Christmas Project no.2 - Upcycling a Tissue Box

Tissue boxes have got to be among the most ubiquitous of household objects. There's usually 1 in the kitchen, the bathrooms and the bedrooms for starters. Some people even have them in their cars! 

The tissues get used up and boxes basically get thrown away. So I thought of using re-purposing one of them as a gift box or container for a gift. 

The one below is an empty Kleenex tissue box. You could use any tissue box though.

The decorations are leftover bits of wrapping paper from Christmases past and the tops have been reinforced with red fabric tape which can be bought from any art supply or hardware store. 

Upcycling paper bags - with a Christmas theme

You know the routine -buy something, get a free paper carry bag. Some of these bags are pretty strong and durable, and it's a pity to throw them away especially since you know you will be going right back out there to BUY another paper bag, the next time you need to give a gift.

Leading up to Christmas, I like to collect red-themed paper bags and re-purpose them into gift bags. My colleagues at work know about my passion for recycled craft, so I was quite thrilled when my colleague gave me a really nice large red paper bag which had come with a cake she ordered from a hotel.

So the bag was perfect, being already red in colour, except for the large logos and slogans printed on the front and back as well as on both sides. Those needed to be covered, so out came my box of Christmas-themed cutouts and bits and pieces.

I selected a couple of cutouts from leftover wrapping paper and old christmas cards, covered the logos and slogans with mod podge, and stuck on the cutouts. For the most part, mod podge worked well as an adhesive, with the only drawback being the think layer of film that's visible over the designs. It's not noticeable from afar though.

And Voila! a perfectly nice Christmas gift bag is ready to go under the Christmas tree :-)

Christmas Project No. 1 for 2016

Today, I officially started my Christmas projects. A little early?? You might say. Well not really, given that this is strictly a weekend hobby J.

Project no. 1 for the season, kicks off with a couple of small glass containers which used to hold a health tonic. The empty bottles looked so cute lined up in a row, so I hit upon the idea of turning them into my next project.

First, I washed the bottles, removed the labels and dried them. Next, I applied red glass paint with a sponge, using a dabbing motion to create a speckled sort of effect.

I then looked at my box of leftover Christmas wrapping, ribbons and other stuff I’d saved from last Christmas, and used craft scissors and a craft punch to create the shapes which were then glued on with mod podge.

The jars were finished off with red pipe cleaners and white ribbon :-)