Turorial: How to Make Paper Gift Boxes - It's Easy!
I recently learned a new skill from my Mom. She likes to recycle her old holiday greeting cards into gift boxes. The pros of using that material is it will general be more sturdy. But, I happen to have a lot of decorative paper. So far I have only been making small jewelry or trinket boxes. I'd like to try a big box but will require a sturdier paper for that.
All you need is paper, scissors, ruler, and a pen or pencil to mark with. You may need or desire to use scotch tape on areas of your box that need it for structure.
The boxes in my header collage are all one box and that's the one I will use for the sake of this tutorial.
First, pick your paper. You can use the the same color for top and bottom or mix it up, which is what I like to do.
Make the choice which will be the bottom or top of box, this is important. I chose the hearts for the top. Here's where you'll want to grab your ruler or some kind of straight edge to mark intersecting, diagonal lines on the non print side of the paper.
You will then fold like so on each horizontal side to meet where the lines intersect:
You will fold all sides like such and it will end up looking like this:
You may notice the cuts I've made and the black dots. You can make those black marks as your guide of where you make the necessary cuts which with be in the same places on each side and you'll end up with four cuts so you can begin folding.
Eventually you'll have a nice tidy box. You may need to trim a few areas where the paper didnt cooperate or scotch tape for structure.
^^ There's the top of the box. For the bottom it is the exact same procedure EXCEPT you'll need to make the bottom slightly smaller or the top wont fit. I had to trial and error this, but eventually found a 1/8th inch of a trim on EACH side of the paper will do it. 1/4th inch almost works but you'll need tinsel something to keep a snug fit. Here's were I measured and subsequently cut the bottom paper.
Cut those edges off and do the exact same procedure & you'll have a cute little box. Here's some more of my boxes and a stand up envelope, that I cannot give directions on as I am not even sure how I made it! LOL
Let me know if you have any questions on the box making. It's pretty fun and kinda addictive! Plus a great way to recycle old greeting cards, calendars, etc! Thanks for visiting my post.
Great skill. I remember making this in high school to put little presents for my girlfriends in.
Thanks to @paradigmprospect, this post was resteemed and highlighted in today's edition of The Daily Sneak.
Thank you for your efforts to create quality content!
Really detailed and helpful!
I dig all initiatives for making stuff ourselves exactly like we want it, instead of buying readily available things that aren't really what we are looking for.
Thanks! You can often recycle creatively and in a way that could be meaningful as a gift. :)
It's awesome!
When making paper or cardboard boxes, it helps to prefold each edge with a straight-edge/ruler.
Also the cuts you make "to the dots" needs to be a slot, it actually needs to be two cuts, the thickness of the paper/cardboard wide. I know it doesn't look like much, but you will notice that all your boxes that you don't do this will bow outwards, because the paper is getting in the way of the paper sitting flat.
Thanks for the constructive feedback, however i'm confused what you mean by "two cuts" because there are two cuts on each side.
you are using two cuts to make a slot.
Imagine trying to do this with thick cardboard.
You will want to make a slot that the same thickness of cardboard can fit into, plus folding gap.
With paper, it is less than a millimeter.
So, with your scissors, you make a little curly cue string of paper.
(That is 8 scissor cuts in total.)
Thanks for the input but i'm still not getting it.
It is cute, useful and generous to make boxes like this because you can use them to give all sorts of presents. Your instructions are very precise, making them useful. I love the idea of up-cycling materials that would otherwise be wasted. Landfill 0 Environment 1. What makes me the most happy about it all is how this project connects you to your mom, I am so relieved to see you with a better support system than before. Activities like this are at the core of a healthy lifestyle because of the bonding and keeping busy!