Monday, July 18, 2011

Unused Toy Packaging ---> Exquisite Shadowbox

Here's a fun repurposing project that anyone can do. It cost me next to nothing because I intentionally used what I had on hand in my craft stash.

I started with a wood tray that once held magnetic doll pieces.


I painted the entire front and all sides, using acrylic paint from Michaels. I picked the shade Rich Brown because it was on clearance for $2.99 and the other shades of brown were regular price. I left the back unpainted to remind me of my repurposing! You can find trays like this already painted and prepped by 7Gypsies for $25 or so, but clearly there's no need to spend that much money when you have the same product cluttering your toy room.

I let the tray dry overnight and then attacked the embellishments in the morning.




I then cropped pictures from my travels to London, Dublin, and Paris, and used mementos from these travels as well as miscellaneous scrapbooking embellishments to adorn the various slots of the tray. I don't have any pictures of the process of doing this, but it was simply trial and error in terms of deciding what pictures to place in each slot. once I had all the pictures in place, I filled the remaining slots of the tray with the vintage  embellishments that were bigger or more elaborate.




I used glue dots to adhere all the pictures and embellishments and I used a rub on to detail the edge of the tray with an appropriate quote.

I attached a ribbon to the already existing holes at the top of the tray by simply tying large knots on the inside of the tray after stringing the ribbon through the holes. The ribbon came off a box of chocolates years ago. I kept it knowing I would one day have the perfect use for it's charming vintage appeal.

The end product is a shadowbox that details some of my favorite memories from my travels that I can display in my home for years to come.



Everything from the tray to the ribbon that it will hang from were repurposed. That makes me even more proud of this little project! I could almost say that this project was a profit of $2 if you consider the $5 gift card that I won from one of the contests at MMU's Retreat.

And just for giggles, I swagged 7Gypsies Wood Trays and came up with this tray for $19.99 + s/h off scrapbook.com

7 Gypsies - Letterblock Printer Tray - Wood Stain

Now, if only I could muster up the energy and patience to tackle some of the other repurposing projects that are waiting for me in the garage!

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