Valentine Exploding Carousel Box

Every year I make my husband something for Valentine’s Day.  This year it is an exploding carousel box; exploding as in when you lift the top the side panels of the box fall down.  The bottom box opens to reveal chocolate hearts and the box top contains an altered bottle with a love note inside (I won’t be showing you that!).  The overall dimensions of the piece are 10 ½” tall by 4 ½” wide and deep.

The basic carousel box comes in an easy to assemble kit.  The kit contains two boxes and a top.

I started by inking the edges of all three pieces and then covering all of the surfaces with Scribe Notes Scrapbook Paper.

Instead of putting the smaller box into the larger one (as the picture shows above), I decided to use the smaller box as a base.  I glued all of the sides of the smaller box together except for one.  By pulling the chain you can open the bottom box to reveal the candy inside.  The chains are attached with Tiny Non-Thread Screw Eyes and E 6000 glue.  The small box is glued to the bottom of the large box.  I did end up gluing a heart to the side that opens so make it easier to find.  I used a Candlestick Holder as a base below the smaller box.

To the top box I added chains and hearts between each panel which are held in place the same way as the chains on the smaller bottom box.

On the sides of the large box I attached a combination of a piece of Filigree, a Cherub Button, Black Blooms tipped with Goldenrod Stickles, Red Roses and Rose Buds.

Before gluing the top together, I used a hole punch to punch a hole in center to accommodate the Hexagon Lantern.  Then I glued the top together with the lantern in the hole and secured the lantern underneath the top with E 6000 glue.  The red hearts are stickpins.  I threaded the beads onto the stickpins and then poked them through the top at the seams (after the top was assembled).  I snipped off the excess stickpin.  I used a little E-6000 glue to keep the beads and stickpin in place.

One thing to note is to make sure if you poke something through the top it is not going to interfere with putting the lid on the large box and anything else in the box (small box, bottle, etc.).  You’ll note in the picture that the stickpin is about a ½ an inch back from the edge.

Inside the large box I used images from three different collage sheet (listed in the supply list below) and some romantic words in French.  I think everything looks better written in French.

Inside of the box is an altered bottle.  I used the Large Slope Shoulder Bottle you’ve seen me use in several tutorials.

I first applied some black rub-ons then Inca Gold Gilders Paste, then red rub-ons.

Next, using Glossy Accents, I glued on gold and black mica flakes, gold beads and cheesecloth dyed with Red Pepper Alcohol Ink.

Alpha Stamps Products Used In This Project:

Victorian Exploding Picture Box - Carousel

Scribe Notes Scrapbook Paper

Candlestick Holder

E-6000 Glue

Items Used on the Lid of the Box:

Hexagon Hanging Lantern

Pearlized Stick Pins – Red Hearts

Lightweight Hearts Large and Small Gold

Items Used on the Large Top Box:

18 mm Antique Gold Hearts

Tiny Non-Thread Screw Eyes

Large Ivory Cherub Buttons

Mixed Gold Filigree

Black Mini Paper Blooms

Mini Rose Buds Red

Mini Rose Buds Ivory

Tiny Paper Roses Red

Goldenrod Stickles

Cherub Frames Collage Sheet

Vintage French Ads Collage Sheet

Romantic Perfume Labels Collage Sheet

Items Use on the Small Box:

Glass Teardrops with Loops – Black 15mm

Items Used on the Bottle:

Slope-Shoulder Glass Bottle – Large

Gilders Paste – Inca Gold

Red Pepper Alcohol Ink

Valentine Kit Ribbon Set – Red Ribbon