Embellish and reuse old shoe boxes. Seems so obvious. But simple organization ideas such as these can result in a complete ‘makeover’ of a craft room. They can be added to a DIY personalized desk set that is lovely to work with. More importantly, creating matching craft organizing boxes can transform prior eye-sores such as piles of craft supplies and UFOs into neat and organized storage spaces.
Where to find the Materials for your Craft Organizer Box?
Easy. Whenever you treat yourself a good pair of shoes (sandals in my case), you are treating yourself to a good-quality, sturdy shoe box as well. Rather than trashing these boxes, we keep them. Usually, I let them just ‘float’ around the house till they find a ‘home’. Somewhere there’s a pile of ‘something’ that needs to be organized, sorted out and hidden on the spot. And that’s where that box goes.
DIY Craft Organizer
Step-by-step tutorial
Usually, I decorate the shoe box once it reaches its ‘final destination’.
Step 1: collect wrapping paper, decoupage paper, old kids drawing, old newsprint, handmade paper or … fabric. Pick a few pieces that will cover either just the front or just the lid – depending on how ugly the original box is… Or, choose enough paper to cover the entire outside of the box.
Step 2: start with the sides of the box, on a corner. Sparingly, smear your craft glue onto the box, one side at a time, and then glue on your paper. I use one sheet to go around all four sides. I cover the bottom for about one inch so as to have smooth bottom edges. (Tip: do the same with the top of the sides as that will look particularly nice if you also line the inside of the box. _
Tip: after doing the first small side of the box, assess that the paper is glued on straight. If not, correct it immediately. If you don’t you’ll end up with increasingly angled decoupage that just won’t look as nice.
Step 3: cover the box lid in either the same or a contrasting colored paper. Allow a bit of excess to be folded over the sides of the lid (towards the inside of the lid), so as to create smooth lid edges. Again, pay attention to lining up the pattern properly at the beginning of your work in particular.
Easy recycling craft organizer.
Don’t make one box, make many!
You will love having loads of these boxes around.
How to Make Your Craft Organizer Durable
When you get tired of your paper, or when it starts looking a tat ratty, simply recover it with another type of book wrapping or gift wrapping paper.
If you want to get extra durability out of your paper, you can cover it with a thin layer of glue. Test this first, as it may not befit all types of paper. Use either glue or an acrylics paint medium, in gloss or semi-gloss.
Design Tip:
1/. The box in the picture looks like it is decoupages in a quilt-like manner. To create that effect simply, use a wrapping paper with a patchwork print.
2/. If you line the inside of the box with a pretty paper as well, you’ve created a pretty bin. Those are very handy to have for organizing craft supplies that don’t easily fit in a box. Think: pens, markers, brushes. Keep and cover the lids nonetheless with a pretty paper, and store them under the box. This strengthen your bin and allows you to ‘change your mind’ and use the box as a different kind of craft organizer when the need arises.
This DIY crafts project is essentially free. Inexpensive wrapping paper can be bought at dollar stores or garage sales. You can also make your own pretty paper. In fact, ‘ugly’ wrapping paper can become beautiful when snippets of it are added last minute to your handmade paper pulp.
Isn’t this is one of those crafts that make you go ‘Why didn’t I think of this?’ and ‘Let me go do this now’ ?
How would you use your pretty recycled shoe boxes: as craft organizers, or …?
