Monday, December 8, 2025

Altered Christmas Gift Box

Hello crafters! We are still waiting for winter weather here, after another grey weekend. 

Please note: this post has affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.


This week we have a Wrap It Up theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. I hope you will join us and don't miss the beautiful project by our December guest designer Carrie Swift.

Simon Says Stamp DieCember

The new DieCember® release is filled with dies, stamps and other great new products. 

Layers of ink - Altered Christmas Gift Box Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

I had a gift box which I got sometime ago, with I believe chocolates inside and decided to alter it into a Christmas gift box. It had a nice floral pattern on the lid, that I didn't want to cover up. I used patterned paper to alter the box, and gesso and paint for the lid. There are sentiments stamped on each side.


This was the original box.

Coat with gesso and glue patterned paper to the box.

I covered the sides of the box with a pretty Poinsettia paper from Tim Holtz Christmas Backdrops and added another piece of backdrops paper to the base. I kept the part that the lid would cover as it was, since it was a tight fit and I was afraid that the box would be difficult to open otherwise. The lid was painted with gesso. 

Paint with Distress Paint.

Paint the lid with Picket Fence and then dry brush Pumice Stone, especially on the floral design and the edges.

Stamp with Simon Says Stamp Festive Merriment.

I used a mix of stamps for my sentiments. Many of them come from Simon Says Stamp Festive Merriment. 

Die cut hearts with Simon Says Stamp Shaker Hearts.

Die cut three hearts using Simon Says Stamp Heart Shaker Shapes from the new DieCember® release. One was die cut from a Christmas Backdrops paper and two from Simon Says Stamp Silver Vellum. Fold in the middle and shape.


The lid already had a hole at the top and a ribbon pull. I pierced a hole through the hearts and used the original ribbon. The lid was stamped with two sentiments and I also added Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Dazzling Lilac Gems. The sentiment at the top comes from Tim Holtz Darling Christmas and the one at the bottom from Tiny Text Christmas.

Assemble the heart.

The vellum hearts gives a nice hint of shimmer.


I positioned the heart die so that I would get a section of the paper that I liked. I used this same paper for my December Journal.

Wrap with ribbons.

Tie ribbons around the bottom of the box. The sentiment on the lid comes from Simon Says Stamp Festive Merriment and the one on the box from Tim Holtz Watercolor Trees.

Altered Christmas Gift Box by Layers of ink.

Each side of the lid and of the box has a different sentiment.


Silent Night comes from Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas.


Dry brushing paint on an embossed design, makes the design stand out better.


I sanded the edges of the papers after gluing them to the box.


The patterned paper at the bottom finishes the design, while also covering up the text that was printed there.


Join us this week in our Wrap It Up challenge! You have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.



Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.





Thank you so much for visiting today! 

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.