First It Was A Chocolate Box

Hi and welcome to my blog post today.  I'm a big believer in recycling and I try to practice recycling every chance I get, so instead of sharing a challenge card I want to share my recent recycling project with you.     

It all started with a box of Purdy's Chocolates that my wonderful hubby bought me for a Christmas treat.  Over Christmas we savoured each and every one of those wonderful morsels until they were all gone.  What a treat!.  

Now when my husband who is a very smart man, bought the chocolates, he was catering to my sweet tooth, but he also knows I'm the type of gal who is just as much in love with the box as I am with what's inside.  Here's the empty box.  Too pretty to throw away right?   

The empty box contained a paper liner, a wrapper with the chocolate description written on it and a plastic tray holder for the chocolates.  On the way to the garage to dispose of the insides, the plastic tray grabbed my attention.  While I was staring at the tray trying to figure out if there was something I could use it for my crafter's light bulb suddenly lit up the room and I was off to check out my idea.

I surprised my husband when I came rushing down stairs, chocolate box and tray in hand.  He knew something was up because I had a big smile on my face and "that look in my eye", so he followed me to my craft room to see what all the commotion was about.  By the time he arrived I was already grabbing some Stampin' Spots off my counter and busy popping them into the tray.  Oh did I mention I was now yelling "they fit, they fit!"   Needless to say he thought I'd lost it until I explained what I was up to.

So here's what all the yelling was about.....

This chocolate box and tray are now the new home for my Stampin' Up! Spots. The square indentations on the tray were the perfect, and I mean perfect size for holding the Stampin' Up!s Stampin' Spots.  Each spot will sit tightly in the individual slots.   

Although I'm only showing a few colours, there's enough room for 32 spots in this tray.  I can fit 8 spots per row and will probably organize them by colour family. The 12 1/4" x 6 3/4" box is the perfect size for storing on my work shelf or desk top.      

Being a true crafter and recycler, I didn't want to leave the outside of the box the way it was.  So, I dug through my paper stash and found some old Concord Crush DSP.  I cut four 1" by 12" strips for the box sides and a 6 3/8" x 12" piece for the lid.  

I didn't want to go overboard decorating the lid, so I decided to just spell out the words "Stampin' Spots on it.  

I die cut letters using an old square block alphabet die set from Concord Crush card stock, but they looked too dark when I laid them out on the lid.  It dawned on me that the letters would look better in foil, to match the trim around the edges of the box, so I cut an additional set of letters from gold foil and glued them to the Concord Crush letters, which gave them a bit more solid.

Well, what do you think......trash to treasure?  I'm so happy with this box. It was a simple solution to housing my collection of Stampin' Spots.  I plan to fill this box  with Stampin' Spots that co-ordinate with whatever current project I'm working on. They can be interchanged easily and these spots are the perfect size for inking up stamps on my Stamperatus.  Usually I have the large ink pads everyone on my desk so I'm thinking this box will keep my workspace neater and it will be easy to find the ink I need.

Happy Stamping
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

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