Sometimes a gift box is in order–for example, when you spend $200 on craigslist to purchase a clan of discontinued Harry Potter lego mini figures for your 7 year old’s birthday. As crazy as that sounds, I bet the gift will be a huge hit. But I definitely want it to impress!
I thought at first that I’d go buy some kind of commercially made box– but even though I live in the belly of retail oversupply, I rarely find the time to shop. As I was biking from one absolutely necessary appointment to another, it occurred to me that I should cut myself some slack and just make the box instead. As a recovering cardboard box hoarder, I was pretty sure I had the materials at home.
I love to sew, but rarely have the time. Paper craft offers many of the same perks (beautifully printed materials) at a lower time and energy cost. For the lining of the box I used some leftover Japanese paper from Paper Source.
Box making was a bit tougher than I thought–and would have benefitted from more precision than I gave it–but I’m still pleased with the result. I think it makes it (especially with the Hogwarts print lid) appear as special and expensive as it is! Best of all, no new plastic was purchased for this project!