It's what's inside that counts! (box with lid tutorial)

Well, it could be what's inside your heart, or your spirit, or what's inside the child in you.....but today...it's what's inside the box! Yesterday I made candy boxes and someone asked if it had a lid. Well, no, but I have one that does! This is a fun box....all one piece...made from a 12x12 sheet of paper.



I have an embossed piece of paper (a little different from yesterday's paper) but still from Doodlebug, inc. Today I'm using Ranger's Distress inks, Fired Brick and Peeled Paint. But again, you can use any ink pad.



I'm also using Ranger's Cut n' dry foam. Now I absolutely love this stuff! It comes in a sheet and I cut it up into 1" x 2" pieces. That's what fits best in my hand!



I dab the sponge on the top of the ink pad. Why? Well, I think it saves wear and tear on the ink pads...but it also gives me more control over the amount of ink that gets applied to the paper, and the location where it gets applied.



I usually ink up just the end of the foam sponge.



And then I rub the ink onto the paper. Again, with embossed paper, the raised areas will pick up more ink than the other areas. I like to work over a non-stick craft sheet and drag the ink in from the edges.



On the debossed side of the paper, I simply rubbed the ink pad directly on the paper. I rubbed both green and red. Now, did you know that when you mix green and red, you get a lovely shade of brown? Shall we start a new holiday trend....just use brown???




I also dabbed the ink pad up and down to get the squares. Yes, I think I like my red, green and brown patterns that I got here!



The embossed side with the sponge came out much softer, and I like that just as well!!



You can always use any piece of paper....I just thought I'd have some fun today with this! Now, fold the paper in half. Either way, doesn't matter.



The fold each end in to the middle. That will give you 4 columns



Next, open the paper up and do the same folds on the cross grain. This will result in 16 squares on your paper:



Cut off the 3 squares on the lower right hand corner.



Now it gets a bit tricky. You next want to cut off the lower left 2 squares on the bottom side, but do NOT cut the whole squares off. Leave 1/2" at the top of the squares. I know...confusing...but read through this before starting and I think it will make sense.



that 1/2" is going to be the flap for the lid of the box and will fold up like this:



Next, cut off the remaining squares. This would be the top left 6 squares and then 2 on the left. BUT...you will need to leave a 1/2" lip around that "lid" square. So although I say cut the squares off...cut them paritally off, leaving 1/2" around the "lid" square to make the lip for the lid.



You will cut slits in the lid to form the lip and fold the edges in like this:



And then bring the tab around like this and adhere some tap to secure the ends in a box fashion:



Should look like this:



So, let's go back and take a look at the final template. One square left on the upper right. All 4 squares coming down the second row from the right, then in the 3rd row, it's the 3rd square with a 1/2" border around it from the surrounding squares. Now, does that make just a little more sense?



We're almost done! Now we start to shape the box. You can tape it as you go, but I leave mine untaped..you will see. Start with the far upper right corner and pull that up and shape a corner:



Roll this over to be even with the lid section:



Pull the bottom section up...you can start to see the box come together at this point.



And fold the lid over on top and you have a box. With a lid!



So, that's the instruction, now back to the first photo...the original box that I made....and what's inside!



I use a ribbon to tie the box together, so untie the ribbon....



Lift the lid up and you can start to see there are tags (?) inside....



But wait! When you unfold the box, you will see that it's not tags....



It's TWO flip flop books!



And the inside and outside of this box is covered with wonderful vintage stickers from Crafty Secrets....one of my all time favorite companies! The paper is from the same company....perfect weight for making a flip top lid box with flip flop books inside!



This box was first published in the December 2006 issue of Scrapbooking & Beyond. I think I'll make a few more to hold the caramels on Tuesday. See....I'm still optimistic that we won't eat them all immediately!!!

Now, just remember, its' not what's on the outside that matters...it's what's inside that counts! I hope you will try to play a little with this template and feel free to post your results here!