HOW TO MAKE A GIFT BOX FROM AN OLD CHRISTMAS OR BIRTHDAY CARD.

Learn how to make boxes out of old greetings cards.A great way to recycle old Christmas or birthday cards and give them a new lease of life.

This is another one of those crafts that I used to make in school. It's a simple and inexpensive way to create gift boxes for small presents like sweets or tealights. We used to make these little gift boxes out of old recycled Christmas cards but since it's Spring and Christmas is quite a way off I decided to make mine out of birthday cards instead.

I've showed you how to make a simple diy gift box before using a score board but as much as I love it I know it's not something everyone has. This time I wanted to show a quick, foolproof method without a scoreboard in sight.

I bought some new cards for this diy. I fell in love with that llama and the sausage dog is super (get it?) cute. I liked the idea of using the birthday messages as an extra surprise when you open the box but you could just as easily recycle old cards. Simply cut off the fronts and mix and match your designs.

Supplies:

• A selection of cards (old or new),

• A ruler,

• A pencil,

• Eraser,

• A pair of scissors or a paper trimmer

• And some paper glue.

How to fold and score an old cards to make gift boxes:

1. Take your card and cut it in half along the center fold.

2. To make the lid of your box use a ruler to draw diagonal lines from the corners to form an 'X' in the middle of your card.

3. Folds the sides in to meet in the middle marked by the 'X'. You may need to use a bone folder or the edge of your ruler to help get a nice crisp fold.

4. Open your card back out and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat and fold both sides in to the center again.

5. Open your card back out. You should now have 4 creases running along the edges of your card.

6. Rub out any pencil marks. To make the sides of your box cut where the 2 creases intersect. Do this for all 4 corners.

7. Cut notches into the inside of each tab. This will help the sides of your box sit neatly together.

8. Put some double sided tape or glue on the back of each tab and stick your box together. You want to glue the smaller tabs on the inside.

9. Repeat the steps above to make the base of your box. You need to make the base smaller then the lid. There are 2 ways to do this.

The first way is to trim 2 mm of each side of your card and repeat the steps above. The base of your box will be slightly smaller and the lid should fit on easily. The only problem with this is the lid and the base of your box will sit flush and can be a little tricky to open.

The second way (and the way I made mine) is to repeat the steps above but when folding the sides in fold them 2/3 mm past the 'X' in the center. This will make the bottom of the box smaller and the sides of your box marginally taller so that there's a small lip at the bottom of your box to hold as you open and close it.

If you're using a rectangular card the process is exactly the same except the 2 shorter sides will be slightly taller than the longer sides. You can either trim away any excess or fold it over the top and glue it down.

Want more gift box templates? Get your hands on the Gift Box Template Bundle and you’ll be making your own gift boxes in minutes.

These boxes are a great thing to keep in stock for any gift giving emergencies. You could even pre-cut and fold your boxes and store them flat until needed.

What do you think? Have you ever made gift boxes out of recycled old greetings cards? I know it's something I'll be doing again in the future.

P.S. Don't forget to check out my other diy gift box tutorials for more ideas.

DIY RECTANGULAR MILK CARTON BOXES.

Do you remember these Diy Mini Milk Carton Gift Boxes I made back in January? They're one of the most popular things I've made so far this year. I'd been wanting to try and make a rectangular version for a while now but had been struggling to figure out how to do it when I came across this fantastic tutorial over on Pootles. It was exactly what I was looking for.

These boxes are a bit different to the normal milk carton boxes I've made in the past. Instead of sticking down paper flaps to make the base of the box the flaps make up the sides. I've never tried making a box like this before so a bit of trial and error was involved. I wanted each box to be big enough to fit 2 of the standard 37g bags of Maltesers inside. As the original tutorial was for a small 2.5 inch box I needed to tweak the measurements and proportions. The finished boxes measure 5 inches by 2 inches and are 4.5 inches tall. Read on to see how I made them and if you want more diy box ideas I can't recommend the Pootles blog enough. I know you'll love it.

Materials needed to make your own Diy Rectangle Milk Carton Boxes:

• Scrapbook paper ( I used the Diy Shop 12 x 12 pad from Crate Paper),

• A score board or embossing tool and ruler,

• A bone folder, 

• double-sided tape or paper glue,

• scissors

• And some mini wooden pegs or baker twine.

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1. Trim your paper to 12 x 9 inches.

2. With the 12 inch side on the top (the long side) score lines at 0.5 inches, 2 inches, 5 inches, 7 inches, 10 inches and 11.5 inches.

3. Rotate your paper 90 degrees so the 9 inch side is now at the top and score at the 2 inch and 7 inch mark.

4. Fold along your score lines and use a bone folder to burnish the creases. This will help make sure all your folds are clean and sharp.

5. Cut along the 5 and 7 inch marks up to the 2 inch score line. It's marked in blue in the bottom right square above. This will make 2 square flaps.

6. Apply double-sided tape or paper glue to the 2 square flaps you've just made and to the 2 rectangle pieces to the right of both square up to the 0.5 inch score line (see square in top left).

7. The 9 inch side of your paper will form the top of your box and the 12 inch side will form the sides. Lay your paper flat. Lift one of the square flaps and stick it to the back of the rectangle piece that has the tape or glue on. Lift the flap with no tape and stick this to the glued flap. Do the same to the other side.

8. Take your box and squeeze the top together. The box should naturally fold in and stop at the score lines to form to triangles on each side of your box.

9. Use some mini clothes pins or tie with bakers twine to keep the top of your rectangular milk carton boxes closed and fill with treats.

Want more gift box templates? Get your hands on the Gift Box Template Bundle and you’ll be making your own gift boxes in minutes.