DIY Gifts: Cigarette Box Flattery

The concept behind this easy project is simple: you are putting 20 complimentary statements in a decorated cigarette box. The twenty items can be memories, things you like about the person, whatever you want. I did something similar for Valentine's Day, and he didn't dump me, so I guess it's neat.

You Will Need: empty cigarette box**, craft paint, white paper, writing instrument or computer & printer, and any items you want to use for decoration (stamps, decoupage materials, markers, stencils, etc.)

Instructions:

Remove all clear plastic from the empty cigarette box.

Paint entire box with enough coats of craft paint that all of the original packaging print is covered up. Make sure you don't paint the box shut. Use whatever color paint you want to.

Once paint has dried, decorate the box however you want. Use small photos, stamps, die cuts, whatever. Personalize it. Decoupage looks amazing for this project.

Type & print out your 20 items. The easiest way to do this is to type your items into a table in Word, making each cell 3" high by 3" wide and aligning text in the center of the cell. If you are writing your items instead of printing, just leave 3" between each list item.

Cut out each compliment/memory/whatever along table gridlines so that you end up with 20 pieces of paper 3" high by 3" wide. Note: These measurements are for a box of Marlboro 100's. If you're using a standard shorts box, your height will need to be slightly shorter.

Roll each item up so that it looks like a cigarette, making sure it's not so wide that it unrolls easily or prevents all 20 from fitting in the box.

Place each item into the box as you roll it. Once all 20 are in, adjust them so that they are of even widths and in 2 rows of 10, like a fresh pack of cigs.

Close the box, and your done!

**I made a decorating boo-boo on my most recent cigarette box at the last minute, so I used a small pre-made cardstock pillar box instead and it looked nice, too. I got mine from a Stampin' Up rep, but you can get them at craft stores, too.