Recycle a milk or juice carton (or any size gable-top carton) into a whimsical Valentine’s Day mailbox for classrooms or home! Create a cuckoo clock design using free printable patterns, or decorate it with your own unique ideas. Love upcycling? Check out Recycled Milk Carton Gift Boxes for more fun projects, including townhouse and church bank designs!
Any gable-top milk or juice carton will work well for this project. Open the gable and thoroughly wash the carton. Allow the carton to dry completely—overnight is best.
Cut the gable off the top of the carton, cutting on the folds all around the top of the carton. Discard the gable top.
Turn the carton into a mailbox-shaped box by cutting roof peaks and adding a roof. Make a pattern for cutting the roof peaks by cutting a triangle from paper. Make the triangle's base the width of the box and make the height one-half the width of the box.
Trace the triangle onto opposite sides of the box. Be sure to point the tip of the triangle up and align it with the top of the box. On the other two sides of the box, use a ruler to draw a line connecting the bases of the triangles. Cut all four sides of the box. You should have two roof peaks and two flat sides, even with the bases of the peaks.
Cover the mailbox with construction paper or decorative paper. Use a good quality white glue spread thinly on the paper with a foam brush. Fold the excess paper at the top over the sides and the roof peaks, then glue or tape the paper edges inside.
Cut a roof from cardboard. Make it a little wider than the box width and long enough to cover both sides of the roof plus ½" (1 cm). To determine the roof's length, measure along the roof peaks. For most ½ gallon cartons, a 4¼" by 6" piece of cardboard should work for the roof.
Fold the roof in half. Tip: Score the fold line with the tip of your scissors to make folding easier.
Place the roof on top of the roof peaks. Attach one side of the roof to the mailbox with tape from the inside. Leave the other side loose to open easily. You may want to cover the roof with colored paper before attaching it to the mailbox.
Choose clock cutouts—black & white or colored patterns. Download and print the pattern. Color the black & white cutouts, or use them as patterns to trace onto colored paper.
Patterns are Adobe PDF files. The Adobe Reader is available for free.
All of Aunt Annie's Crafts project patterns are designed to be printed on standard letter-size paper (8.5"x11" or A4). When printing from Adobe Reader, you may need to select Auto-Rotate and Center or Choose paper source by PDF page size to ensure the best fit.
Cut the cutouts, then glue them onto the box to make a cuckoo clock mailbox. You could also make your own decorations. What other ideas do you have for a milk carton mailbox?
Your Valentine’s Day mailbox is ready!
Use it to collect heartfelt cards in style, or create more for friends and family!