Whenever I receive a sturdy cookie-sized gift box, I usually save it with the intent to recycle it into another decorated gift box. This gift box once housed some Japanese cookies and was plain brown with a printed belly band label. I decided that I would keep the decorations simple and fashion a belly band too, as a secure way of closing the box without a ribbon.
First, I covered just the top and sides of the box cover with crinkled, gold speckled washi paper (purchased at HM Ben Franklin in a large sheet). I decided not to try topaper over the ends of the box cover because corners are a little tricky to do neatly. I glued the paper down with Fabri-Tac 3 in 1 glue. This glue (available at HM BFC) is my favorite because it dries clear and makes it easy to reposition paper pieces.
The belly band was easily fashioned from printed card stock and decorated with a die cut circle of Lawn Fawn Sparkles paper that comes in a 6x6 paper pad. The gnome is a Spellbinbinder stamped image that was colored with Copic pens and fussy cut out. I looked into my stash of Xmas stickers hoping to find a 'Merry Xmas' or 'Happy Holidays' label to fit above the gnome circle. Amazingly, I discovered a wonderful shaker Merry Christmas banner sticker that fit and matched the belly band. I don't know when or how I got the 'perfect' sitcker but finding it made my day! Finally, I added some wool roving for the gnome's beard to make him even more lovable. I hope this project has given you ideas for recycling gift boxes. It's fun to do and results in a novel way to house your home baked goodies for gift giving. Happy Homemade Holidays!
