DVD Storage Box Craft Instructions

One of my goals for this blog and my eventual magazine (yes, I still plan to create one) is to include craft instructions for inexpensive projects that require re-used or recycled materials found in the home. This is important to me for two reasons:

1. The prices of craft supplies sold in stores are disgustingly high.

It seems to me that an unfinished item sold for the purpose of finishing or altering should not be so expensive. When you buy something, you are partly paying for the work or service of having it put together, painted, completed, etc ... and since raw materials are by definition not completed and meant for the buyer to complete, I believe they should be far less expensive than a completed item.

2. With the poor economy, I think it is doubly wrong to sell an unfinished, raw materials for just as much money as a finished item, if not more.

It seems to me that only the affluent can really afford craft supplies such as scrap-booking supplies, and I’ve always seen crafts as originating from the actual trades that people learned to make a living (occupations such as carpentry, pottery, quilting, etc ...) Skills that used to be learned for the sake of earning money are now near-impossible to use to make a little bit of extra money because it would be impossible to break even. Craft supply industries have become for-profit industries.

In conclusion, I would like to provide less expensive craft ideas that include recycled materials that one might normally throw away, thus saving money and promoting environmentalism and resourcefulness. My first item is a decorative storage project, entitled DVD Storage Box.

I developed this idea because I was running out of space for DVDs and wanted to use some kind of box that could:

. easily hold the remaining DVDs upright instead of sideways or lying down in piles
. be pulled out and pushed back out of sight like a drawer
. display the DVDs when pulled out so that rummaging through them would not be necessary
. appear to compliment the decor of the family room so that it would not look out of place

I thus chose the following materials:

- cardboard box left over from an 18-pack case of Coca Cola









- dark red fabric that closely resembled the red of the family room rug

- gold ribbon

- scissors

- stapler

- hot glue gun




Instructions

1. Measure the amount of fabric needed to cover the outside and inside edges of box so that no cardboard will be visible. You may also wish to cover the inside and outside bottom with the fabric.

2. Cut the desired amount of fabric.

3. Staple or hot glue fabric in place so that fabric is taut around edges. Try to keep all staples or glued areas level. Use as many staples as desired. Staples and glued areas may face outside, inside, or both if necessary to hold fabric in place.

4. Choose a ribbon that will best compliment the fabric colour and decor of the room, and measure enough to line the box so that it covers any staples or glued areas inside and outside.

5. Cut the desired length of ribbon.

6. Using the hot glue gun, glue the ribbon along a straight line all the way around the box so that it covers and hides any staples or glued areas. Do this along the inside and outside of the box. You may also wish to glue an additional line of ribbon around the box parallel to the first, as well as one along the rim. Use your best judgement and your own imagination.

This was my finished product:



It stores many of my DVDs so that they are standing upright side by side instead of lying down one on top of the other in towering piles. This box slides behind a row of DVDs kept on a shelf beneath our TV, and if we go to the side of the TV we can easily slide it in and out like a drawer. This is much neater, more attractive, and far more convenient than having the remaining DVDs stacking in piles behind the other DVDs.

Ideas for Variations

. You can also use this craft idea for CDs, Video Games, Computer Programs, and Books that you wish to keep neatly and conveniently displayed.

. You may also wish to line the box with some kind of paper like gift wrap.

. It might be interesting to try using leftover wall paper, especially if the box is used in the same room where the wallpaper is visible.

If you have any craft ideas that involve recycled or re-used raw materials, I would love to hear about them. Please share any ideas that might promote environmentalism, resourcefulness, and just plain common sense.