Surprise Box Tutorial

Box Bottom:

(all measurements are in inches)

From an A4 piece of card cut a square 7½" x 7½" 

Score at 2½"  and 5" along one edge.

Turn and do the same on a second edge

You will be left with 9 boxes scored onto your piece of card (sorry, photo is a bit dark)

In the four corner boxes only score diagonally from the outside point to the inner point.

Now fold all your straight scores inwards Strengthen all these folds with a bone folder, this is essential to do as it helps the box to sit nicely under the lid. With the diagonal folds in the corner boxes fold these inwards carefully one at a time to ensure you don't crease across the central box.

This is how your box will look now:

Place a corner of the box into your guillotine or trimmer and from one score edge to another cut off the top piece. I do this by lining up the two points either side of the box onto my cut line on the guillotine and then cut it off.

  Your box will now look like this.

 Fold box inwards, this is what it will look like before decoration.

Box Lid

(all measurements are in inches)

You will have a section left from the A4 piece of card that you cut the box from earlier.

Cut a square of  4.2" x 4.2" card from this left over section.

Score at ¾ " on each side (from the edge). You will make 4 score marks in total and this will leave you with a square scored in the center of your original square.

Cut on the lines as shown in the picture below. Cut a slight angle into the flap cuts so that they fold into the box lid neatly. Add double sided tape to the flaps

Decorate the box top. (not the 4 flaps)

Fold flaps inside the lid to secure.

 DECORATION

Open up your box to decorate.

On the decorating front….. In my box at the top of the tutorial I used the Birthday Papers and Birthday cardstock stickers and some of the Tulip Toppers (all from Docrafts). 

(Apologies for the 2 fuzzy photos below, but the camera is in the car and it is pouring rain so I just took sections from a larger photo and sectioned out the pieces need so I can show you! Scared of a little bit of rain........... YES.......... it is Ireland after all!!)

Working on the Inside of the box first. Measure one of the squares in the box (they squares are all the same size) and then cut 6 squares slightly smaller than this size so when you place them in the square section they will have a slight boarder around them. I just find this to be a neat look and means the paper won’t crease when the box folds inwards. Four of the squares will go in the full square panels. (If you are decorating the central panel with papers then cut 1 extra square for this).

The other two squares that are left over you cut to fit into the four corners that fold into the box.

To do this take a square and cut it diagonally from corner to corner. Then take 1 corner piece you have just cut and split it in half down the center from the point to the bottom, this will give you the 2 pieces for one corner section. Now do this with the second corner piece and glue into the second corner. Cut the second square in the same way to get another 4 pieces to place in the remaining two corners of the box. 

If these directions confuse anyone, then just give me a shout out in the comments section about it and I will photograph the process for you and put it into the tutorial later.

Next thing to do is decorate the outside of the box in the same manner. When you are finished your masterpiece pop your lid on and your done and dusted.