Gifting from the Kitchen in Style {the QECH way}: Egg Carton Muffin “Tins”

My approach to crafting is much the same as my approach to food (and life in general): quick, easy, and cheap. Might as well throw healthy in there, too, except that health doesn’t often get involved, unless it counts that I attempt not to glue myself with the hot glue gun or stab myself with the scissors.

So if I ever offer a craft of any sort on this blog, you can rest assured that it is neither time-consuming nor difficult, and most certainly not expensive. Probably not especially creative either, but that’s where other people (and Pinterest!) come in. If I had to rely on my own ingenuity for crafts, the end result would be nothing to blog home about.

When gifting from the kitchen - my favorite way to give at the holidays - I try not to spend too much on the gift presentation. After all, part of the purpose of gifting from the kitchen in the first place is to save money, and it would be silly to then spend waste money on mere packaging. I am therefore always on the lookout for new and creative ways to re-use and upcycle various containers around my home with which to gift my baked goods. Throughout the holiday season, I’ll be sharing you how to make some creative gift packaging for your home-baked goodies without wasting a precious dime. (Positive side effect: you will be very trendy, and all of your friends will be amazed and delighted by your ability to repurpose and upcycle with the best of them! Be sure to throw around those words, too; they just make you sound totally cool.)

This particular project was one of the gems I came across on Pinterest, and have kept it in waiting for the perfect occasion. Now the perfect occasion (otherwise known as Christmas) has arrived, and I have wasted no time trying it out.

The container for this gift is the humble egg carton. Think about those little sockets that formerly held elliptical orbs of goodness. What else can fit in there? I came up with the following shortlist, and I’m sure you creative people out there can think of even more:

1. mini muffins
2. donut holes
3. cake balls (no stick needed)
4. truffles
5. no-bake cookies
6. any round cookie

I chose mini muffins, simply because they were the quickest and that was my pressing need at the time. That was also the original suggestion on the tutorial by Fiskars that I more or less followed for this project.

I promise you - and I can’t repeat it often enough - this is a craft for non-crafty people. I know because I am one! Seriously. I used a glue stick, OK? Does that tell you anything? (Now, if you have one of those fancy rolling adhesive tapey thingies, than by all means, use it! But if you don’t, a glue stick works just fine.) I also rounded my corners with good old-fashioned scissors because I don’t have one of those totally cool paper punches. Good for you if you have one, but in case you don’t… it’s totally not necessary for this little craft.

To make this Mini Muffin Egg Carton, you will need:

• an empty and clean (i.e., no dried egg goo) egg carton
• 2 pieces complementary scrapbook paper
• a length of coordinating ribbon
• a brown paper lunch bag (optional)

So here’s how it’s done. Keep in mind that egg cartons vary slightly in shape, size and style, so all measurements are approximations at best. (OK, they were the measurements I used, so they’ll be perfect for you if you have the exact same egg carton.) Also keep in mind that this little project is totally customizable to what you have on hand.

First of all, if your egg carton is like mine, and has a piece in the top that inserts into the bottom, you’ll have to cut it out. I just used my scissors (an exacto knife would work better if you have one, but I didn’t feel like getting mine out of the hall closet.) to cut out the whole rectangle so that the surface would be flat for the paper to adhere. Leave the middle piece intact or your whole carton will fall apart.

If you have one flat solid surface on the top of your egg carton, you can of course skip that step, and then cut out 2 10.5″ by 3″ rectangles. If you have the ridged kind of egg carton, you’ll need two smaller rectangles for the inside, so in that case cut out 1 10.5″ by 3″ rectangle, and then 2 4.75″ by 3.25″ rectangles. Round the corners with your scissors or a paper punch.

Glue the rectangles carefully to the outer and inner surfaces of the carton lid, smoothing out any wrinkles. For the inside of the lid, cut out two 3″ by 2″ rectangles from the complementary paper and glue them onto the first paper, centering carefully. (If you have one long surface unhindered by the ridge in the middle, you can just make one big rectangle, or you can go ahead and use the 2 smaller rectangles.)

Cut out 2 3″ by 2″ rectangles from the top of your paper bag (or from a solid color paper). Use a coordinating marker to write your greeting on the paper (Merry Christmas, for example). Glue the greeting onto the paper you already have in place.

Now, if you want to make a tag, simply cut off the bottom of your paper lunch bag, and glue all the open ends together. Fold it in half like a book and firmly crease the edge. Use your remaining scrapbook paper to cut rectangles to fit on the front “cover” and in the middle of the open “book”. Use remaining scraps from the lunch bag to cut smaller rectangles where you can write a greeting or short note. Glue them into the center of the front and the middle. Punch a hole in the corner of the little booklet.

Fill your egg carton with muffins or whatever goodie you’ve chosen, and then wrap the ribbon around it, being sure to secure your tag.

I kept getting interrupted by one thing or another, but all in all, this was a relatively QUICK project. and now that I’ve made one, I can whip out several more in probably the same amount of time. I probably also wont’ make the tag every time. It’s cute and all, but it takes a little too much time!

It’s very EASY, or I wouldn’t have done it! Most of you have been cutting and pasting since kindergarten, so I think you can handle it.

Super CHEAP! I paid almost nothing for this particular one. Of course, the egg carton was free (a bonus for buying eggs!), the paper was on clearance at Hobby Lobby, the lunch bag was dug out of the bottom of my pantry, and the ribbon was 70% off at Michaels on Black Friday.

Um, HEALTHY? Well, I didn’t notch any fingers or glue myself to the table this time, so I guess one can consider it healthy.

Sharing at Handmade Christmas Gift Carnival