Recycled Container project

Here is my first art project(of many, I hope) that I have to share with you. It is a great way to use some items around the house that would otherwise be thrown out in the garbage. I have always felt that there ought to be something I could make with the cardboard roll from ribbon and it finally hit me this year, I could make boxes from them.
The first step is to run a piece of one inch masking tape around the cylinder like this. The taped area will become the lid for your box. CAREFULLY cut along the taped edge with a utility knife. Do not try to cut into the cylinder with one pass rather go around slowly several times cutting in deeper each pass.
Smooth up the edges by moving the cut pieces in a circular pattern over a piece of sandpaper.
Next cut a strip( one inch wide by whatever length that will fit inside your cardboard roll) from a light weight piece of cardboard such as a cereal box or a gift box( I used the cardboard from inside the 2009 calendar I just bought). Using Elmer's glue attach this inside the lid portion leaving about a 1/4inch showing below the cut line.
Now you have the box. The pieces will fit tight but if you open and close them several times they will begin to loosen and smooth out a bit.
To complete the box before doing all the fun decorating I cut out two more circles that will fit inside under the lid and inside the base of box in order to cover up the holes and make a smoother surface for decorating the lid on top.
Now, you can start painting and glueing till your hearts content!!Before and After
The top of my circus container is decorated with some old ticket stubs, a bouncy ball that I cut in half(thought it looked like a clown nose!) a candy wrapper and a vintage clown cake topper. I found the cake topper from Atomic Veggie on Etsy. She has such a fun shop full of supplies to get your creative juices flowing. On the pink and black box the adorable pink sparrow came from Porkchop Scottie and the vintage plastic flowers came from Peppermint Soda, both also on Etsy.


I think it would be great to totally cover these with the cereal box printed side showing. You could use wrapping paper from a gift you received, cut up your Christmas cards, the possibilities go on and on. If you decide to make one of these recycled boxes send me a photo, I would love to see what you come up with.