Mothers’ Day is coming soon. You would like to do something special for Mom, Grandma or another special lady in your life. Flowers and chocolate are nice, but you’d like to shake things up a little. What would be fun and special and unique…?
A full-on scrapbook is a long endeavour. Maybe you don’t have that much time on your hands. How about something in the same vein, but smaller and… well, cooler?
Meet the Explosion Album, the creative combination of scrapbooking and origami! Three big squares of heavy paper get folded in a particular way. When you fold them together, you get a neat little square booklet-type of bundle. But when you unfold it, it reveals all kinds of secrets and a much bigger surface to work on that appears at first!
What makes an Explosion Album so much fun, is all the little surprises and secrets you can hide in it.
In the video I shared with you, you can see an album I’ve made about my nephew Vincent. There’s decoupaged shapes of his kitty, Chucky. There are pockets where I hid pictures transformed into cute bookmarks. There are mini-booklets that are bound with an eyelet so you can twist them open.
That is what makes an explosion album such a fun craft to realize and a really special present to offer. It seems to keep on giving as you explore it! You can make it as simple or as intricate as you’d like. You can make one that is your own little secret pocket to hide precious keepsakes. Once you know how to make one, it kinda becomes addictive! You always want to create another one!
So, what type of material is necessary to make your own explosion album?
You start with three large squares of heavy craft paper – this is important so it can survive multiple folding and unfolding. I used three sheets of 12×12 heavy scrapbook paper. You will also need two 6×6 squares of slightly heavier cardboard – you can cut them from an old cereal box.
From there, whatever you have under hand can be used to embellish and personalize your album: wrapping paper, strings and ribbons, stickers and stamps, pictures, buttons, drawings and doodles, etc. Let your imagination run wild!
For Mothers’ Day, you can include a little secret envelope where you can hide wishes from your heart, a little poem, or just a few words to tell the person you’re making it for how much you love her.
Check out our upcoming events for the chance to come and try your hand at one of these marvelous little treasures…? See you soon!