DIY: graduation gift box

This weekend, we got to celebrate my little sister's high school graduation. And I was happy to fulfill the big sister roll by spoiling her rotten with gifts. But honestly, she deserves it for graduating summa cum lade and landing a college scholarship. Can you tell that I am a proud big sister? 

I'm a BIG fan of the little details so I decided to wrap her big gift from me in a very special gift box. 

I designed this gift box to look just like a "cap and mortarboard". It got soooo many compliments at my sister's graduation party that I constantly had people asking me where I bought it and then how I made it, once I revealed it was a DIY. So I decided to share this quick DIY here since this is an easy project with a big WOW factor. 

Here's how I made it: 

Supplies

Luckily, I happened to snap a photo of all the supplies before I started because I was impressed with myself for being organized and laying everything I needed for the project out ahead of time. This is a rarity, so I had to document it. By the way, I picked up all the supplies I needed from a fabric store. 

Black Fabric (thin, but opaque) 

Fabric Scissors 

Staple Gun

Double Sided Tape 

Round Gift Box/Hat Box (for the cap)

Cardboard (for the mortarboard)

Black Loose Thread (for the tassel)

Scotch Super 77 Adhesive Spray

Scrapbooking Letters (optional) 

I wish that I had pictures of the process, but as I said, I decided to share this tutorial after I had already made it. Don't worry though, it's fairly simple. 

Instructions

🎓 For the Cap 🎓 

•Remove Lid from Gift Box. Apply adhesive spray generously to Gift Box and quickly wrap in fabric. Be sure to pull fabric taut to prevent wrinkles. 

 •Once the fabric is wrapped around the gift box, cut the majority of the remaining fabric off each end and tuck edges underneath the box at the bottom and into the box at the top. Secure loose edges with double-sidded tape.

•Repeat the process above to cover the gift box lid with fabric. Be sure that the lid still fits once it is covered in fabric. 

🎓 For the Mortarboard 🎓   

•Size a piece of cardboard to fit over the round gift box to form the shape of a "cap and mortarboard". I'm pretty lazy, so I actually used square cardboard cake boards as pieces of pre-cut cardboard. 

This saves you lots of time from measuring and cutting the cardboard yourself. 

🎓 For the Tassel 🎓 

 •Gather strands of loose thread. Tie a knot at one end, braid the strands together, then tie a knot at the other end. 

•Secure one of the knotted ends of the braided thread to the center of the cardboard mortarboard with a staple gun. 

•On the non-secured end of the braided thread, tie in loose strands to create the effect of a "tassel". Again, I'm lazy so I purchased and tied in this actual tassel

•Finally, cut a small round piece of cardboard. This needs to fit on top of the braided piece of the mortarboard to cover up the staple. 

•Use adhesive spray to cover the small round piece of cardboard with fabric and secure it to the mortarboard with double-sided tape.

•If you're feeling fancy, you can polish off the project by covering the top of the mortarboard with a message, using scrapbooking letters. 

Congrats to this grad and her very bright future! 

happy DIY-ing!