Box Card Tutorial

Here's another tutorial for you all to try and I hope you have fun with it!  I would love to see some of your completed cards so please pop back and let me know how you've got on.

This type of card is so versatile and can be used for any occassion especially as you can include a small gift or even make your own bouquet to put in the boxed section of the card.

Materials needed:

5 x A4 sheets of card
Wet glue (for the box assembly)
Double sided tape
Craft knife / guillotine
Pencil
Ruler / Hougie board
Bone folder

Instructions on how to make the basic box card:

1)  From your first sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 below).  This will be the top of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 1

2)  From your second sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 1 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the bottom of your box card aperture.


3)  From your third sheet of card cut a 24cm x 14.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 below).  This will be the right hand side of your box card aperture.

DIAGRAM 2

4)  From your fourth sheet of card cut a 24cm x 12.5cm rectangle and score at 2cm intervals along the long edge (see diagram 2 above).  This is not a duplication as you need 2 pieces of the same size.  This will be the left hand side of your box card aperture.

5)  Taking these four rectangles zig zag fold to form a concertina (see diagram 3 below) using a bone folder to crease the folds.

DIAGRAM 3

6)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss the edges of the folds as well as all the way around the end fold (see diagram 4 below) as it is easier to do this before the aperture is assembled.

DIAGRAM 4

7)  To form the box aperture take one of the long zig zag folded pieces and, using the wet glue, place a small line of the adhesive along one of the zig zagged edges (see diagram 5 below) avoiding both end folds as one will be your finished edge and the other will be fixed to your base card in a later stage.

DIAGRAM 5

8)  Now take one of the shorter zig zag folded pieces and slot them together (see diagram 6 below) alternating the folds in each piece.

DIAGRAM 6

9)  Your finished corner should now look like diagram 7 and 8 below.

DIAGRAM 7

DIAGRAM 8

10)  Apply the wet glue to the edge of the shorter piece as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot in the other long zig zag folded piece as before (see diagram 6 above).

11)  This last piece is a bit tricky as you have to do both ends at the same time.  Apply the wet glue to both ends as before (see diagram 5 above) and slot together at both ends as before (see diagram 6 above).  The wet glue will give you time to complete both ends before it starts to dry.

12)  You should end up with your aperture looking like diagram 9 below.

DIAGRAM 9

13)  At this stage I have added peel off corners and faux stitching the both the outside and inside edge of the aperture (see diagram 9 above).

14)  From your fifth sheet of card cut a 29.4cm x 15cm rectangle and score at 13.7cm in from both short ends.  This should leave you with approximately a 2cm gap in the centre (see diagram 10 below).  This will form the spine of your box card.

DIAGRAM 10

15)  At this stage I've used distress inks to emboss all the way around the edges of the front, back and spine on the inside and outside of the card and also added faux stitching to all sections apart from the inside section where the aperture will be fixed.


16)  The ribbon needs to be fixed to the back section of the card base in the middle ensuring that it will not be seen when the aperture is fitted (see diagram 11 below) .


17)  You could also add a sheet of backing paper to the back section of the card so that it is visible through the aperture once fitted ensuring that it is cut slightly smaller than the outside dimensions of the aperture so that it cannot be seen.

18)  Apply double sided tape to the aperture and fix to the card base leaving equal distances all the way around (see diagram 11 below).

DIAGRAM 11

19)  Now you can decorate the front of your card but please ensure that you fix your other piece of ribbon to the front of the card before applying your your matted decoration (see diagram 12 below).  I have used the Christmas tree embossing folder through my Cuttlebug onto Core'dinations card, sanded it back and added glitter to hightlight some of the decorations on the tree.

DIAGRAM 12

20)  You have now completed this project.  I've added another couple of pictures below to show my finished box card.

Other box card projects can be viewed here and here.

I hope that these instructions, diagrams and pictures have been easy enough to follow and that you enjoyed making your own box card.  I would love to hear your comments and see your projects.

Please feel free to reference this tutorial, along with your project, on your blog and any craft sites but PLEASE spare a thought for the time and effort that has gone into producing this and a link to this tutorial would be very much appreciated :-)



xx Happy crafting and glittery hugs xx