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Milk Carton Gift Box Tutorial

By Amanda Chittenden on August 29, 2020
I'm A Sucker for Containers that Look Like Other Things... I don't know what it is about containers that look like other things, but they are the cutest!  For Mother's Day, I made a gift box that looked like a little spa (to house some bath bombs), and while I didn't specifically have a purpose […]

I'm A Sucker for Containers that Look Like Other Things...

I don't know what it is about containers that look like other things, but they are the cutest!  For Mother's Day, I made a gift box that looked like a little spa (to house some bath bombs), and while I didn't specifically have a purpose in mind for this gift box, I couldn't resist the opportunity to show you guys how to make this milk carton gift box!

This project assembly was about 15 minutes, which is awesome.  My video tutorial (linked at the bottom) is longer than that because I do the computer part with you first (and because, let's face it, I talk too much when I'm showing you every little step), but in REAL LIFE it's a quick and easy project that is just so ding-dang cute. 

FREE SVG File from Dreaming Tree!

Not only am I a sucker for containers that look like other things, I'm a sucker for a good freebie. Freebies work on me too, anyone else?  I often find myself going to get a freebie and snagging a few other things...and I'm CERTAIN that's the priciple of the thing.

But what I like about freebies from Dreaming Tree is that they're actually free.  Not free with purchase, or free once you hit a dollar threshold, they're just free.  If you're new to Cricut, or new to Dreaming Tree files, this is an incredible resource.  Whenever I find a new SVG designer whose designs I find appealing, I always look for a freebie first so I can test drive their stuff before I buy a bundle or something complex...

So, here's the file (it's an affiliate link, but once again...an affiliate link on a free product.  You do the math!) 😉 Dreaming Tree Milk Carton Treat Box

Grab the freebie, save it on your computer in a convenient and easy-to-find spot, and open Cricut Design Space for the next bit!

Dreaming Tree website with file photo

Make Easy File Adjustments in Cricut Design Space

As with most third-party (non-Cricut) SVG files, you need to make a few key adjustments to the file in order for it to cut the way you think it will.

Let's start by getting the file into Design Space.  Open Design Space and hit "new" in the upper left, which gives you a blank canvas.  Go to the "upload" button on the bottom left, and then "browse" on the following screen.

upload image button
Browse button in Design Space

Find your file on your computer and open the SVG folder within it.  I prefer to use the "solid score lines" in the extras folder.

Solid score lines folder

Pick the first item in the list to be imported, and then work you way down the line.  You will have uploaded 10 files when you are done.

When you have them all, select them all.  You can tell they are selected because there is a little green square around each one.

All 10 svg files uploaded

And then select "Insert Images" in the bottom right. This will add all of your milk carton pieces into your blank canvas.

Insert images button in design space

Change Cut Lines to Score Lines

And now for the simple changes.  When you look at the pieces, you'll notice that there are lines that should be score marks but are listed in Design Space as cut marks.  

A good example is the base piece of the milk carton.

Score lines that are cut lines

All you need to do to fix this is select each one of these (in this example there are 2), one at a time, and go to the "cut" at the top left and select "score" instead.

Select score button

All those cut marks will suddenly turn into score marks, and even though they appear as dashes, they are solid score marks.

Finally, just select both the piece and the score marks with your cursor, and then click "attach" in the bottom right corner.  This will ensure that your score marks are attached to your piece and will score where you expect them to!

The little dash marks to the left of the triangle of dash marks are there to help guide your placement of some of the embellishment pieces.  It looks a little weird now but will be helpful during construction.

Select piece and score marks, and hit attach

Follow this same procedure changing cut marks into score marks on each of the following pieces below:

Emblem piece
Blue wrap piece
Cow spot piece
Black wrap piece
Other half of main box

Once you've changed your score marks and attached them all, it's time to let your Cricut cut them out for you, and let's go put it together!

Assembling the Milk Carton Gift Box

Assemble Little Embellishments

Assembling this gift box is a breeze.  The carton itself is basically 2 pieces, everything else is decoration and super-fun. 🙂

I chose to begin by assembling the embellishment pieces that have layers, mostly because I like to get the little bits out of the way.

For the "fresh" sign, there are three pieces.  A plain blue, a black with a single cut-out, and a blue piece that has most of the word "fresh" in it.  These three pieces stack in that order.

Three pieces of fresh sign
Fresh sign stacked

The milk bottles also have three layers.  The bottom layer I chose to cut out of a beautiful silver metallic cardstock because I liked the idea of the lid being silver, and the lid isn't covered up.

Silver metallic cardstock

On top of that base, you put the larger of the pale pieces (mine is beige), and on top of that, you add the final top piece (mine is white).  There rare two milk jars, so do them both.

Milk bottle piece

Assemble the Body of the Milk Carton

You want to fold the 2 milk carton pieces along the score marks, and your pieces should look something like this.  I have a video tutorial, so if you need to see this in action that will help.

Both pieces are the same structurally, so you can just do this fold pattern twice.

Folded milk carton panel

The three tabs on the right side of the above will be glue to the un-tabbed side of the other main piece, like this:

Assemble two main pieces together

Then you can flip it over and attach the other side.  Give it a good squeeze and a moment for your glue to set.

Attach other side of milk carton gift box

Open it up and flip it over, and glue the bottom flaps together.  You want to fold in the two small ones, and then glue the smaller of the two remaining flaps down.  You'll end up with the largest of the flaps on the outside.

Glue down smaller flap
Glue down largest flap on the outside

Press down from the inside onto the surface of the table to give it some pressure to stick.

Add Your Decor!

Now that your milk carton gift box is constructed, it's time to add the goodies to the outside!

There are helpful score mark guides on the pieces as I mentioned earlier, so you can follow along with where they are, or make up your own design.

The score marks on the white pieces were nearly impossible for my camera to pick up, but the score marks on the black piece with the cow on it are really noticeable.  I'll use that as an example. 

You see the little arches toward the top that look like pencil marks? That's where you will align the high points of the "M" in milk, and then there are spots to help alight the "l" and the "k".


Pictures below will show you where the other decor pieces go.  Also, the large blue piece wraps around the box on three sides, so make sure your cow ends up on the front of your carton. 🙂  

The smaller blue piece is the back panel of the blue wrap around.  The black wrap around fits right on top of the blue one!

Front cow spots
Fresh sign added
Adding wrap panel
Back panel piece and back spots
Add black wrap panel on top. Be careful of the delicate tail!
Back panel piece and back spots
Add milk bottles to each side
If desired, you can add some pen marks to the score marks around the cow spot

Finishing Touches

Finally, I added some bling to the box in the form of a small black enamel dot on the front.  Truth: the file has a small black paper dot and I promptly lost it...so I improvised.  If you can manage to not lose your tiny dot, that's where it goes! 

I also added a sparkly bit to the "i" in milk.


Next, you want to put your gift box item into your gift box!  Then you are ready to ribbon it closed.



Then there's the small emblem piece, which you can kind of put wherever you like.  

I put a pop dot on the back and put it on top of the bow...but I also think it might have looked nice where the black dot is.

Final image

Prefer a Video Tutorial? Here Ya Go!

https://youtu.be/ZH3sXYUHl64

Materials used for this project are listed below.  Some links are affiliate links, and if you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.  If you do, thank you in advance for your support of this blog.

 Dreaming Tree FREE SVG file: https://www.3dsvg.com/shop/boxes-svg-files/milk-treat-box-free-svg/?affiliates_svg=1045 Materials used for this project are: Cricut Explore Air:  https://shrsl.com/2c9ekCricut cardstock:  https://shrsl.com/21uhjMetallic cardstock used for milk bottle: https://amzn.to/32BgXHuDouble-sided adhesive and dimensional adhesive squares found here in a variety of sizes:  https://shrsl.com/24rsxAdhesive gemstones in strips: https://amzn.to/2EE0f1LBlack sticky dots: https://amzn.to/3jo3465 Links to favorite glue and Cricut supplies are on my blog resources page here:  https://amandatoryactivity.com/papercraft-supplies/

Love,
Amanda

Article written by Amanda Chittenden

2 comments on “Milk Carton Gift Box Tutorial”

  1. Thank you for this been looking for something similar for a gift box! The link didn't take me straight there though just so you know 🙂

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I’m Amanda, and I put the AMANDA in A MANDAtory Activity (and I like a good bad pun). I run a blog, A Mandatory Activity, focused on baking and crafting for gatherings and gifts.

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