Tea Light Holder Tutorial

Well this is the first Tutorial of  Tutorial Week on the blog. You really have to give this one a go as it is so much easier than it looks and gets a fantastic reaction from the receiver. These are going to be part of my Teachers gifts this year.

This card is a mix of Inches and Centimeters and I will indicate at each section which to measure in.

You will need 2 A4 sheets of card for this project (same color) or 1 -  12 x 12 sheet of card.

Tea Light Card

Cut card to A4 length  x 6" – (measurements in inches)

Scoring measurements are in Centimeters.

Score down the width of the card at 1, 3, 7, 9 and 21.5 cm.

 Fold all score lines in the same direction.

The score marks at 1,3,7 and 9cm will fold into your Tea Light holder and the 21.5cm mark will fold into your card section.

See, easy peasy!!!

Now cut yourself paper to cover the top of the Tea light box and both sides and a piece of paper to cover the card front. I have used the "At Christmas Time" paper from Docrafts. The sizes below are the ones I used but you will determine your own sizing for these panels as you go. Adhere the Tea Light box paper panels ensuring to use glue everywhere on the top panel (where your tea lights show through) as this is going to be cut into and you need to make sure the paper stays on securely. Don't adhere your card section of paper yet as if you are out in your measurements in any way the card section may be too tight to the box and you may need to shave something off the card front. The card paper panel should be the last thing to put down before you embellish your card.

Paper - measurements in Centimeters

Card Front 7,5cm x 14.8cm

Tea Light Top panel = 3.5cm x 14.8cm

Tea Light Side Panel x 2 = 1.5cm x 14.8cm

 Glue your panels down.

Place strong double sided tape on the tab as shown below.

Now turn the card over and in the large middle section of the tea light box section cut out a window. I measure 1cm in from each end and 2cm in from each side. I draw it out as a rectangle on the inside as this won't be seen once the box is put together. Cut out with a craft knife. If any small section won't come away from the card go back in again with your knife to cut it, don't be tempted to pull on it as it could damage the card front.

Place thin strong double sided tape around the window you have cut and add a piece of acetate over this to create a window.

Acetate

3.5cm x 14.5cm

Now put this all aside as you need to make the tea light holder before you can adhere it all together.

 Tea light box holder – Measurements in inches

Cut a piece of card stock at 7³/₈" x 3¹/₈"

 Score on all 4 sides at ¾ "

 Cut into the score lines as shown below in the picture. The little corner boxes will become your tabs to stick your box together. I always cut a tiny little triangle out of the tab instead of just a straight cut so that the tab sits snugly into the box.

Place strong double sided tape on these tabs.

Tuck these tabs into the box sides. Make sure the sides are nice and even.

Sit the holder onto the box section of the card. (the picture below shows this without the window having been cut out..........apologies for that!!)

Wrap the box section around the tea light holder you will attach tab section  to the card. Be very careful to get this nice and tight and square to the card as if this is out a little bit the card section won't sit over snugly.

 

 Now, as is the tradition of all my tutorials the color of the paper will change..........lol. I gave the original tutorial box to a shop as a sample so I am now showing you my next sample made out of the gold paper from the "At Christmas Time" paper pack from Docrafts.

Now fold the card part of the card over and make sure it fits nicely, if it is too tight just cut a a small strip off. Cover card your remaining piece of paper and embelish the front of your card.

I tie ribbon over the candle section of the card to stop the box slipping and it embellish the card further.

Well I hope you like it. It makes a fantastic yet inexpensive gift. I intend to give a lot of these out this year.

I just thought I would add this photo in this post to show you some of my prepared Tea Light gifts.

Rather than drive myself mad by trying to come up with some fantastic sized box. I just made both the lid and the bottom the same size 8 1/4 inches x 7 inches, scored around all sides at 1 inch. Cut into the corners to create tabs and fit them to the inside of the box.  For te bottom box I angled the corners slightly inwards to make it easier for the top to fit over. I used a circle punch to snip a semi circle out of two sides to make it easier to open. Once I took the lid off a couple of times it just slid on easily after that.