Saturday, October 5, 2013

DIY Desktop Accessories Box

In the ongoing effort to bring some pops of color into our office space, I've revamped my desk lamp with paint and a new shade, spruced up our bookshelves with paper, and majorly reorganized, all in the past month. Now what?

Confession: I'm a hoarder.

Yeah, I hoard ribbon that I get on gifts and old things like pencil sharpeners and glue sticks and stolen hotel stationery and weird Commes des Garcons wallets that I don't know what to do with. Yes, I pile all that stuff into old shoe boxes. Yes, I forget about that stuff once it's in the box but WHAT DO I DO IN THE MEANTIME, HUH?

I make the box look damn pretty.

First: Get an old box and some wrapping paper.


Look at this cute patterned wrapping paper I found on clearance at Target for $2.99! Since this project was my first guinea pig, I decided to use some cheapo stuff just in case.


Using a blade, I cut out the appropriate amount of paper that would cover all parts of the box...


...and traced the box onto the paper.


Then I sprayed with some spray adhesive and lightly smoothed up the sides, being careful not to make bubbles or wrinkles.


Using my trusty scissors, I made a careful cut along the edge and folded the paper into the inner rim of the box...


...then I repeated this to all four sides of the box, making "wings" in the corner.

Don't judge my wrinkles.
Nothing a little scissor can't help. I hacked off the wings, and smoothed down the corners of the tacky paper:
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Did the same for the lid under the watchful stares of my captive audience:


 ...and voila! Box, interrupted:


Proceeded to fill with hoarded junk:


...and piled said junk on top of more junk.



Total cost: $2.99! Plus, I ended up with a pretty accessories box for my desk, a roll of wrapping paper, and more reasons to hoard.