3D Box Cards ⭐ Card Making Countdown 2026
Make fully decorated 3D box cards that fold flat for posting.
Welcome to Day 7 of the 2026 Card Making Countdown.
Today we are making dimensional box cards.
These are a great fun fold to make because they fold perfectly flat to go in your envelope, but when they come out, the sides pop out to make something dimensional so that you can add lots of pictures, embellishments and general crafting joy.
The download contains three different blank templates which you can add your own images and embellishments to to make a box card that’s suitable for any theme or occasion.
I have included two little layered birthday gnomes with today’s download too, so you can see how to size images to fit on the box card and follow along with me exactly.
This project is part of the 2026 Card Making Countdown
Box cards supply list
Here is a list of the materials that are used to make this project.
Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.
- Cricut machine
- Light blue Cricut cutting mat
- Cricut scoring wheel or scoring stylus
- Coloured Card
- Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
- Patterned paper (optional)
This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series and Joy Xtra. It is too large to use with the Joy or Joy 2.
Foundation learning
If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.
They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.
- Help guides for Cricut machines
- Help guides for Silhouette machines
- Help guides for ScanNCut machines
The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.
- How to score with a Cricut (even without scoring tools)
- Print then cut tutorial
- Design Space tools (Combine, Attach, Slice, Weld, Flatten, etc.)
- Pattern fill tutorial (for making backgrounds & cutting images to a specific shape/size)
- Free envelope SVGs that can be sized to fit any card
- Presentation boxes for handmade cards
- How to write inside cards with Cricut pens
- How to cut layered designs at a small size
- Design Space tips & tricks
- Cricut pens tutorial
- How to mount multiple designs in the same frame with magic guides
Box cards video tutorial
Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.
How to make box cards with a Cricut
The same steps shown below can be used for any of the box card templates included with today’s download.
Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space
Get the files using the box below.
Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.
- How to unzip a folder on Windows computer
- How to unzip a folder on a Mac
- How to unzip a folder on an iPad/iPhone
- How to unzip a folder on an Android device
After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.
Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to videos on how to open cut files in:
- Cricut Design Space
- Silhouette Studio
- CanvasWorkspace (for ScanNCut machines)
The download folder also contains printable PDF versions of the templates for hand cutting.
If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.
You can then either click “Browse” to find the file on your computer, or drag-and-drop it.
Choose one of the templates in the “SVG Files” subfolder.
The gnome card comes in a premade, ready-to-cut version but I’ve also included the gnome pictures separately so that you can try sizing them with the box card template.
Press “Upload” on the next screen.
After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.
To hide the left sidebar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.
I am using the svg-box-card-1-craftwithsarah.svg file and the svg-gnome-elements-craftwithsarah.svg file for this tutorial.
If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.
Need help uploading SVGs? Get step-by-step instructions here in our detailed help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut.
Step 2) Check the box card size
Check the size that shows in the lime green box on the top-left of the box card template.
Make sure your box card is showing at that exact size. If it isn’t, then change it to match.
Click the design and press the “Ungroup” button at the top of the layers panel.
Click the green size guide box and delete it.
Step 3) Design your card
The box card templates come with three “levels” to them, so you can add up to three pictures inside them.
The smaller rectangles with the darker coloured border pieces are decorations for the sides of the box card.
Change the colours on screen to match what you will cut them from.
I’ve chosen three random colours for the smaller decorative panels as I’ll be cutting these from three different types of patterned paper.
Add your chosen images/SVGs to the inside middle of the main base card.
Size them so that they fit inside the central rectangle, as shown below.
Don’t put them outside the edges, otherwise they won’t fit in the card.
Remember that part of the designs will get covered by the front of the card, so anything that appears below where you can see the horizontal lines on the two side flaps of the card will be mostly hidden.
To add a background for the back of the card (to sit behind the pictures), first choose your main image (I’ve chosen the hill).
Position it over the same rectangle piece.
If it is too large then you’ll need to cut off the sides.
To do this, insert some squares and size them so that they completely cover all parts of the image that go outside the card.
Select the black rectangles and “Weld” them to turn them into one layer.
Then select the black rectangles and the hill and “Slice”.
That will cut the rectangles out of the hill.
Delete the “Slice Results” and then you are left with the hill cut exactly to the right width.
To fill in any leftover space, create a new rectangle.
Make it the same width as the hill and align them together on the left.
Weld the two pieces together to make one single hill piece.
Keep adding decorations until you are happy with how the back piece is looking.
Step 4) Format the score lines
Now the design is finished, we can set the score lines.
Click one of the inner tab pieces to select it, then click the chevron arrow that appears next to it in the layers panel to open it up.
Click the top layer within that group to select just that piece. It looks like two small vertical lines.
Change it to “Score” in the Operations dropdown.
Click to select the whole group and press “Attach” to join the score line to the base piece.
Repeat for the other inner tab piece – and the third one, if you are using all three. I’m only using two for this card.
Do the same steps for the two large base pieces of the card to turn their lines to score lines too.
Don’t forget to save your project!
Step 5) Cut out all the pieces
When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.
To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.
To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. Make sure when you’re moving things about that nothing overlaps because otherwise, it won’t cut out properly.
However, be careful NOT to rotate any patterned paper pieces, otherwise they will not cut with the pattern the correct way up when you put the card together.
TIP: New to using cardstock with your cutting machine? Check out these machine help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut that go through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your machine.
Step 6) Put the card together
Glue your pictures together. Don’t use foam squares, as they need to remain fairly flat.
My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.
These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!
Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small areas of card. The Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s easiest to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.
Fold the two flaps of the base card towards you.
Fold the two sides inwards, so you have this shape:
Take the smaller structure piece. Fold the horizontal tab towards you and the two side tabs away from you.
Add glue down one of the tabs on the smaller structure piece.
Glue it to the main structure piece.
Fold the inner tab pieces along the score lines.
Glue all the patterned paper rectangles and the white message panel to their matching backing pieces.
Glue to the box card template in the below positions.
The message panel goes on the part of the card without a horizontal score line on it.
Turn the card over and glue the remaining patterned paper pieces and the inside scene.
The inside scene goes on the back of where the message panel is on the other side.
Add glue to the outside of the remaining tab.
Glue to the inside of the opposite side of the structure piece to make a square box shape.
It folds flat for posting.
Glue the inner tab pieces inside the card, spacing them out evenly. The tabs should point towards the back of the card.
When the glue is dry, fold the card flat again to make sure the inner tabs will go flat. You may need to go over them with a brayer to keep them flat.
Glue your pictures to the front of the inner tabs.
Make sure they don’t go above the back of the card.
3D box card fancy fold cards
I hope you enjoy making these box cards.
As there are three different shaped templates, you have a huge amount of crafting possibilities with your designs.
I am looking forward to seeing all your creations!
Put your cards in a custom envelope or 3D presentation box to make them even more special.
Happy crafting,
Sarah x
