Extra Purpose this DIY Valentine's Card Mailbox
This easy mailbox craft makes a cute way to collect Valentine's cards on Valentine's day. Extra purpose it to collect letters for Santa Clause in December. This cute and easy mailbox craft repurposes a pop tart box into an adorable little mailbox with very little effort, time, and money. Learn how to make this mailbox with DIY steps just below!
Valentine's Card Mailbox Craft Supplies
Scissors
1 Pop tart box
1 4x7 piece of cardboard from either another pop tart box or cereal box
6 sheets of printer paper or 4 sheets of construction paper.
Clear packing tape
Tacky Glue
Markers, paints, paint brushes, or whatever you want to make decorations on the mailbox.
1 Brad (Brass plated fastener)
Singular hole puncher
Ruler or Protractor
Valentine's Mailbox flag template (free printable below)
 |
| Most of the craft supplies for the mailbox are probably on hand right now! |
You can get the craft supplies you need at brick and mortar stores like Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels which all have online stores as well as eBay or Amazon.
DIY Directions to Make a Valentine's Card or Christmas Letters to Santa Mailbox
Take the pop tart box and face the skinny side with the health information towards you. Using this side of the pop tart box for the door will provide at least one line you can cut along (the information box) to help give you a straight cut as well as give you an idea of how far away from the corner to cut the other side of the door for a flap up door. For a side swinging door, instead of cutting both sides, just cut along the bottom.
If you decide to go with the typical mailbox door take a piece of clear packing tape just a bit shorter than the pop tart box and place it inside on the bottom of the box to secure the door from becoming unglued.
Now cut about ½ inch down all the other corners of the pop tart box. Make a new light fold on both of the long sides of the pop tart box by gently folding it inward at the end of the cuts you made.
Place the flap on the top of the box in the slit for keeping the box closed. Get a piece of packing tape that is the length of the box. Place the tape on the top, with the edge of the top of the box centered in the tape, making sure not to tape it to any part of the back or front of the mailbox.
 |
| Transforming a pop tart box into a small mailbox. |
Gently bend the longer sides and the top of the box to form an arch. You will use the arch you made as your guide to shape the back and the door of the mailbox by tracing the arch onto the inside of both the door and back of the box. Cut along the traced arch on the back and the door. You will use these scraps to make the handle for the door of the mailbox later so save these scraps.
 |
| Scraps from the door will be made into a handle for the mailbox door. |
Take a sheet of paper in portrait position and place a line of glue along the width about 1 ½ inch from the top and another line of glue at the very top of the page, then zigzag the glue in between the lines. Gently place another sheet of paper lining the edges up with the first page overlapping the 1½ inch of the top to glue them together into an extra long sheet of paper.
If using printer paper, doubling the paper will prevent the pop tart box from showing through as well as provide a bit more structural strength. So repeat the two lines and zigzag of glue along top of another page and align the bottom edge of it to the top edge of the extra long paper so the glue will be in the middle of the extra long paper. Now gently remove the page you just added and align one more sheet of paper without glue in place of the one just removed. Turn the one page you removed so that the glue will be in the middle of the extra long paper again aligning all the edges. Let it dry.
Along the length of the extra long sheet of paper, measure 2 inches from the edge at the top and bottom and make a mark to indicate where to fold the paper. Align the edges and fold along the length of the extra long paper. Align the extra long paper on the mailbox with the folded side at the opening of the mailbox. Fold any extra paper under and onto the bottom of the box. Decorate the entire sheet except the squares the fold lines show at the top and bottom corners of the extra long paper.
Take another sheet of paper in landscape position and measure to 3¾ inch from the edge to make a fold. Now place the door so that it's edge matches the edge of paper folded in, and the bottom of the door is completely covered. There will be about ¼ inch of the paper that overhangs the other edge of the door. Trace the arch of the door. Now scoot the door, keeping edges aligned, on the paper about ½ inch so that the line drawn before is covered and retrace the arch of the top of the door. Use the top line as a guide to cut off excess paper. Fold the paper over the curve of the door. Fold the other end of the paper over the door so that the paper is now folded in not very even thirds. Trace the arch of the top of the door onto the side of the paper you just folded over then cut off the excess paper.
If your door opens to the side be sure to have at least ¼ inch of paper overhang the door hinge to fold onto the side of the mailbox to provide the door more strength.
Decorate the paper for the door how you'd like on both sides of the door.
Take the last sheet of paper and fold it in half. Align the folded in half page so that the fold goes along the height of the mailbox. Fold the bottom of the paper at ¼ inch and fold the sides of the paper along the height of the mailbox. Using the folds to center the scrap piece of cardboard pictured above, place it about ¼ inch from the top of the paper and trace the arch onto the paper. Using the fold lines as a guide cut from the top of the paper about 3 1/4 inch down along the folds to the traced arch then cut along the arch. With all other folds matching the corners and bottom of the mailbox, fold the arched paper over the arch on the back of the mailbox. Turn the paper over and decorate the paper how you'd like using the fold lines as a guide for where to stop decorating.
While you're waiting for the decorations to dry, you can print this Valentine's mailbox flag template that I made free for you to use. Cut out one of the flags from the template to use as a guide. Grab the 4x7 piece of cardboard and trace the flag from the template onto it. Decorate the flag shapes from the flag template to match the mailbox and let decorations dry if needed. Cut the flags from the cardboard and template, then glue the decorated flag template pieces to the front and back of the cardboard flag. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole as indicated on the temple.
Take and match as best you can the arch scraps of cardboard. Face them with the brown sides out, trimming where necessary to make it match. Glue them together leaving ¼ from the bottom on each side unglued so that each piece can be folded away from the other to make feet which will allow the handle to attach to the door. Shape the top of this cardboard into a handle design you like, cutting off any excess cardboard. We chose to paint the handle for our Valentine's mailbox but you can cover it with paper decorated how you like.
Take a triangular shaped scrap piece of cardboard and cut it to match the triangular shape on the flag template. Fold along the two sides of the triangular shape about ¼ inch from the edge. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole as indicated on the temple.
Once decorations are dry you can start gluing the sheets you designed for the back, the door and sides to their designated sides of the mailbox. My suggestions for gluing below will help ensure a more quality look.
Place glue on the backside of the pop tart mailbox then glue the sheet you designed for the back matching the fold lines to the corners and arch of the mailbox. When glueing the fold over the arch of the back side, place the glue on the top side and go into the mailbox to press and glue the paper to the top and sides of the mailbox. Glue the rest of the folds down to the sides of the pop tart Valentine's mailbox.
Place glue on the front of the mailbox door then position and place the sheet you designed for the door so that the folds in the paper match the arch and sides. Before folding the paper to the inside of the door, glue down the paper folded over the arch of the door. Outline the inside of the door with glue including glue on the paper folded over the arch, then fold the paper to the inside.
Place glue on the sides and arch of the pop tart mailbox. Match the fold lines and the edge on the sheet you designed for the sides to the bottom and the back of the mailbox. Place a line of glue along the inside edge of the mailbox then fold and press the excess paper inward.
Find where you would like to place the flag and position the triangular shape where you want the flag. Check to see if it covers any artwork. If so, you can do any of the following: decorate the triangular shape by either using the template or painting it to fix the cover up, or maybe find a spot where it won't cover up much art. If you're using the decorated triangular template pieces, glue them to the front and back of the triangular cardboard piece and let it dry.
Thread the brad through the hole in the flag and then through the hole in the triangular shape. Separate the prongs on the brad and fold flat from the top of the brass fastener. Position the prongs so they will not be seen then glue the triangular shape to the mailbox in the spot of your choice and let it dry.
Place a dot of glue on each of the feet of the handle and press the handle onto the outside of the door where you like it. Let the glue dry.
Enjoy the cuteness of this Valentine's mailbox and be proud of you and your child's craftiness.