Square Box Tutorial

I had wanted to make this into a cupcake design before I posted the tutorial but I simply haven't had time. Today my daughter collected her boxes and mini cards but then decided she needed another box so that's what I've been doing this evening. I thought since I was I might as well put together the tutorial so here goes.

This box is made from just one and a half sheets of A4 card stock so it's real economical and since it's card stock it's much stronger than normal 12 x 12 card too.

Begin by placing card vertically and cutting a strip of card 3.5" wide. Turn it horizontally and score first at 3.5" then again at a further 3.5" (7" total) and then cut at the last 3.5" - strip should measure 3.5" x 10.5" when finished and look like this (below) when folded on score lines.

Your finished box is going to measure 3.5" x 3.5" and while that doesn't sound terribly big you'll be surprised at how much room this box has inside. After all it takes a pretty good sized red apple!

Return to the remaining scrap and placing it vertically trim to 4.5" wide. This allows for 'tuck in' tabs to be created.

Turn it first horizontally and score at 3.5", then a further 3.5" and then trim at a further 3.5" just as before.

Now turn it vertically again and score half an inch (.5") in from both long sides as shown above

Cut away the mid section as per photo above cutting upper and lower tabs at a slight angle. This makes adjusting the box when assembling much easier as it allows for a bit of 'play'. By now you will have 1 section with tabs as above and a similar section without any tabs.

Once you have folded on all score lines add adhesive tape to the middle square of the tabbed section. Hope you can see this in the photo.

Take the first section and center it to secure in place on the second section. You will begin to see how the base of the box is going to come together.

If you plan to decorate the panels of the box it is best to do so whilst you can lay it flat to work with. Take care to align your patterned paper so the design runs in the correct direction when the box is assembled. I have used 3 1/4" and also 3 3/8" squares depending on whether I wanted a fraction of border or an 1/8" border. For this particular box I used the larger squares.

Once your panels are decorated you can add adhesive tape to the length of the tabs and assemble the box as shown above. You can then see that this box will easily fit a large muffin.

Now take your second piece of A4 card and cut a square measuring 5 1/8" x 5 1/8". Working in from each side in turn score at 3/4" to form the lip of the lid.

Cut just once on each side up to where the score lines meet as shown in the photo above to create 4 tabs. Test them out to see if they need minor trimming and you may wish to cut a slight angle as before so you have 'play' room when assembling. Decorate whilst you can lay flat as before and then add adhesive tape and secure to finish.

Then you can embellish the box as desired.

Enjoy!