Every year I tell myself that I am going to begin doing things to get ready for Christmas earlier than I did the previous year.  So far it hasn’t happened.  Last year I had some beaded crystal snowflake ornaments that I had made to give my co-workers at the sewing store.  Of course I waited until the last minute to decide on that as a gift.  I tried to think of a way to present them that would protect the ornaments as well as show them off nicely.  It was too late to try to find boxes.  The ornaments varied in size so I didn’t have time to cut and assemble different size boxes for them.  Finally a trip to the Dollar Tree gave me an idea which worked but wasn’t quite what I wanted.  I had what I thought to be a great idea but again it was too late to do the cutting and assembling so I used my Dollar Tree idea and wrapped the ornaments in several layers of tissue paper and tied a ribbon around them.

Here is a picture of what I really would have liked to been able to make to present the ornaments last year.  Perhaps the idea and the free files will prove useful to some of you.

Materials Used:

Cardstock – Green smooth cardstock and Texturized light Aqua cardstock with a pearlized finish

Vinyl – Metallic Vinyl in Gold and Silver

Double Sided Adhesive Tape

Clear Plastic Plate from Dollar Tree 5.75″ in diameter

White Craft Glue

Rayon Embroidery thread in Gold color

Gift ribbon in Silver color

Large hand sewing needle

Short silver twist tie

Settings:

Machine used – 15″ Maxx Air

Blade used – Red cap standard material blade

Force – 50 for green cardstock, 60 for aqua cardstock, 17 for vinyl

Speed – 80

Instructions:

These are the parts I used to used to present the ornaments last year.

I cut 4.5″ circles from the aqua cardstock to fit the center of the plastic plates (because of the pearlized finish the color completely washed out in the photo).  I used a wood burning type tool to melt two holes in the plate to be used to attach the ornament to the plate.  The cardstock circle was attached to the plate with double sided tape.  A large hand sewing needle was pushed through the holes in the plate to create holes in the  cardstock.  A silver twist tie was used to secure the beaded snowflake ornament to the cardstock and plate.

These are the additional parts I would have liked to make and use to present the ornaments.

Cardstock ornament shapes with machine stitching around the edge as a decoration.  The notched edge piece is scored at the base of the notches, the edges folded in at a 90 degree angle and then glued to the bottom half of the ornament shapes.

A dot of craft glue on each tab holds the strip in place.  Glue was placed on the tabs on the other edge and the second ornament shape placed so it lined up with the first  ornament shape to form a box with a narrow bottom and an open top.

Snowflakes, “Merry Christmas”, and an ornament top were cut from vinyl and placed on the front of the box.

The plate with the ornament attached was placed inside of the box.

A hole in the ornament top area provides a place to tie a ribbon to close the box and to add a bit of decoration.

Of course I won’t be gifting my co-workers with beaded snowflake ornaments this Christmas, but I might try to come up with an idea for a circular gift just so I can use this idea.

Files for the ornament box can be found at this link.

Ornament Gift Box Cut Files_JudyKay