If you grew up in a Commonwealth country or have family from these places, you may be familiar with Christmas crackers. And even if you didn’t, hopefully some of you will know what I’m talking about. Nope, not the edible ones made by Ritz and Breton and Mary’s Gone Crackers – though I really do love the latter! I mean the paper creations that typically appear on tables for Christmas feasts. They contain little treats (some more useful than others), often a ridiculous looking tissue paper hat, and a cracker snap – that’s the thing that makes a big “crack!” noise when you and someone else at the table pinch the ends of the cracker and pull in opposite directions. Sound familiar?
If you’d like to know why I was thinking about Christmas crackers in June, I won’t be able to come up with a good answer. I can only assume I was dreaming about them one night and woke up with the compulsion to try to create my own. I don’t have a Christmas cracker die in my stash, but I figured that it couldn’t be hard to create the shape myself. After that, I’d be able to decorate it with whatever stamps and ink colors tickled my fancy – and that’s exactly what I did, and here’s how you can do it too.
First, you’ll want to grab the free template I created here. I’ve sized it so that the dimensions are 5.5″ wide x 6″ tall, which means you’ll be able to easily use it with any of your 6×6 background cling stamps. In my case, I decided to skip cling stamps and instead decorate with some images from the Essentials by Ellen Snail Mail and Starry Skies stamp sets.
- Print the template on cardstock of choice (feel free to just do the 2nd page), then flip it over and stamp, foil or emboss whatever design you like on the back.
- Score along the 5 lines that run horizontally across the template, and fold them inward.
- Score and fold along the 2 lines that run vertically down the template, down the center of the diamond shapes. Use scissors to cut the diamonds out.
- Score along the dotted lines that run parallel to those folds (one on either side), and fold them in the opposite direction to the folds in step 3
- Start rolling the box up. All lines of the template should be on the inside.
- To assemble, place double-sided sticky tape along the outward-facing edge of the last panel, using it as a flap. Overlap the opposite end and press down to secure.
- Tie ribbon of your choice on one end of the box, tight enough so nothing will fall out.
- Fill your box with treats, then tie up the other end with ribbon.
And voila – once you’ve completed those steps, you should have a cute little candy box that looks like the ones in these photos!
As I mentioned above in the instructions, you can switch up the colors for any occasion, and incorporate embossing and foiling if you like. The cardstock and inks I used were as follows:
- Pink: Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper cardstock + Catherine Pooler Party Dress ink
- Blue: Concord & 9th Oceanside cardstock + Concord & 9th Peacock ink
- Teal: Concord & 9th Sea Glass cardstock + Concord & 9th Oceanside ink
- Orange: Concord & 9th Sorbet cardstock + Catherine Pooler Party Dress ink
Of course, you could swap in some blues and reds for 4th of July, and when Christmas actually does roll around (at which time I’ll be calling these Christmas crackers), go with some traditional red and green, or maybe blue and silver, or jewel tones… or…. gah – I’m pretty sure you’ll see me reusing this template in December with all sorts of palettes!
In the meantime, I hope you have just as much fun playing with this as I did. If you decide to give the template a try, be sure to tag be on Instagram @mycraftyperspective because I’d love to see how your candy boxes turn out!
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