Friday, March 19, 2010

I'm really feeling these Chinese boxes.

Oh my gosh! I love these little boxes! If anyone else wants to make one like mine, here's how.

You will need: one Chinese take-out box, 2 sheets of matching 12x12 paper, adhesive, pen, scissors, craft knife, ruler, hole punch, embellishments, 2 brads or eyelets

This is the box that I'm starting with.
First, you need to take off the handle. If you are really careful, you may be able to put it back on. I'm not careful though! Once you have it off, unfold your box and lay it flat on a 12x12 sheet of paper. Trace around the main part of the box. The flaps won't fit, but use your ruler to connect the lines from the "main" part of the box. (Ok, that sounds a little confusing.) It should look like this.

On the second sheet of paper, trace the flaps. You may want to leave about a half inch of extra space at the bottom of each flap to account for any space that may be in between the flaps and the main part of the box.Then, cut everything out. Turn your (still flattened) box over to where the outside is facing up. Adhere your paper flaps to the flaps on the box. The adhere your main paper to the main part of the box. Don't worry if there's a little paper hanging over; you can always trim or sand it down with a file to give it a more finished look. ***A SIDE NOTE*** If you plan on using a strip (or strips) of pattern paper as an embellishment across the front of your box, you may want to go ahead and glue that and trim now. I did, so this is what it looked like:

After that, turn your box over to where the inside is facing up. You will see the holes from the handle. If you plan on putting your handle back on, just pierce through the hole with a paper piercer all the way through the paper. If you plan on using brads or eyelets, punch through with a hole punch (but make sure it's small enough to fit your eyelet or brad). Also, find the slit on the one flap for the "hook" to close the box. Using a craft knife, cut the slit open through the paper.
It's time to fold your box up! You'll have to work each fold back and forth to get it loose, then it should fold right back up like it was. Then, line up the holes that were punched on the sides and attach with a brad or eyelet (or the handle if you plan on reusing that).
EMBELLISH!!!
These are so perfect for gift boxes or party favors! Maybe even home decor or as gifts themselves? You could even fill them with candy for Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, Halloween... ahh the possibilities are endless!

If you make one, I'd really love to see it!! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
-Dani

2 comments:

Vintageandjournals said...

Hi what a fabulous idea....
going to try this...once I get some chinese food LOL..

Amanda Sevall said...

What a great idea!! This is really cute -- I wanna make one now!! TFS :)