70th Birthday Magic Box

 

Well as I have a bazillion pictures with this post I can tell you the unabridged version of this project/card. (scroll to bottom of post if you want to skip the verbage and just see the finished project).

Up until the very last minute I really didn't know what I was going to do.  You see this had to be special as it was for my mother's 70th birthday and I am pretty much all that she has.  Now don't get me wrong, she has a great life, my husband, grandkids, brother's, sisters, neices, nephews, friends etc.  But I'm it as far as immediate/next of kin family.

Then it struck me, that I could revisit the magic box and a few other improvements from the one I made in February.

So an idea was born and I went to the Magic Box  blog and studied to decide what I could and was able to do to make this box special and unique.  I know it isn't a patch on what is achieved on that blog site, but it is a decent try!  One thing I did decide is that black is the perfect base for the box I wanted to make because they really pop with the contrast.

I actually make mine larger than the instructions on the blog, so I had to work out the math for the top.  It is a 12x12 sheet scored at 4 and 8 inches in both direction and the corners cut out.  The top I wanted 1 1/4 drops on the sides of the lid and I guessed at a 4 1/4 base.  TBH that was too big - it works but I would have preferred it more snug.  I basically cut a 1 1/4 + 1 1/4 + 4 1/4 = 6 3/4 square and then scored in from each side at 1 1/4.  I cut up to the score mark from two sides and used the tabs to adhere to the adjoining drop to make the lid.

I decided to keep it pretty monotone on the outside and put the zing on the inside.  I decide primarily on pinks and then greens came naturally as the leaves and the pop color to keep it tied all together. 

After I picked the colors I went through my prima stash and found complimentary pinks, whites and greens and found out my rhinestones because this really had to be over the top pretty.

I then moved on to create the cake. I had decided to use a battery candle in the middle having seen these in the Splitcoast Stampers Gallery.  But I had to up the ante and make a two layer cake! So now I had to work out how to turn the cake on and off.  I decided that the cake had to be removable from the card but stable when in the card.  So I made a mount of sorts by basically making another cake beneath the cake using circle dies, fringing the edges to bend down and using cardstock to create the height.  I know I'm not explaining it well.  I guess I need to make a tutorial.  But trust me when I say it involved a lot of die cutting and then embossing to get an even circle within the circle to fringe down to adhere to the sides.

I stamped the sides with Stampendous candle stamp and colored with coordinating copics  and glitter glue for the flames for that extra bit of sparkle.  I glued the candle to the bottom of the top of the cake and then glued the fringe to the stamped sides which I had eased into a curved shape by pre-rolling. I used a covered paperclip to hold everything together whilst it adhered.

For the next layer I had to die cut an access hole in the middle of the circle layer to turn the candle on and off and adhere it to the upper level with fringing.  That layer was also cut and fringed to adhere the stamped sides.  Again this was held in place with a paper clip until it was secure.  There is the third circle layer that can't be seen is adhered similarly to the sides and to be honest is fiddly but it is what makes everything so secure.  I then put another layer of cardstock inside at the same height to sandwich the fringe and reinforce the height to withstand the weight of the candle.

I then took inspiration from the plethora of cake decorating shows on the television and from the magnificent Cake Wrecks blog and put bling and flowers on my cake.  I cut down green primas to make leaves and then adhered the pink flowers to each layer.  After these were set I went back and adhered a tiny rhinestone 3mm to each center - gotta have that bling!  I really wanted this card to sparkle in the low light of November. Gotta say that it seemed to take forever to adhere those rhinestones! Hopefully, it was worth it.

With the cake layer completed, I decided to use pink as the base for the green on the inside and double pink on the outside.  I embossed the outside layers with a Happy Birthday folder and the inside layers with Floral Fantasy, making one of the layers into pocket. 

I knew I wanted to use the magic part of the boxes for me which is the seemingly flying elements.  I chose two; an owl (which my mother loves) and a chalkboard (retired school teacher).  I tried a few more for the other flap but it just started looking too random.  So I stamped and colored my owl and chalkboard x 2 and sandwiched some clear packaging that I had cut into strips between the stamped pieces.  These strips were then attached to the side panels and prima flowers (with rhinestones) were artistically arranged to cover the base and also on the front and back panels.

The final touch was to place some ribbon around the drop on the lid to finish it off and to create a bow for the top of the box. 

Ingredients
Box size 4 x 4 x 4 - lid 4 1/4 x 1 1/4
Cardstock - The Paper Studio, Recollections, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps (Owl), Stampendous (candles, chalkboard)
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - Prima Flowers, Rhinestones, Battery tea light, Embossing Folders - Floral Fantasy, Happy Birthday, Ribbon, Googly eyes, Glitter Glue, Sakura Souffle pen, Acetate, Spellbinders circle dies.

Keep scrolling down to see the finished project!