Thinking Inside the Box: Cool Things to do with Cigar Boxes

Part 1
In this week's blog I had some help. School is out, and the neighbor's two girls have been helping at the shop, so naturally I enlisted their creative art skills for this weeks DIY project: Cool things to do with cigar boxes. They worked for pizza and drinks, which is a pretty cheap rate these days! This activity kept them busy for hours, and they enjoyed the painting, the decorating, even taking the pictures for the blog. I highly recommend this activity for any parent with bored kids this summer.

Without further introduction, a few things to do with cigar boxes...

1. Shadow box. Art credit to Colden Pike, age 11.

Shadowbox by Colden Pike

A great way to be creative and get a unique piece to match your style and décor. We used tempera paints to cover an old cigar box in a base coat. Colden then took pages from an old book and used Mod-podge to glue them to the bottom of the box. 

Book pages inside the box

Colden supplied the artistic touches with beautiful roses, and here is the result!

Top design of shadowbox

One side of the shadowbox

Bottom of the shadowbox

Other side of shadowbox

Attach a hook to the back of the box, and you are ready to hang this in any room of the house. Put little knick-knacks in it, books, hang you keys inside, the possibilities are endless.

2. Toy Box. Art credit to Charlee Pike, age 8. 

Toy box by Charlee Pike

When looking through the boxes, Charlee liked the small wooden one and decided it would be a cute toy box for her small cars and things. Her first step was to sand the wooden box to rough up the finish. She then painted each side a different color, waiting a while in between coats. She painted cute little scenes on each side with her talent to really make it her own. 

Lid and one side of box

Another painted side

Flower design on toy box

Cute heart design on side

This idea is simple and allows for a lot of creativity. Perhaps you don't have a little painter, so use scrap book paper instead. Attach anything to the box to personalize it as you wish and store your little treasures.One cute tip is to attach a "handle" to the lid to make it easy to open. Use a button, a toy car, a spool... the possibilities are endless!

3. Travel boxes. (Still a work in progress)

Unfinished travel box

So simple and yet so helpful on those long car rides. Colden painted the sides in a bright red color, which took several coats to cover the cigar box designs. 
 

Painting the box red

Then, we painted one lid with chalkboard paint. **A tip, rough up the wood on the cigar box to help with the chalkboard paint, and make sure you remove all the stickers as well! It took several coats of chalkboard paint to get rid of the streaks and make it perfect to write on.

The finished chalkboard side

On the other side, we will hot gluea green Lego base. This will give your little rider something to stick their Legos to and build to their heart's content! Then we will just have to add a little latch to keep the box closed and it will be all set. Store all the Legos and chalk inside the box for quick and easy clean up. You could glue a child's board game, magnets for fun, or even paint a small track for race cars. I would make a few of these boxes up for a long trip and hours of fun followed by easy clean up! Stay tuned for the finished product, we didn't have the time or all the necessary materials to finish the project just yet. We will follow up with a part two of projects next week.

4. Cigar Box Doll House. (Still a work in progress)
This project may take a while. It is something I plan to work on with my daughter and personalize it to her tastes. I found six mismatched cigar boxes and started with cleaning them out. I glued them together, waiting for the glue to dry overnight. it ended up that hot glue worked really well, but be careful because with the mess!

Use glue to stick the boxes together

I painted the outside, but the inside is yet unfinished, and I will work on it slowly, showing you some of the progress in the next blog. But the idea is to make a doll house that can be easily closed up and stored in a small place. For the second floor, I believe it will be necessary to attach ribbon or string to keep the "floor" from flopping all the way down.

Arrangement of boxes for dollhouse

Painted boxes waiting for the details

I may attach it to the wall in her room in the future, and place a table underneath it. This project is perfect to complete with a little one, and allows for so much freedom and creativity. It doesn't take a lot of money, as many miniatures can be made from items on hand. Here is the look we are going for, using vintage miniatures from Lorrie's personal collection:

Adding some detail vintage pieces for show

Check out the many sites online for ideas to make your little doll house a dream. This was a fun project that I cannot wait to complete with my little one and enjoy for many years to come! I can't wait to show you the progress in the next blog as well!

Here are just a few simple ideas that use very little time and money.In part two next week, we will add a few other ideas and updates to motivate you and get you thinking "inside the box" as well. Just visit Pinterest and you will find all sorts of ideas to get your creativity flowing! Do you have an experience decorating with cigar boxes? Have any suggestions or questions? Please comment below and let us know your thoughts!

Want your own cigar boxes, including the painted ones? You can visit us in person Wednesday through Friday 1pm until 7pm and Saturdays 10am until 3pm to take a peek at our stock. We are located at 7504 South State Street in Lowville, NY. Or email us at our entwinedtreasures.com site and we work out arrangements to send them to you!