{Garnished Gift Box}

Going along with my rule that presentation is everything when giving gifts, these Garished Gift Boxes are simply perfection.

Quick to make + endless decoration possibilities!

You can definitely let your own personality shine through which shows you care (and are totally crafty!)

I have a tendency to save empty cartons that I use throughout the year, just knowing that sometime down the road, I'll come up with something brilliant to make with them.

Observe:

Ooh yeah, cheese.  Mmmm.

As you can see, I had a bunch to work with.

And guess what?  They are perfectly sized for gift cards!

Hooray for laughing cows.

Steps to creating your own Garnished Gift Box:

1. Peel off the labels from the top, bottom and around the sides.

Some of the box paper may come off, but no worries. It looks more rustic that way.

2.  Paint the box and lid, distress as you see fit.  Let dry.

3. Cut a circle of decorated paper (I used old music sheets) to fit on top of the lid.

Crinkle the circle, open up and flatten slighty.

Ink the crinkles and around the sides of the circle, either with distress ink or chalk or even paint.

4. Glue the paper circle on top of the painted lid, with a glue stick.

Now, it's time to get creative and come up with the bling for the top!

I found this tutorial on how to make some awesome felt flowers, so I made my own versions.  I'm really digging my red poinsettia!

Here's a visual tutorial of how I made my flowers:

Your flowers can be cut to any shape to achieve different looks.  My green flower has heart-shaped petal.  This red poinsettia has double-points petals for the bottom layer and single leaf-like petals for the top layer.

Once you cut your felt pieces, grab the glue gun.

Put a dab of glue at the base of each petal and squeeze together to get it to hold the 3-D petal shape.

Glue the larger cirle of petals in an even circle onto the round piece of felt (seen in step 6).

Glue the smaller petals evenly around the top of the larger circle (step 7)

Glue on some bling to the center of the circle.

Hot glue the entire flower to the top, center of your painted box and you are done!

Fill the inside with crinkly basket shred, or even some fluffy cotton, and place your gift card inside.

ENJOY!

-Annie