20/06 2001

Box Made from Business Cards

Like everybody I have old business cards lying around and don't quite know what to do with them. I use them as small note papers for lack of a better idea. That's when I came across a site, I can't remember which one, where I got the idea of making little square boxes/cubes out of business cards. No glue needed they just fit together.

All that's needed to make the box is 19 business cards.

I have used 3 different colored business cards to make it easier to follow the instructions.

click on the pictures for a larger version.

place 2 business cards facedown, centered on top of each other

fold the bottom card over the top card on one side

and then on the second side

turn cards over and repeat the last two steps - repeat with all cards

take a 3rd card and slide it under the 2 flaps on one side

lift up and then tuck it under on the other side

this is how it looks now

view from a different angle

Once you get the hang of the basic 7 steps it is easy. As this is all you need to know. You create 5 pieces with these steps and for the 6th piece you add an additional card to make 4 flaps rather than 2. It is all explained below.

Assembling the frame

arrange 4 pieces like this

slide each flap into the opening of the next piece

if it is difficult to do, cut 1/8 inch off one flap so that the longer flap

goes in first and then the shorter one is easier to push in also

Adding the Bottom

this is the cube without a bottom or top

for the bottom add a 4th card over the 2 card you see in the 1st pic in 2nd row above

and tuck in the top card - this piece has now 4 flaps rather than 2

everse side of bottom

tuck one flap into an opening

the 2 side flaps

and the front flap

and push down - turn cube over

The Lid

lid open

lid partially open

the top has only 2 flaps - push 1 flap into an opening
then the front flap - now you have a cube
if you open up the top again it is box
the top of the box has 2 small gaps as there are only 2 flaps and not 4 like on the bottom

Now the boxes can be embellished, painted or varnished or a pull tab attached to open the lid more easily.

The yellow box has no lid. The other box is painted. Then I have put 3 boxes without lids together to store little notes. The boxes stay together with a business cards slid between them on the front and back.