When my childhood haunt, The Works got in touch and asked me if I’d like to play with some arty goodies from their awesome craft supplies section, I had the perfect idea for a DIY: My oldest friend has just had a baby and I thought it would be really sweet to make her a DIY keepsake box for little memories such as a lock of hair and the first tooth taken by the tooth fairy!
Supplies Storage Box c/o The Works Acrylic Paint c/o The Works Scrapbook Papers c/o The Works Animal Stickers c/o The Works Alphabet Beads |
Equipment Paintbrush Scissors E6000 Glue Screwdriver (optional) |
To start with a used a tiny screwdriver to remove the clasp at the front of the box so it would be easier to paint. It was super simple to remove and re-attach, just make sure you don’t lose any of the pieces! Once removed I painted the box one section at a time and let it dry. The paint dries quite quickly and sectioning it off allowed the box to dry without getting paint in all the wrong places.
I painted the box brown to cover the red as I have a specific theme in mind: The jungle! My friend’s nursery has been painted with a gorgeous jungle themed mural by her Dad so I wanted to follow suit for this keepsake box. The Works had these adorable jungle animal stickers too and I picked out the baby’s name from a selection of wooden block beads I had in my stash. I thought they were a fun addition, like children’s building blocks!
I selected a fun green floral sheet from the scrapbook paper to represent the jungle leaves and cut it to size using measurements I took from the front of the box. I used E6000 to glue the paper straight onto the glass, laid it on top and gently pushed the edges under the box’s frame with a blunt pair of scissors.
The animals have peelable sticker backs, but I still added some glue for extra security. Make sure you decide on your design’s arrangement before you start gluing! When the animals were in place I glued on the wooden blocks at a slight jaunty angle as if they were placed by a child. Leave the glue to dry for 24 hours.
I’ve shown another idea for decorating your storage box above. For this one I opened the lid and removed the box and glass by undoing the prongs with pliers. Be gentle so you don’t break them!
I removed the glass and disposed of it safely, then I removed the ornaments from each section which was trickier than I expected; they’re glued on tight! I covered the glue residue with some scrapbook paper to match the box and pieced the lid back together so the sections are now accessible from the top.
I love this storage box because I can separate my jewellery supplies while I’m making stock instead of digging around for the tiny pieces!
Which design do you like best? Will you be up-cycling a storage box as a thrifty gift for Christmas this year?
Loves x xx