Robin's Birdhouse: Gift box for tea or trinkets

It’s Friday!! Hurrah! I’m happy to be back with another project as part of the Altered Pages Design Team. We are continuing our month-long partnership with Unruly PaperArts and Leaky Shed Studio products. I have an origami project to share with you today. I recently purchased a disk from HSN during Craft Month (a.k.a. March) and it has a wide variety of cards and 3D projects on it. I love this little triangle box. In keeping with the RAQ theme this month of Tea Cups and Tiaras, it’s the perfect size to hold a tea bag and a little treat.

Sometimes origami can be a little complicated for me, but I was able to get this one right the first try and it only took a few minutes. You need one sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper. It can be single or double sided. I chose a two-sided pattern because I liked the thought of having a pretty inside to the box. You don’t want card stock for the box part of this project because it will make the folds too bulky. I am using Graphic 45 French Country paper.

Cut the paper to a 9x9 square. The remaining 3” strip can be used for the flap that holds the box closed or you can save it for another project. The DVD did recommend using card stock for the flap but the G45 paper is such good quality that I went for it.

Click for a larger image

Score your paper at 3” intervals both horizontally and vertically. IMPORTANT: You want the very center square to be flat. At each corner of the middle box, score a line out to the corner of the paper to cut the section in half diagonally. Do all four corner boxes this way. Decide which direction you want your finished paper to face because you are only going to score the sides of the box. The front and back 3” panels will not have folds.

The middle panel on each side now needs to be divided into thirds. Turn the paper so that the two sides are at the top and bottom when you look down at it. Score the middle sections so that when you are complete the (temporary) top row looks like a “W” and the (temporary) bottom row looks like an “M”.

FOLD ALL DIAGONAL LINES AS MOUNTAINS
FOLD ALL PERPENDICULAR LINES AS VALLEYS.

Cut out your flap from either coordinating paper or card stock so that you have a 3” square with a 3/4" flap on one side. Score the flap line and then score another line in about 1/8” further in. This small section is to allow for the folds when the box is complete.

There are a lot of embellishment opportunities on this project. You can decorate the front and back of the box itself as well as the front and back of the flap. You can even decorate inside the box! Because I used a tape runner to attach the flap I chose to embellish with brads on the back for added strength. A strip of the same paper was attached inside the box to cover up the plain metal strips.

I printed two copies of the Altered Pages Victorian Tea collage for the front of my box. One image of the lady drinking tea was cut into a scalloped oval and the other was used just for the flowers on her hat. Once the oval was cut I used a Colorbox Cat’ Eye pad in Colonial Blue to tint the outside edge. The oval was positioned over the flowers and both were adhered to a red 3x3 panel, which had been embossed with a polka dot pattern.

The inside panel where the flap is adhered was decorated with a chipboard crown from Leaky Shed Studio that was dipped in Warm Red Colorbox Chalk ink. A G45 sticker and a stamped sentiment were added.

"I wish we could sit down together and drink a cup of tea. But since we can't when you have this one I hope you think of me."

The box is sealed with a Velcro closure (cut in half) but there was room to decorate on the front panel, too! I added a hand-cut banner from the same paper and another darling tea cup image from Altered Pages.