Making Your Own Paper Surprise Boxes

The other day I opened up a box of cream cheese and I noticed that if I opened it up completely and laid it flat that I could use it for a pattern to make another paper box. 🙂 So that’s what I want to share with you today. The next time you buy cream cheese, save the box!

I used a piece of cardstock for making my box. Lay your pattern on the piece of cardstock. My pattern box fit just right in one direction on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of cardstock.

Trace around the outside of the pattern box using a pencil.

Cut it out along the line you just drew. Erase any pencil marks that you can still see after you finish cutting.

Using the pattern box as a guide, make a fold on your box every place the pattern has a fold. It’s very helpful to lay a ruler across the paper in the place you want the fold to be. This will give you an edge to press against and keep the fold straight.

I made all my folds that go in the same directions first.

Then turn your box and make all the folds in the other direction. For a lot of the folds, you can see easily where the fold should be and use the edges for a guide for your ruler. One place that there wasn’t an easy mark was the part on the top of the box that folds down inside the box when it’s closed. I laid the pattern back on top of my box, bent the pattern up and made 2 small marks where the fold needed to be.

Now all the folds have been put in our box and it’s time to put it together!

Oops, I’m getting ahead of myself! 😉 Before you glue/tape the box together, turn the box over and decorate the outside.

Since St. Patrick’s Day is in March, you might like to make your box for that holiday.

NOW to put it together! 😉 Fold the box up and put a little glue or double sided tape on the small tabs that fold inside the front of the box.

Do the same for the back side…put glue or tape on the small tabs that fit inside the box.

Close the top of the box and stick the front tab inside. Great job! You’ve made your first paper box! 🙂

Don’t forget to hide something fun inside the box before you share it with that special person! These could be used for any holiday or special occasion that comes along. Just decorate your box to fit the occasion. And maybe even hide the box to be found at the end of a treasure hunt! 🙂

I hope you will have fun making your own surprise boxes! 🙂

America Recycles Day 2021

Yep, my calendar told me that today is America Recycles Day.

So what does that mean? Well, here’s a little blurb I found that explains it:

“About America Recycles Day

The Keep America Beautiful America Recycles Day is the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. Held on and around Nov. 15, America Recycles Day educates and encourages individuals on how to be more mindful of what they consume, where and how to properly recycle, and to pledge to recycle more and recycle right in their everyday lives.”

Ok then! So today I want to share some ideas with you about some ways you can recycle things you might have otherwise thrown away into something that can be used again. Here are a few things we’ve had fun recycling at our house.

Some cardboard pieces found in a box of tea bags…

Turned into bookmarkers!

An egg carton…

Turned into a caterpillar!

Empty toilet paper rolls…

Turned into adorable snowmen!

A empty, washed milk bottle…

Turned into a bank for saving coins!

Repurposing an empty Ovaltine container…

Into a great place to store things!

Turn an empty Q-tip box into…

A super place to store Barbie doll shoes!

How about turning an empty oatmeal container…

Into a Special Treasures container!

I hope these ideas will spark some ideas of your own on ways you can reduce, reuse and recycle! Happy America Recycles Day 2021! 🙂

Make Super Simple Bookmarks

If you’re looking for a super easy craft for the kids to make, look no further! These bookmarks are very easy to make and the kids will love using them to mark their places in the books they are reading. All you need is some thin cardboard or cardstock, markers and stickers. I actually used the piece of cardboard that comes in a large box of tea bags and the cardboard from the back of a small notepad.

Cut the cardboard or cardstock to the size you want the bookmarks to be. I kept one of mine the size it was for a large bookmark and the other piece I cut in half for 2 smaller bookmarks.

Next grab the markers and stickers and turn the kids loose to decorate the bookmarks however they like.

I made one with Minion Pirate stickers. Ahoy, matey!

For the second bookmark I used some owl stickers, some bug stickers and added some dots using my markers.

Last, but not least, I made a bookmark with a few kitten stickers and 2 flower stickers.

This is a super simple craft project but the kids will enjoy it and maybe be encouraged to spend more time reading so they can use their new bookmarks. 🙂 Have fun!

Re-Purpose With Duck Tape

Here we go again with another re-purposing idea! Today we’re turning an empty Ovaltine container into a fun place to store something awesome. Never heard of Ovaltine? It’s an awesome chocolate powder that turns ordinary milk into yummy yummy chocolate milk! Mmmm! 🙂 It’s sad when the Ovaltine container is empty, so here’s a way to cheer you up even when the chocolate is gone. 😉

The Ovaltine container is made partially of cardboard so be careful cleaning it. You can wash the inside of the container but avoid getting the outside wet. Dry it quickly and completely and you’re ready to start decorating. There are many colors and prints available in Duck Tape, so find one you like.

I found this neat variegated blue with tiny stars.

Remove the lid of the container and set it aside for later. Wrap the first piece of duck tape around the top on the container, being careful to keep it as straight as possible. Following along the top edge will help.

For the next piece of tape, I chose to go along the bottom edge in the same way I did the top edge.

Add one more strip of duck tape around the middle of the container, overlapping on both the top and bottom strips of tape.

The can part is done! Now let’s make the lid look great too. If you have a compass, you can place the point of the compass in the center of the lid and extend the pencil to meet the inside edge of the lid.

Keeping the compass in this position, you can draw a circle that will fit the lid. A great place to find a cool picture for your lid is by using old magazine pages.

Draw the circle using the compass and cut the picture out with scissors. Using glue or double-sided tape, attach your picture to the lid. Here are a few pictures I found that I liked. Flowers…

More flowers…

A hummingbird with flowers…

Maybe you like animals better than flowers? How about this adorable kitten?

Or this beautiful foal?

There are so many things you could use to decorate the lid! You could color your own picture or use a circle of colored paper and decorate using stickers. Let your mind think up something fun to use from things you have around the house. If you don’t have an Ovaltine container, look around for something similar…duck tape works on just about any surface. If you use double-sided tape on the lid, you can change the picture later when you’re ready for something new.

I hope you enjoyed this project and you use your imagination when looking for containers to re-purpose using duck tape! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Turn a Small Milk Bottle Into a Piggy Bank

Here’s a fun (and maybe a little bit weird!) idea for you to craft with the kiddos! NOTE: It does require an adult to do a bit of cutting with something sharp like a utility knife. Do your kids get milk in a little plastic bottle when you go to McDonalds? (Maybe other places too.) We grabbed some breakfast items there the other day and I got a milk. Here’s what mine looked like:

Remove the outer wrapper carefully. I used a sharp knife to get it started.

Presto! You have a white bottle!

I had some Washi tape on hand that worked nicely for this project. In fact, I had just purchased it on clearance from a Joann store.

This pack had 7 different colors/patterns.

Starting at the top, right below the rim of the bottle, I taped a piece of the Washi tape around the bottle, overlapping a little.

You can continue wrapping the different patterns of tape down the bottle. Add as many or few pieces as you like. I left some space between my layers, but you can place them closer together too. Layer number two…

Layer number 3…

Keep wrapping until your bottle looks just right to you. 🙂

There are 2 ways you can turn this into a bank…one requires cutting the lid and the second way does not. You can add Washi tape to the top of the bottle as decoration and remove the lid each time you wish to store money inside.

The other way is to cut an opening in the lid so money can be dropped inside without removing the lid.

And you have a new bank for saving money! It’s a great way to re-purpose an item that would usually just be thrown away. Have fun and save those pennies! 😉

More Re-purposing With Kids

Hello! Hope things are going well for you! Today let me show you a couple more fun ways to re-purpose things you might have around your house into some entertainment for the kids. This first one I have to show you is using and empty…and washed…plastic container that had spinach and artichoke dip in it. (Oooo, that’s making me hungry!)

The outer plastic wrap came off very easily for me.

The sticker on the lid however, didn’t come off so I simply cut a circle out from a white piece of paper and glued it on top.

Then I cut a slightly smaller circle out of a piece of scrapbook paper and glue it on top of the white paper circle.

Your project can be finished here or you can add a piece of ribbon or duck tape around the side of the container. You’ll want to glue it in place.

And there you are! Another great little container for storing special treasures inside!

Item #2 on today’s blog post is super simple! Do your kids like to play outside in the warm weather and use squirt guns on each other? (Or on an unsuspecting parent or grandparent! Ha!) But you really don’t want to pay the price for squirt guns? Save up a few dish soap bottles or spray bottles…make sure they are washed out and rinsed well. Fill them up with water and let the kids have a grand time spraying each other to cool off! (That actually sounds really good for today – it’s currently 92 degrees with the “real-feel” temperature of 95. Whew!)

Hope these suggestions spur you to do something similar for a fun project today! 🙂

Repurposing With Kids

Are you into repurposing or recycling things? It’s a great way to save some money and make something fun at the same time. The definition of repurposing is “to give a new purpose or use to”. Today let’s do just that with 2 items you might find around your house. The first item is a plastic spreadable butter container.

After we finished using the spreadable butter that came in this container, I looked at the bottom section of it and thought, “That looks like a great bathtub for a doll!”. First wipe it out with a paper towel, then wash in warm soapy water and dry. This doll fits in very nicely!

If you want to make it look a little better, you could add some duck tape around the sides to cover the label. Alas, we’re fresh out of duck tape so I couldn’t do that this time. Add a little soap and water, stir it up until you have some bubbles and presto! A nice bubble bath for your little ones favorite doll. 🙂

Look at her smile! Doesn’t she look like she is enjoying her bubble bath? 😉

Now for the second repurposing project for today…a Q-tip box. (You may call them Cotton Swabs.) This is the type of box where the inside tray slides out either direction.

You’ll need a piece of paper to cover the outside of the box. Printed or plain will do. Measure the length of the box. Write down the number so it’s easy to remember. Then measure each side around the box and add the numbers up. Add another inch so you can overlap the paper in the back and glue or tape it together. Mark out the size of paper you need of the BACK side of the paper so your lines won’t show on your box. Cut on the lines.

Grab your glue or double-sided tape. Wrap the paper around the box, bending and creasing the paper at each edge so the paper fits smoothly all around the box.

Tape or glue the overlapping edges together on the backside of the box.

And you’re done! Find some special treasures to keep inside. I’m using this one to store some Barbie doll shoes and accessories.

Shoes in one end and other fun items in the other end.

These could have a gazillion uses! Have fun! Check back soon for more repurposing fun! Thanks for visiting! 🙂