Upcycle a Box for Christmas

This post is by Yvonne Yam.  She has a lovely idea for upcycling an old box into a spectacular holiday creation!  She also shares how to make some lovely felt flowers. 

Hello there! My name is Yvonne and I’m so happy to be here today to share an upcycled holiday project!

We all have some boxes lying around somewhere in the house. Mine used to house some sinful biscuits from Taiwan. I love the retro design on it so I just needed to strategically cover up the labeled portions!  Here's what the box looks like completely unadorned:

Here are the supplies I used:

(not all supplies are pictured)

Brown paper, crepe paper, ribbon, felt, Glimmer Mist, Stickles, Basic Grey Winter Garden paper from the Jovial Collection, E.A.D. Designs stickers (I used Celebrate The Season and Merry n Bright color), Gauche Alchemy embellishments (Scarlet Fever Red Mixed Media Color Kit), Distress Ink, scissors, embroidery floss and needle, adhesive.

(1) I cut the brown paper and inked the edges with Distress Ink in Aged Mahogany (you can see the inking on the extreme right of the photo below).

(2) I then fussy-cut the Basic Grey patterned paper and added a little more interest by handstitching the leaves. Here's what the paper looks like before you cut it:

(3) I spritzed some Glimmer Mist (Hula Hoop) on top for a lovely all-over sheen.

(4) I added some handmade felt flowers for texture.

These flowers are really easy to make.  (Instructions move from right to left in the photo below.)

Cut some felt circles. Then cut the circles into spirals.  Take the inner end of the spiral and start twirling it around it itself.  When you get to the end of the spiral, simply glue the end to keep the flower together.

(5) For the edge of the box I used crepe paper to make ruffles.

(6) For some sparkle, I added some Stickles to the fussy cut patterned paper.

And here's the finished image of the decorated box once you've added all of your embellishments!

Hope this project has inspired you to make something with the boxes you have around the house! Thanks so much to Julie for having me here! Happy Holidays!

I live in Singapore and I love to make stuff! Especially using unexpected "found" stuff around my house (or someone else's! ;) My style is constantly evolving but it always involves some form of upcycling and colour! :) I'm a challenge blog junkie and try my best to play along whenever I can...it is a great way to get your photos scrapped and make new friends! I scrap the everyday stuff and laugh at myself a lot. Come visit my creative adventures on my blog!

You can contact me at [email protected]