Made 2 Craft: Tea Light Decoration

Make these cute little tea light decorations to light up these dark evenings

This week has been quite overcast and my thoughts turned back to Christmas when my house was covered in lights which created such a cosy feeling So this weeks blog will show you how to turn a homemade bakers box into a tea light decoration for a little battery operated tea light. Please don't use wax candle tea lights as you would set light to your house and that's obviously not a good idea.

decorative boxes made from card to hold a tea light

I started off making a leaf patterned tea light decoration but then thought it could easily be used for other occasions, so I went on to make a heart one for valentines or anniversaries and a Christmas one (not that I probably need any more lights at Christmas !)

I decided to have a tie top on the box, so it could be undone to turn the light on and off. However once I had done that, I realised that actually it would be easier to seal the top with a miniature peg rather than keep tying and untying a ribbon. So my photo's may show two holes in the top of the box - just ignore them, unless you obviously wish to have a ribbon tying the top of your box together

I've made mine from a bakers box die but you can use any box die you have. If you don't have any applicable dies, scroll down to the bottom of this blog and I will show you how to fold a box using card and a guillotine with scoring and cutting blades

Follow the below link to find out how the tea light box was made
You will need

Craft card
Bakers Box die by Stampin Up
Small leaf dies
Small wooden peg or bulldog clip
Strong double sided tape
Die cutting machine

Cut 2 lots of Baker Box dies from craft card
Unless you wish to tie with ribbon, do not cut the holes at the top

Fold along all of the score lines

Using the small leaf dies, start to cut out from the square front of both bakers boxes as per the below photo. This will create mini apertures to let the light from the candle shine through.

Continue moving and cutting small leaves until you have almost cut out the square on the front of the bakers boxes

Now cut a few leaves from the side panels of the bakers box pieces (Don't cut any within 1 cm of the edge of this panel as when the box is glued together, the tab would cover part of the die cut)

You can cut a small leaf or two from the front top panel of the bakers box pieces but again do not go too close to the edges as when folded the edges will cover the apertures

Put double sided tape on the tabs of the box and stick the two sections together

Then fold it to form a cube by sticking the other edge together

Now fold in the bottom and use a little glue or tape to hold in place

Decorate your miniature peg with a bow or die cut and then put this on the top to close your box

Place your candle inside and display - beautiful light decoration that you have made yourself.

If you don't have a box die then make a box like follows:

Out of a piece of A4 card, cut it to 25 cm wide by 10 . 5 cm tall

With the short edge upmost in your guillotine, score it at 7 cm from the right edge

Along the wide length score at 5 . 5 cm, 12 cm, 17 . 5 cm and 24 cm

You will need to cut some triangles out so the bottom of the box will fold and edges not stick out. The below photo will guide you where you need to cut. The solid lines are cut lines and the dotted lines are your score lines. (The shaded areas will be removed when you cut the solid lines)