Homemade Trinket Boxes

Make your own trinket box for decoration and storage.

If you want a small, inexpensive box for stashing your mementos, valuables, jewelry and cherished knickknacks, you can make your own trinket box. Making a trinket box involves finding a box or other container where you can place small items in a manner that protects them and allows you to access them easily. Young children may enjoy decorating a trinket box simply, while adults can create an elaborate trinket box with more expensive materials.

Things You'll Need

• Trinket box
• Paint
• Primer
• Glue
• Decorative items

Instructions

1. Access a container that you can use as a trinket box. You can use a variety of boxes and containers. You can create a trinket box out of a nice old cardboard candy box, a metal tea container, an old wicker basket or a premade wood chip box. You may want to make a small trinket box that you can keep in a corner or make a larger box where you can insert smaller boxes, usually little boxes that once held jewelry, to keep your trinket box organized and prevent chains and other trinkets from tangling together.

2. Paint your trinket box. If you have a cardboard or wood chip box, you can paint the box with latex paint. If you have a metal box, paint it with a latex anticorrosive primer or an oil-based primer and then paint with your selected oil-based paint. The color that you paint the box will depend on your plans for the trinket box's future decorations; plan out your entire project before you paint the trinket box so that the continuing part of the box matches the paint. If you plan to enamel your trinket box, don't paint it beforehand.

3. Decorate your box according to your box's material and according to the level of competence of the person who is decorating the container. You can decorate it simply with stickers, by painting designs or by gluing beads, gems and interesting rocks on it. You can cover it with old photographs or interesting pieces of material and shellac over the fabric or photos to preserve them. If you have a wooden trinket box, you can etch designs in the box. You can enamel your trinket box or create papier-mâché figures or shapes to attach to the box's top.

4. Use your trinket box to protect and store your keepsakes, including family heirlooms, jewelry pieces, small souvenirs and commemorative buttons. You may want to create a special trinket box for your makeup or any other items that you find yourself misplacing frequently, such as your eyeglasses, pens or cell phone.

References

• All Crafts: Sand Paint Box
• Rustic Crafts: Trinket Box
• Only Trinket Boxes: Enameling