Sophie and Toffee started doing a blowout box in December as their Elves box, and I’d been wanting to get my hands on one to see what it was like. When they announced that last month would bring another blowout box, I didn’t hesitate to order one.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the blowout boxes, they are more of an item box versus a craft kit. There are lots of items that come in the box, but there isn’t necessarily an end goal so it’s more of a supply box.
This is my second box since Sophie and Toffee updated their shipping methods, and I received my box within the same month, which is amazing since they don’t start fulfilling orders until after the box closes on the 15th of the month. I’m blown away by how quickly it arrives.
This box was absolutely stuffed with awesome goodies, and I had the opportunity to experiment with some of the items in the box. I kept the projects pretty small and straight forward. There is no tutorial this week; instead, I’m going to show you what came in the box and what I created.
And here are the supplies I pulled from this box for the projects in today’s post. I supplemented with my own supplies (chalk pastels, glitter mainly).
UV resin umbrella
Earlier last year, I created a custom rain-loving dragon that holds an umbrella in its tail. The umbrella was bright yellow like the one in How I Met Your Mother. When I saw the little umbrella mold in this box, I knew I wanted to recreate this umbrella to try it out!
I’ve never used a mold this complex before. It’s a 2-part mold that “snaps” together to create the top part of the umbrella, and slides together for the umbrella handle. I’m not entirely sure if I was using the handle mold correctly, but it got the job done.
I was not sure how much UV resin I would need for the umbrella top, so I aimed for less so I could add more. That way, I could avoid having the resin spill out of the mold.
Since the UV powder from the box was white, I also added some into my yellow resin; I knew it would have a minimal effect on my “usual” umbrella color, but under UV light, the umbrella turns a peachy pink.
My umbrella ended up getting a gigantic bubble in the side. It was trapped between resin so luckily it doesn’t feel different, but it obviously shows. I’ll have to experiment with the best way to remove bubbles in a mold like this—did I just need to add a little more resin to push the air out?
Fox open bezel
The bezels included in this box are SO BEAUTIFUL/CUTE. One set is of crystals that I’ve seen people on Instagram playing around with, and I can’t wait to give it a try. The second set was of animals, including a fox. As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to make one for my husband since foxes are one of his favorite animals!
The process for this was very similar to the other bezels I’ve done. You can check out what that looks like on my blog post featuring my first Elves box.
I mixed up an orange, a white, and a black for the fox. The orange and white have iridescent glitters in them, and the white pigment I used was shimmery, so it gave this fox an extra fantastical feel.
Filling the sections were pretty straightforward, but then I added some extra black at the base of the legs that blended into the orange to make it a little more realistic. I also added a tiny bit of black to the tips of the ears.
I recently found a beautiful bezel creator on Instagram, @shadowsparkart, and I was inspired to color the eyes and nose with black paint to help make the facial details pop. Boy, does it really make a difference!
And that’s a quick look at the December Elves box! I will definitely be using this as more of a supply box, and I can’t wait to use some of the other items! There are a lot of possibilities for what I received, and I’m so glad I got it.