Christmas in July: Stamped Gift Box
July 17, 2011
Back in December I did a crazy blog series called "Holidays Handmade."
For a week I posted at least three tutorial posts every single day. There were some amazing guest bloggers and lots of fantastic projects. But it was a lot to digest. So I thought that this week we might do "Christmas in July" and highlight some of those awesome crafty projects in case you're already planning what to make for the holidays this year.
Let's go....
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!
You can see a listing of all of the Holidays Handmade posts here.
Two other packaging-related posts to check out from Holidays Handmade are:
Brown Paper Bag Wrapping Paper
I hope you've enjoyed this look back at some of the great tutorials and ideas from Holidays Handmade!
Thanks for stopping by!
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P.S. I'm on my way to Chicago for CHA today. I won't have any blog posts about CHA (there will be other posts, though) until I get back, but I will tweet photos and info while I'm away! Be back soon!