Posted By FarmerJ on July 23, 2011

In an effort to clean up and organize some things on our master bedroom closet shelves ~ mainly my sewing and quilting projects ~ I decided to store some of those items in a box.

But, my box was, well…frankly…it was ugly.  It was a box my Buddy had shipped one of my monthly Buddy Boxes in.  It was still in great shape, and served its purpose quite well, but it certainly wasn’t appealing to the eye, you know?

Some time back, while rummaging sorting and purging through drawers and cupboards, I came across a package of decorative wall border the former owner of this ol’ barn house had thrown into the giant burn pit, but then never burned.  Some of you may recall a few of our stories about the burn pit and the amazing things we pulled out of it ~ like a running 42″ riding lawn mower, a well pump, a water pressure tank, oodles and oodles of power tools and building supplies, and countless smaller household items, such as candles, mason jars, picture frames…the list goes on and on.

You know, there is some irony there, if I allow myself to stop and think about it.  So many of the items we pulled from that burn pit were placed in the shop and ended up lost to fire anyway.  But, I digress.

Anyway!  For years now, this brand new, unopened package of wall border has been patiently waiting to be used.  I’ve always thought it was cute, but it’s not something I would put on my walls.  Finally, the perfect project surfaced!  Fortuitously, it was the perfect size for the ugly box, too!  No trimming required.

I followed the directions on the package ~ a miraculous feat in itself ~ and measured the length of the border I needed to wrap all the way around the ugly box.  Then, I wet it with warm water and laid it out, glue sides together, for two minutes.

Eager to sport my new decorative storage box, I began laying and smoothing the border around the sides, making sure the top edge was even with the top of the box.  That created about a half-inch to be folded and tucked on the under side of the box, making a nice finished edge on the bottom to reduce the risk of tearing while sliding on and off the shelf.  Perfect!

Except, it wasn’t.  You see, I learned that you can’t really make wet, or even damp, things stick to cardboard.  Even if the ‘wet’ is supposed to be sticky glue.  At least not in this case.  The result was a soggy cardboard ugly box with a border wrapped around it.  One that came right off at the first opportunity.  [I hear you laughing at me again, Darling Husbie, like the time I tried to use my hot glue gun to decorate a wax candle.  Stop it.]

Aren’t you glad this isn’t a how-to?  I’d have you all messed up.

So, once again, I pulled out my trusty double-sided tape, along with the clear packing tape, and got the job done.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  It’s certainly better than the ugly box.

At a minimum, I should get a point for recycling and repurposing, yes?  ♥

[Lovie, really, you can stop laughing at me now.]

Categories: She ~Tries~ To Be Creative
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