Sunday, December 5, 2010

♫Have yourself a Recycling little Christmas..♫

Yup! Recycle those old Christmas Cards into…

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..some pretty little gift boxes!  It’s so easy to do and great for those little gifts like jewelry, soap, gift cards, money, tea, candy…or whatever!  Here’s how to do it…

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Scribble out the writing and cut the cards in half right down the fold line…  P1100788

Using a ruler draw an X on both cards, corner to corner.  On the half with the pretty picture draw a small box about 1 cm or 1/4 inch big at the centre of the X..see the example.  YOU ONLY DO THIS ON THE TOP HALF OF THE CARD!

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Let’s make the bottom of the box first…fold up one side to the middle of the X then fold down the other side…meeting in the middle of the X.

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Do the same on the sides…see example…

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Both sides are folded and meet the middle of the X…

 P1100795-1  Now open up the card and  look at the crease marks…

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I used a red pen so that you could see this better…on the inside crease marks draw a line and cut only on these red lines..See the example…

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Mark and cut both ends.  See the example…

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Tuck the sides up and tape or staple..

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Fold the end up and fold it over and tape it down inside the box.

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Bottom is done..I usually tape a pretty coloured piece of paper or tissue down to hide the message.

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Now the top of the box is the card where you have marked the little 1 cm. square in the centre of the X.  (By drawing the little square you are making the top of the box a little bigger so it will easily slide over the bottom of the box.)

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Now you are going to fold this exactly like the bottom except instead of folding to the middle of the X you are folding to the edge of the box…see example.

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Fold the other side to the edge of the box…

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Fold up the other ends…open and mark the red lines and cut on the red lines. P1100813

Tuck in the sides and tape.  P1100815

Fold up the ends and fold over and tape.

P1100816 Done!!

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Be warned..these are addictive!!  You start with one box and before you know it…you’ve made millions and billions of boxes…OK OK…just try ONE!

P1100819  I love the tulip box…it was a birthday card…so pretty!P1100822

On the Quilting Front~

I have a big Tupperware bin of Settler’s Pride!!  With Christmas music playing in the background, I spent most of yesterday cutting out the rest of the wool appliqué pieces and now she is done!!  (Happy Dance!)  Now I just need to go from…

..THIS~

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…To THIS~

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But that will be a job to for another time…hopefully while traveling!

Have a super Sunday and Happy FOLDING Quilting!~P

27 comments:

  1. Great idea! I have a friend who makes boxes like yours and she has millions. LOL

    I'm so glad you persevered with your Settler's Pride project. It's going to be stunning.

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  2. I love the idea! Thanks for sharing it.
    I am so happy you got your pieces cut out. It will be a fun project to do while traveling.
    Now I am off to make boxes.
    Thanks

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  3. Thank you for the very good tutorial! Naturally I have saved dozens of last year's Christmas cards, so all I need to do now is start folding.

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  4. thanks for the great tutorial..you are turning into another 'go to gal'..just like your 'go to guy' you are married to!!..now I am going save all my old cards!!..or at least the pretty ones!!

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  5. Nice feeling, isn't it? To have all those little kits ready to go when you are. I saw that one in a shop in Raleigh, NC this past year as a BOM and hemmed and hawed a little too long.

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  6. I love the boxes - what a great idea. Well done too for getting all your kits ready to go!

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  7. Super great idea!! Those boxes are darling! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  8. Thanks for the tutorial on making boxes from cards.I am always torn about what to do with really cute cards and hate to trow them away.
    Looks like you have your settler's pride quilt under control. It will be fun to watch it come to life as you travel south for the winter.

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  9. What a great tutorial - thanks so much for sharing such a quick and fun project... I would never have thought to do that with my old cards and you explained it so well.

    Yeay for getting all of your bits cut :0)

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  10. Oh my goodness, I want to try this! What a great idea for the little gifts.

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  11. I've made those little boxes but a little different way to put my homemade candy in to give as small gifts to my friends. Thanks for showing them.

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  12. Fantastic idea!!! Especially if you buy some inexpensively at the dollar store...(obviously I don't save them) LOL

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  13. You are a "jack of all trades" and I love it!! Thanks for sharing, I have lots of pretty cards. Kudos to you for sticking with the wool quilt pattern...can't wait to see it come together.

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  14. I had made those kind of boxes when I was so much younger with origami paper but never thought to do that with the cards. What a great idea! Congrats on getting your pattern all cut out! Looking forward to living vicariously with your progress on it!

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  15. Just a fabulous idea! Thanks for sharing. Its great for sharing with kids too.

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  16. How cute! I made those little card boxes in middle school for an art project...so neat to see them still bringing cheer and recycling old cards!

    Can't wait to see the quilt. =)

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  17. I am always looking for new ways to recycle cards---so this tute is wonderful!!

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  18. Paulette, you are a GENIUS!!! What a great way to use up all those cards - I always feel so guilty when I throw them away every year!!

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  19. I have been saving cards for over 20 years, I have boxes of them from all occasions. Just found them last week while cleaning out my sewing room. Told myself I need to find something to do with them. You just solved my problem........THANKS!!!!!!! Know I can start making my millions of little boxes!

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  20. That is an AWESOME tutorial - I can't wait to try it! Thanks Paulette!
    Good for you on getting your SP ready, it's really going to be a wonderful quilt!

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  21. I've never seen this done before. It's just brilliant, thank you.

    BTW, my word verification is "apest" - I'm not, am I

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  22. what a super cute idea! you're so smart!!!

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  23. The boxes are great for giving jewellery.

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  24. So cute,fabulous idea! great idea for the little gifts.

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  25. Woo Hoo...I love this. I'm so excited to try this with cards I already saved from last year. Thanks so much for sharing this.
    Have a great Holiday,
    ~Karen~

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  26. I found you via Pinterest. Thanks for a wonderful way to reuse any kind of card! I tried to make several different boxes over the past few months and this is the best way I've seen.

    I cut out nice colored areas, designs or patterns from my 'to recycle' magazine pile and glued that in the top and bottom to cover any lines or writing. It looks fantastic! Thanks again!

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