Wednesday 5 July 2017

Upcycled Gift Box

It's really simple to give an old gift box a new look with just a magazine and some glue.
Easy upcycled gift box
If you are a 'keeper' like me you will have a small stash of little boxes that are just too good to throw away! Maybe they had jewellery, a watch, a mug or new gadget in them, some packaging is just too good to just throw out ... and here is an easy way to make it pretty.
easy floral upcycled gift box


What you need is:
An old box, this one had jewellery in it originally
An old magazine or seed catalogue
Mod Podge or similar pva glue
A craft knife (you could use scissors at a push)
A brush for the glue

Select a suitable image from the magazine, my magazine was last month's Mollie Makes which had these gorgeous paper flowers in it. Rip the page out and then using a craft knife cut out the image.
magazine cut out for upcycled gift box
Be fairly careful but you don't have to be mega precise, especially if the flowers have wiggly petals like these. Do a few if you can, options are nice.
Now experiment for a moment selecting which image fits best on your box. I wanted to cover the marks and the writing on mine of course so turning the box sideways helped with the flower placement.
easy floral upcycled gift box
Cover the top of the box with a thin layer of Mod Podge, apply the flower then cover with another layer of the glue. It will crease or air bubble a little, that's ok. Smooth it with the brush as best you can but don't overdo it. Magazine paper is pretty thin and you don't want to rip it. 
You can see that a little of the stem went over the edge of the box here, I think that's a nice detail. You just glue that down in exactly the same way.

Just leave it to dry and ta-dah! You are done. What a pretty gift box you have made. 
easy floral upcycled gift box
I loved this so much I found a few more bits & pieces to stick my magazine paper cut outs onto. 
easy floral upcycled gift box
I covered the foam inside the old jewellery box with a little matching fabric too, just to make it more pretty.
easy floral upcycled gift box
I love the big bold flowers on the dark background especially. I think I'll start saving seed catalogues for more big floral cut outs. 
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Hello, I'm Julie. I love making things and this is where I share my enthusiasm.

12 comments:

  1. What a creative idea! I keep all of those "special" boxes too, and now have quite a pile of them. This is even better than those gift bags and will really impress the recipient. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. What a pretty little box! And yes, I do have a collection of small boxes that I just can't bring myself to throw out. :)

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  3. Oh, this is fantastic Julie! You made a perfect gift box which can be reused!

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  4. Sometimes the simple ideas are the BEST and this one definitely qualifies. It looks gorgeous Julie and there are always so many lovely pictures in magazines the possibilities are endless

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  5. This is great. We use to do all sorts of different crafts using old magazines and I had totally forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder and your box is really really nice. Great makeover.

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  6. I haven't tried Decoupage in ages but it looks great

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  7. What a great idea, they look so lovely!

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  8. I love how it turned out! I will have to look through my old magazines for interesting images to use. So glad I saw you linked up at the Creative Crafts link party!

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  9. I love this! Thanks for the great idea!

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  10. Beautiful upcycle of gift boxes. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle!

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  11. This is so pretty ! What a fantastic idea. I have tons of these sort of boxes and have been wondering what to do with them aside from recycling! Thank you so much for sharing with us at The Hearth and Soul Link Party. Hope to see you at the party when we return from summer holiday next week - we are back in full swing on Monday 7th August. Have a great week!

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  12. Oh, what a really cute idea! I like keeping nice gift boxes, so this would be a great way to re-use them again.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

    here from Wine'd Down Wednesday!

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