Origami box

Updated to show that I now have this as a video tutorial - just click here

Tis the season to have lots of candy out and about....anyone want to come over Tuedsay? I'll be making Grandma Hazel's home made caramels. Possibly the best caramels on earth!!! And I need cute little boxes to set the candy in. (Like I think it will last long enough to actually go into a box?) LOL!




I'm using the new Colorbox queues and a 12x12 piece of white embossed paper. 1442 Flourish impressions by Doodlebut Design inc. Nice paper!



First, I'm going to just lightly rub the top of the ink pads across the paper. As you can see, the embossed areas will pick up darker color and the debossed (or flat) areas will be lighter. This is one of my most fun things to do...color paper!



And you can use any ink pad, any paper....even emboss your own paper in your diecut system. But this took about 2 minutes!



Next, we're going to fold the paper in half, both directions. When the peaks are up like in this photo, those are "mountains". If you flip this over, you would have "valleys". So to start, you want your peaks or mountains pointing up like this photo.



Next, take the lower right hand corner and bring it up to the upper left hand corner and press down on the diagonal. Notice you now have valleys on the top. That's good! And I often use a bone folder to press the creases down. I like the one Ranger makes.



Now, open that fold up and flip it over, so that the mountains from the diagonal fold are pointing up. You will want to pop the center down and your paper should look just like this:



Have I lost you yet? If so, just go back and start over! The first time I tried this...it took me 27 attempts! LOLOL! Nope, I just don't give up easy! Next, you want to grab the ends of the diagonal fold and bring them up together in the center.



And while you are holding on to the tips, just lay the entire piece down on the side.



You can flatten this out and you have just completed a basic napkin fold!!!

For me, the important part is to keep the bottom of the fold like I am showing here facing you. It's easy to turn this around as you start making folds from this point on, so take a look from time to time and make sure the bottom looks like this...that it's closed, not open.



The next thing to do is to fold the flaps in from the top down. Notice the open edges of the outside of the paper get folded in right along the center line.



You want to do the other side the same way and look! You have a graduation cap! This is actually a cute little embellishment for graduation cards! But no! We're only about half way done at this point!



The next step is to open the bottom of that last fold like this....



flare it out and press it down.



You want to do that to both corners -



And then flip the whole thing over and repeat these steps on the other side. When you are done, it should look like this:



Now, before you look at the next photo, note you have a front and a back that where the folds are out. You also have 2 "insides" and if you flip one tab over, it should look like this:



When you look closely, you can see a fold line from a prior fold:



You want to fold that inwards, on both sides:



And then flip over 2 tabs....



and you will find another "page" that looks like this:



Again, look for the fold lines and fold inwards on both sides:



and now, you should have what I call an "ice cream cone". OK....I did this at the Mr. Ellie Pooh booth summer before last...we made over 2000 boxes....and we had kids as young as age 5 making them with no help! So come on...don't give up! We're almost there!!!



This time, look at the top. Don't worry that it's torn...that happens..it's paper that you fold 27 different times! It won't show, I promise!



Grab one flap and fold it down as far as it will go:



Should look like this:



Then flip a page over and pull down the next flap....







And continue to do this 4 times. The end should look like a little pocket:



You may need to fold one flap back over to get it to be even like this:



Hey! We're just about done! Now, stand the pocket on it's end:



And very gently start working your hand down inside the top, sort of pushing out the sides. It's paper...so go easy, or you will split the corners open (which I simply tape shut!)



As you tap your fingers around inside, a box will start to form. You can press out any creases in the bottom and it should look something like this:



If you want a flat bottom, just pince a crease with your fingers:



But usually the weight of the candy will hold it down flat! - Well, unless you eat it all!



At this point, just take a little tape and tape the flaps under the box, pressing them square. But note, you can tape them together up over the top and make a basket, or curl them up or down....all kinds of fun variations!



When done, you've got a fun box!



Of course, if you want to make one of these out of Mr. Ellie Pooh paper, be sure to give it to a 10 year old boy and then whisper in his ear what's really in the paper! LOLOL!!!

Still have questions on how to make the box? Just post them here in the comments! I'll get back with answers. Now I'm positive you won't eat all the candy...you'll save some to put inside these cute little boxes!