After making a few of these, we started thinking of great ideas for which we couldn’t find suitable papers. We wanted to print our own designs. or better still, use some of our photographs.

But high quality inkjet paper isn’t thin enough for this folding - and it won’t take the handling these boxes will endure, and, most importantly, it will crack along these sharp folds and show the white paper underneath. Even commercially printed papers do that. So, there was no paper we could use to make our own printed boxes . . . or was there?
It’s our great water resistant inkjet surface on a very thin (27lb), acid free sheet. This weight is fabulous for folding and the inked surface will not crack even on tight folds. You can even use this paper to make personalized wrapping paper for small gifts. The water resistant factor ensures that ink won’t come off by handling either. W-R Cre8it Matte Lite comes in Ten and Twenty Sheet Packs and in a special Cre8it Matte Sampler Pack (with our 48lb sheet and our brand new 52lb double sided sheet).
Custom Photo Print Boxes
Adapting a photo to the right format is a piece of cake using PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements (See Below).

We need two squares that coordinate in color and an insert for our cover (and the right photo for our theme of course). We wanted a gift box for a feather pin we were giving as a gift, and several Garden Boxes for giving seeds from our garden to friends. So, we chose a cumulous cloud sky photo from the Sky’s the Limit, Volume One Art Safe CD, and the Zinnia photo from Garden Glory, Volume One. (Visit the Art Safe)

The cloud insert on the Sky box is actually a second photo reduced to fit the window.
Making Custom Prints for Boxes
Please Note: Although the Digital Diva tries to make the steps as simple as she can, it is not possible to cover PhotoShop basics in every article, and the screen shots are hard to see at this size. The good news is we are working on the PhotoShop CDs you so enthusiastically requested last time. They will have big pictures and will start with a beginner’s CD.

The following tutorial will show you how to start with any photo and make the papers for a custom gift box.
Step 1.
You can use any photo or your original art by scanning it into your computer at 300dpi and following these steps.

Open the photo or scan, choose the Crop tool, and hold the Shift key down while drawing a square around the area you want for your box. Click and drag from corner to corner to draw the square. Holding the Shift Key down will constrain it to a square. Size does not matter at this point. Hit the Enter Key.
Step 2.
Go to Image Size/Resize under the Image menu and you will get this box.

Resample and Constrain Proportions should be checked.

Change the width to 5.5 inches (or whatever size you want for your box). The height will change with it.

Click OK and print this page.