Quick & Easy Index Card Boxes

Since I don't often buy art materials, making gift boxes simply becomes a chore in my attempts to hunt down paper (for my lack of cardstock or anything of the kind) that is strong enough to hold materials. However, one day when I was preparing for school, I had an epiphany about one of the most obvious things in the world--index cards are just small pieces of cardstock. Make a few cuts and add a few drops of glue, and we can be onto something big here.

Well, not really.

But these gift boxes did turn out very nicely, and they would be useful for any kind of little gifts such as candy bars on Halloween / Valentine (whichever you prefer--the grotesque or the grotesquely romantic), little presents to count down Christmas, gift cards, little toys for small kids, any small pieces of jewelry, or a brick of tofu...basically anything that is small enough to fit inside an box made out of an index card.

Of course, these boxes can be made from any tough paper besides index cards, but if I admit that then the title of this entire instructable kind of loses its meaning.

ANYWAY, on to our list of materials!

MATERIALS
- 2 index cards (or 2 pieces of cardstock, construction paper...you name it)
- glue or double-sided tape (unless you prefer regular scotch tape, though it wouldn't look very neat)
- scissors
- ruler
- pencil
- decorations to put on box (optional, though it makes the box a lot more fun)

To be honest, the pencil and ruler are rather optional too, as all you need them for is to mark out where you will fold your paper. However, unless you're a saint at eyeballing measurements, I would recommend using a ruler and marking out lines with a pencil.

Step 1 Step 1: Sketch the outlines of the box

Do exactly as the step says. Sketch your box onto your index card. Since we are doing the top and bottom as two separate pieces, this can easily be done by measuring out the dimensions for the bottom of the box to your taste, making sure that the edges around the box you sketched out are even. Refer to the diagram if you are having trouble comprehending my somewhat confusing directions.

Be careful so that your box will actually fit onto your paper . If you are a math guru, you would know that the width of your box (y, in the diagram) + 2 * the height of your box (z, in the diagram) should not exceed the width of your paper, and the length of the box (x, in the diagram) + 2 * the height of your box should not exceed the length of the paper.

For those who are just too unwilling to think mathematically, you should still be able to get the directions fairly easily, though if not, try experimenting with different sketches until you find the one that gives you the dimensions you want.

Comments

[sunshiine]

Would sure like to see more of your work! Maybe you have some great ideas for Christmas! Sunshiine

[sunshiine]

Absolutely kewl! Thanks for sharing your hard work!

[krysteanuh]

This is incredible!
Totally perfect. I no longer have to buy little gift boxes for jewelry!
Thanks so much! :D

[ninjacow258]

Glad that it helped :)