I decorated these tiny matchboxes with the patterned side of some office envelopes [see further down for more information] and pages of text from an old, damaged book - they were then filled with sweets and given as gifts.
This larger box was decorated and then filled with wild flowers - a few of them were used to decorated a birthday tea table - they looked SO pretty!
You can buy newly made blank boxes in most craft shops but ideally, try to use old boxes.
Remember, whenever you can, always try to use recycled materials.
You can of course buy old boxes for pennies in flea markets and boot sales. Although, try not to make my mistake of purchasing these lovely vintage boxes and then not having the heart to cover them! They have been sitting on a shelf in my craft room gathering dust for a number of years!
The shape is pretty straightforward to cover with paper but for young children I would recommend only covering the outer sliding box as the drawer section can be tricky.
I thought this might be an opportunity to show you how I create pretty vintage looking backgrounds and old telegram-like text for my designs, like this one...
Firstly, would you believe that this beautiful green leaf pattern was found on the inside of a basic office envelope I received through the post? I could not believe how pretty it was and if you keep an eye out when opening your bills and correspondence, you will find lovely examples like these...
For the text, I type out the words and then cut the sentences out as strips. Then I douse them in black coffee for a few seconds only and then let them dry. You can use back tea but I find using granulated coffee, you can better control the strength of the color stain.
As stated previously, I'm passionate about using recycled materials and particularly love finding them in unusual ways. Look at these beautiful sheets of shimmering silver paper and before reading further, take a minute to try and work out where I found these...
Did you guess correctly?
These sheets are wrappers from the little square stock cubes sold in supermarkets!
I've only just started using this silver paper and already have some great ideas where it can be used in Christmas crafts. In the meantime, here it is wrapped around a matchbox with a scull motif added. Wouldn't this be perfect filled with sweets as a Halloween treat box?
So there you are, a delightful little craft project for old and young to enjoy.
They are so useful as gift boxes and lovely as pretty objects to brighten up a desk in work [for holding tiny stationary supplies].
Specifically for children, take a look at this great blog post:
However, matchboxes are also used to make seriously beautiful art objects, take a look at these two very talented artists:
To finish up and leave you with a few more ideas, here are more boxes I've covered, happy crafting!
All photographs taken by the author / poetry written by the author
