Cardboard Fabric Storage Boxes. . .

So here's the DIY project for today!!!!! Ah, these boxes are AMAZING. I was so surprised at how strong they were when I finished them. With all of the cleaning I did yesterday, these boxes definitely came in handy with putting away the extra items that were taking up too much space in my room. And the best part is, you get to be creative and pick whatever fabric you want for the front! They're so fun, and have made my life oh so much more organized.

First, pick a size for your storage box. You will need 5 pieces of cardboard. It's easiest to do 8x8 or 6x6 squares to keep everything the same size. Then, take a piece of chalk and draw a rectangle for the handle hole. I measured mine to be a 1"(w)x3"(l) rectangle. After drawing the rectangle, carefully cut it out to make a hole.

Next, take a piece of fabric and iron it to make it smooth. Take one of the cardboard squares and place it on the fabric. Trace a square 1.5" longer (on each side) than the cardboard square, and trace the cardboard handle hole with a pencil. Next we will cut out the square and handle hole. Cut the square, and  then fold the fabric as shown. Cut a slit that looks like this: >-----<

The next step is to place the square with the hole over the piece of fabric as shown. Carefully pull up each part of your slit like I did here. Then, take a glue gun and glue ALL the sides of the fabric to the square.

Next we are going to make the base. Choose a piece of scrapbook paper that somewhat matches the fabric you chose. Then take one of the 8x8 squares, and glue the scrapbook paper to the cardboard. Now comes the hard part. Assembling the box! You have to be very precise with the way you set the fabric square to the base. Make sure you are looking at the back of the fabric square (like the picture above) when you attach it to the base. Make sure you obtain a high heat glue gun, it takes a lot of glue to support the box. Hold the fabric square at 90* to the base, and glue layers of glue until it is thick. Let sit for 2 minutes or more to make sure the glue has set right and firm. You will do this for ALL the sides of the box. It gets tricky towards the end, so make sure you are patient and very careful.

The picture to the far right shows you the glue on the inside. It's almost like caulking holes, make it very thick! After slaving away with the glue for so long, your project will be ready to go in NO time! These storage boxes are very, very sturdy. I put a ton of books and notepads into one, and it held up perfectly! What a fun way to use extra cardboard and fabric. Love!