My First Card in a Box

Today I'm sharing a "Card in a Box" ... it's the first one I've made, and I'm using it as my DT inspiration for the new challenge starting today at Di's Digis Challenge Blog.  Warning: this is a "Photo Heavy" post, the darned thing was hard to capture in pics, lol

I absolutely loved making this card, the young lady from across the road (I've known here since she was four!!) had a "little" boy last week, his name is Alakae and he weighed in at 8lbs 4oz -I met him today and he is GORGEOUS! Congrats to Hayley and Dave :-)

I found a few templates and tutorials on the web, here's a good tutorial, but I ended up making my own template because I wanted one in metric (hard to find) that folds down to a 15cm or 6" square (even harder to find!) here's a link to my template, it's on my freebies page.  I added a belly band to keep it from springing open too readily - these cards really do go amazingly flat for posting, if that's a consideration and still have the multiple layers we all love!  Bunny Zoes Crafts and Divas by Design have "layers" challenges running so I'm entering there.

The image I've used is Butterfly Baby Ted, he's gorgeous too, isn't he? I coloured with Copics then fussy cut him (and the butterflies!) and mounted them on strips of acetate of differing lengths to give a more "floaty" feel.  Corrosive Challenge is Cut it or Crop it, so I'm definitely in!  I smothered some die cuts from Make It Crafty (they no longer stock them, sadly) in Stickles and added some butterflies to acetate strips behind the teddy and some baby themed ones to the different layers inside the box and to the flaps as well.  Ladybug Crafts Challenge has a For the Boys or Use Die Cuts challenge, I'm in on both fronts, lol.  The die cut on the front flap was cut using a Nestabilities Standard Circle die from the Kaisercraft Lullaby pad, I put the baby's birth details on this flap and stuck a plain panel on the back of the card to use as a sentiment panel.  Card Mania Challenges, Gem of a Challenge, Tuesday Throwdown and The Crazy Challenge all have "baby" challenges so I'm entering there while Bearly Mine Challenges has for the boys, so in there too.
The "welcome" is made from beads I've had in my stash for-eva! and the gold pearls and Card Candi are from stash too.  The patterned paper is from a pack I got in Spotlight, it's so lovely and fresh, I'll be entering Hazel's Patterned Paper Challenge for the first, but I doubt last, time :-)  The Paper Shelter wants to see Anything But a Card, so I'm classing this as a box to enter, lol, and Fab'n'funky Challenges wants to see shaped cards, so I'm hoping this is in the spirit of that challenge and entering there too.  Through the Craftroom Door, Paper Crafting Journey, Little Miss Muffet, Stampin' for the Weekend and Clear It Out have Anything Goes challenges so I'm entering them as well.
Well that's it for today's card-in-a-box, check out the rest of my teamies inspiration... hope you get a chance to enter the challenge too; we have a FABULOUS prize from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps, and if you use one of Di's lovely digis you go in an extra draw... win/win I say :-)  
 Sorry about all the photos today.... here's another one in an effort to show the layers, lol, I LOVE these cards and have already started making a couple more - and I saw the recipient's reaction when they opened it today (which of course you don't always see) and it was truly worth the work... they loved it too :-)
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna