Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge: Upcycle - My Little Inks In Use Box

Hello, Crafty Makers!

The current challenge at Shopping Our Stash is "Upcycle!"

Donna is this week's host and she is challenging us to:

  Use a non-crafty thing somewhere on your project( i.e., shiny washers you picked up off the ground, or a paperclip...or whatever).

For my make, I decided to take the "whatever" route.  The truth is that my old "In Use Box"  had become really grungy!  I use these little boxes to hold inks, water brushes, markers, that I am using a project in progress.  The content is driven by the design.  The top three drawers of my work table hold things that I need at hand for all projects (adhesives, baby wipes, rulers, etc.).  

Humble Beginnings

Empty readers.com box

How This Was Done:
I painted the corners of the box with black chalk ink.  I only needed to paint in 1/2".  I did the same on the flaps and inside of the box.  I also applied black ink on the interior corners.

Measured and cut yellow cardstock for the interior lining.  I adhered the cardstock using both Scor-tape and Glitter Glue (placing a wet glue on top of the Scor-tape allows me to move thing around a little).

Measured and cut printed scrapbook papers for the flaps and exterior of the box.  Because I wanted a cuff on the box, I cut the paper for the flaps to the size of the flap but adhered it 1/" below the flap top.

Added metal handles and black elastic cord.

                                                       Help Save The Environment

Once a month, I receive my infusion meds and my injectable meds.  These shipments come from two different pharmacies but usually arrive within a couple of days of each other and each is packed in frozen gel packs and wrapped with bubble wrap or silver thermal paper.  Hubster and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to recycle all that stuff.  We finally found a place that would accept the gel packs and the bubble wrap.  

Recently, one pharmacy switched packaging that allows them to use fewer frozen gel packs.  It is soft, firm fibrous material and I have found all kinds of uses for it. On this project,  rather than glue a sheet of printed paper to the bottom of my box, I used this material and just placed the paper on top.  The material is about 3/4" thick and quite absorbent.  Now, when my paper gets grungy, I can easily replace it.

Another great advantage to the removable bottom is that it allowed me to cover the interior (yellow) cardstock or to paint over it.  This will help keep the box looking pristine a long time.

Stash Items: Scrapbook Paper, Yellow Cardstock, Metal Handles.

Materials:
Small Cardboard Box
Recollections Printed Scrapbook Paper
Elastic Cord
Metal Drawer Handles

Supplies:
Scor-Tape
Glitter Glue


HUGZ!
CHANA MALKAH

Altered Eclectics - March Challenge - Cigar Box Upcycle

Hello, Crafters!

Welcome to another crafty month at Altered Eclectics!  

As always the theme is anything goes but has to be altered/upcycled/recycled/mixed media.  Cards and ATC's are not accepted on this blog but may fit in with our challenges over at Eclectic Ellapu (sister blog)

For this month's challenge, I wanted to repurpose/upcycle a beautiful black lacquered wood cigar box.  I have had this for almost four years and really wanted to leave the wood alone.  Repurposing this into a stationery box seemed the simplest and easiest path to take.  Every item used in this project came from my stash!  Another successful stash reduction!

BEFORE

AFTER

I have fallen completely in love with these little snap latches.  They are wonderful elevating elements on a CAS repurposing project! 

Inside Before

Inside After

I used Tattered Angels Plain Jane Baseboard "Bittersweet" and "Clay" Glimmer Mist to stain the wood.  The original wood color was too light for my paper palette so mixing two mist produced just the right tone for this project!  This finish has a deep rich luster and complements the black lacquered wood and burgundy and gold paint on the lip trim!

I used leftover papers from my Graphic 45® French Country Collection to decorate both the interior and exterior of my box.  The lip trim was painted using Earth Safe Finishes® Razzleberry Tart Chalk Paint!  The gold trim is Rub N' Buff "Gold Leaf" Metallic wax!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugz,

Chana

Shopping Our Stash - Fantastic Plastic

Hello, Crafty Peeps!

Our current challenge at SHOPPING OUR STASH is Fantastic Plastic.  Sounds simple enough, right?  We are surrounded by plastic everything...far too much for my tastes.  I recycle and I use a lot of plastic in my projects to do my bit for our environment.  One would think this challenge would have been easy for me..it was not!  It was the challenge from Hades!

I have learned a very important lesson.  Chalk paint does not adhere well to plastic even when you put it on top of several coats of gesso!

I started with a color scheme and a plan to use this Plastic Tub.

I also wanted to create a plastic see through lid.

After painting my cup, I decided I would use design paper to cover the body of my tub 

and beneath the plastic lid.

The cup works well for holding my metal embellishments.  This small container works better on my work station to hold embellishments I am using on a current project.

 This was not the easiest project, and probably not the prettiest or best, however, it is functional and keeps one more piece of plastic out of the landfill.

Hope to see your entry in our challenge at Shopping Our Stash!

Hugz,

Chana

Clorox Toilet Wand Refill Box Recovery

Hello, Crafty Peeples,

This is a quick little post about a fun project I just completed.

A VERY Short Story:

I love these wands, but I have four bathrooms and I refused to purchase one of the base units for each bath.  I buy my refills at Sam's and the refills come with one new handle.  While I was in the hospital,  hubby, not knowing where the refills were, purchased this single refill box (UGHHHHHH!) 

Anymahoo, he stuck it in the small guest bathroom with one of the extra handles.  I saw that and thought, when my hair stops falling out, and I am no longer throwing up, I am going to recover that box.  It took four months but.......

I deconstructed the box, painted it with GESSO, then a layer of White Acrylic paint on both sides.
I allowed it to dry over night. One more layer of White Acrylic (MS)Paint on the front. 

After the white paint dried, I added a coat of MS Sweet Pea Satin (which is like egg shell).

Next, a coat of MS Pearl - Pink Taffeta Acrylic.  

I applied my stencil and used a dauber and Tim Holtz, Pickled Raspberry DI. 

 On the inside, I applied printed paper and ran a strip of that across the top cover all edges.

Covered the entire project with CLEAR SHELF LINER (this is for waterproofing) and for looks!
Put the whole thing back together with a MESS of Scor-tape!

Voila!  

No more heartburn for me when I go into this bathroom!  I think that ugly blue box did more to speed up my recovery than the 12 pills I have to swallow every morning.

I made a template so now, I am working on a box for the water closet in our Master Bath.  There's nothing in there but the toilet and it is a good sized room, so I am looking at this gigantic box UPS just delivered to my neighbor's house.. .....you never know, I still have some hair left!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugz,
Chana

Challenge Entered: ( I just couldn't resist) :D)
More Than One Score At Scor-Pal - Fun Storage Ideas