Christmas Album/Boxes - Debbie Toy

I recently saw what I thought was a beautiful project that I wanted to make instantly.  I made this one for my daughter-in-law for Christmas.  It is not in the traditional red and green colors because her favorite color is pink.  I also tried to design it to be displayed all year in a costal color scheme.  Here is a list of what supplies you will need for construction of the album and boxes:

3 pieces of 12x12 dsp
2 pieces of 8 1/2x11 coordinating paper
24 pieces of 6x6 patterned paper
24 pieces of 5 3/4x 5 ¾ paper for the bottom of the boxes
Ribbon
2-8 ½ pieces of heavyweight chipboard
1 piece of 2 ¾ x 11 heavyweight chipboard
Lots of adhesive

Let’s get started on the boxes

With the side facing you that you want to be the interior of the box, fold in half and burnish with a bone folder.  Open and rotate, then fold in half in the opposite direction and burnish.  Open and you will have a creased line going from top to bottom and side to side.  You will then need to take a corner and fold the corner to the center of the crease and burnish.  Continue until all corners are done.  You will end up with a smaller version of the square with all four corners facing you.  Then take the bottom seam and fold to the middle of the square and burnish it down.  Take the top and fold to the middle and do the same way.  What you have now looks like a long rectangle.

Now you need to unfold the last two folds so that it is back to the folded square.  Now while holding the square in your hand, start on the creased line toward your fingers.  Cut it up to the creased line.  Then do the same thing for the one closest to your palm.  Now you will have the flaps to closes in your box.

Rotate the box and do the same thing for the opposite side.

Now you are ready for the assembly of the box.  You will notice the boxes will have a natural shape to them to help with the assembly.  On one of the ends that you make your cuts on, pull out the flap, apply adhesive ( I used tape runner), fold the ends in, fold the flap up and over the ends and fold down.  Now you have one end of the box done.  Continue until all of the bottoms and tops are finished.  The lids should just fit over the bottoms.

  

Now for the album:

Cut the papers for the front and back of the album cover to 9 ½ x 12.  Apply to the chipboard using adhesive of your choice.  I used decoupage glue.  You will have overlap on each side to fold over all sides.  Do the same for the back side.

For the spine, cut a piece of dsp to 3 1/4x12.  Apply it to the remaining chipboard centering the same way and glue down.  Then you will cut a piece of dsp measuring 4 1/4x12.  I used a piece of Tyvek for reinforcement the same width but an inch and one-half shorter to make the spine stronger. This will go the whole width but not length.   If you use this you will need to put a ½ “ strip of paper down each side on the inside of the album to cover the white Tyvek.  You will center the paper wrapped piece of chipboard in the center and fold edges of paper around it.  I glued mine down with hot glue as it felt like it adhered better.  Then with the front page and rear page of the album facing your table or work surface, attach the spine to the front and back with hot glue.  You will notice that it should have overlap on the inside that will enable the album to close.

Attach the ribbon halfway down the album on the sides of the unfinished interior.  I allowed approximately 2-3” of the ribbon to extend toward the middle of the book.  Use your preferred glue, just make sure there are no wrinkles.  Then apply your 8 1/2x11” interior paper to both sides.  Then you are ready to start mounting all of the boxes.

I used a ½” strip of cardstock to border the 8 1/2x11” paper to form a guide so the boxes were straight.  I started at the bottom and the left side of the front interior.  Apply glue to the underside of the box bottom and place the first one on the interior album.  Move the cardstock strips as you go along to maintain spacing.  You will put three rows of four boxes on the front interior and back interior.  Trim and embellish boxes as you wish.  

On the front of the album I used floral items to decorate.  You can do anything you wish depending on your design.  This project takes a little time but I loved doing it.  Hope you have fun trying it!!!