There’s something special about a bundle of love letters wrapped up in ribbon.
Want to top that? Create a lovely stack of letters that is a treasure box in disguise…
Sweetest Day is just around the corner!
Those of you who live in the Midwest are undoubtedly familiar with the special celebration in October called Sweetest Day. Saturday, October 18 is Sweetest Day, this year. It’s a day created by Cleveland, Ohio confectioner manufacturers back in 1921. You might have thought this holiday was a creation of Hallmark since the greeting card manufacturers are enjoying this day too. Regardless…we can all use a little sweetness this time of year, can’t we?
If Sweetest Day is a new or old tradition for you, consider setting aside a little time to create a Faux Love Letters Box for your sweetie.
Originally the Box Disguised as a Stack of Letters Filled with Words of Affirmation was published for Valentine’s Day, sans tutorial, earlier this year. At least I’m getting the tutorial to you in time for Sweetest Day. [wink] Or you could get a head start for the big ol heart day. I’m so sorry that I have taken so long to put this tutorial together. My sincerest apologies.
Faux Love Letters Box Tutorial
Supplies: (contains Amazon affiliate links)
- Invitation Envelopes work best for this project.
- Thinner cardboard and chipboard work best. Various thicknesses are great too.
- Scissors, Wallpaper cutter, X-ACTO Knife , or other sharp razor blade cutting device.
- Ruler
- Pen/pencil
- Cutting Mat or something to protect your surface from cutting.
- Paper Glue Pen as shown, also helpful to have Tacky Glue.
- 2 or 3 Toothpicks
- Spool of 3/8 inch ribbon
- Optional: Postage Stamps Sheet (purchased from the post office, or a sheet of scrapbooking paper that is printed with stamps) Note: the top stamp is the only one that can be seen well, you may wish to have only one stamp for the cover.
- Optional: Fancy Key, etc. from the scrapbooking dept. or craft store
The supplies highlighted
Directions:
1. Cut card board slightly smaller than the envelope size so that each piece slides into the envelope fairly easily (thicker pieces may need to be cut smaller than thinner pieces). Cut as many as you wish for the height of the box desired. I used 12 pieces total.
2. Decide how large you want your opening (I measured 1 and 1/4 inch from the sides) and marked the lines for cutting.
3. Cut the first opening.
Note: reserve 2 pieces to serve as your base and cover (ie. do not cut a center in two pieces).
Your first piece will serve as your top piece in the stack (under the cover) and will also be your template for other pieces.
4. I chose to make my stack of letters look like they were loosely gathered together. In order to do this, you will need to skew the placement of your template as shown here. Use your pen/pencil to draw a guide and cut the center from the cardboard.
5. Repeat the process adjusting the placement each time to resemble the illustration here. The goal is to stack your 10 pieces of card cardboard which will form your box so that the inner box is square, but the outer edges resemble loosely stacked letters.
6. Slip a cut piece of cardboard into an invitation envelope.
7. Using your cutter…cut the envelope as shown right next to the opening you previously cut into the cardboard.
8. Repeat to cut the second side of the envelope.
9. Repeat the process with all nine of the cardboard box pieces. (2 pieces will remain whole as noted in #2 and one will be used for the top of the box (but not the lid).
10. Apply stamps to the corners of the envelopes
11. Stack 9 of the 10 letters with the center openings squared up. (I don’t have any photos to show this.) You will find it helpful to take the piece you are reserving for the top of the stack (which is perfectly squared) and lay it on the full sheet of cardboard inserted into an envelope which you will be using for your base. Trace the inside square on the top side of the envelope. This traced line will be your guide for stacking the envelopes. Do a test run and then glue your envelopes together as you stack them to form your box.
12. Cut two strips of paper to fit your center opening, one for the horizontal, one for the vertical, glue them in place as shown. (I’m sorry I missed taking better photos of this step.) You want to be sure that your paper strips give you complete coverage of your inner box. You can glue the strips to the bottom of the box and to the top as shown in #12.
13. Using your cuter cut an “X” on the front side of the 10th letter.
14. Flip it over and trim the sides as shown
15. Pull the points firmly over the edge to give you a nice finished edge and glue down as shown.
16. This is your finished box top.
17 & 18 & 19 & 21. These and the following steps are a little tricky to explain. Bear with me.
At this point you will want to take your ribbon and tacky glue and lightly glue one end to the center of one side as shown in #19. Then, lay it on top of the box and draw the ribbon around the box and over the top and cut the ribbon so that there is enough to wrap under the top layer as show in #21.
Repeat.
18 & 20 & 21. Now that you have your two pieces centered perfectly and glued down as shown in #18, flip it onto the top of the stack of letters and one at a time draw the ribbon around the box and carefully tuck the end in place as shown in #20. Apply glue to your toothpick and insert the gluey toothpick to the area between the ribbon in the box. Press down firmly. Repeat for the other ribbon as you see in #21.
22. Apply glue to your tooth pick and add a small dab of glue to each of the corners as shown.
23 & 24. Admire your completed box bottom. Note how nicely finished the box looks now.
25. You should have one uncut sealed letter remaining. Cut your ribbon to go around this lid to your letter box as shown. Before gluing in place with a dot of tacky glue, be sure that you are planning for the flapped side of the envelope to be down (box side), and be sure that your ribbon is precisely centered with the ribbon on the box, so that at a glance it looks like one piece of ribbon wrapping the entire box. Note: Because I planned to decorate the top of the box, I glued the cut ends of the ribbons to the top keeping the inside finished.
26. Repeat for the second ribbon.
27. Note how the ribbon on the lid precisely matches the ribbon on the base of the box.
28. Lay your lid down as if the flap would be open as shown.
29. Make a hinge for your box top. Using your ruler and scissors cut a rectangle as shown from an extra envelope so that the color matches your letters. (Mine was approximately one inch by two inches.)
30. This is what it will look like before gluing.
31. Fold in half and using tacky glue, glue your hinges to the edge of the box and closely to the ribbon as shown.
32. Glue the lid to the hinge in the same manner.
33. You now have a box of letters tied up in a ribbon that appears to be continuous.
34. Open box
35. Closed box with stamp added to corner
36. Tie a ribbon into a bow and attach to the box lid with tacky glue. Add additional embellishments such as key if desired.
If you like you can use a heart-shaped punch and punch out hearts to place inside your box and write messages on the box, or place a special gift inside your box.
There you have it!
A Faux Love Letter Box… ready for giving a special treasure.
Please “pin” this image or share on Facebook
These little boxes would make great gifts for more than sweethearts.
Dress them up creatively and use them for giving special gifts for any occasion.
Actually…make up an occasion.
I’d love to hear what you’ll be giving in your sweet box.
Thanks for stopping by today.
I appreciate you and your sweet comments make my day.
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Wishing YOU an extraordinary day!
Diane
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Such a nice idea and, your right, it could be for other occasions as well. Thank you for the tutorial, Diane. Hope you’re enjoying a great evening.
This is the cutest idea! I would have never thought of something like this! ! I did something like this with little rustic envelopes on display with some vintage books, but nothing in depth like this & the box is GENIUS !! So awesome!
Paige.Rose
http://www.Thequaintsanctuary.blogspot.com
That is so cool
Now THAT is a tutorial!! Serously, that had to be a whole lotta work.
But oh, what a cute idea….at little to no cost.
Haffta put this on my list to try. And thanks for the reminder on Sweetness Day. Geeze….how do I forget this stuff!
What a sweet and cute idea…
I would love to do a post on love letters and may I use one or two of your photos, linking back to this post?
I have a stack of REAL love letters belonging to my Great Aunt Bettie and they are tied with a ribbon much like the one you show here.
Loved this post.
Thank you BJ! Feel free to use a photo with link! I’ll look forward to reading your wonderful story!
Blessings!
Hi Diane,
I love this idea…thank you so much for the tutorial. I just took a bookbinding class and the materials and techniques are similar so maybe, with a little patience, I’ll be able to pull this project off! Sweetest Day isn’t celebrated much here in Maine but love is celebrated everywhere…
Cheryl
This is so cute! I love it! Found you on the Dwellings The Heart of Your Home link up =)
Lovely tutorial for a very clever design, Diane. I don’t think I have ever heard of sweetest day before so I did a search, it has a very interesting history. Thanks for making some of us aware.
What a cute idea! I love it! Thanks so much for sharing at the Twirl & Take a Bow Party. Have a great week!
This is awesome! I love how it really does look like a stack of letters. Pinning this idea to my Valentine’s Day board so I can find it next year.
Such a cute idea! I’m pinning this for Valentine’s!
This is absolutely wonderful and beautifully done.
So pretty! Love that you fill it up with words of affirmation. I’ll have to remember this one for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for linking up at Show Me Saturday. Hope to see you there again this week!
Loving, pinning, and doing! Thanks!
Yay!!! You will have sooo much fun!!
Thanks for popping by Donna!
I have neve heard of Sweetest Day, but this is such a sweet idea! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
well now, just how stinkin’ SWEET is that?! 🙂
Awesome craft! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy
What a cool project!
Hello i just wanted to share that the lord is helping me to be a better mother,wife,child of god by showing me how to live! so his tips for me is to look forward to the future,to be sweet and kind,to be helpful (help others for free for i recieved him for free) to handle all of my responsibilities & stress with ease (to be happy through it and pray to him) and of course to have plans and goals that i can attend to everyday to keep my heart glad and not to live an idle moment! god bless you sisters out there who strive to be what the lord wants you to be. 🙂
I love this. How clever of you! Thank you for sharing the how to.
Oh, dear! You are obviously extremely clever and dextrous. You should make and sell these as the process is way too complicated for me!
I LOVE this idea!!!!!!! So creative and a wonderful craft that can span from a jewelry box to gift box or keepsake box. Thanks for sharing. I stopped by from the scoop and Im happy I did. : )
So special, Diane! You’ve created something so unique to store little messages.
This is really gorgeous! I love your project! Thank you for sharing great tutorial!
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Hugs and love from Portugal,
Ana Love Craft
So darn cute! Love those hearts popping out. I have so darn much V day décor that I am trying to not make anything more this year. Hard to do! lol! Made some fabric hearts before I had even gotten it out and thought that I really didn’t need them, but they can be use year round. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
That is such a pretty idea!