Prettied up trinket boxes

Cute little trinket box with magnetic closure makes for a quick and easy make-over.  (found the box at dollar store!)

I cut a piece of paper big enough to cover the existing image; but left the pretty border still visible.

Then I glued a stamped piece of muslin on top of that; just a little off-center.

I added a little scrap of matching paper to the underside of the lid.

The sticky label on the bottom of this one just so happened to peel off perfectly; which is NOT usually the case.  IF it had not come off without damaging the bottom of the box, I would have glued another piece of paper to the bottom as well.

Just so happened to find another box at a different store, with the exact same design.  Went with a simpler design on this one.  Covered the whole top and front with vintage dictionary page; added a vintage post card image and a ‘paper’ key.

This one is a soap box that I saved.

This one had a very pretty design on the existing paper, so I just needed to partly cover it.  A piece of paper and a crown stamped on muslin, off-center.

A little piece of matching paper to cover the ‘non-removable’ label on the bottom of the box.

And a little piece on the underside of the lid ‘just for fun’ (this piece wasn’t really ‘necessary’ because it’s not covering anything  . . . I just thought it added a little interest!)

Upcycled soap box

Hello, my name is aj; and I’m a ‘soapaholic’. 

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ve probably already figured that out!  I must confess that my addiction goes further than that.

I can’t resist ‘sniffing soaps’ at the store.

No, not the soaps in the soap aisle at the grocery store.  The ‘fancy’ soaps that come in pretty boxes.  Marshall’s is my favorite store for ‘soap sniffing’.  But I don’t sniff just ‘any soap’!  No ‘floral’ fragrances for me (except Lavender).  Other floral scents make me sneeze!  And I only like ‘neutral color’ soaps.I I was attracted to this box of soap because of the pretty box.  When I opened it and saw that it was PINK, I quickly put the lid back on and replaced it on the shelf withOUT even smelling it.  Because I don’t like pink soaps!

Just as I was starting to reach for the next box to open and sniff; the fragrance from that box with pink soap gently wafted by and it was AMAZING!  It smelled like a fresh strawberry pie.  I could NOT resist a full on sniff.  I HAD to buy it!

The soap itself went directly into my shower and the box to my craft table.  I especially like how the box was decorated with the baker’s twine.  (will have to remember that trick!)

I love upcycling these pretty soap boxes.  Usually I have to re-cover the entire box; but this one was already decorated so nicely that I only had to cover the ‘soap’ information.

I found some print scrap book paper that coordinated with the paper on the box to cover the front label.

Used a piece of the same paper to cover the bottom of the box.

There was a removable ‘riser’ in the bottom of the box that I wanted to leave in place because it SMELLED so good; so I added some of the same paper to it.

Easy peasey pretty (and fragrant!) little gift box ready to go!

Super simple soap box upcycle

Remember this GIANT jar of soaps in my bathroom?

See that extra big square bar, behind the oval bar sitting in front of the jar?

That extra big bar of soap came in a really nice box.

TOO nice of a box to just throw away.

Long sides on the lid so it closes securely.  Would have been a nice box just for storing small craft supplies in . . . . but you KNOW I can never leave well enough alone!

Since this box was ‘mostly plain’, it was a super simple make-over.  First I added a piece of paper over the writing on the underside of the lid.  (I got this cool wrapping paper with the writing on it from Ballard Designs.  It was NOT cheap, but it’s SO pretty!  And I’ll get a lot of mileage out of it using it for craft projects.)  ANY kind of paper could be used for something like this: old book pages, vintage sheet music, wrapping paper, tissue paper . . . .

For covering the outside, I measured from the front, across the top, down the back, and around to the bottom; so I had one long piece to cover the whole area.

HELPFUL HINT:

For applying paper to things like this, I’ve found it MUCH easier to put the glue on the ITEM (as opposed to the paper).  Tacky glue is my glue of choice.  I covered the front part with glue and pressed on the paper; then applied glue to the top and smoothed the paper over it . . .and continuing all the way around to the bottom.  By just doing a small section at a time, it’s easier to smooth out any air bubbles.

Since the sides were plain, I didn’t need to cover them; but if they had needed covering, I’d cover the sides FIRST, letting that piece overlap a little on the front and top.  Those little overlapped pieces will be covered when apply the rest of the paper.

Easy peasey!!!  As an afterthought I decided it needed something on the front.  I just ran a little piece of a twig across my belt sander to give it a flat side and glued it on as a handle.

These make great little gift boxes or storage boxes.