How-To: Upcycled Pillow Boxes

I got the inspiration for these adorable little boxes on, I admit, Pinterest. However, while it said what they were, they included no instructions and it took me a while to figure out exactly how to do it. So, I decided to take the 'figure out' time out of it for future readers.

Here, then, is a step-by-step tutorial to go from – yes – toilet paper rolls, upcycled to adorable pillow boxes for small gifts.  You could follow the same basic instructions with paper towel rolls, either for long boxes, or cut into pieces for 'square' boxes, or any size in between.

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All you absolutely need is this:

However, I I found it was much easier, and the finished product much neater, to lightly score the tubes with an exacto knife.  After much searching around the house for 'the perfect circle', I found that the spool of ribbon I would be using to decorate the box with when it was finished, was the perfect size.

So, gather your materials.  Easy.

Now, squish your roll flat, but don't hard-crease the edges, so that it will pop back up partway.

Line your circle guide at one end of the roll, so that it goes from corner to corner with the tube squished.  Lightly score around the circle; keep in mind you aren't trying to cut anything, just make it easier to fold neatly.

Repeat at both ends, front and back.

Bet you can't guess the next step, huh?  Oh, wait, right...  So, fold down the flap.  If you have an 'ugly' side to the box, such as a glue strip, fold that side first, so that it will end up the bottom.  Repeat for all four flaps, first 'front' then 'back'.  You may need to squish and wiggle the little pointy corners a bit to get them lined up and shaped just right.

That's it!  That's your basic pillow box.  Decorate them, with markers or stamps or glitter....  wrap them with a little strip of wrapping paper (the huge benefit to this is you can just do it in the center, making the box complete with decoration reusable!), or just some ribbon, or a pretty bow...  get creative!