Tuesday Technique - A Simple Gift Box to hold A6 Cards

Like most cardmakers, I make lots more cards than I could ever use and one of the things I like to do with them is give them as gifts. This tutorial shows you how to make a simple box to hold half a dozen A6 cards and envelopes. It will accommodate cards with lots of embellishments, or if you prefer making flatter cards you could just put more in.

All you need is two sheets of strong A4 coloured card, glossy accents or PVA, a scoring board, a guillotine (or ruler and craft knife) and a pair of scissors. You can use the handle from a pair of scissors with a ruler to make score lines, but if you make a lot of boxes it's definitely worth investing in a good scoring board to get accurate lines more easily.

1. Start off with two pieces of A4 300gsm card. Cut one 8 " x 10" and the other slightly larger at 8 3/16" x 10 3/16".

2. Score both pieces all the way around 1 3/4 " in from each edge as in the photo above.

3. At each corner, cut a tab by cutting one score line and trimming one edge as above. You can see the cut lines better in the next shot.

4. Use a scoring tool to give a good, sharp crease to all the edges and bend into place.

5. Glue all the tabs inside the corners with glossy accents for nearly instant stick, or use PVA and hold in place with paperclips overnight until properly dry.

6. Finally, decorate with patterned papers and tie your cards and envelopes together with a generous length of satin ribbon. Here's a few I made earlier!

This simple box design is easily adapted to make different sized boxes, just make one sheet of card slightly larger than the other before scoring.

I leave you with some photos of the basic A6 cards I make. When I'm stuck for inspiration for a special card, I'll pull out my stash and make a pile of cards like these. It usually sparks some ideas.

stamped & coloured image, gilding wax on the diecut frames

flower moulded from Martha Stewart paper clay

string and wooden embellishments go with gardening theme

shrink plastic butterfly & fairy coloured with Derwent inktense pencils

alcohol ink background with tyre tread stamp and orange string recycled from clothes tag

handmade stickpins match the topper & ribbon

old lace and bits of broken jewellery make great embellishments for vintage cards