It’s a Back to School Party here at Living Locurto with ALL NEW Ideas by some of my favorite bloggers!
I’m loving this simple craft idea for kids by Stacy at Kids Stuff World! She turned an old box into a personalized keepsake box and the kids actually made it themselves. I’m very impressed!!
These sweet kids were the models for my Baseball Party Collection back at the I Heart Faces Conference a few years ago. It’s so fun to watch them grow and see them crafting here on Living Locurto. Enjoy this kids craft tutorial!
Hey there friends of Amy! ((((Waving))))
I am so excited for a chance to share my project with you today. Even though we’re only about mid way through summer break here in Texas, I’m already starting to think about Back to School … and all the excess clutter that comes with it – the papers, the handouts, the art projects I just can’t bring myself to throw away. I knew we needed a better management system for all this stuff.
I found these old photo storage boxes in an armoire and a little light bulb went off in my head. They were sturdy and big enough to hold notebooks papers, and tons of artwork – these would be the perfect solution to my clutter problems.
To make your own upcycled keepsake box, you will need:
– A cardboard box with a lid (could be a large shoe box)
– Patterned Duck Tape
– Chalkboard Paint
– Chalk
– Paintbrush
I’ll let my kids show you how they did this, but I’m betting you could figure this out all on your own. Humor them though, they loved making this tutorial for you.
We started by painting the lids with chalkboard paint. We choose chalkboard paint because it kept the boxes cohesive looking, even though the bottoms would be different and made it fun for the kids. Now they can personalize them even more, and change things up whenever they want.
Note: I rubbed vasoline over the metal accent pieces to keep the kids from painting over them. We used some cotton balls to wipe off any mistakes.
While the lids were drying, we measured out the duck tape to fit the length of the box and a little extra to wrap over the sides.
Then carefully matched up the pattens to create as seamless of a look as possible.
The kids were pretty proud of the end result, and so was I and best of all, the lids make for perfect first day of school photo props, yay!
Our clutter is now cute and contained and the kids had a great time working on these together – win, win. I think it would be cool to make new ones for each year, and see how their styles change as they get older.
Check out more of Stacy’s Back to School Ideas!
- School Lunch Ideas
- Back to School Look
- Tips for Back to School Shopping
Stacy has travelled the globe and even rafted the Nile, now she’s seeing the world in a whole new way – through the eyes of her three children. She writes about the little things, the big things and all the “stuff” in between at Kids Stuff World. Get to know Stacy better on Instagram, Pinterest, Google +, Facebook, or Twitter.
Hi! Super cute! We are making these this week, but we are mod podging scrapbook paper on the bottom part of the box. How did you get the chalk to look so nice on the top? When I've used spray chalkboard paint before, it was hard to write with the chalk to make it look nice. I bought regular chalkboard paint this time, so maybe that's the difference?
What pretty boxes! My son loves saving memories! This would be a wonderful container for them.
Love the blackboard top to these! And such a great idea to have the kids decorate with patterns they love – so creative! Thanks for linking up at the KBN Back to School linky.
I love using the tops for back to school photo props!
So cute 🙂 And I love that your kids were so excited about it. My kiddos aren't school aged yet but when they are, I imagine having one central spot to collect all the artwork is a good plan.
Love this idea! I must do this to keep all of Emma lee's artwork from school.
Love the fact that you can write on the tops. So cool!
I’m a big fan of up-cycling! Love these “suitcases” that would be big enough to hold 3D objects. Thanks for linking up to the Back to School Kid Blogger Network linky!
fun idea! My youngest has a box from all her school work we have kept, we should do this with that box!
Genius! We would love making this and can always use another box. Thanks for the fun idea.
This is such a smart and useful idea. I love it!