Wine Bottle Gift Box Construction Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how I constructed the wine bottle gift box. This tutorial will cover how to make the chipboard box, but not how to decorate it. (To learn how I decorated it in Artisan paper, come join me at Custom Impressions. More info here.)

You will need:
2 - 12x12 pieces of medium weight chipboard. (I used black)
1 - 12x12 good quality cardstock to match your chipboard
Double sided tape (like scor or redline tape)
A ruler
A trimmer that will cut chip board
A bone folder or other scoring tool
Scissors that will cut chipboard
a pen or pencil

 

Cut your chipboard  into:

1 - 4" x 4" square

4 - 4" x 8" pieces

4 - 4" x 6" pieces

and 4 - 3 7/8" x 3" pieces.

Cut your card stock to:

4 - 1 1/2" x 8" pieces

4 - 1 1/2" x 4" pieces 

and 8 - 1 1/2" x 3" pieces.

Score all your strips in half (3/4")

And add double sided tape to both sides. (I used 1/2")

One tip I learned from Kathy Orta is to mitre the ends of your strips.

 Measure off an inch on the 3" side of the 3 7/8" x 3" piece. Adee tape to the 1" portion.

Connect the 3 7/8"" x 3" pieces to the 4" x  9" pieces. centering it so there is small over hang (1/16") on either side. Do this for all four and set aside. (These are the sides of the box.)

ON the 4" x 4" square place one of the 1 1/2" x 4" strips on each edge .

 

Add the extended 4" x 8" pieces to the 4" x 4". Attach on the 4" side with the 3 7/8" x 3" piece that was attached on the top "inside." Leave a small gap between the two pieces to allow the 4" x  8" piece to be held at a right angle.

When all four sides are attached it should look like above

Attach two of the 1 1/2" x 8" strips to one of the box sides.

(DO NOTnot place strip over the 3 7/8" x 3" attached piece.)

  

Attach the sides of the boxes to each other at right angles using the strips. When you are done you will have the base of the box with a lip at the top. I left the small pieces unattached so they can more easily fit inside the lid portion.

 

For the lid we need to cut a triangle at the top of the 4" x 6" pieces. Start by making a line at the halfway point (3") of the 6" side. Use your ruler and score tool to score into the chipboard here. it will hopefully make an nice indentation.  Also mark the middle (2") of one end of the 4" side. (I used white pen so you can clearly see the marks. You should probably use pencil so marks can be erased or are less noticeable.) I also drew a line from the middle (2") of the piece to the 3" midway line to form the triangle

 

Using my heavy duty scissors I cut along the line to make a triangle at the top of the 4" x 6" piece.  Using the edge of a table or other straight surface, gently fold the top of the triangle along the score line. It should fold approximately 45 degrees.

I then attached four of the 1  1/2" x 3" strips to the straight sides of the 4" x 6" pieces.

Attach the four lid pieces together side by side. Again, leave a small space so they can be held at right angles to each other.

When you attach the fourth strip it should connect the first and last lid pieces to make a "box" with all the triangles on the top folding towards each other.

With the remaining 1 1/2" x 3" pieces, Attach the triangles at to to form the pyramid at top. I found the best way was to attach two opposite sides then to attach the middle ones.

When all four triangles are attached your lid should look like this.

Now you can put your lid on. You may have to turn it to find best angle for a good fit. 

Below are some pictures of a couple different ways I have decorated the box. One is with Graphic 45 Le Cirque and the other is Graphic 45 Artisan Style.

 

 

Old Style Gramophone Box with Graphic 45 Curtain Call paper

This project started off as an idea I got at the 2015 CHA. At the Sizzix Eclips booth, they were building 3D items, like an Iron Man mask. I found out that they had created the objects in a 3D modelling program (like Max or Maya) and flattened it out (unwrapped) for cutting. Well considering my degree is in Game Art & Design this sounded VERY exciting!

 

So, I dusted off my modelling skills. And created a very simple model of the speaker horn. And after a few false starts I unwrapped my model and cut it on the Eclips. I was pretty happy with how this worked overall. But I did not make the best pattern when I unwrapped the model, so the base of the cone needed extra support. Which it got via a cardboard cone (which got a copper metal jacket) and apiece of copper piping.

After creating my cone, I went ahead and made the base cabinet for the Gramophone. I decided I wanted to make a drawer unit and built a 9 x 9 x 4.5 box with three sides. I then made a slightly smaller bow sans top to be the drawer. (I used medium weight chipboard for all my construction.)

At the bottom I added a second box that was 10 x 10 x 1 that I attached to the bottom of the open sided box as both support and extra decoration.

After I finished my basic construction, I began to decorate the box.  I decided on Graphic 45's Curtain Call paper because it suited the vintage feel of an old time Gramophone and reflected the idea of music and dance in its patterns. Around the sides of the box I used a pattern of dancers interspersed with a geometric pattern. To get a little more dimension, I glued the top piece of pattern paper to some of the chipboard scraps and trimmed it with a slight border.

On the box top I used the beautiful peacock feather pattern. I added a "record" made up of polka dot and geometric patterned paper. I pop dotted the "45" to give it a little more height.

I used the same yellow geometric pattern as the label to line the drawer. And on the sides, I used the black and kraft colored music notes.

For the cone, I started with the music note paper. But when I looked at the size of the cone when placed on the box it seemed really small and unimpressive, I decided I needed to improve my speaker cone.  To do this, I added teardrop shaped petals to the inside of the original cone. I made these with black card stock adding a smaller teardrop of peacock feather paper on one side and the showgirl ladies on the other.

The new and improved cone looked much better and suited the size and shape of the base. (What a relief!) Now to attach the speaker and add embellishments.

To add the speaker I used a paint bottle lid that fit inside the copper piping. I first tried attaching the cone with E6000. But this glue was a bit too flexible. Instead I ended up using a hot glue gun and lots of glue.  But in the end it was attached well and stayed.

For embellishments, I added a matching G45 door knob, large brad and small brads to look like they could be the controls for the gramophone. I also added a clothespin colored with copper paint to match the metal on the speaker cone to be the needle on the record.

On the box base, I added a G45 drawer pull to the front for the drawer. I also added some G45 washi tape and  Prima Finnibar square brads to the lip of the base. And to finish the gramophone, at the bottom I added the new G45 claw feet. Oh My Gosh these feet are so cool looking; they add just the right amount of vintage. (Gotta get another set!)

I decided not to add alot of bling or extras because I felt like the speaker horn was so complex that it was best to keep the decorations on the simple side. And I really dont think the project needs a lot of bells whistles or sparkle added to it.  What do you think? does it need anything else?