Decorating a teabag box

My boss brought a box of delicious Canadian maple tea to the office. As we sampled the delicious tea, my eye fell upon the box and a few ideas popped to mind.

First I covered the box in black paint in order to obliterate all the colourful labels and product information. 

I then created a design on the top of the box (ie. on the lid) using (i) brown filla; (ii) an old chain which was originally silver but had faded, so I dipped it in brown paint; and (iii) beads from an old bracelet which had snapped.

Having finished with the lid, I then lined the sides of the box with an old seashell decorated belt for which the string had come off several years ago. (no, i did not sew the seashells onto the belt, that came ready-made!) :-)  

Clay jar

This jar has actually been put together from two different components.

The first, was a cylinder-shaped plastic piece, open on both ends, and the second, the lid of a jam jar.

Step 1 involves fitting the jam jar lid into the plastic piece so that it forms a bottom (yes, I had to hunt around for one that fit).

Step 2 involves covering the entire container with paper clay. The clay was a bit stiff and not very pliable, so I found that warming it up in my hands helped to make it softer.

Once the whole container was covered with clay, I made designs on the soft clay using a fork and then stuck black and white beads into it in a pattern.

Once dried, I used crayon to shade the container.

An idea to transform a set of free coasters

Some companies hand out free coasters bearing the company's logo and tagline, with every purchase. I didn't really want to throw them away, but at the same time they can't really be used as coasters because of the logos and slogans on them. So I decided to pretty them up!

Step 1 involves painting the coasters black, and step 2 involves dusting them over with gold leaf paint. Of course, you can use your own designs!