How to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes #papercraft #gifts #cricut #svgfile #tutorial

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Make paper dog or puppy boxes for fun! These make great gifts, too!

As I mentioned recently, I’ve adopted a new rescue puppy! So it’s no surprise that I’ve got dogs and puppies on my mind. In addition to making a DIY pet gate, I came up with a way to make paper dog boxes with my Cricut!

I’ve designed three variations: one that looks like my 2-month-old Border Collie puppy,  one that looks like my 3-year-old Golden Retriever mix dog, and one that looks like my Alaskan Malamute gone these 14 years now. But you can make yours any way you want.

How to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes #papercraft #gifts #cricut #svgfile #tutorial

Here’s my little Chloe with her paper dog!

Paper puppy with real Border Collie puppy!

My Hunter, a Golden Retriever/Lab rescue, with his paper dog…

Paper puppy with Golden dog

And my Kippi with the Alaskan Malamute paper dog.

Paper Alaskan Malamute puppy is also a box!

A closer look at the Golden paper dog:

Make a paper dog that looks like a Golden Retriever

And a better look at the sweet little Border Collie paper dog:

Make a paper dog that looks like a Border Collie!

Inspiration for these paper dog boxes came from paper-replika, who made some super cute printable dog paper toys a while back and shared them under a Creative Commons license. I converted their basic design to the Cricut and made my own design tweaks — a longer body (my dogs have long tube bodies!), more rounded features (because puppies are soft!), bigger heads (because big heads are cute), different ears and tails, and extra things like collars and tags!

Make paper dog & puppy boxes in all different kinds of breeds -- shown here is the Border Collie, Golden Retriever, and Alaskan Malamute

Then I thought this paper toy would be even better if it were a box! So I designed a trapezoidal box that fits under the dog. But if you don’t want or need this to be a box, you can just make paper dogs and puppies that stand on their own.

Make Paper Dog Boxes for gifts!

So now let me show you how to make paper dog boxesThis post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)!  Read my full disclosure policy.

Materials to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes

How to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes

To begin, cut out your cardstock using my free paper dog box SVG, DXF, or PDF files (Design #107)found in my resource library. I have three different dog designs — one is modeled after my border collie puppy, one is a malamute, and the other is modeled after my golden retriever dog. Feel free to change the size of these, too!

Tip: If you’re not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video training series I made. If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, here’s how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut Design Space app.

IMPORTANT: These files have SCORELINES in them. I’ve grouped each scoreline with the section it goes with. You’ll need to first UNGROUP the main group, then change the layers of scorelines to “Score” in Cricut Design Space, and then attach the score layer to the cut layer that goes with it. Need help with the scoring lines? Check out my tutorial on Cricut Scoring, Grouping, and Attaching!

Preparing the cut files in Cricut Design Space to make paper dog boxes

When you are done cutting everything out, you’ll have a head, a body, a box, and then various miscellaneous pieces like a tongue, ears, tail, eyes, nose, and collar.

The paper pieces and materials you need to make paper dog boxes

If your dog’s ears have multiple layers, go ahead and glue those together now. Note that there are tabs on the bottom that should be folded while you’re at it.

Glue extra bits on ears to make paper dog boxes

Fold your head piece along the scorelines, both big folds and tab folds. Everything gets folded IN.

Fold paper head piece to make paper dog & puppy boxes

If your dog has facial markings, now is the time to glue those to the front of the dog’s head.

Glue the dog's markings to the paper head to make paper dog boxes

You’ll also want to glue the tongue in the mouth now, too!

Glue the tongue inside the head to make a paper dog

Now put glue on the tabs, one by one, starting with the smallest tabs near the dog’s mouth. Glue everything on the head, saving the back of the head for last.

Glue the head together to make a paper dog box

Here’s the paper dog head all glued together!

The glued and finished dog head of the paper dog

Also be sure to glue on your dog’s ears. Some ears (like the Malamute’s and Collie’s) have tabs and go around the corner of the edge, while others (like the Golden’s) just glue onto the side.

Glue the ears on the head of the paper dog

Now let’s move to the body. If you have markings on your dog’s body, glue them on first.

Glue the dog markings onto the body of the paper dog

Once any markings are glued on, it’s time to fold your body — everything, big folds and tab folds, gets folded IN.

Folding the body of the paper dog

Now, glue up the paper dog body, saving the rear end for last.

Gluing the body of the paper dog

Don’t forget to glue your tail on your paper dog, too!

Gluing the tail onto the body of the paper dog

If you are going to put a collar on your dog, fold and glue it to the body now.

Gluing the collar on the body of the paper dog

Now you can stop here and just have a paper dog or paper puppy. But if you want a paper dog BOX, keep going! Take the box piece and fold it in, both big folds and tab folds.

Gluing the box for the paper dog

Now, glue the tabs to the sides to form the box.

Gluing the box for the paper dog

When you’re done, you can put the box in the bottom!

Putting in the box on the paper dog

Here are all of the cute paper dog boxes I made! Which one would you like to adopt?

Cute paper dog boxes!

You can really make a lot of different dog breeds just by using different color of paper, different styles and sizes of ears and tails, and different markings. It’s really lots of fun!!

Free Cut Files to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes

You can get the password to my resource library that has ALL of my free cut files in it by filling out this form:

If you make these 3D paper dog and puppy boxes, please show me. I’d love to see how you made yours look unique! If you made yours look like your dog, be sure to include a photo of your dog, too! Please share a photo in our Facebook group, or tag me on social media with #jennifermaker.

Love,

JenniferMaker.com

Want to remember this? Save the 3D Paper Dog Box Tutorial to Your Favorite DIY Pinterest Board!

How to Make Paper Dog & Puppy Boxes #papercraft #gifts #cricut #svgfile #tutorial

Learn hwo to make paper dog & puppy boxes for fun! These easy paper dogs and paper puppies are fun to cut out on your Cricut or just by hand. #cricut #cricutmade #cricutmaker #cricutexplore #svg #svgfile

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16 Comments

  1. Oh my! These sure are super cute! We don’t have a dog 🙁 but maybe someday we will. Ironically you made two of my boys favorite dogs (golden retriever and husky/malamute) We love border collies too as my brother is a farmer and has had many working dogs-border collies mostly. We get to visit them frequently to get our doggie fix!

    THANKS for the free file…..can’t wait to make one of each!

  2. Oh Jennifer! Congratulations on your new best friend. I once had a Queensland Heeler (I think she also had a little beagle in her, too…) She was from the pound & about 3 months old & we loved each other for about 12 years. She was soooooooo smart. She would jump up on the piano bench, put her paws on the keys & look at the sheet music & howl!

    Thank you for the free file so we can make a little replica of your sweet Chloe.

  3. I love your work, Jennifer. I will be trying all three of these adorable little puppies. We have a greyhound so I won’t be able to make one look like her but if I ever get a day off from work and responsibilities I might experiment. I made your fairy house card and love it! Even my hubby who doesn’t care much for my crafts was fascinated with it. Keep up the excellent work. And enjoy up-north.

    1. Yes, download them, open the folder, open the PDF version, print it, and use it as a template to cut whatever color of paper you’d like to uses for various parts … or just cut the PDF print-out itself.

  4. I am so happy I found you on youtube, when I was making my very first project on my new Maker 2 days ago… I would like to make golden retriever for my sisters birthday, she`s got puppy for Christmas 2017 and she loves her. I just made her brithday card and would like to add little suprise into it 🙂

  5. Hello! Im 16 and my family all pitched in to buy me a cricut maker and I’ve been loving it since. I definitely plan on naking these cute puppy boxes, and I was wondering… would you make a cat version of these in the future?

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