With a little ingenuity, Carol turns plain, ordinary shaker boxes into decorative Mother's Day keepsakes. Shaker boxes are most often made from thin strips of light-colored wood. Widely available at craft and hobby stores, the unfinished containers come in a number of shapes and sizes. Carol decorates the boxes with fabric, paint, pictures, ribbon--even postcards!
- To make a fabric-covered shaker box, Carol first cuts out a strip of material that is 1" longer than the circumference of the box and 1" wider than the height of the box.
- Carol brushes a mixture of household glue thinned with water onto the outside of the box. The glue is thinned just enough to make it easy to apply.
- She places one of the short edges of the fabric lengthwise on the side of the box so that the side of the box is centered between the two long edges of the strip of fabric. She also lines up the short edge with the seam on the box to help her put the fabric on straight. She then smoothes the strip of fabric over the box.
- She brushes a little bit of the glue mixture on the bottom layer of the fabric where the two ends overlap. She then smoothes the top layer of fabric over the bottom layer.
- She brushes the glue mixture on the inside lip of the box. She then folds the extra fabric near the top of the box over the edge of the box and down onto the glue. She recommends making small slits in the edge of the fabric before folding it down to avoid wrinkles.
- She applies the glue mixture on the bottom of the box in a thin strip around its edge. She then folds the extra fabric near the bottom of the box onto the glue. She makes small slits in the edge of the fabric, and folds it down one section at a time to make it lie flat on the bottom of the box.
- She cuts out a circle of fabric that is 1/8" smaller than the bottom of the box. She glues the circle onto the bottom of the box so that it evenly covers the edges glued down in Step 7.
- She cuts out a circle of batting that is the same size as the top of the box lid. She also cuts out of piece of fabric that is 1/4" to 1/2" larger than the top of the lid.
- She brushes glue onto the side of the lid, centers the fabric over the batting and smoothes the edges of the fabric down over the side of the lid. The fabric does not need to completely cover the side of the lid.
- Carol cuts a length of fabric that is slightly longer than the circumference of the lid and three times as wide as the lid is tall. She folds the strip of fabric lengthwise in thirds so that a raw edge runs down the middle of the strip. She then glues the strip around the side of the lid with the raw edge facing the wood.
Carol shows several boxes that she has embellished with ribbon, pictures and postcards instead of fabric. She also shows a set of boxes that fit inside each other like Russian dolls.
