Just an ordinary box!

I am a terrible blogger. I get sidetracked and forget that I have a blog. I get super excited about projects and get started with no idea how to document them. I forget to take pictures while I am working. Anyways despite being a terrible blogger I wanted to share something that I thought was pretty cool.

It's just a box, an ordinary cardboard box. Let me tell you about this box got so cool. For the past year or so I have been teaching a Sunday school for 4-5 year olds. This means planning and hauling a bag of stuff with me. I am terrible at keeping my bags neat and organized. This inevitably leads to heavy messy bags and not being able to find anything. I was recently asked to help organize all of the activities and teachers for the children age 18mo to 11yrs, instead of teaching a Sunday School class.  I knew that this would involve my dragging even more stuff back and forth between home and church and I dreaded the thought of yet another messy bag.

And then a lightning bolt struck me. I thought I don't need another bag I need a better way of carrying my stuff. For me a box is much better than a bag it is easier to load and unload, I can see everything I have at a glance, and It doesn't fall over and spill all over the floor.

I found a sturdy box; dug out some fleece that had been destined for pajamas, before I realized I would never sew them because I hate to sew; my rotary fabric cutter and mat; white glue; an exacto knife, scissors, a stapler and wrangled my husband into doing 90% of the work helping me ( Thanks Pat :P).


Cut the flappy things off the top of the box. Lay the fleece on floor or table.  I wrote out the directions for cutting the fleece 3 different way and they all confused me so I have drawn you a handy diagram.

Set the box in the center of the fleece as shown.  Measure the height of the box and cut a square( or rectangle) of fleece that is large enough to fold over the top of each side of the box while the box is sitting in the middle.  If you see my diagram above I have partitioned of the corners and marked them as a, b, c, d.  Use your scissors or rotary cutter to cut out those corners.  Now you have a piece of fleece shaped like the Red Cross symbol.

Flip the box over and spread a fairly thick layer of white glue over the entire bottom of the box.  Flip the box back over and set it into the center of the fleece.  Flip the box ( with fleece attached) back over and use your hands the smooth the fabric over the bottom of the box.  You want to press out all of the bubbles and wrinkles.  Choose one side of the box to start on coat the side of the box in glue.  Pull the fleece up and over the top edge of the box smoothing it as you go.  You will need to pull the fleece very tight.  Put glue on the top 2 inches of the inside of the box, fold the fleece over and smooth it out.  Staple the fleece to the top of the box using 4-6 evenly space staples.  Repeat  this on the other 3 sides.  You will need to let your box dry for about 45 mins before continuing.

Cut 4 strips of fleece 2 inches wide and 2 inches long than the height of you box.  These strips are for covering the corners of the box.  Center one strip over one of the box corners and glue it down fold it over the top edge and glue it there as well.  We did not need to stale the corners because the fleece one fleece pule glue held really tight.  Repeat this until all your corners are covered.

If you are like me and you want to be able to haul you nifty new box around you will probably need handles.  For this you will need 2 24 oz pop bottles, an exacto knife and bulky weight yarn.  Measure and mark two holes about 4 inches apart on opposite sides of the box .  You will have 4 holes.  Before you use your exacto knife to cut your holes out of the box,  You will want to remove the threaded neck of the pop bottle. Pat used a serrated kitchen knife and then sanded the edge, but he reccommends using a hack saw for this if you have one.  If you trace around the inside edge of the now severed bottle necks onto your box where you want the handles you will have the right size for the handle holes.  Use the exacto knife to cut out the holes in the box.  Carefully thread the bottle necks into the holes and screw them in util they are tight against the box.  The bottle necks will help to even out the pressure put on the box and prevent your handles from tearing your box to shreds.  While Pat was struggling with bottle necks I braided the bulky weight yarn into a long braid-- My finished braid was about  1 yard long.  We cute the Braid in half and thread both sides of a braid throgh the two handle holes and tied it into a knot.  We then used scrap yarn to tie the braid together which made it a much sturdier handle.

I love my Box!!!!  It is so much easier to pack for church and easier to use while I am at church.  I have been able to be much more organized for church since making this box.  Since my "organization style" tends toward big honking piles of chaos than anything else, anything that helps me keep it orderly and contained is awesome in my book.

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