What would you do with a black box?

April 18, 2009 in crafting, give away, repurposing | 6 comments

empty black velvet lined boxes


I scored a few of these previously used black boxes, a little dusty but sturdy. They are some sort of thin but hard board covered in faded black paper and lined with foam covered with cheap velvet. (I’m sure these will be very easy to gut.) Some of them have little latches and some of them have self-closing hinges. Some are approximately 5×7″ and others are 6×8″, about 2.5″ deep. I didn’t know what I would do with them but obviously they have great potential. The girl appropriated one for her little dolls as soon as I got them in the door!

So I’m throwing this out there to my readers. What would you do with one of these? I’d love to hear your ideas on how you might decorate the outsides and what you might put inside. I’m thinking treasure boxes, photo storage, special gift packaging, triptychs, memory boxes, craft tool cases, decoupage purse. What are you thinking?  Leave me a comment by May 5th and I’ll be giving a few of these out.** Feel free to spread the word, I want to hear lots of ideas!

**Two catches – I’ll want you to e-mail a picture of your finished project to post here on my blog by May 31 and I won’t be sending any outside the US, because I’m broke, sorry.

lavender tulips in a metal bucket
just because they’re pretty ;)

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6 comments

  1. Kiki’s avatar

    Kiki on May 30, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    Hey, a cool box ended up on my doorstep on Friday. Now I actually have to do a project with it, don’t I? Thanks! Really, it was fun to get an unexpected package.

  2. Kiki’s avatar

    Kiki on April 30, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    One of my friends did some beautiful decoupage with paper cutouts from favorite old storybooks–Golden Books in particular, but any favorite story. You can get them really cheaply at used book stores or library book sales, or sometimes even Marshalls!

  3. Jan’s avatar

    Jan on April 22, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    I will get crackin’ on your “pay it forward” gift next week. I have a ton of “Secretaries Week” snips to get done tonight and tomorrow night. jan

  4. Krista Nieto’s avatar

    Krista Nieto on April 20, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    I think we would make a treasure box. We have stones, crawfish claws, beads, buttons, etc all over that get collected outside or from friends or trips here and there. Last summer Alex and I decorated a shoe box to use for that year’s goodies but I think it would be very cool to have a more structured box with a closure.
    For decorating the outside…hmmm……we might cover the lid with a photo collage as we go to document the times and places we found our treasures.

  5. annie’s avatar

    annie on April 20, 2009 at 8:33 am

    i have a box already… but most knitters would answer this question with: i would use it to store stitch markers, crochet hooks, darning needles and other little tools… they probably wouldn’t decorate them at all because it’s all about the knitting baby.

    1. Cindy’s avatar

      Cindy on April 20, 2009 at 9:28 am

      Blah! No box for you!
      See I think it would be cute to put some of your beautiful labels on the box. Or a bit of lace or a swatch glued on. But maybe that’s because I do so many different crafts that I have to use clear boxes or label the outside to have a clue what might be inside!

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