When it comes to holding to ideas, I’m the worst! I can have everything planned out, start working on it, and then something gets in the way. Whatever the reason is, over the time I’ve abandoned so many projects. Some were good, others weren’t, and some are already in the garbage. Despite not being great at finishing what I start, I usually like to “collect” things, so I have a few unfinished projects stored away. And for what?? Turns out it’s for posts like this.

This is going to turn out a different DIY post, so bear with me. Since I started them a long time ago, I don’t have the full process recorded. But, I’m going to guide you how to make it if you want to try out yourself.

Rope Basket

It has been a year since I found this idea on Pinterest. I needed a basket to put stuff in my office and instead of searching endlessly to find THE basket, I rather do it myself. I didn’t go too far with this craft because it was so boring.

Basically, you glue rope all over the cardboard box. Simple right? Well, not for me. My hot glue gun was the worst. It was old and it never riched a high enough temperature to properly melt the glue. But now, I bought a new pistol *does the finger guns* and it’s amazing how much time I have before the glue cools down. I probably could go to the bathroom and be back in time to glue the rope. Now I’m pushing it, but I just want to tell you a nice glue gun can do wonders!

Before I even start to glue the rope, I realized it was pointless to leave the flaps, so I cut them out. After covering the entire box with rope, I ruffly cut out 5 pieces of fabric a little bigger than the sides of the box and marked where I had to sew them. Then I just prayed it would work. I kept testing out but it was pure luck. I wanted to do a fabric bag because it’s much easier to clean up and also helps to hide any imperfections.

And it’s done! I finished one project! Just had to wait a whole year, but that’s just a little detail, forget about it. I’m still indecisive if I should cover it with a light gold shimmer to help smooth the rope, but for now, I’m going to leave it like this.

Tea Box

I had this idea in 2015 or around that time to store all my teas. There are so many cute tea boxes in the shops, although they aren’t big enough for me, and I had a whole variety of teas. At the time, this was the only box I found that fulfil all my requirements. So I paint it all with varnish and bought like 2 meters of rope to decorate around the glass. And that’s it. I used the box for a couple of years, but I still wanted to stick or draw something on the top. First, I didn’t know what, and second I didn’t have any way to do it. I didn’t have any sticky paper for my printer or a pen that could write on glass.

Thanks to the universe, on a random trip, I found the paper. Now after all this time, I had to clean up the entire box, glue again places were the rope got loose, and finally stick something on top. For once in my life, I actually thought before print out. And I printed the image in reverse and stick it on the inside, instead of the outside. This way the sticker should last longer since it’s protected.

I also had to sand down the outside to get rid of some rough patches. Which I probably forgot to do it before painting it. Also, I didn’t paint the interior and it was a stupid move, and now I can’t remember which varnish I use. It doesn’t bother me too much, so I’m going to leave it like that.

Although, if I was doing this project from scratch, I would stick the drawing first and then glue the rope on top. This way it would cover the border of the paper and wouldn’t have problems of seeing it. And a little word of advice, with transparent stickers, remember that only the dark colours are opaque. As you can see the yellow lettering it’s almost invisible. The same thing goes to lines and small details. Even if they are in black, you won’t be able to see them well.