Homemade Gift Box - Folding the Bottom

Mary Gallagher Stout: Hi! My name is Mary Gallagher Stout and today we are making handmade gift boxes. Right now, we are going to build the bottom of our box. So let's get started. So I am just going to go ahead and fold this in fours to have a 6x6 because half of 12 is 6. So, it's a half and a half. Now if you didn't have a 6x6 or a 12x12 piece that is already cut to the correct dimensions, you just need to grab a square ruler or any sort of ruler. I am going to make the first cut, you can just cut in half and then in half again, when you have a 12x12 piece of scrap paper. So that's my first cut and then the second cut. I am going to line it up on my mat and cut. So now we have our six inch square. We are going to build the bottom of our box. So whatever side of the paper you want, the design that you want to use, you put face down. So this is cream and this is super white. I want a super white side, so I am keeping that face down because I am making a wedding favor today. So the first fold that we are going to do, we are going to fold it in half, the paper in half and then you are going to open it up. You are going to fold it in half again. The next thing we are going to do is we are going to fold the edges in on themselves. It's so easy, my daughter had a blast doing these and so kids really like this craft and it's a very great craft because the success rate is so high, children like to do crafts that they can see at the end and make something really neat. So it has a pay-off at the end. So now that we have folded it all on to it's side, we are going to fold this half into the middle on both sides. Sort of origamish, okay. And then you are going to pull the other half into the center. It's very rewarding to have a project for children specially to see a project come to fruition. So again, we are folding it back in the middle, into itself again here. We are creating a template to follow to make the box. We have the template now for our box. So we are going to open this edge out and you can see the lines here, fold the two ends in on themselves, give it a pinch. Fold it up over and your side is built and then you do the same on the other side, going to open it up. Fold it in and just follow the line that you have created with your folds. Pinching it down, holding it up. That completes the bottom of our box. Coming up next, I am going to show you how to fold the lid of your box.