Christensen Crafts and Such : How to make a paper box

I love to make these boxes. It is really simple to do and you can use them for different things. They are great for small gift boxes. What you need is paper (I use card stock), scissors and tape. This is how you make them:

Step 1: You need to have a paper that is exactly square. It doesn't matter what size. What ever size you have depends on what size the box will be. So if you have a big size paper you'll have a bigger box. If you have a smaller size paper you'll have a smaller box.

Now that you have your square paper you need to fold one corner to the opposite corner to make it look like a triangle:

Then unfold it and do it to the other corners. When you open it, it should have a folded X like this:

Step 2: Now take each corner and fold it to the middle. It should look like this:

Step 3: With the corners folded to the middle take one side and fold to the middle.

Then take the opposite side and fold that to the middle. It should look like this:

Do the same thing to the other side. You'll see that anything you do to one side/corner you do to the opposite side/corner.

Step 4: Unfold it all. When you unfold it, it should look like this: (but without the drawn lines, of course!)

You will see in the middle four folded squares as shown in the above picture. (I drew along folds so you could see them better in the picture) That will be the bottom/top of your box.

Step 5: Also in the above picture you see four dotted lines that I drew along the folds. You will cut a long those. DO NOT cut into the four boxes in the middle, remember that is the bottom/top of your box. Once you cut along those it should look like this:

Step 6: Take the two corners that you didn't cut and fold those to the middle. It should look like this:

Step 7: Next take the right/left triangles where you started to cut and fold them down to make a little square. It should look like this:

Step 8: This is the hard part. Now you are going to take the squares and fold them up and over so they are touching each other. It should look like this:

Step 9: Fold the pointy part of the paper up and over the part you just did. Tape it down. It Should look like this:

Step 10: Do steps 7-9 to the opposite side and you get a box! It should look like this when your all done:

The above picture is the top of my box. Now to make the bottom of the box you do the same steps. BUT the bottom box paper HAS to be a little bit smaller for it to fit together. I always cut off a 1/2 an inch from the top and a 1/2 an inch from one of the sides of the paper to make the paper smaller so it fits into the top of the box. So if you put the smaller paper on top of the bigger paper the big paper should be have about a 1/4 an inch more all the way around.

Here is what it looks like with the top and the bottom completed: