DIY Wedding Card Box Project

Two of my close friends got married this weekend, and it was every bit the perfect wedding: Lots of sunshine, celebration, and love!

Stef, the bride, has great personal style and the reception decorations were gorgeous… but she couldn’t quite figure out what to do for her card box. I volunteered to tackle the DIY wedding card box challenge, and created this custom box in her wedding colors as a gift to the happy couple.

Supplies:

• Paper mache nesting boxes (I used the biggest square set)
• Card stock or paper in your chosen color (I used Core’dinations Washwash Collection sheets)
• Hercules glue sticks
• E-6000 adhesive
• Self-adhesive sheet Rhinestones, like these from the David Tutera Collection
• David Tutera Self-Stick Graduated Rhinestones
• 1-3/8 inch Satin Poly Ribbon in Fuchsia
• Ultra-Thin Glue Dots adhesive roll
• Bone folder
• Rotary Cutter
• Cutting Mat
• Brayer (optional)
• Ruler
• Additional embellishments of your choice*

Instructions:

The first step is to take your paper and cover all sides of both boxes you will be using. I used the paper mache boxes as cutting templates, and liberally covered each cut sheet with the Hercules glue. This clear-drying glue stick starts out purple (see color below) and that made it really easy to know where I needed to fill in.

After finishing a side, I used the rotary cutter to trim off any excess. Where the paper wrapped around a corner on the bigger box, I glued one side first, let it dry a little, and then glued the other side. A few tips on this:

• A brayer helps keep the paper smooth as you turn the corner.
• Leave more than just an inch or two for the second side–or you may need extra adhesive.
• When starting a new sheet, overlap the previous sheet by about an inch to avoid any gaps in color. (Core’dinations paper did not show bumps on the overlaps, but use scraps of your paper to test that first.)

The top of the bottom box came next, and that was a little trickier. First, I had to remove the middle of the box top so the cards could fall through cleanly. I centered the top box on the inside of the bottom box topper, then traced around it with a pencil. Using my ruler as a guide, I cut about a centimeter inside the traced lines with a rotary blade. This left a small lip on which the top box could sit securely:

I decided that it would be easier–and look better–if I used a single piece of paper for each corner of this piece, rather than try to match up three separate pieces of paper evenly. After determining where the corner would be, I made one small cut (where the line extends from the corner of the box to the edge of the paper below) to create a flap that I could wrap around the corner first. The other side would then fold down and overlap my flap for a clean look.

Next, I cut away the inner square, to account for the square I had just cut in the box top. I then used my bone folder to pre-fold the paper neatly at the “top edge” mark before adhering it to the box top with more of the Hercules glue. After cutting a small slit in the excess paper at each corner, I used my rotary blade and ruler to neatly trim the excess.

Next, I had to cut a card slot and cover the bottom of the smaller box–which was going to become the top of my finished wedding card box. I marked the space I wanted to cut for the slot, then used the Exacto knife like a saw to cut through the paper mache. Once that was removed, I glued on the paper–but this time, I applied the glue to the paper mache instead of the box top, so I would have clean paper covering the slot.

Working from the inside of the wedding card box, I used my Exacto knife to cut a long slit with a “Y” at each end in the paper that covered the card slot. I bent those flaps in from the outside, then adhered the flaps to the inside of the box with E-6000. (The flaps were so small that I felt industrial strength glue was needed here.)

To attach the two boxes, I flipped the small box upside down and secured the lid for the larger box to it–first with masking tape, then with duct tape.

And… finally, it was time for some decorating fun! The rotary cutter made short work of cutting the self-adhesive rhinestone sheets into strips, and I arranged them so they would hide any uneven areas on the top edges.

Next, I embellished the monogram letter with graduated adhesive rhinestones, and used the E-6000 to adhere it:

And then, the finishing touches! I had some extra rhinestones, so I added them to the flowers to hide the green plastic centers. E-6000 kept the flowers and leaves in place on the box, and I arranged the lower ones to cover the seam in the front of the bottom box. Glue dots spaced out every 4-5 inches affixed the ribbon to the paper. (Don’t use adhesive–E-6000 bled through the ribbon on my first try! Ultra-thin glue dots worked perfectly.)

Remember when I said not to put just a small piece of paper on the second side of a corner? The one side where I did that had to be reglued after it separated overnight. I used a scrap piece of cardstock as an applicator, putting a tiny amount of E-6000 on the end so I could slip it in between the paper and the box.

I placed a few other rhinestone accents on the leaves, and on the ends of the card slot… just because I could. (And let me tell you, the adhesive on these rhinestones is GOOD. I didn’t even have to add extra adhesive to get them to stick to the rounded green plastic flower centers!) And with that, the DIY wedding card box was finished:

This was a huge DIY wedding crafts project, and probably took me around 5-6 hours to complete in total. Overall, I’m really happy with the way it turned out–and, more importantly, so was the bride!

* Note: The bride already had the flowers, which she had purchased as a color reference to show the florist what she wanted. She also had the mirrored “M”, purchased as a backup cake topper before she found the one she really wanted… but you could paint these chipboard letters–or use these already glittered chipboard letters–as an alternative if you want a monogram.

Kim M

Content Manager for ConsumerCrafts by day, enthusiastic trash picker, gardener and DIY crafter by night! Most of my projects are inspired by my love of vintage jewelry – or the challenge of finding creative new uses for materials.

When I grow up, I want to be MacGuyver.