Explosion Box Round 2

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my mother-in-law. She had seen the previous explosion box I had made and wondered if I had time to make one as a gift for a friend's surprise 70th birthday luncheon. Well, of course I said I would...what crafter would turn down an opportunity to play, right? I started by using the Build a Blossom punch creating a Bashful Blue flower with an Antique Button center to adorn the box lid.

I dug through my embarrassingly large stash of DSP and found the patterned Bashful Blue from a few year back. I wanted to leave some pages fairly plain so the birthday lady could add pictures of her luncheon.

I pulled out a variety of stamp sets, current, retired and those about to retire to decorate many of the flaps. On this one I used the recently retired Pocket Silhouettes.

I also tried mixing different stamped images and sentiments from various sets on this project. Of course, now that I have put away all the sets I used on this box I find myself at a loss for remembering the sets I used on this flap. Perhaps when I find myself with nothing to do I can go back and and dig them out to insert the names.....yep, I know...good luck with finding that time. 

The Language of Friendship set. I put off purchasing this set even though I had seen so many beautiful projects with it so thank goodness for Sale A Bration because this was one of my freebies.

The butterfly is from the Summer Solstice set; the flowers and sentiment not so sure. Another project for when I find those few minutes of spare time.

Another part of the Summer Solstice set.

Faith in Nature hostess set 2011-2012

Elements of  Style colored with ink and the Aqua Painters. I then used the Illuminate Top Coat Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink. The shimmer does not come through in the photo that well, but it looks  lovely in person. The pearl accents were an after thought... that is after I managed to get an ink smudge on the upper corner that needed to be camouflaged.

My MIL told me her friend just loved the box and all the other ladies were taking pictures as they passed it around the luncheon table. I don't think I could ask for a bigger compliment!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by to see my creations.