Learn How To Make An Upcycled Ink Pad Storage Solution!

Good Happy Saturday Morning!

I hope that you're going to have a nice, relaxing weekend. My hubby and I are just sticking around the house, relaxing and crafting!

This past month, I joined a challenge on Gina's Designs Facebook Group. The rules were: Make something beautiful out of something you would ordinarily throw away. I love it! I love when I can upcycle something and it doesn't end up in the landfill.

I chose to use a cracker box (pictured below) and a used Priority Mail Box to create some much needed ink pad storage for my Memento Dew Drop Ink Pads. With the help of my wonderful husband, I created this:

Out of this:

The cracker box measures 15"h x 5"w x 2 3/4"d. All measurements are approximate due to commercial packaging having flaws and uneven gluing on the flaps that hold it together.

The Priority Mail Box was cut into 9 shelves measuring approximately 6 1/2" x 2 11/16" and scored at 1" and 5 3/8".

Once we had all the pieces cut, it was time to add the patterned paper. The paper I used is from an old DCWV stack called Black Current. I LOVE this stack and have been hoarding it for years! I used 2 sheets of 12" x 12" paper from the stack. 3 sheets if you count the sheet for the shelves. I guess we should count that. LOL

What I did is, I added adhesive on both sides and the back using my ATG gun and red line tape.

Next, I laid my paper face down on my work surface and aligned the box to it. I carefully just rolled the box onto the paper, using care to make sure there were no air bubbles.

Once I had the first sheet of patterned paper on the box, I measured the uncovered area to see what size paper I needed to finish covering the box. This measurement will vary depending on how you apply your first sheet of paper.

Now that the box is completely covered with patterned paper, I started gluing the shelves in. I knew approximately how far apart I wanted the shelves, so I just eyed it as I was doing it. I knew I wanted some extra room so I could stick my finger in and comfortably remove the ink pad desired.

Using low temp hot glue, I added a generous amount of glue to each flap of each shelf, one at a time. The flaps were created earlier when we did our scoring.

Also in the photo above, you can see I used some green clips to hold the shelves in place while the hot glue dried. Because my cracker box was so warped, the shelves only fit when you squeezed the box into place. I knew once all the shelves were in that the box would hold it's shape pretty well. If yours does not, you can always add tape from one side, all the way around the back and to the other side, making sure it's pulled taught. That will hold the box in shape. Of course you want to do that before you add the patterned paper, if so needed.

It's now time to decorate our ink pad storage! The fun part *smiles*

I added Chinese Braided Trim around all of the edges. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of me doing that, but it's pretty self explanatory, I think. I added hot glue to the back of the trim in sections and adhered it to my box.

I wanted to keep it simple so I could put it right up against some other ink pad storage that I have, so I kept the embellishments to a minimum.

I added some Prima flowers from my stash. 3 in the upper right corner and 1 in the bottom left corner. That's it. Project complete! *smiles*

Here are some photos of the completed project:

Top half

Bottom

Filled With Ink Pads

Just a few final thoughts. The full size ink pads also fit into the finished project. It holds 30 Dew Drop Ink Pads. It holds Stampin' Up! Ink Pads. I believe it will hold most standard size ink pads.

If you have any questions, please let me know! I'm happy to help where I can. - Pat