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	Gift Box

This little gift box was taught to me by Jean Caster. She uses them for her Wooden Carved Pocket Angel. Its finished size is 1 3/4" square by 7/8" tall. They are ideal for small Christmas or Valentines gifts.

This is a great way to make a small box for that special little gift. Inside put a special coin, a piece of candy, or some other treasure.

Neatness and accuracy really count in making this box. If you make the cuts and folds very precise, you will end up with a much prettier box that fits together snuggly.

If you want to give the makers a little help, cut out the squares before hand. You can speed up this work using a guillotine cutter. These are available in many offices and some office supply store for customer use.

Make the bottom of the box from white card stock paper or the back of a Christmas card. They can be made from thinner paper, but will be delicate. Poster board is a bit thick and is hard to bend to make sharp corners.

Make the lid of the box from colored card stock (add stickers or a bow to brighten it up) or from the front of a Christmas card. You might find this template helpful in lining up the picture.

1. To make the lid or top use a ruler to measure and draw a perfect square 5 inches on a side. Then cut it out with scissors.
2. Using the ruler, draw the diagonal lines on the bottom of the lid (the side without the picture) as shown below in red lines.


3. Now fold one corner to the center of the square where the diagonal lines intersect and make a good crease.


4. Next fold the side in again to the diagonal line and make a sharp crease.


5. Repeat steps 3-4 for the opposite corner.


6. Unfold the lid. Now work with the other two corners repeating the same steps as above.
7. Unfold both sides one time so that it looks like the drawing below.


8. Now cut along the creases (green lines) as shown in the drawing above. Stop before you cut into the corner. You will make four cuts.
9. Next form the lid by folding the corners labeled “A” and “B” to make the sides of the lid.


10. Then fold the corner labeled “C” over to the center. This should hold the side in place.
11. Repeat steps 9-10 for the other side. This should complete your lid. You may need to go over some of your creases again to make them hold better.
12. If your lid really doesn’t want to stay together, put a couple drops of glue under the corners near the center to hold everything in place. This is not usually needed if you made it properly.

For the bottom, use a ruler to measure and draw a perfect square 4 3/4 inches on a side. Then cut it out with scissors. Then repeat the above instructions to complete the bottom.

You can make boxes larger or smaller if you want. To determine the finished size, multiply the size of the square by 0.35. In the example above, that would be 5 * 0.35 = 1.75. It will be that big square and half that in height. An 8.5 inch square would result in a box 3x3x1.5” deep.

For a bit of fun make a set of boxes that fit nested inside each other - a box, in a box, in a box, ... Make the lids at least 1/2" smaller. For example, use a 5", 4 1/2", 4", and 3 1/2" squares to make the lids. Then use 4 3/4", 4 1/4", 3 3/4", and 3 1/4" squares for the bottoms.

And of course, you can always add a PVC ring to make a neckerchief slide.