Last week we celebrated the Earth Day. Did you? In this section, we try to create things by reusing various items easily available to us at our house, and this week we are recycling a cereal box for our wonderful craft. I am sure most of you will have an empty cereal box at home. So let’s check out how we made a gift box out of it.

Things you need:

1. Scissors

2. Empty cereal box (any size)

3. Clear or white glue (white glue works good)

4. A ribbon

Directions:

1. Cut the cereal box from the centre and not from where it is joined, see picture 2.

2. Flatten the cereal box as in picture 3. We will work on the reverse side, that is inside of the box and not the outside which is printed, (you can do as you wish).

3. Notice the shape and folds of the box which will be visible and you will be following while folding.

4. Fold the flattened box in half, see picture 4.

5. Leaving two inches below it, fold it horizontally in the same way, see picture 5.

6. The middle part of the cereal box with an extended flap will remain in the middle (it will be used and come as a cover). Cut two inches from the lower side vertically, leaving the centre with an extended flap, until you reach the first horizontal fold in the middle, picture 6.

1. Cut from the upper side, keeping aligned from the cuts below till you reach the first middle fold, see picture 7.

2. Notice the marked lines as you have to cut below and above these horizontally, as in pictures 8.

3. You now have the flattened gift box, it just needs some folds and glue to stick, see picture 9.

4. Turn it over (i.e. print inside); fold the horizontal middle part shorter than the other inside and press it tight, picture 10.

5. Paste glue on the right and left vertical sides marked as 1 and 2, fold and press them tight so that they stick to each other; picture 11.

6. Paste glue on the back side of the middle folds so they stick to the covering part as in picture 12.

7. Hold and press all the folds so that they stick to each other, see picture 13.

8. The final step leaves us with the upper side of the box which will come over and will be the opening side, just fold and press it as in pictures 14 and 15 (to give it a proper shape).

9. Now all you need is a ribbon. Tie a bow and you have a nice little box which can be used any time for presenting anything according to its size.

(You can use wrapping paper or stickers on the box but I kept its beauty intact in its simplicity.)

Published in Dawn, Young World April 29th, 2017