How to make a box in the style of scrapbooking do it yourself?

Scrapbooking is a type of creativity based on the creation of all kinds of things (cards, beautiful boxes, notebooks, notebooks) with your own hands. The word "scrapbooking" comes from two English words scrab - clipping and book - book. This combination of words is due to the fact that initially this type of activity involved the collection of your favorite poems, phrases and expressions in a separate book. Since the history of this type of creativity began long before the printer was invented, the book was replenished with clippings from newspapers and magazines.

The earliest collection dates back to 1598. Around this time, collecting poems became popular in England. And in Russia at the same time handwritten albums appeared, which were made to order. This work began to take its modern form in the 19th century, and the word came into use in the 1830s. Later, family photographs began to be added to clippings from magazines, poems, and curls.

On each page of the album, a complete story or a memorable moment with photographs recorded by memories was preserved. There was a special paper for creating scrapbooks for photographs using the scrapbooking technique and a lot of jewelry specially created for this.

Decorated box has become one of the most common scrapbooking products.. It can be used as a piggy bank for saving money, gift wrapping or directly as a gift. And it is very useful for storing chocolates or sweets. Notepad or notebook will be a great gift for busy people.

It is worth paying attention to some features.

• Scrapbooking can not be attributed to cheap hobbies. Both materials and tools are quite expensive, which, of course, does not exclude the use of cheaper analogues.
• There are special materials that are designed for long-term storage. They do not deform, do not lose color, do not delaminate and do not interact with objects containing chemical compounds (for example, in the case of photographs).
• Due to the fact that this type of activity came to us from Western countries, you will have to use a dictionary or remember languages.
• Scrapbooking materials take up enough space.
• The creation of such products is a rather painstaking task.

So, what can we need when creating a surprise box?

• Cardboard. Pretty tight to make it a solid base.
• Office paper.
• Origami paper.
• Stationery knife and scissors.
• Soft sandpaper. At first, it can be replaced with a not-so-soft nail file.
• Curly hole punch.
• Ruler.
• Pencil.
• Stencils.
• Curly scissors.
• Glue stick or hot glue (depending on what you have to glue).
• Something sharp for making holes (a toothpick, needle, or awl).
• Gel pens, colored pencils.
• Wire.
• Sparkles.
• Double sided tape.
• Thin ribbons, beads, beads, decorative flowers, bows, stamps, fabric, straw, gauze, lace, tree bark, metal details for decor.

There are several techniques for how to assemble the base of our magic box, read about it below. But picking up jewelry the first time can be difficult. In this case, we recommend finding on the Internet sketches. These are pre-assembled models of patterns and decorations.

Let's figure out how to make a universal gift box with your own hands. Such boxes are also called magic box or surprise box. The amazing feature of the clamshell created in scrapbooking style is that she herself is a gift, you can put something in it. When you open such a box, its sides are laid out in a "flower". For example, you can write wishes and congratulations on the "petals" of this "flower", and place decorative ornaments or a figure in the center.

Let's take a look at the step-by-step creation of a magic box.

What we need:

• cardboard;
• glue stick and hot glue;
• origami paper and white office paper;
• scissors and office knife;
• decorative ornaments;
• tape.

First we need to calculate the volume of our box. For this, we are determined with the parties. Suppose (visually presenting our box on top) that its width is 12 cm, length 12 cm, height 12 cm. We took the same values ​​so as not to get confused in the numbers when describing the technology. The sizes of your box can be any.

We draw a square with 36x36 cm sides on thick cardboard. This figure was taken from the summation of all sides (12 + 12 + 12). We also draw a lid for our box. To do this, we take the size of the base of the box (12x12x12) and add to them 0.3 cm on each side (this is necessary so that the lid can be easily put on the box). Next to the resulting 12.3 cm add another 2.5 cm to the edges of the lid.

We divide this square of the large base of the box into 9 small squares inside with 12 cm sides. Now, using scissors or a stationery knife (if the cardboard is very tight), cut out the squares from the corners. We should have a central square and 4 squares strictly on either side of it.

As for the lid, we need to do the same. The squares that need to be cut will have a size of 2.5x2.5 cm.At the place of the alleged bend, draw a clerical knife (not very strong so as not to cut the cardboard). The upper sections of the figure are processed with sandpaper or a nail file. We do the same with the lid.

Now we will prepare colored paper or origami paper and plain office paper. We need to cut from them 2 pieces identical to the cardboard base. Office paper will serve as a kind of layer between the figure of origami paper and cardboard (this is necessary so that the grayness of the cardboard or glue does not shine through). Color figures will become our front part.

We stick them on the outside and inside the case. They may be of different colors, but we recommend sticking to the same color for the inner processing of the lid and the base of the box inside. Outside, use a different color to decorate the appearance of the box. Office paper figures to be drawn taking into account 1 additional centimeter at the edges of the "petals".

The external and internal color figures must be left unchanged (you can add a half-centimeter from above, this may be required when folding the cardboard). However, this is a special case if the cardboard is very thick or poor quality paper. In the end, you should be able to 2 figures from office paper for the main box and 2 from the same paper for the cover, 2 figures from colored paper for the cover and the same for the main part.

We glue our cardboard base of the box (until we touch the lid) with an office paper figure. The extra centimeters left on the paper figure are wrapped around the edges around the sections of the cardboard figure so that the ugly edges are not visible. We bend our design in order to "work out" the seams. We glue the entire structure with origami paper. Leave it to dry.

Go back to the lid. The cardboard base of the lid must be bent at the folds and glued at the corners. This is best done with hot glue. Next, glue on top of office paper, without gluing the corners. We need to glue the left centimeters at the corners so that one edge “goes” under the other, so cardboard corners will not be visible. We do this outside and inside. Let’s dry a little and paste over with colored paper.

We return to our base under the box. We need to beautifully shape the edges. This can be done by simply gently cutting off the remnants of colored paper (since there is white paper under it, it will look quite harmonious) or pasting the edges with tape. Our foundation is ready. We bend it and hoist the lid on top.

The next step is to decorate our box. There are no restrictions for imagination, but let me give you some recommendations.

• Peach, pink, yellow, light green and ultramarine blue go well with flowers and a "girlish theme."
• Blue in combination with white stripes can be used for marine themes.
• Decorating with straws looks good with canvas.
• Green is a neutral color.
• The inside of the box can be decorated with antique-styled postcards on which you can write a wish. And decorate the base of the box with flowers or leave without decoration so that you can put something there.
• As an additional decoration, you can put another similar box inside.

The instructions given here give a general idea of ​​how to create the simplest box. Having a little imagination and changing the instructions for creating a magic box, you can add a cache, make a retractable wall, add a pleasant surprise in the form of photos moving out of the “petals”, or create an ordinary multifunctional magic box.

In conclusion, we want to add that The main purpose of products made using the scrapbooking technique is to please and surprise a person with such a cute and unusual gift. Of course, such boxes are not only a gift. You can make them for yourself. Since there are no size restrictions, you can create a box for rings, as well as boxes for sewing supplies and children's toys.

See below for how to make a scrapbooking box.