valentines day box Archives - Tracy Lynn Crafts

Learn to make a heart box you can cut on your Cricut and fill with treats for favors or gifts!

Paper gift boxes can be made in many different shapes but, in this project, I will make a heart box from card stock and fill with wrapped candies. Paper gift boxes, like the ones I made for Christmas and 12th Night are fun to make and give. I am making these boxes to give as Valentine’s gifts but you can also make heart boxes for wedding favors, shower favors, baby showers, party favors, and more.

These filled heart boxes are a lovely favor for your party, wedding or shower

You can cut the heart box on a craft machine like the Cricut or you can cut them by hand. Either way, once you have the box cut-out, assembling is easy. First I have a quick video to show you how easy it is to assemble the box. Later in this post I have step-by step instructions with pictures to guide you through the assembly.

Materials and Supplies for the Heart Box

(This post contains affiliate links to some of the items I used in this project. It just means if you make a purchase after clicking the links then you will help to support my blog. There is no added cost to you!)

Sheets of card stock (one sheet per box)
Glue (I use Tacky glue with many of my card stock projects)
Something to fill the boxes (wrapped candies, small gifts, etc.)
Designs (available in my free Resource Library)
Cutting tools
- A craft machine such as the Cricut, or
- X-Acto Knife or scissors

Materials and supplies for the heart box

How to Make a Heart Box

I made seven designs for the heart box and all of them are available for free in my resource library. The patterns are available in .SVG (machine cutting) and .PDF (hand cutting) formats.

Cutting the Heart Box by Machine

I cut my heart boxes on my Cricut. To do this, upload the .SVG file to Cricut Design Space or the design application for your craft machine. If you do not have a scoring tool for your machine then you will need to hide the layer that contains the score lines and manually score those lines after you cut the boxes. In Cricut Design Space, to hide the layer, click the eye on that layer.

To use your scoring tool, select the layer that has the score lines and change them from cut lines to score lines. In the screenshot below, I show you which part of the design contains the score lines. After changing the scoring layer from cut to score, remember to select the whole design and click “Attach” so the scores happen where they are supposed to happen.

Remember to change the scoring layer from cut to score in Cricut Design Space then attach the whole design before making

A Note about Card Stock for the Heart Box

Because the heart box design is almost 11 inches from end to end, it fits best on 12″ x 12″ paper. You can use 8-1/2″ x 11″ card stock but you will need to rotate the design about 55-degrees (clockwise) so that it fits diagonally on the page. If you have 12″ x 12″ card stock, the box design will fit nicely on the page. To be a little more conservative with your 12″ x 12″ paper, you can scale down the box and fit two per sheet. Remember to scale the insert by the same amount if you use the inserts.

Start by cutting all your card stock sheets with the designs you like

Cutting the Heart Box by Hand

The PDF file in my resource library has full-size patterns you can use for cutting and scoring by hand. It may be fastest if you print directly onto your card stock then cut all the solid lines and score along all the dashed lines.

How to Assemble the Heart Box

The following are step-by-step instructions and pictures on how to put together the heart box. It took me six minutes, including waiting for glue to set, to put together the box in the video (though I sped up the video so you don’t have to wait for my glue to dry). For all the rest of the boxes, I put them together more “assembly line” style which saved lots time.

Step 1: Folding the Score Lines

Fold each score line toward the inside of the heart box.

Gentle Creases: The vertical scores along the long horizontal piece that makes up the walls of the heart box do not need crisp folds. The “teeth” pieces also can be gentle creases.

Crisp Creases: The score lines that are where the heart shapes meet the box should be crisp creases. Also, the long tabs that are above and below the wall section (the pieces that tuck into the box) should have crisp creases. You can see in the video which ones I creased with my fingernail and which are just gently folded.

If your cutting machine does not have a scoring tool or if cutting by hand, be sure to score the fold lines — You can see the score lines here – before folding

If you folded all the score lines on your heart box, your box should look similar to this — After folding the score lines

Optional Step: Add Box-Top Insert

The pattern file for this project includes a heart shape that you can cut to place under the cut-work for some added detail. Optional insert materials include:

Contrasting color card stock or paper
Vellum
Tissue paper
Light-weight fabric (such as quilting cotton)
Acetate
Foil
Lace or tulle

I made some boxes that include this insert and I included this step in the video at the beginning of this post.

Apply a little bit of glue onto the interior side of the cut design portion of the heart box. It will not take too much glue to hold the insert in place. Affix the insert to the glue and let it set for a few seconds before proceeding.

Step 2: Glue the Bottom of the Heart Box to the Walls

The heart box cut-out has a “wall” section on either side of the heart-shaped top and bottom sections.

One of those wall sections has a flat end and one has a curved tab end. The section with the flat end is a full wall. The one with the curved tab end is the wall that includes the “door” to the inside of the heart box.

How to distinguish which side is which of the walls on the heart box

Glue the Full Wall First

Start by gluing the Full Wall section. Apply glue to the pointed saw-tooth tabs and the long tab on the same side. These are the tabs that attach to the inside of the bottom of the heart box. Note, there are blunt-cut teeth on the top side of the wall. For this bottom part, only glue the teeth that are pointed.

Curve this wall section around then line up the end of the wall with the point of the heart.

Line up the tabbed edge to the bottom of the heart box

Adjust the wall so that it follows the shape of the bottom of the heart box. Hold in place for a few seconds so the glue can start to take hold.

Align the wall to the heart box bottom and hold a few seconds while the glue sets.

Do any minor adjustments to get the edge of the wall to line up with the edge of the bottom of the box.

Adjust until the wall and the bottom are aligned nicely

You can also set the box down on your work surface if it is easier for you to reach the tabs and adjust the walls to align to the box bottom.

Glue the Wall with the Door

The wall with the “door” is the one with the curved end. Apply glue to the pointed saw-tooth shaped tabs. Do not apply glue to the long tabs on this section of the walls. Those will be the tabs that get tucked into the box when you open and close the heart box.

Apply glue to the just the saw-tooth tabs on the other side of the wall

Once you have the glue on the saw-tooth tabs, line up this side of the wall and hold until the glue sets.

TIP: It may help with your alignment if you tuck the curved tab into the slits in the flat-end side of the wall as if you are closing the box.

Both side walls of the heart box are now attached to the bottom of the box and you can move on to the next step.

Step 3: Glue the Top of the Heart Box to the Walls

In this step, you will add glue to all of blunt-cut saw-tooth tabs then the long tab on the full-wall side of the heart box. Do not add glue to the long tab on the door side of the wall.

Lower the top of the box onto all the tabs, align the walls to the top of the box, and hold in place for a few seconds until the glue sets enough to let go of the box.

Hold the top in place until the glue starts to set

At this point, you may want to stick a finger inside the box to make sure all the tabs are touching the top of the heart box.

Open the door and press on the tabs on the inside

Let the box set for a couple of minutes so the glue can set before filling.

Step 4: Fill the Heart Box

If you have little ones who want to help, then this is the step that kids can help you do!

My boxes are filled with wrapped candies but you can fill them with any small items that will fit inside. Open the “door” of the box then add your gifts or treats.

Step 5: Closing the Heart Box

To close the box, make sure the wall-tabs go into the interior of the box then tuck the curved tab under the slit made by the two cuts on the other wall. If you need to secure it further, you could add a decorative sticker to hold the tab in place, a small dot of glue, or a piece of washi tape. I do this if I am transporting several of these boxes to an event so the contents do not spill out.

Your heart box is now ready for giving away as a gift from your heart.

There are so many ways to makes these heart boxes for any heart-felt occasion such as engagement parties, bridal showers, weddings, Valentine’s Day, and so on.

Insert of colored vellum — Colored vellum insert under the loving couple cut design

Heart box made from glitter paper with an acetate insert

And many more ways to make the paper heart boxes — So many options for making the paper heart boxes

You can get the patterns to all my DIY and craft projects in my Resource Library by signing up for my weekly newsletter.

If you make a heart box, come on over to my Facebook group and share your picture! https://www.facebook.com/groups/TracyLynnCrafts

Remember to pin this to your favorite DIY and/or crafting board on Pinterest!

Select From All My DIY Boxes

I enjoy making little handmade boxes for gifts and treats. You can try some from this list of all the DIY boxes I have made:

I hope you have fun making more of these adorable gift boxes!

valentines day box