My new scraps box

I have a small, single drawer plastic unit on my desk to file my small scraps in. The problem is I can't fit scraps in taller than 4 1/4 in. I needed something a bit larger for those scraps a little bigger but small enough they get kind of lost in the accordian file I use for my larger scraps. Other stacking single drawers become too big for my desk. They're either too wide or too deep and it's usually both. So the other day I decided I was going to search the house high and low for something to fit my needs. I finally came up with this small box which recently came in the mail.



I had to tell myself it was okay to use the quality, pretty paper for this box. It would cover well and it'd make me happy being pretty to look at. Go me! LOL It also coordinates with the box I made for my cuttlebug folders and dies.

I started with the long sides, measuring and adding 1/2 inch to each edge as they will wrap over the top, bottom, and around the sides to cover the edges and corners. Then I did the short sides adding 1/2 inch only to the top and bottom - it doesn't wrap around the sides, the edges finish the box off. On the inside, the vertical measurement is the height of the box because you bring it down a bit from the top edge and that will go around the bottom edge inside the box. For the long sides, again I added a half inches to the left & right sides because they will go around the inside edges. The short sides simply finish it off - the height of the box and the inside width, again bringing the top edge down a bit. I used a scoring board to score all edge folds. I cut a piece of thick chipboard to fit the bottom of the box which covers the bottom of the lining papers, gives it a finished look, and covers the box's flaps.

Lastly, I punched holes on one short side, added eyelets, and threaded a rope through for a handle. I made the rope with a twist braid tool (seen here in the make your own twine post) and 4 strands of yarn doubled over.




I'm really happy with how it came out. Now I just need to cut some files to fit. Although I put the handle on the short side I plan on filing laterally as this allows me to put bigger scraps in, up to 6 x 9 1/2. I chose to put the handle on the short side because it's fits the space nicer that way. I chose which paper to use on the sides based on what would be facing out. By using a box to recycle into a pretty storage container I saved money, have something prettier to look at, pride in making it myself, and used up some paper I have. And I still have scraps left of the pretty paper I can use on my layouts and/or another project! (Like a matching marker containter. *grin*)