Stamped Gift Box

Day 5 has been filled with amazing projects! 

Wendy's ornaments had me heading to the Container Store the day she sent in the tutorial (like I need an excuse to go)!  I love the double images to create dimension.  Very cool!

Lisa's box is super cool -- definitely a template I'm going to be using over and over.  (By the way, did anyone else think the candle next to her finished box was a glass of orange juice at first?  I totally did! Ha ha!)  She is the stamping queen and I was delighted to see her stamping techniques -- especially the coloring!

I love quilting, so Mindy's blanket-in-a-day tutorial was so fab!  And the fabrics she mixed - great color and pattern choices!  I'm ready to snuggle under that yummy blanket any day!

But all these fab tutorials have left me with a question: Now that we've made all these handmade gifts, what are you planning to put them in? 

Why a beautiful handmade gift box, of course!

You can make your box any size, but for the sake of this tutorial, we're going to start with a piece of 8.5x11" cardstock.
 

Cut the cardstock in half.  And then shave about an eighth-of-an-inch off of two sides of one of the pieces (I've indicated the two sides in red).  This smaller piece will be the bottom of the box.  Notice that I wrote "bottom" on it in pencil.  The two pieces are so similar in size it can be hard to tell which is which.  But that eighth-of-an-inch really makes them fit together nicely.

Score both pieces one inch in from all four sides.

The one inch is totally arbitrary.  That's how tall I want my box to be. You can alter the measurements to fit your needs.

Cut from the edge to the corner of the scoring on the two shorter ends.

I've indicated where to cut on the red marks.

Now you're ready to decorate!

I used a chevron stamp to decorate the edge of the box.

I wanted the chevron to continue around the box in the same direction.  Don't worry about the corners, they won't show.

Once you've stamped the entire edge...

...place post-its around the center section, protecting the edges that you've just stamped.

Stamp your pattern stamp, making sure to go over the edge.

Once you've filled the whole space...

...remove the post-its.  Cool, right?

Now it's time to make the box.  Apply adhesive to the right sides of the little flaps you cut.

(I've indicated where to put the adhesive with red.)

And now your box top is all done!

Onto the bottom!

I thought it would be cool to have the inside bottom of the box stamped.  I re-used the same post-its.

After stamping the box bottom put it together just as you did the top.

Cool inside, right?

So here's your fab gift box:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  I'll be back with another gift giving solution at 12:30am!

Thanks for stopping by!