So I was scrolling through the Valentines Cricut Projects and I saw these totally adorable Donut Valentines Boxes. I instantly stopped and said I have to make one of those for my son’s teacher. Of course, I wanted to change it up just a bit because, I’m me, and that’s what I do.
After I showed by son he thought they were so awesome that he asked me to make one for everyone in his class. I agreed to make them for everyone and since I’m making an extra 20 Donut Valentines Boxes I figured I’d show you how I did it.
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Here’s what you’ll need
- Cardstock in the colors of your choice
- Glue Dots or any other kind of glue you like
- Color printer and printer paper
- Cricut vinyl cutting machine
- Light grip Cricut mat
- Scoring Stylus
- Cricut Access (this isn’t necessary but the project is free with Access)
Donut Valentines Boxes
So to start with I opened a new project in Design Space and clicked on “Projects” in the left menu bar. Then I typed “Donut Box” into the search bar and the project came up. I selected the project and inserted it into my design. This project is totally free with Cricut Access. If you don’t have access no worries, there will just be a fee associated with making the project. Also, I’d like to point out this project has score lines and I highly recommend you have a scoring stylus or scoring wheel to make this project.
The Valentines Donut boxes are super adorable just as is but I wanted to change them up a bit. If you want to follow along with my changes simply keep reading (and check out the video tutorial below). If you want to make the box as is just cut out all the pieces and skip down to the “Assembly” section of this post.
Making the Changes
Okay, so the main thing I wanted to change was the message on the cut then print card. I wanted to make it specific for his teacher and for the students. I also didn’t want the cardstock donut cutout. To start with I completely deleted the cardstock donut. Then I deleted one of the print then cut cards as well. I only need one for my box. Next I deleted all the design on the second print then cut card so all I was left with was the shape to fit my box.
To design my print then cut card I went to Creative Fabrica and found this Valentines Donut file. There are several donuts files in Cricut but I really liked these with the little hearts. The fact that I got 4 different colors was just a bonus. I uploaded the Donut PNG’s to Design Space and then imported one to my project (full instructions on to import files to Design Space here). I resized it and placed it in the middle of my print then cut card.
Adding the text
Once the donut was on the card I added the text. I just clicked the “Text” tool in the left menu bar and then chose “Beach Bum” font (also free with Cricut Access). I typed out my message in two separate text boxes and then I curved the words around the donut (check out my post on how to curve text in Cricut Design Space). Now that I had everything looking just the way I wanted I grouped the donut, words and shape together and hit “Flatten”. It is super important to flatten. This is how Cricut will know to print the interior portion of your design and ONLY cut the exterior shape. If you don’t flatten Cricut will cut around all the words individually.
Printing and Cutting
Now that my design was done it was time to cut and print. I clicked “Make It” and sent my print design to the printer (here’s the printer I use). Remember to turn the bleed off and turn on the system dialog option. Next I chose my printer and made sure my print settings were for plain paper (not photo or glossy paper). I printed my design and then put the paper on my light grip cutting mat. I loaded the mat into my Cricut and made sure my dial was set to “paper”.
Once the print then cut portion was done I loaded my first piece of cardstock and changed my dial to cardstock to finish cutting and scoring the design.
Assembling the Donut Valentines Boxes
To assemble the base I simply folded each section on its score line and placed a glue dot on each tab. I attached the tabs to their sides using the glue dots.
To assemble the lid I folded each section on its score line and then worked my way around the lid using glue dots to secure each tab to its side. The tabs at the base of the folds will be your interior tabs and the tabs at the top of the folds will be your exterior tabs. This will make more sense when you watch the video tutorial. When the box was fully assembled I just put a light layer of glue on the print then cut card and glued it to the top of my box. And with that, the project was done.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a Donut Valentines Box. I’d love to see your finished projects.
