DIY Gift Wrap: Chic Boxes

Hello, Graphics Fairy friends! I’m Diana from Dreams Factory and I’m happy to be here again to share a DIY Gift wrap idea with you! Today, I will show you how to make these gorgeous French ephemera gold boxes. We’ll use these tres chic French ephemera labels with vintage frames that I created specifically for this project and add some touches of gold to make the boxes even more charming and elegant.

I’ve had some blank Kraft paper boxes that I bought a while ago, so with the holiday season just around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect time to show them some love. You know, getting a little bit of prepping before Christmas, because I know these two months will pass by in a blink of an eye! You can never have too many beautifully decorated boxes if you ask me, so these would be perfect to keep around for when in need, especially with the Holidays coming up.

Free Printables:

I envisioned a French theme for these charming little boxes, so I created some French ephemera labels with vintage frames to decorate them. I used a kraft-paper-looking background to create the base for our tags because I wanted them to have that vintage, have-been-around-for-ages vibe we all love. I also created an in-built torn and jagged look around the edges that perfectly complements the vision I had for these beauties.

—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF <—-

As a bonus, I’m also sharing a blank version of our beautiful labels with vintage frames. You can use this one if you want to stamp them yourself or if you decide to go with a different theme and try other, more seasonal messages. You can even personalize these yourself while perfecting your calligraphy skills and write names, wishes or other heartfelt messages to decorate your boxes.

—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF <—-

DIY Gift Wrap Supply List:

white cardstock paper
home printer
regular scissors or a cutting machine
mini distress inks
blending tool with foams
Kraft boxes (mine had around 3.5×3.5 inches)
Glossy Accents, paper glue stick or any other craft glue
gold cardstock (pliable) or gold ribbons
gilding wax (or gold acrylic paint, gold watercolors)
disposable gloves

STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL:

Start by printing your super chic labels on white cardstock paper.
Use your scissors to cut each label, trying to follow the jagged lines that I created around the edges as well as possible. Arm yourself with patience and try to make things fun! Don’t worry about making them perfect … the idea is to make them less perfect here! He he!

If you own a cutting machine (I have a Silhouette Cameo 5 with an AutoBlade) and want to use it, you can. Right-click on the image and select Open link in a new tab, then save the large-format image on your computer first – we need the .png version of the file, not the .pdf.
You can then add it to your cutting machine design software and use the Registration Marks while printing the labels.
Adhere the printable to your cutting mat, make the necessary cardstock settings and send it for cutting.

You can decide to further distress the vintage French labels if you want to give them even more of an aged look. Use your preferred brown distress ink and go all around the edges. I love using the Walnut Stain distress ink mixed with a touch of Wild Honey, which are both from Ranger. I usually like to apply a lot of pressure when distressing the paper, so I can give it the chance to bend and create intriguing aged effects here and there. The idea is to remove the newness of the paper and make it look as aged as possible.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this or not before, but I sometimes use clear disposable gloves when distressing the paper for my projects. I do that especially when working with smaller pieces of paper, I don’t like being left with Walnut Stain(ed) fingers afterward. So if you have disposable gloves around, now it would be the perfect time to use them! Especially for our next step, where we’ll be using gilding wax to further decorate the edges. Dip your index finger into the gilding wax and rub it on your thumb or a scrap piece of paper before adding it to your labels. I only wanted to add a small amount of gold to create more of a subtle effect, so I rubbed most of it off before adding it to the paper.

You can follow the same steps if you want to distress and gild your boxes too.

And now, it’s time to add our super chic festive gold strips! I would recommend using gold cardstock that is pliable, as we need to wrap one strip around the lid of each of our boxes.

Cut longer strips so you can also cover the inside of the lid as you wrap it around and make sure everything looks good on the inside, too. Make a few tests before and remove the excess paper if needed. When you are happy with how the strip wraps around your lid, use paper glue to permanently adhere the folded strip to your lid. Press with your fingers until the glue holds everything in place – I used Glossy Accents, which dries pretty quickly and I only had to press everything for about 10 seconds.

Decide on which of your labels you want for each box and then use glue to adhere them to your lid. I only added glue on the back of the labels, but not on the areas where they touched the gold strips, so they wouldn’t curl or warp in the middle.

Your final French ephemera boxes with super chic vintage labels and perfectly imperfect gilded edges are now ready to be admired!

I’m really happy with how they turned out, I feel like all that distressing and gilding the edges, then adding the gold strips and the gorgeous French labels with vintage frames, really paid off!

One thing to keep in mind while decorating the boxes is to press the gold strip really well with your fingers, especially on the edges of the lid, before gluing it in place. Each paper strip needs to completely take the shape of the lid, or else the box might not properly close afterward.

And speaking of the strips, I used something called sewing paper (from Clairefontaine), which is quite pliable and looks (and feels) almost like soft leather. If you can’t find this specific type of gold paper, you can use gold cadstock or even gold wrapping paper instead. I think gold ribbons will also work here if that is what you have around. But of course, as I always encourage you, feel free to improvise if you have something different that you think might work to create a similar effect.

The boxes would make the perfect carrier for gifts or can be turned into gifts themselves. They are quite neutral and can easily serve any occasion, so it would be great to have them around for when in need.

I’m obsessing over these perfectly imperfect gilded edges, I think gilding wax (I used one from Pebeo) looks really good with them. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I really love how it turned out! If you don’t have any gilding wax around, you can use undiluted gold acrylic paint or even some gold watercolors. Don’t add too much water if using the watercolors, we don’t want to ruin our paper boxes in the process. A tiny bit will do, just enough to wake up your watercolors before applying the gold to the boxes.

Before wrapping things up, I want to show you how beautiful the other vintage labels turned out. They are pretty amazing, don’t you think?
While envisioning this project, my idea was to include different-shaped vintage labels in our printables, just in case you would want to decorate other types of boxes that might have a different size or even a different shape. So you’ll find quite a few options to choose from and you will be able to adapt everything to fit your needs.
The vintage French labels or the blank ones can be used on many other projects, too. I’m sure you will be able to quickly integrate these beauties into so many of your creations.

Tilt and admire your boxes in different lighting scenarios and be prepared to be amazed! The gold has the power to reflect the light in so many beautiful ways and will add so much charm to your finished pieces! So I hope you will love this project and decide to give it a try. Make some for gifting, but don’t forget to keep some for yourself. They would be perfect for holding all sorts of small things that you have around, all in a stylish way!

I hope you enjoyed my festive DIY Gift Wrap idea! You might also like my Christmas Gift Tag Printable HERE.