Boxes for Ornaments : Gift Boxes from Greeting Cards, Photos, Postcards and Card Stock

Every year as I am crafting ornaments to send near and far I am also pondering how I am going to package them. Some years I knew that I could easily slip them into a greeting card. Other years found me wandering the aisles of the grocery store looking for just the right sized boxes. (By Christmas Day my cupboards might hold a box of loose light bulbs, or loose envelopes of pectin.)

In 2004 my annual gift ornaments were Mill Hill Diamond ornaments. As I was stitching them I was thinking that they were just a wee bit too thick to slip into a greeting card. Then it occurred to me that I could easily fold a greeting card to accommodate the ornament. (My quilting ruler made this a very quick project.) That year my gift boxes were made from a 4" by 6" greeting card. They looked like this:



My illustrated (pdf) instructions for these boxes (that open at one end like a cereal box) can be seen or downloaded from this link: Flat Box from Greeting Card.

In 2005 my annual ornaments were Smocked Ornaments made from remnants from one of my Mom's square dancing skirts. In keeping with the recycling theme I folded boxes from recycled 5" by 7" Christmas cards. (Note that two sides of these boxes will show the back of the card.) These boxes looked like this:

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My illustrated (pdf) instructions for these boxes can be seen or downloaded from this link: Boxes from Greeting Cards.

In 2006 my annual ornaments were Washi (decoupage) Eggs. In keeping with the "dairy" theme I fashioned greeting card boxes into a milk carton shape. They looked like this:



(No instructions for these as they are the same as the 2005 boxes with two of the top flaps up.)

In 2007 I stitched some ornaments that needed a flat box. This time they were just the right size to make a candy box type box from a 5 x 7 inch greeting card. They looked like this:



I didn't make any instructions for these boxes because I found a tutorial for similar ones at: http://craftypod.com/2007/10/29/how-to-make-a-gift-box-from-an-old-greeting-card

It later occurred to me that photographs and postcards would make a great tops for this type of box. Here is one I whipped up from a postcard. (The bottom is made from a card stock rectangle that is cut slightly smaller than the postcard.)



Note that in order to show all of the inscription I placed the tabs on the outside of this box.



In 2008 I stitched 15 sided three dimensional ornaments. I knew that these ornaments would be too big for a greeting card box and I wanted to make a box that would keep the tassels from getting bent. I ended up folding five sided boxes from 8 1/2" x 11" card stock. They looked like this:



My illustrated (pdf) instructions for these boxes can be seen or downloaded via this link: Five Sided Boxes.

In 2010 I used three sided boxes, that were really more of a wrap than a box, for some three sided ornaments. I made the prototype (second from the top in the photo below) using a recycled greeting card but made the rest using sheets of card stock.



The tutorials for making these boxes can be found on this blog page.



In 2011 I made my gift boxes from grey marbled card stock. Each piece of 12 x 12 inch card stock yielded two boxes.



I used the same style of box again in 2012 ...



and in 2016.



The tutorials for making these boxes can be found on this blog page.

In 2014 I wanted to make candy box style boxes that were 1 1/2" deep. My cards weren't quite big enough so I folded the front of the card to make a box top that is 3/4" deep and back of the card to make a box bottom that is 3/4" deep. Then I inserted a 1 1/2" strip of folded cardstock inside the box bottom to make it taller.





2019  As I wrote above I have often slipped flat ornaments into greeting cards, and then envelopes, but when the ornaments are padded it makes for a bit of a lumpy package. Sometime I have inserted rectangles of bubble wrap, with ornament shaped apertures, into the cards but this year I used some foamcore strips to fashion the greeting cards into shallow hinged boxes.







I posted a tutorial for these boxes on this page.


Bonus Tutorials

I also found a tutorial to make a pillow style box from a greeting card. Click on the photo to see the tutorial.



Here is a pdf for another template for a pillow style box. (You can shrink/ resize it with a photocopier.)

And I found a tutorial to make a triangular box from a greeting card. Click on the photo below to visit that tutorial.



For more tutorials and some printable boxes see the following pinterest album.

http://www.pinterest.com/pinwheelpond/paper-boxes/



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