Plain Ol' Scrapbook Paper File Made Gift Worthy

Been busy scrapbookin'. And buyin' scrapbookin' stuff for others for Christmas, for me too of course, and buying and making things to hold scrapbookin' stuff. If the behavior of me, my mom and my sister are any indication, scrapbooking should be a recession-resistant sector of this economy. So to hold all the gorgeous papers I got for mom for Christmas, I decorated a box to be part of the gift. With scrapbooking papers of course!

Here's the BEFORE shot. Box from JoAnn's:

The AFTER glamour shot:

Feels like makeover before & afters, where the "before" is notably glum and poorly posed and lighted. However I believe we can all agree, the box as-is is not worthy of a Christmas present.

Here's the makeover process:

Knowing my mom's craft room is called the "green room" for an obvious reason, I chose contrasting green papers and mod podge'd them onto the box. I ripped papers (with the help of a guide, I'm not that neat) to go over the edges and corners. I wanted that edging paper to highlight the papers in the middle, which are the stars of the show.

The details ...

Copper hinges attached with copper brads. I had to use extra long brads to go through the cardboard. The box lid would not open properly once the hinges were attached, so I had to cut off the lid and reattach it solely with the hinges, so it would open properly.

Copper fasteners are super-glued on the front. They are nonfunctional, because both pieces are super-glued to the lid. To open the box, you just simply lift the lid up.

But my favorite is the inside treatment. As with scrapbooks, the real action goes on inside the covers, right? Take a look:

For me, scrapbooking is all about the gorgeous papers (just as sewing is about the fabric), so I chose extra special paper for the inside lid. The rest of the inside remains plain white. You can't see it when the box is full of paper.

Here's a few close-ups of the inside lid:

My mom's first initial is D, so I chose a letter I believe from Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste.

With the copper metal accents on the outside, it needed a metal tie-in on the inside. So here it is:

The copper pieces were in my sewing stash, acquired long before I started scrapbooking. I liked them and figured I'll use them for something, someday. And, here you go. They helped take a box from blah to sensational.