Doily Gift Boxes

Ribbons and paper lace. Pretty packaging for small gifts.

These sweet mini gift boxes are tailor-made to fit the Tonic Studios range of doily dies. I've used the Daisy Square Die 225E and the Daisy
Circle Die 221E, but all the designs in the range will fit the gift box template. The box measures about 4cm high x 7cm wide (1-1/2in x
2-3/4in), big enough for sweet treats or jewellery.

The box itself can be cut from a single piece of A4 paper. (The smaller size box - 20 per cent smaller - fits two to a page.) Cut the doily out from white pearlescent paper using a die-cutting system. (I used a Cuttlebug with the following set up: A plate, C plate, shims - 2 pieces of 160gsm cardstock - die, pearlescent paper, B plate.) You can cut 4 Tonic square doilies from an A4 piece of paper.

Here is your pattern template:

Once you have everything cut out, glue the doily, centred, onto the box paper. Use a glue stick. Immediately after applying the doily to the box, smooth it in place. Put a guard sheet of clean scrap paper over the doily and smooth it with your hand. The square doily can be applied straight-on or diagonally, as preferred. You engineer how you want the design to fall. (I personally prefer pretty handkerchief points.) The circle doily is, of course, simply centred.

Above: the exterior of the box - doily glued and folds pre-creased.

Inscribe the box folds with an embossing tool held against a metal ruler. Tip: to mark the base of the box, "candle" the box cutout. Align the cutout box (with doily applied) to the photocopied pattern template. Hold it up to the light. You can then see the position of the base square, which you can then inscribe. Once the base square is marked, it is easy to position all the other folds.

Carefully crease the folds. Punch or pierce the ribbon holes. Loosely assemble the top flaps, folding them consecutively and tucking the last one under (see pic above). For each corner bow, you need 25cm (10in) of 6mm (1/4in-wide) ribbon.

Thread the ribbon through adjacent corner holes with a tapestry needle.

Knot the ribbon, then tie a bow and trim the ends. Repeat for the three remaining sides.The doily gift box is now complete.

 

If you prefer a more streamlined look, here's another gift box pattern template:

For this style, the side flaps are glued inside the box and the top flaps interlock in a swirl closure:

For really classy gift presentation, line the inside of the gift box with another doily!

Mega-thanks to Leah, my daughter and photographer, for doing the photo session despite having a yucky cold. (I'm sure she would have preferred to have been curled up with a good book and a cuppa.)