AED Day 4 - Paper Boxes

Today was the second day of Elaine's, Karen's and my crafty 'retreat. After going out for a delicious breakfast, we gathered around Elaine's dining room table, checked out etsy shops and worked on some projects. While Karen worked on a 'secret slipcase' made from paper, Elaine taught me how to make a nifty little box from scrapbook paper. It was a bit complicated so I tried out a few. Here's an explanation of how they're made:

Start with a square piece of scrapbook paper. Mine was printed on both sides, but it can be white on the back, and I made it 5"x5". On the back of the paper, draw 2 pencil lines from corner to corner, which will cross at the center. Fold each corner of the square into the center and go over the fold with your fingernail or a bone folder to make it crisp. When opened up it looks like this.

Fold the corners back into the center. Now fold the opposite straight edges into the center, unfold them and fold the other opposite edges into the center. Opened out it should look like this.

Make 2 cuts on 2 opposite sides - a total of 4 cuts. They go from the outside edge to the first fold, as seen in the photo above.

Open out the paper. Now take the two sides without cuts and fold the points back into the center

Fold up those sides and fold the corners in.

Now fold the short sides up over the first set of sides, down the inside wall and ending up with the points meeting on the floor of the box interior. You can glue these points down or even make a contrasting square to cover the floor and glue that down.

Here are some little boxes with covers, made by Elaine. The covers are slightly larger, starting out with a square 1/4" larger than the square for the box bottom.

I hope this tutorial is clear. The boxes are really cute and light, and, with the variety of papers out there in the craft stores, the possibilities are endless.

Tomorrow I'll post more about our crafty get-together!

It was fantastic!