Exploding Barn Box Scrapbook Album

Our farm in East Tennessee has been in the our family since 1823, and as such means a lot to all of us. No one has lived there full time for a couple of generations, but the family makes sure it is kept up, and we all meet there every Christmas as a family. I like to make farm-related gifts for my mom’s side of the family for the holidays.

One of the projects I’ve made in the last few years is the Exploding Barn Box. It’s based on the signature red barn at the front of the farm property.

But before I go on about the barn, first let me show you what I mean by an “exploding box”. (Don’t worry, nobody will get hurt!)

This is the first exploding box I ever made (they are slightly addictive). Isn’t it a cute little box? Well, take the lid off and you get…

…an “explosion” of the paper walls!

Each “page” can be decorated with scrapbook/craft supplies as desired.

You can find a great tutorial here for making these boxes. It’s basically a fun and different version of a scrapbook album

Now, back to the barn!

For the tin roof, I scored some metallic silver paper.

I drew on a door and grunged up the corners of the barn with some distress ink.

Here is a look at the roof.

And here is the “explosion” when the roof is removed from thebox.

Here is a look at some of the “page” of the album I made.

I used old family photos to decorate the pages as well as family oriented quotes. I also left places for each receiver to add their own written memories in the box.

Any guesses who that little cutie on the porch swing is?

Yup, its me! That’s 5 generations of women right there.

These are the dimensions I used to make each part of the barn box. Just cut each piece of cardstock as described above and follow the instructions to put it together from the blog I linked to at the beginning of the post.

You know, in case you feel the need to make an exploding barn of your own.

Here are a couple of other exploding boxes I have made.

The one on the left was a gift for my sister-in-law when we found out she was pregnant with a girl!
The one on the right was for a patriotic exploding box swap.

Like I said… they are addicting! Do you think you would give one of these a try?

>> See where I party! <<