Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Wine Crate, DIY Gift Card Boxes

• By Joan
• December 18, 2019
• 5 Comments

DIY Gift Card Box

Christmas is right around the corner and I can officially say I’m getting most of my teenage and young adult nieces and nephews what they want most.  Cash (in the form of gift cards)!

Since gift cards are not the most exciting present, I’ve added a little pizzazz with the addition of a DIY gift card box.

Of course I could use pallet wood but I recently acquired a box load of wine crate lids.  

When son #2 bought his house about a year ago it had a wonderful wine cellar.  It was huge.  It could hold about 6,000 bottles of wine.  It smelled of cedar… and it was a enormous waste of space.  Their one bottle of wine looked kind of lonesome on the rack. The wine crate lids were nailed onto the wall above the rack.

The wine room is now fast becoming a bathroom, storage and workout room.  The not very used wine racks got yanked out and the wine crate tops were ripped off the walls.  What I’m going to do with 30 wine crate tops I do not know, but this project is a start.  With 3 of the wine crate tops I’m making  6 gift card boxes.

This is one of the gift card envelopes.  Based on this holder I could divide the wine crate lid into 6 equal parts.  Since each of the lids are about 12″ by 6 1/2″, each of the 6 pieces will be about 4″ x 3 1/4″.

If you don’t happen to have a sudden influx of wine crate boxes, reclaimed wood will work just as well.  

You’ll see in a minute my little boo boo in measurements.  It will still work, just not the way I anticipated.

Since I’m making 6 boxes, I needed 2 of the wine crate lids, each chopped in half then cut into 3 equal sections giving me 12 pieces  (tops and bottoms).

Cut another of the wine crate lids  in half and then cut those pieces in half once again.  These will be the sides of your boxes.

Cut those longer skinny pieces the same lengths as your boxes.  You’ll need 2 per box.

Nail or glue your sides to the bottom of your box.  I’m using my pneumatic nail gun with 1 inch nails.

Cut the ends individually for each box.  Not all of the wine crate boxes were of equal thickness.

Again, nail or glue in place.

Once your box is completed, sand all the edges, getting rid of all the rough spots and splinters.

You could be done but I’m adding a few more optional steps and a cow liner.  This fabric was leftover from a cow ottoman I did last year.  If you like the fabric you can find the source on my ottoman post.

Right now the lid slip slides around.  If you cut and glue a thin piece of wood  (this is mdf plywood) the exact size of the inside of your box you’ll prevent the lid from sliding. 

You could also install a couple of itty bitty hinges but the mdf is a more inexpensive option.

Finish off the box with a knob made from old wine corks.  Might as well continue with the wine theme.

Cut a wine cork in half.  Gently sand any rough edges.  Predrill a small hole in the center of the lid then attach the wine cork knob with a screw.

Since I have a  Capital Letter Stamp Set might as well personalize my box a little bit more.

This is where you can see my boo boo in measurements coming into view.  When I took the measurements of the box I did not take into account the thickness of the side pieces.  Luckily the gift card still fits inside, just barely, but not the nice little envelope it came in.

A few kisses and my gift cards are ready to go with my FREE DIY gift boxes.

Stay inspired.

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