Take Out Box Diorama

Empty Chinese take out boxes are great.  You can use them for leftovers.  They make great gift boxes for small presents.  I like to use them to give away cookies during Christmas time.  I get my supply from Smart and Final, but unfortunately I have to get them in packs of 100, so I have lots and lots of extras.

I came up with this craft for my daughter's Girl Scout troop because I wanted to use up some of these boxes.  

This is a really, really simple craft.  I just cut out a square in front of the box to create the opening.

Then I just went through some old magazines and created a collage inside the box.  I used a glue stick to paste the pictures inside the box - easy!

Here's the trick to get cutouts to stand up in the box.  Cut out a little rectangle of paper and bend it in half.  Glue one side to the cutout and the bottom side to the bottom of the box.

The box itself is just the stage for lots and lots of other possibilities.  Decorate the sides of the box with other materials like cloth or ribbon.  Do a series of boxes or create different themes for each box.  You can make these boxes as simple or as complicated as you want so it can be adapted for all ages.

My First Post - The Paris Shadow Box

It's mid-September and I find myself with a little bit of time on my hands.  Everyone needs a little creative outlet and I want to use this blog to feature some of my various creations and interests.  I'm planning to write about crafts, cooking and other things that interest me, but I guess I'll figure that out along the way.

My Paris Shadow Box

My family and I went to Paris in April 2010, and it's taken me this long to put this little box together.  I was inspired by a shadow box I found on the Martha Stewart website - Martha Stewart Shadow Box .  So, when we got to Paris, I started collecting small things that I thought that would work out nicely.  Little did I know that these things would be sitting in a bag on the floor of my closet for over a year!

I bought the shadow box on sale at Michaels a long time ago and it measures 11" x 9".  The things inside the box are the little pieces of ephemera and other things I gathered in Paris (ticket stubs, business cards, coins, small key chains, etc.).  I'm pretty happy with my final product.