Producer Linda Watson and I both admit to having a passion about really nice gift boxes, and we mourn the fact that they seem to be a disappearing breed. It was this fact that inspired Linda to send me the following as an un-birthday gift last year:
Dear Carol,
At some point in the coming year I will come up with the perfect birthday gift idea and shortly thereafter it will materialize right before your very eyes. In the meantime, I have sent off a pseudo gift package that should arrive tomorrow. It is something I could only give, as a gift, to you. It is extremely inexpensive yet it is incredibly valuable because it is so very, very rare. While it may appear that the package contains a bounty of things, it actually contains nothing at all. You don't need to open this gift because there's nothing inside. But never fear, if it were me who wasn't getting a birthday gift, this is the one I'd love to not get.
They say it's not the gift that matters, it's the thought that counts. My thought was... it's killing me to give this to her. Do I really like her well enough to send this? Does she really deserve this? Maybe she won't appreciate it as much as I would if I kept it. Anyway, you get the idea.
Intrigued? Good. Because anticipating the package may be half... no, make that 90 percent of the fun. Of course a pseudo gift makes it a pseudo birthday. You can celebrate it, but it doesn't count.
Linda
The gift that arrived the next day was a stack of very pretty, empty gift boxes held together with a beautiful ribbon.
It was this thought, the passing of the really nice gift box, that inspired Linda and me to make some gift boxes for others who might feel the same way.
Materials:
illustration board*
Olfa cutting knife with extra sharp break-off blades
see-through plastic ruler
metal-edged ruler
pencil
paper to line box
paper to cover box
heavy-duty spray adhesive
two-inch wide gummed paper tape
Scotch tape
* Illustration board comes in heavy and very heavy weights available at art supply stores. For the first box the lighter of the two was used.
Box #1
Steps:
1. Draw outline of box size in the center of a piece of illustration board. Draw another outline around it. The distance between the two will be the height of the sides determining the depth of the box.
2. Cut out the corners (figure A). This is the shape that will form the box. Trace around this shape onto the lining paper and cut out. Trace around this shape onto the piece that will cover the box. Add a 1/4" tab along the both side edges of the end flaps and at least a 3/4" extra strip along all of the outside (top) edges for fold over.
3. With a folding bone, stylus or the blunt end of the closed scissors trace along the drawn lines pressing hard but do not cut through the surface. Turn the cardboard over and with the open blade of the scissors score along the same lines breaking through the top layer of the cardboard (figure B). Turn piece over again and fold up the sides. You will be folding away from the scored lines. Flatten cardboard again.
4. Fold lining paper to correspond with the folded lines of the box. Spray with heavy-duty spray adhesive and attach to inside of the box (figure C).
5. Fold sides of box up and hold temporarily with a small piece of Scotch tape at each corner.
6. Cut four strips of the gummed tape the length of the box and cut four strips the width of the box. Cut four more rectangles to go around the corners. Fold each strip in half lengthwise and cut the ends at an angle.
7. Apply each of the corner pieces of tape to a corner of the box. Each one should go from the top to the bottom edge. Apply the strips along the corresponding top edges and bottom edges (figure D).
8. To cover the outside of the box fold up all the flaps of the previously cut piece of paper and crease along the folds. Cut out a small triangle at the inside corner of the tabs on the end flaps and fold the flap in (figure E). Unfold. Apply spray adhesive and place box in the center of the paper. Fold up the end flaps and tabs first and then fold up the long sides (figure F). Fold the top edges over to cover the tape and press to hold.
9. Repeat all of the above steps for making the top of the box except cut the original piece of illustration board three thicknesses of the cardboard larger. This will be approximately 1/4" and will allow for the top to fit easily over the bottom of the box.
Box #2
Made with the heavier illustration board, this box is made by drawing and cutting out the bottom of the box. Decide on the height of the box and cut two pieces this width and as long as the side of the box. Cut two more pieces the same width and as long as the end of the box minus the thickness of two pieces of the cardboard.
Steps:
1. After cutting the five pieces apply heavy-duty white glue along the bottom edge of one of the side pieces. Place it in position on top of the bottom piece and along one edge. Repeat with the second side edge along the other side.
2. Apply glue along the bottom edge and both side edges of one of the end pieces and insert it in place at one end of the box. Repeat with the other end piece at the other end of the box. Note: If you find it easier to place the pieces in position side piece, end piece, side piece, end piece so that you can also temporarily tape them to hold that too, is satisfactory.
3. The top can be made like the top in the first box, keeping in mind to cut the initial piece of cardboard three thicknessses of the cardboard larger so the top will slip over the top of the box.
Top #2
Make a top exactly as you did the box using the same measurements. The top will sit on top of the box rather than fit over it. To keep it in place cut four pieces of the illustration board wide enough to slip inside each of the boxes' four sides and as much higher than the box as the top is deep. Attach them to the inside sides of the box. When the top is placed in position it should fit perfectly and hold securely.
Top #3
Make a top exactly like Top #2 but cut the pieces that fit inside the box an inch or two deeper than the box. When the top is slipped over them the extra inch or two will show This can be covered with decorative paper or ribbon.
Top #4
Cut a piece of the illustration board exactly the size of the top of the outside measurements of the box. Cut another piece smaller than the measurements by twice the thickness of the cardboard. Glue this to the middle of the first piece. It should fit perfectly over the top of the box and stay in place. The top side can be decorated by cutting squares of cardboard or foam in progressively smaller sizes and stacking them one on top of each other. End with four very small squares stacked to make a knob for pulling the top off.
Note: All pieces of the box and box tops can be covered with decorative paper before gluing them together or after the items are assembled.
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