Paper Crafting Boxes Made From Greeting Cards

Paper crafting, paper crafting!  So much fun.  Makes such a mess.  Makes me so happy to make something to give away and make people smile.

We had some leftover Halloween candy. I wanted to make a little treat for the sister we minister to.  I saw on YouTube a video on making a notebook with a Christmas card.  That was pretty interesting.  I even found some notepads to use, but it was going to take more time than my mind could handle.

This got me started thinking about other boxes.  I thought of the Lipstick Boxes I made one time for something, maybe Mother's Day, but they would not have worked with the leftovers.  Then I thought of the hinged boxes that I had made at one time.  The lipstick boxes and the hinged boxes are somewhere here on the blog if people want to search for them.

In this case I purchased a few Thanksgiving cards and cut the front from the inside.  The first cards I had were about 5.5 by 8 inches.

To make the hinged boxes I took the front of the card and placed it face-down in the score board and scored at 1 inch on all for sides.

Box with wet glue on the bottom and Dollar Tree clips (six came in a bag).  You can see a lipstick box in the background about which I had changed my mind.

Next I measure how much length there was in the middle on the long side and subtracted 1 inch.  The remaining measurement gave me the placement of the rest of the score marks.  In this case, I scored at about 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches.  You will recognize that this will give you three one-inch sections and two longer sections.

Fold up on the score lines and burnish carefully.  Cut on all the short lines.  Leave the two long sections alone at this point then put small notches on the other tabs.

Notice the little thumb-hole in the top of the box.  Wait to do it until you have the bottom done, and before you but the final glue on the top.  Use a circle hole punch and only put it about 1/3 of the way on the punch.

Now you are ready for the adhesive. I began using glue BUT the glue I had was taking forever to dry so I began using the dry adhesive tape.

On this model the thumb hole was inadvertently put on the inside of the bottom. Oh well.
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Now on to some 4.5 " by 6.75" cards.  We still need 1-inch scored all around.  The only difference will be how much space there will be in the two "wells".

This shows the score board, the nifty little very sharp scissors, and the box-to-be with all the cuts made, including notching all the tabs.  You notice that the large sections are NOT notched.

Update: on this card the new score lines were at 2 7/8 and 3 7/8 inches...but if you are going to make these, I suggest cutting a piece of scratch paper the size of your card then scoring that.  Maybe make two or three of these...!  That way you won't spoil the cards with improper score lines.