How to Create a Christmas Card Memory Box

To create a Christmas Memory Box is easy. All you need is an empty shoe box, a festive piece of holiday material, ribbon, felt, a hot melt glue gun and a can of spray adhesive. For the shoe box, Bigger is better to accommodate the holiday memory item you will accumulate over the years. Boxes with lids that are attached on one side are the best for this project but if you don't have one any shoe box will do.

Begin by laying the material on a flat surface. If material is wrinkled iron it until wrinkles are smoothed out. Trim the material to fit around the outside of the box leaving at least two inches extra to tuck into the box. As if you were wrapping a gift.

Follow the instructions and the warning label on the spray adhesive and spray the outside of the box with a light coat of adhesive. Let the glue set up as per the manufacturers instructions and gently begin attaching the material to the box beginning in the center of the back of the Christmas Card Memory Box. This will prevent the seam from being visible while on display.

When you have the outer box covered it is time to repeat the steps above to the lid of you box. If your lid is attached to the Christmas Card Memory Box be sure to leave enough material to cover the entire outside of the lid leaving at least two inches to fold over to the inside of the lid.

When you have completely covered the outside of your Christmas Card Memory Box trim the remaining material to cover the sides of the inner portion of the box. Follow the same steps as above and adhere the material to the inner sides of the box.

Trim more of the material to cover the inside bottom of the box and the inside of the lid, following the steps above.

The bottom of your Christmas Card Memory Box should have a thicker piece of material. Felt is the best material to use, it is durable and will not scratch any surfaces it is placed on nor will it wear and fall apart. Choose a color that is comparable to your main box pattern.

Let the box dry and prepare your work station for the finishing touches. There are many choices when it comes to accents and personalizing your Christmas Card Memory Box. Any personal accent used will be unique to your lifestyle and design preferences.

Using a hot melt glue gun is the most effective way to add accents to your box. Using spray adhesive to attach smaller accents to your Christmas Card Memory Box will be over glued causing your project to look messy. Every craft supply store carries hot melt glue guns.

Here are a few ideas to help get you started.

Ribbon is a great way to hide any imperfections you may have encountered as you attached the material to the Christmas Card Memory Box. Cover any seams in your Christmas Card Memory Box with ribbon. You can even glue ribbon around the entire box and lid to give the effect of an actual Christmas gift. Finish it off with a very large bow in the center of the lid.

If you would rather make your Christmas Card Memory Box more personalized there are many wonderful accent items available in every craft supply stores. Look in the section where scrap-booking supplies are located, there are also wonderful items in the jewelry crafts isle.

You can clue actual photograph to the lid of your Christmas Card Memory Box if you a photograph, create a frame for it by using the scrap material you have left over from your Christmas Card Memory Box. By framing you photograph it will keep the edges of the photograph from getting ruined. If you have an empty pasta box with a plastic window large enough to cover your photograph cut it out and put it between your photograph and the picture frame you made out of the plastic from a pasta box.

No matter how you choose to decorate your Christmas Card Memory Box, it will be a wonderful addition to your family heirloom collection for generations to come.