Milk carton tutorial

Just in time for last minute Easter chocolate gifts - Here's the tutorial that I said I'd do on how to make the "milk carton" gift boxes like I made in my last post.  Like I said, they are so really easy to make and I couldn't believe that I hadn't had a try at making one sooner.

So, here's what you'll need:

• a ruler and pencil
• a scoreboard or scoring tool
• 1 sheet of A4 card (I used the hammered card from The Papermill Shop)
• some kind of adhesive - I prefer the red double sided tape as it is a dry adhesive and once it is stuck down, its not going anywhere!
• some scissors 

Turn your card to "landscape" and (on the wrong side/back of the card) measure on the long edges at 7cm, 14cm, 21cm and 28cm.  I have pencilled my lines in so that they can be seen in the photo but really you only need to make a little dot to mark each measurement.  Score these 4 vertical lines:

Next, down the short edges, mark the following measurements: 1.5cm, 7cm and 16cm.  Score these 3 horizontal lines, as shown below:

Next, across the top of the card, measure at 10.5cm and score a small vertical line just until you reach the horizontal line below (this is where the tucked-in bits are at the top of the carton):

Repeat this step at 24.5cm:

You can only just see in this picture that I have scored (with my ruler and score tool) where the two sides panels tuck in.  You don't have to do this but it does help the card to have a smoother finish at the fold lines.  So, score two lines down from the 10.5cm mark and 24.5cm mark to make triangles in each of the boxes below:

The squares on the bottom row will create the bottom flaps on the carton.  Cut up from the bottom of each score line, stopping at the point where they cross with the other line.  Trim the edge of each flap so that it folds in easier (as marked with orange pen below) and completely cut out the small rectangle on the bottom right hand side:

Trimming a little angle off each of the cut lines to create the bottom flaps:

Fold across your score lines now, horizontal and verticals.

Apply strong double-sided tape down the flap on the right hand side and stick to the other side, creating a 4 sided tube.

Now, fold in the flaps at the bottom of the carton and stick together with d-s tape.  Make sure that the carton retains its square shape - if you stick these off centre your carton will be out of shape and won't fold correctly:

Time to create the top of the carton now.  Push the small scored lines inwards (at 10.5cm and 24.5cm):

Fix the top of your milk carton together - the best way I've seen is to use these little bulldog clips.  You could also use brads or the d-s tape (but this would ruin the carton when it was opened).

Now comes the fun bit - decorate as desired! 

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial!

Thanks for looking,

Amanda