How To Make A Lidded Box From Card

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Skill Level : Practice Makes Perfect

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I've made these pretty lidded boxes from A4 sheets of 200gsm card which I have printed designs on.

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You will need :

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1 sheet of rectangle shaped card per box

Something to score creases with (I used my fingernails)

Glue

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And just so you know what I'm talking about:

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For the purposes of this tutorial I have drawn black lines on the BACK of the card - this side will become the inside of the box

First you need to find the middle of both edges - fold in half lengthways and width-ways and make a tiny 'barely-there' crease (you could also mark it with a pencil)

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Fold both long edges to the half-way mark - score the folds.

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Now open the card up back to full size and fold the short edges to the half-way mark - score folds and leave them folded.
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With the piece of card so that it is in a portrait layout, fold the bottom and top edges into the middle. (This should now make your card a landscape layout).

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(Above step started in a portrait layout, I folded the top and bottom and now it's landscape)

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Here comes the bit that will make you say "what, and the what now?"
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Hold the card in your hands like this :
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You want fold A to be next to fold B

(don't give up, once the penny drops, it's really simple)

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Score the diagonal crease and dollop some glue in there.
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So your box should now look like this:
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Now fold the flap inwards and glue that down.
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And after all that folding, tongue-sticking-out, head-scratching (and maybe some swearing) you should have a box that looks like this :
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Tips :
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* If you want your box to have a lid - cut off 1cm from one short edge of your card before you start folding - this should make your inside box slightly smaller than your lid.
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* Don't use card thinner than 200gsm because it's just too floppy. The thicker the card, the sturdier the box, but the harder it becomes to score your creases and get nice crips folds.
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* Don't go much bigger than A4 size as the sides go a bit floppy.
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* These make great boxes for putting jewellery or chocolates in - why not personalise the card using your computer and printer?
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I downloaded my designs (for free) from here and here.
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With thanks to Mr Jelly for thinking up the design and for patiently (well, sort of) showing me how to make them.