Diaper Box turned into a twine basket

Since Hubs and I do not use cloth diapers for our kiddo, we have had a plethora of diaper boxes come and go through our house. Last Christmas nearly all our gifts to others were wrapped in diaper or wipes boxes. And they have come in very handy when needing a temporary home for all the clothes, shoes, etc that our little one out grew until we could buy some more plastic tubs (I should have registered for them as many as we have gone through!)

I have been eyeballing all these decorative baskets at the stores and choking when I keep seeing the outrageous prices for them. And you would think that after the third or fourth time I look I wouldn’t be surprised that they cost an arm and a leg.

Well good old Pinterest had plenty of ideas about turning diaper boxes into decorative baskets. At first I only came across ones that suggested covering diaper boxes totally in fabric or spray painting them. I wasn’t too keen on the spray paint idea and the fabric designs I love the most cost as much per yard as the decorative baskets I coveted.

Then the little Pinterest angles heard my plea and someone posted a fabulous idea about covering them in twine. And it just so happens, the twine baskets were the ones I really wanted to buy the most!

Here is the original link:

http://diydesignfanatic.blogspot.com/2012/08/baskets-made-from-cardboard-boxes.html

 

 

Supplies:

Empty card board box

Large spool of twine/jute

Brown craft paper or old wrapping paper

Hot glue gun

Hot glue sticks

Tape

Scissors

 

I

 

I taped the bottom of the box to help keep it securely closed and cut the flaps off at the top.

Since my twine was narrow I chose to cover my bright purple diaper box in brown paper so it would not show through if I didn’t get the twine matched up perfectly.

 

I put a small daub of hot glue at the top corner of my box and stuck the twine to it. Once my twine was positioned I ran a short thin line of hot glue along the top edge of the box and quickly pressed the twine to the glue, keeping the twine somewhat taunt (so my line did not sag) I worked in short intervals with my hot glue and made my way around the box. I let the twine continuously roll of the spool as I worked. When I made it all the way around the first time I used the previous line of twine as a guide for my hot glue gun to follow and pushed the new row of twine up close to the previous glued line.

****I’ll stop here and say that even though I have spent years doing crafts and using a hot glue gun, I have yet to develop “asbestos” hands and always burn myself a few times with the hot glue. If you are in the same boat, I recommend wearing some work gloves or using a ruler or putty knife to assist you in not having to come in contact with the glue in case it “spills” out around the twine. I also recommend using a mini glue gun versus a standard size one to assist in not burning your fingers or having “drips” from the larger bead of glue it puts out. ****

Once I got a few times around the box, I got a rhythm down and before I knew it I had half the box covered. It takes some time to do, but it is a craft that you can do a little of, stop and take a break if needed, and come back to at a later time. And if you have a smaller box or are using a larger width of twine, it shouldn’t take too long.

I used twenty sticks of hot glue to complete my box. It seems like a lot, but I glued every bit of the twine down. I tried only using a small dot of glue every so often right at first, but the twine did not lay down right, and moved too easily when the next strand laid up against it at places where it was not previously glued down.

I do not recommend superglue as this is a very hands on craft. You might be able to use spray glue, but it would need to be fairly sticky to get the twine to stay put over time.

I didn’t sew the fabric liner (I borrowed it from another basket to see how it looks as a finished product) but I do plan on sewing my own in the future.

 

 

I found this link on Pinterest that gives a great “how-to” on sewing the fabric liners.

http://designsbymke.blogspot.com/2012/01/fabric-liner.html

I am thinking about using painter’s canvas for the liners so I have several yards of matching material for all the baskets I am planning on making.

And there you have it! DIY Twine Basket!  And give yourself a pat on the back for recycling your cardboard boxes while you are at it.

 

God Bless and Happy Fall Y’all!