Recycled Cardboard Gift Boxes

Have you ever seen recycled crafts that look as good as these Recycled Cardboard Gift Boxes from Melony Bradley? Simple spring crafts like these are worth the work that goes into them. When you're searching for creative wrapping for a homemade gift, just pull out one of these DIY gift boxes. Not only do these gift boxes look lovely, but they're a joy to make. You'll love engaging basic crafting techniques to yield a homemade gift box like these spring-inspired ones.

Materials:

• Sizzix BigShot Die Cutting Machine
• Sizzix Bigz Frame Die Ornate #3
• Sizzix Bigz Die, Flowers 3-D
• Jacquard Products Neopaque paints in White, Black and Turquoise
• National Nonwovens wool felt in peasoup, cottage red and white
• Aleene's Fabric Fusion, Liquid Fusion
• Assorted embellishments such as vintage bingo card, pearls for flower centers
• Recycled items- small cardboard boxes, corrugated shipping boxes
• Scissors, paintbrushes, transparency sheet
• Filler of choice such as shredded kraft paper

Instructions:

1. Tear away outer layer of one panel of a shipping box and peel back to reveal the corrugated center.
   
   
    
2. Using the BigShot machine, die cut several (however many boxes you will be using) frames from the cardboard.
   
   
    
3. Cut a 2 1/2" opening from the center of each frame using small sharp scissors. Do the same for the front of the boxes.
   
   
    
4. Paint the corrugated frames and boxes Turquoise and White. When the boxes are dry, use the paint black and a small round paint brush to lightly dry brush the edges and some of the surface.
   
   
    
5. While the paint is drying, assemble the flowers. Die cut the 3 d flowers from the wool felt. I cut three pieces per box. In addition to the cut die, you will need a skewer or pencil and some fabric glue to assemble each flower, plus whatever pretty embellishment you want for the center.
   
   
    
6. A stencil results in a slightly fluffier flower and is a little easier to use. Refer to the package insert for instructions on forming your flowers. Once the paint is dry, you can start the super fun of creating your boxes. 
   
   
    
7. Note that the inside of the box was not completely painted. This is OK because you will almost be completely filling the box.
   
   
    
8. Use a cut up reproduction bingo card and some fabric tape as additional embellishments to give boxes a vintage look.
   
   
   
9. Let the boxes lie flat while the glue sets.
    
10. Shredded kraft paper, which can be purchased very inexpensively, makes a great filler.