When it’s nearly time for Christmas, I always make an excuse to start early. Who can resist the festive spirit or the fun when it comes to crafting handmade gifts? My favorite project is a personalized Christmas Ornament dressed up in a beautiful gift box. These make wonderful gifts and keepsakes for any Christmas tree. Your family and friends' faces will light up when they see their names on a personalized bauble.
In this article, I’m going to show you how to make your own gift box customized to fit a 3” or 80mm Christmas ornament. I’ll also include a link to boxes for other sized ornaments.
Design template - Christmas ornament gift box
Cricut or any cutting machine that you have
Scoring tool for the folding lines
3x Cardstock 30cm x 30cm - I will be using white for the main box 290gsm
A4 Acetate
Patterned paper or Sticker vinyl - If you struggle with vinyl where the transfer tape tears the cardstock, I’ll share a little hack below
Glue or double sided tape
If you don’t have a cutting machine you can also cut the box out by hand. A PDF with instructions is included with the gift box template.
For other sized gift box templates, check out this multiple gift box template bundle.
I will be using my Cricut Maker and Cricut Design Space for this project. But you can follow with your own cutting machine and software
Make sure that you have downloaded and unzipped your purchased file before beginning.
Open Cricut Design Space, then upload the file template. I chose the file “Ornament Box - Solid Score” since I will be using my Cricut scoring tool.
Select the uploaded file then click on Add to Canvas. My Cricut Design Space loaded the pieces as seen in the image below. I want to move the pieces apart, change cut lines to score lines and attach pieces together. With the design selected, I clicked Ungroup top right.
Move each piece apart but remember to select the score lines (lines within the piece) and the associated cut lines together. This is how my Design Space looks now.
Next, change the cut lines to score lines. Under the Layers Panel on the right, you will see layers with black and white lines. These are the score line layers. Click one, then go to Operation top left and select Score.
Do this for each score line. The layers will change from Basic Cut to Score under the Layers Panel.
Before I go on to make this lovely box, the score and cut lines for each piece need to be attached. This tells Cricut Design Space to cut and score in the correct place. Select both the score line and cut line for that particular piece then click Attach bottom right.
Do this for all parts that have score and cut lines.
Yay! Now everything is ready to be cut and scored. Click on the Make It button top right and select On Mat 30.5 cm x 30.5cm in the next window.
Cricut Design Space will sort everything out according to color. The box is made up of different kinds of materials (cardstock, acetate and permanent vinyl in my case). Color coding designs makes cutting so much easier. If you are wondering what the gray shape is, that’s for the acetate.
Cricut Design Space will tell you step by step what to cut and score next.
I will begin with the Acetate for the front cover of the box. Click on the gray project mat to select it.
Now click on Continue bottom right. A new screen will open and the first option is to select the material settings. Next to Set Base Materials, click on Browse all Materials on the far right.
Next, type in Acetate in the search bar and press Enter. Your options will come up. Choose Acetate and click Done bottom right.
You will then be taken back to the mat page where you will see that Acetate has been selected. Below this is the pressure. Depending on your acetate, you may need to change the pressure. I had to increase mine by changing it to More.
Load your mat and when prompted, press the “C” logo button on your machine to begin cutting.
After cutting, Cricut Design Space will move on to the next action. This time you are scoring and cutting the box. You will need to change the Base Material first. Click on the word Acetate to open the material options. I went with Heavy Cardstock 100 lb (270gsm).
Remember to click Done bottom right each time you select a new material. There is no Pressure option for the Stylus. For cutting, set the Pressure to More if using a higher gsm cardstock.
In the second step, Load tools and materials, you will need to change to the stylus. Click on the Edit Tools option.
In the next window select the Scoring Stylus and click Apply. You won’t see the icon for the scoring stylus, but don’t worry, Cricut knows what tool it's using.
Load your Scoring Stylus in carriage A, your Fine Point Blade in carriage B and your mat into the machine. When prompted, click on the “C” icon on your machine to start the process.
Once the card has been scored, your machine will detect the blade and then proceed to cut. Next, we will cut the final pieces. Since I’m using Cricut Permanent Vinyl, my settings may differ from yours.
Make sure to change your Base Material to your type of vinyl/patterned paper. For the glitter vinyl, I used the Vinyl setting with Pressure set to More. The Glitter Vinyl setting didn’t seem to cut properly.
When using sticker or permanent vinyl, you may have the issue where the transfer tape tears the top layer of the cardstock. Here is how to avoid this.
Transfer the vinyl to the tape then place both on the cardstock. DO NOT RUB/BURNISH the vinyl.
It will stick straight away and the more pressure you add the more the cardstock will tear. Just gently peel back the transfer tape. I cut an additional vinyl piece for the bottom of the box but this isn't necessary.
You are now ready to put the box together. You can use glue or double sided tape.
In the purchased product files you will find a very helpful PDF file. It also contains a step by step video on how to put the box together. All you need to do is follow the steps and you’re done!
The Christmas gift box is now complete with a personalized Christmas ball.
Personalized Christmas baubles will always be a hit with friends and family. Looking for something that will stand out this festive season? Then check out how to make a Magical Light Up Christmas Ornament for something a little different.
Why not share your creations in the Facebook Group and check out all the amazing deals at the same time?
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