Mini Birdhouse Box

I love creating things in miniature, especially boxes, and so, for Easter this year, I thought it would be great to make a smaller version of my birdhouse box just big enough to hold a single Creme Egg!

Quite often, people ask me how to change the size of my templates after they have downloaded them, and so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to share with you how I go about doing this.

To begin with, I open the template in Adobe Reader and go to print. Where it says Page Sizing & Handling, I click on Custom Scale and type in the percentage that I would like to either enlarge or reduce the template by. For my miniature birdhouse box, I am reducing it by 60%.

I then print it out onto standard printer paper.

Note: If you are enlarging the template, then you will need to print it out onto two or more sheets of paper.

From here, I tend to use the following method of transfering the template onto my chosen cardstock. You could also cut the template out and draw round it.

I lay the printed template onto the back of my chosen cardstock and, using a compass or a pin, carefully pierce the paper at the corners where the lines meet. As shown below, when working on a circle or a curved line, I work my way around the whole line, keeping the holes close together.

This makes the curved lines far easier to cut out of the cardstock.

Once I have cut everything out, it is just a case of assembling the box, following the template instructions. But remember, the smaller you print the template out, the fiddlier it can be to assemble!

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to change the size of your templates. If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments below.

Happy crafting!