Make A Decorative Tray from a Cardboard Box

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Oh my goodness.

Yep, going there. Checking in today with one of my favorite projects thus far for an end of the year project. A solution, per say, for all those cardboard boxes you are about to store away, or throw away. 

If you're like me, you might hate clutter and things that take up a lot of space up in your house.  And more often than not you throw away items (in this case: gift boxes) just so it's out of the way and is one less thing to store away for a year. Or, who knows, maybe you are a box hoarder? If you can spare one to make a pretty tray...here's a quick and inexpensive project for you!

Your supply list:

Cardboard box + another piece of cardboard to fit into the bottom of the box
Fabric (I got a yard of this awesome coral print from Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon so this project cost me less than $5.00-if you already have fabric, then this project could be free!)
Hot glue gun
Scissors

What you do:

Find an empty cardboard box of the size you want for a tray. I just used an Express box we had on hand. I would try and use the sturdiest box you can find so that the sides of the tray stay put and that it's not very flimsy.

Add tape around the sides and corners for extra support... 

Cut another piece of cardboard to fit in the bottom of your tray. You want the finished piece to fit nicely inside the bottom of the tray. Cut a piece of fabric about 1/2" bigger on each side than the piece of cardboard you just cut and use your hot glue gun to fold and seal the fabric on the back:

 

For the fabric on the box, you just want to cut pieces of fabric that are long enough to go around all four sides of your box. Make sure it's wide enough and add a little extra room for the bottom of the tray:

Now all you have to do is hot glue the fabric all around the bottom of the box using that 1/2" seam allowance you allowed for. Fold the corners as you go around it and hot glue them. Then, your box will start looking a little bit more pretty...

Your last step is just popping the already finished piece into the bottom of the tray. Bam...you've got yourself a brand new tray to store anything you'd like!

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These trays are so awesome because you can never have enough of them. You can literally store anything and everything on them. I wanted one for all my bracelets so that I could see and access all of them easily, but you can use this for perfume, watches, etc.

So if you're looking for an easy project and you have 10 minutes and $5.00 to spare, you too can have yourself a pretty tray. It's that easy, trust me.

And because I love me a good tray like I said above, you shouldn't be surprised that I have another tray tutorial using a shadow box picture frame if you're interested.