A "Quickie" Pretty-It-Up Spring Project for a Recycled Container

Believe it or not, we have lived in the new house in Raleigh since last July and we are s-t-i-l-lllll moving things from our last home which still has not sold as of yet. So, I have two boxes sitting in my kitchen that I need to empty out and of course the box has some kitchen items in it, of course. So I come across this open box of dishwasher cubes and I do not want to put them under my sink to somehow get wet and make a mess for me to clean up later so I began looking for something more solid to store them in. I have been keeping a few heavy duty containers that we have emptied out just in case I can use them to better organize items in my craft room, so I came across this popcorn container I decided to keep and thought it would be perfect. Tall and skinny, and won't take up too much space under my kitchen sink! Yay me!

Okay! So, the container had this really sticky label still on it and because I did not want to take the time to remove it, as I was in a hurry to get these boxes emptied today, I decided to use some of the shelf liner I had left over from doing the kitchen cabinets and drawers with to cover up the ugly label. After all the time it would take to clean it off I could use to write this quick tutorial for all of you! Right?!

So here it is!

1. I simply took the left over piece of shelf liner and wrapped it around the container to size it up.

2. I trimmed it to fit just the portion I wanted it to cover, and then trimmed it to overlap just a bit in the back, at least 1/2 of an inch.

3. I used my strong 1/2" double sided tape on each inside end.

4. I held the new wrap in place to cover the label, pulled it all the way around to make sure it was even and I stuck down the first end. Then I removed the backing from the other piece of tape, pulled it around to make sure it was even and tight and then I stuck it down on top of the wrap. Wa-la!

*Pretty-it-up Option*

Now this next step is optional and is not nescessary, but if you want to use your container to display rather than just for storage, you can pretty it up just a bit more.

You could also use a stamp of your choice and some permanant ink to pretty up any solid fabric or paper you use as a second layer.

1. Cut out a smaller and shorter piece of fabric or paper using a die machine or just decorative scissors. Add double sided tape to the under side of each end to your shaped creation if you want it to remain permenantly. 

2. I used a thin jute string to stick through a decorated chipboard button, placed it around the container at the height I wanted it, pulled it snug and tied it in a knot. Again, Wa-la! All done!

I hope this little "quickie" Spring project inspires you to use the useful things you have lying around to make something adorable and useful!

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Julie