Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Re-purposed Decoupage Boxes

This is just a quick little project that I worked on yesterday.
I had these little boxes set aside with some other Christmas things that I no longer use, so I decoupaged them for my kitchen.

Here is what I started with:
They are nice, sturdy boxes, but I haven't really used them to decorate for the past couple Christmases because although I used to collect and display snowman things, I have since changed the way I decorate, and nothing blue really matches anymore. 

Supplies I used:

Homemade Mod Podge....1 cup Elmer's Glue to 1 cup of water stored in a jar
A couple pages from an old Betty Crocker cookbook I haven't looked at in years
A 1-inch foam brush...actually I used 3 of them
Americana paints: Light Mocha and Calico Red

The first thing I did was to give the boxes and covers a quick coat of Light Mocha. Not enough to coat the boxes, just a sloppy coat to cover some of the blue on the boxes so it wouldn't show through the pieces of pages I applied.

The cookbook pages I used have little red and black illustrations, and the recipe names are printed in red, so I tried to use as many of those pieces as I could, for a little color. I selected a few pages, and just tore them in pieces of different shapes and sizes. 
There was no rhyme or reason to how I glued on the pieces...I just applied them at different angles, overlapped some of them and made sure every surface was covered. I then gave the entire box another coat of glue and let them dry. Each cover took about 3-4 coats of paint to cover.

Here are the finished boxes. I have them sitting on a shelf, and I'm using one to store tea bags in.
For a quick, inexpensive project...I think they turned out cute. I thought of spraying them with a clear spray, but I think I prefer the matte look.

Since I had the boxes, and the Mod Podge...after buying the paint, this project ended up costing less than $5.00 to make.

Comments are always welcome....hope everyone has a great day!  :)

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6 comments:

  1. Cute results!! :) And hello to a fellow Michigander!

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    1. Hi...thanks for stopping by to take a look! They were fun to make! :)

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  2. I have a ton of boxes and can redo. Never thought to do that. I am your newest Linky Follower and hope you will follow me back :)

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    1. It was a fun project..and so simple! I visited your blog, and am also following you. Have a great day!

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  3. I actually have those *same* Christmas boxes. :) At least I know exactly what I could do, LOL! Found your blog at the Linky hop, I'm in West Michigan. :) Anyway, I'm following you now! Come on by Happy Hour Projects and say hello. If you come after 5:00 EST, I also invite you to link up to my Freestyle Friday link party, this would be a great addition!

    Adrianne
    www.happyhourprojects.com

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    1. Hi Adrianne...I visited your blog, and am now your newest follower! Hope to join in on a future party, thank you for inviting me! Have a great day!

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