Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Repurpose a Shoebox Into a Keepsake Card Holder for Mother's Day





I've saved all of my Mother's Day cards since becoming a mother thirty seven years ago and I have quite a collection.  But unfortunately, I place them in a drawer that's become cluttered with other stuff.  So the crafter in me needed to make something adorable to hold my cards.

A shoebox can easily be repurposed to hold cards, or letters, photos, and other special items that we hold dear. The possibilities are almost unlimited on how to repurpose and decorate them. 

For this look, begin by finding a shoebox big enough to hold different size cards you want to keep.  I had an idea to decoupage a shoebox with paper doilies and  pretty flowers from paper napkins, but somehow it didn't exactly turn out how I hoped.  In fact, I call this my craft fail. It just doesn't look pretty and aged like I thought it would.  But I think my idea is still great .  .  .  to repurpose a shoebox to store my cherished Mother's Day cards.


Once you have your shoe box, cut out the  border from doilies,  adjusting the size to fit the top by cutting, and then decoupage onto the box top .  .  .

 gently smoothing out the border using the back of a plastic spoon or cling wrap.

Next, cut out decorative borders from round doilies and decoupage onto the corners of the top .  .  .


and decoupage a round cut out doily border to the center.

Once all the doilies are dry, cut off the excess corner edges. 


To age the look of the box, since the majority of the box was black, it was easier to paint the entire box black and then rub excess off with a soft cloth. In hindsight, I think this was the beginning of my mistake. Perhaps I should have used a lighter color for this.

 Anyway, it started to look messy and then, I applied a silver rub and metallic plum acrylic paint over that. Again, trying to get an aged look with plum accents. Continuing on, despite how this was looking .  .  .

I cut out flowers from paper napkins and then separated the plain ply layers from the flowers .  .  .
before adding them to the top using Mod Podge.
Next, I added a bit more metallic plum acrylic paint to the top and sides .  .  .

and glued on metal feet for a lovely antique look!


  I think this looks a whole lot better!



 And lovely enough to hold my most cherished Mother's Day cards!


What do you think? 



Thanks for stopping by
and take a little time to enjoy -
Happy Crafting!


14 comments:

  1. Absolutely amazing, my friend! I can't believe that was just an old shoe box :) Your creativity takes my breath away. Hugs!

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  2. Gail this is truly inspiring. I cannot believe it started out as a plain old shoe box. And I would not have believed that it was cardboard. You have worked your magic again!

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  3. Lovely box, you did a great job. I use a hatbox for my cards over the years. One thing I didn't do and now wish I had was date them as I received them.

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    1. Thanks, Carole! I was thinking the same thing about dating them! Wish I had, too!

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  4. I think it is a lovely idea. I am amazed you kept all of your Mother's Day cards. I love the feet you added. It looks like an upscale pretty box Gail.

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  5. This box looks fabulous! I would never guess that it started out as a shoebox. I love the layers of texture and color that you added to give it a romantic, aged look. Where did you find the little feet that you added? Those really finished off the project beautifully.

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  6. I used doilies once when I made over a cellular box and it was so fun!! Your box is really beautiful, I like the little feet you added to it.

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  7. Such a great idea. I like it how it turned out. And I just love your blog template. It`s so purple (I love purple too) :)

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  8. I have a very old one from an estate sale that resembles this one. Love the way it aged with the purple accents.

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  9. Gail, Amazing transformation! Love the added lace and those cute metal feet. I would have never guessed this started out as a shoe box!

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  10. Stopping by from Sunday's Best. What a lovely idea. I keep all of my Mother's Day cards too. This is a nice way to preserve them. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Gail, this is so pretty! What a beautiful upcycle project. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle. Pinned.

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  12. Hi Gail, I hope you had a nice weekend. I love this box you decorated from a shoebox! I will have to make one of these sometime.
    Have a great week.
    Julie xo

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  13. This is so pretty! I never would of guessed that it was a shoe box. I love the metal feet! You did a great job on it. Love it!

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