Every year, I save the candles and decorations from my kids' birthday cakes. It's been a lot of fun to see the different phases they've gone through, from Disney princesses, to Pokemon. I decided to go through my collection and make a little memento box for some of the individual years. For instance, for my daughter's first birthday, we had a "Snow White" theme. I chose to focus mostly on the candles and decorations, but could of easily added photos and other mementos from the special day.
To make the shadow boxes, I cut out the shapes using my Silhouette. One thing I love about the patterned paper from Crate is that it's heavy enough to stand alone without having to add a cardboard base to it. I wrapped the sides of the boxes with washi tape to give them extra strength and I think it adds a 'pop' of color and detail, too. After folding and taping the boxes together, I inserted decorations into each one. For example, I applied a chipboard number to the front of each box to show which birthday was being celebrated.
You can create these boxes for various occasions including birthdays, special holidays, anniversaries and so forth. They'd even be adorable as a "baby" gift and would make for cute addition to the nursery on either a shelf, or dresser. A whole lot of potential here!!
I guarantee you, that once you start making these boxes, you won't be able to stop. They're wholeheartedly addictive!! Do give them a try!!
What an AWESOME idea!!I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this! PINNING!!!
Posted by: Julie Tucker-Wolek | April 08, 2013 at 05:02 AM
I LOVE this idea!!! Fabulous idea and project.
Posted by: Sara Andrews | April 08, 2013 at 08:18 AM
WoNdErFuL!
Posted by: betty | April 08, 2013 at 10:09 AM
This is genius !! TFS!
Posted by: Angeline | April 08, 2013 at 10:54 AM
Great idea. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: blurooferika | April 09, 2013 at 12:55 PM
This is so very creative!!!! Love them!
Posted by: Nathalie | April 09, 2013 at 03:37 PM
what file do you use?
Posted by: Betsy | April 19, 2013 at 06:51 AM
I love it!!
Posted by: felicitar cumpleaños | April 26, 2013 at 09:12 AM
Hi Betsy,
The Silhouette file I used was by Lori Whitlock and it was called "3D cupcake box". There were two boxes in the file - a larger cupcake box and this little shadow box which ended up being the perfect size.
Posted by: Marie | April 29, 2013 at 09:19 AM
what are the sizes of the boxes you made?
Posted by: heather k | May 03, 2013 at 08:36 AM
This is too too genius, I'm instantly obsessed!!!! So completely doing this asap, thanks for the amazing inspiration!
Posted by: Keri | May 10, 2013 at 01:40 PM