2020 Birthday Card - The year that went down the toilet! : An exploding box card

Warning:  This card and post get a bit down and dirty when you get to the inside of the box!

The outside of my exploding box card "bathroom"

 

I think I need to provide a little background to this Exploding Box Card.  It's for a friend of mine who recently made a fabulous birthday cake for a mutual friend that was a toilet roll surrounded by cupcakes in the guise of little shit emoji's!  We all laughed and agreed that this was the perfect theme for 2020!

I clear heat embossed the Peony on black cardstock and then painted it with
Frost White Shimmer Paint

Then I saw an amazing project by the very clever Anna Helman .  She created a perfect 3D imitation of a toilet that she filled with Tootsie Rolls and made a card to go with it featuring a toilet roll.  Click here to see her project and find the link to her tutorial.

I don't have any of the dies or products that she used and Tootsie Rolls are a little difficult to find here so, inspired by her creation, I set about making my own version with what I had available in my craft room.  Then I decided to make box for it and then that idea morphed into the exploding box card that kinda looks like a bathroom.

The greeting is cut from Black Glitter Paper with Well Written Dies and Playful Alphabet Dies

But I decided to make the lid look a bit pretty and feminine!

I attached a little message to the back of the toilet that says (please excuse my language!) "2020 may be the shit year that flushed itself down the toilet but I hope you still have an enjoyable and memorable birthday".

The exploding card that turns into a little toilet!

I used some window sheet between the paper layers on the bottom and side to keep the "wall" with the toilet roll vertical when the lid is removed (just cut a couple of strips of window sheet, score them and fold them to a 90 degree angle).

I used a Layering Ovals and Layering Circles Die, positioned thus, to create the toilet seat

I cut three of the toilet seat shapes and used two of them, with some window sheet sandwiched between to make the seat that can be lifted to get to the little pile of chocolate drops inside.

I lined the inside of the toilet with a little bit of plastic wrap to avoid the appearance of over-realistic skid marks on the bowl!

The lid of the toilet opens

To make the toilet roll, I cut a strip of kitchen paper (that's always at hand in my craft room!) and wrapped it around a little roll of Soft Suede card.  Then I bent a paper clip to hang it from.

I used a die in the Smooth Sailing set, trimmed, to create the flush handle.

I used papers from the In Good Taste pack because I though they looked like bathroom tiles
The card is probably not in good taste!

I'm quite happy with the result of my endeavours and I know my friend will love it - but if you're in the mood to make a toilet - I'd really recommend using Anna's tutorial if you have the necessary bits and pieces - I think it looks better and a would be a bit less fiddly.  However, I'll be happy to have a go at explaining what I did for anyone who wants to try this version.

Thank you for visiting.

'Til next time!

Stephanie

 Product List - All available for purchase from my online store

Very Vanilla 12" X 12" Card Stock

$9.95

In Good Taste Designer Series Paper

$37.00

Layering Ovals Dies

$58.00

Layering Circles Dies

$58.00

Smooth Sailing Dies

$56.00

Window Sheets

$8.75

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

$17.00

Silver Foil Sheets

$8.75

Soft Suede A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Prized Peony Bundle (English)

$100.75

Well Written Dies

$70.00

Playful Alphabet Dies

$59.00

Black Glitter Paper

$10.50