2-4-6-8 Box

I know that some of my stamping friends have made these neat little boxes before and many of my hostesses have received little thank you gifts in them... I'm often asked how to make them so I wanted to share the instructions with you! They are so simple and can be made in different sizes just by adjusting the height of your card stock. The key is to keep the width at 8 1/2 inches (unless you also adjust all of the scoring measurements).

For this box, I started with a piece of card stock 8 1/2" wide and 9" tall that I stamped with The Snowflake Spot. Score the card stock across the width at 2", 4", 6" and 8" - now you know where the name came from for this box! These are the vertical score lines. You will have a 1/2" flap left on one side... you'll see what this if for soon. Now, turn your card stock 90 degrees and score one side at 2" - this is the horizontal score line. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and see more detail.

Next, cut along the vertical score lines from the bottom to the 2" vertical score line. You'll be making 2" cuts on your 4 vertical score lines. Now, fold along all of the score lines and use the bone folder to get a crisp fold. Run adhesive all along the 1/2" flap on the stamped side and stick it to the inside of the other end of the card stock. You should see your box starting to take shape now.

Use adhesive to stick the bottom flaps of the box down. I like to put adhesive on two of the bottom flaps, then fold one with adhesive in, stick the next one with adhesive to it, then stick the next flap onto it (this one doesn't have adhesive on it) then you just have to put adhesive on the inside of the last flap to stick it down. Then stand your box up and press the bottom with your bone folder to make sure it is stuck well.

Next, you need to fold the top - I use my pointer fingers to push two of the sides in as I bring the top of the box together... I know that sounds confusing but hopefully the photo helps!

Using a handheld rectangle (or other shape) punch, punch two holes for the ribbon to be thread through - you'll be punching through 4 layers of card stock so you'll need to squeeze hard on the punch! You can make a tag and tie it on to the ribbon. I find that 11" of ribbon works well to tie a nice bow on the front.

Okay, it's not as difficult as it sounds... if you're not sure, try making one with a piece of photocopy paper first then move on to card stock when you have it figured out. Try making these in all different sizes for different gifts. They are great little boxes for small gifts and are really quick to make once you know how.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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