cardstock for a 3D project. These are the settings I used to cut it out on my Silhouette Cameo 4 – it cut perfectly!

Once I had the pieces to the base and the panels cut out, I folded the base at the scores lines and put it on my desk with the glitter side facing up. This is the outside of the box. I am going to put glue all over the short side panels on the base of the box and lay the square panel over it, lined up at the fold. I always just liquid glue when adhering to glitter cardstock because I feel like it works the best.

I did this on all four sides, and voila – there is our enlarged box base!

I cut the lid out of Prosperous Purple Silk Glitter cardstock – this is a GORGEOUS shade of purple! Apply liquid glue to the tabs of the lid and fold down the side to attach.

I used clips to hold the pieces together until the glue was dry.

To decorate the outer panels of the box, I printed a pattern onto the Cougar Super Smooth 80# white cardstock and cut down to fit the panels, leaving a mat around the edges.

I then turned the box with the non glittered side facing up – this will be the inside of the box. I used the same Cougar Super Smooth 80# white cardstock to print an image for the bottom of the box, cut that out and glued it down. Then I used the BEAUTIFUL Sparkling Water (Aqua) Silk Glitter cardstock to cut out 4 panels to glue onto the inner panels of the box.

This is our finished project! I love how sparkly this exploding box is!

When the recipient pulls the lid off, the side fall down and see what goodies are inside! I am using this box to give my niece a dress for her dolls.