Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Handmade Gift Boxes

My family and I are starting a new Christmas tradition of making a boatload of cookies and then giving them out to neighbors, family, and local shelters.  I found this gift box tutorial from Homemade Gifts Made Easy and thought - Yes!  this is the perfect container for our cookies!  I'm going to try to put about four sheets of 12 X 12 cardstock together to make my boxes bigger.  Here's what you do:


Picture Instructions for Box Base

This design works best with thin card, about the same thickness as a greeting card. In fact, you can even make your own gift boxes out of last year's Christmas cards.
Sizing: If you make your box from a 12 inch square, it will turn out the same size as a tie box, about 4 by 4 by 2 inches.
Make the base from a square piece of paper, with side lengths 1/3 of an inch (1cm)smaller than the piece you use for the lid. But if you use really thick card, then use a square with side lengths 2/3 of an inch (2cm) shorter than the lid-piece.
make your own gift box
Step 1: Start with a square piece of paper, nice side facing down. Make a small crease in the centre of each side. I like to mark each crease lightly with a pencil too.
make your own gift box
Step 2: Fold all four corners to the centre, using the creases from the previous step as guides.
make your own gift box
Step 3: Fold and unfold each side to the centre.
make your own gift box
Step 4: Unfold everything. You will have the pattern of creases shown here. Cut along the bolded lines.
make your own gift box
Step 5: Fold top and bottom corners to the centre.
make your own gift box
Step 6: Fold flaps up along the dotted lines so that they point straight up toward you.
make your own gift box
Step 7: Fold top and bottom edges so that they point up toward you.
make your own gift box
Step 8: It should look like this. Now fold the flaps on the left and right into the centre.
make your own gift box
Step 9: Finished! 

Picture Instructions for Box Lid

Remember to use a larger piece of paper for the lid. About 1/3 of a inch larger if you're using thin card, or 2/3 of an inch larger if you're using thick card.
make your own gift box
Step 1: Follow steps 1 to 3 of thebase instructions. Then unfold until your paper looks like this. Finally, fold the top and bottom edges to the centre, as shown by the dotted lines here.
make your own gift box
Step 2: Fold and unfold along the dotted lines shown here.
make your own gift box
Step 3: Completely unfold the paper. You will have a pattern of creases like this. Cut along the bolded lines. 
make your own gift box
Step 4: Fold the top and bottom corners to the centre.
make your own gift box
Step 5: Fold along the dotted lines shown here
make your own gift box
Step 6: The rest of the folding is the same as step 6 and onward of the base instructions. Fold the flaps up to face you, etc...
make your own gift box
Step 7: Finished! Here's a picture of the lid and base together.

2 comments:

  1. We're always needing a box for gifts and especially this time of year. This is a great idea!

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  2. What a cute idea, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete