holiday gift boxes diy

not only is it green, but it’s totally original and your very own, not to mention: kids had tons of fun making’em, and no need to spend money…

the first photo is of my own two gift boxes, cordially filled w/goodies and given to the kids’ karate teachers (they deserve the best):

got milk? make a gift box

how?  EZ:

so here’s the deal: once more we’ll save those milk/juice cartons and redesign them.

milk carton, cut

milk carton, painted

and here are some awesome gift boxes made by my Trash2Art club kids:

made from shipping box

orange juice box

chinese illustration? dreidle?

bow tie gift box

box with yarn; with cool little buttons

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land of milk and money diy

milk carton coin purse

So the recent buzz in green fashion is to jiggle your coins in a recycled container made into wallet.

See it on Etsi, or here, or in this new start-up that while they’re pledging to donate 1% of all sales in favor of the environment, their coin purses still cost $10 a piece.

There are so many tutorials out there, why not make one yourself?

Wait, don’t throw that milk or juice carton.

Here are the very basic steps I used for making the purse:

clean, dry milk carton

• When milk is all but done, rinse your carton, let it dry a whole day, and cut it open on the top and bottom.

press the front flat onto the bottom

*fold the sides

leave about 2" for a closing flap to the purse

• Right after you fold the whole thing into two, glue the two sections inside, fold the flap over your purse, and attach a Velcro patch, you’ll find a cool-de-small-sac (aka a cool purse)  🙂 .
• * tip: you can gently score the sides with a kitchen knife to help with the accordion folds. Also, once folded, let it rest under heavy weight for a while.

fold into two, glue inside sections, add Velcro

close coin purse

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