Trendy Tissues

A few months ago, I mentioned on Facebook that I liked to coordinate my tissue boxes with the rooms they are in.  I thought this is what all people did.  Apparently not.  My friends wanted to see proof of my quirkiness so I took a few pictures:

You get the idea.

The problem with this habit is that sometimes - oh horror! - I can't find boxes to match the rooms!  Or I'll spend more on the tissue just because I want it to match, not because I like the brand or the price.

So I decided to make my own tissue box covers to coordinate with the rooms of my house.

I've made three so far, and I think they're really cute.  So do my kids.  My husband said:  "Wow.  That matches."

So, the first thing I did was find a larger size Kleenex box that I could use as a guide, knowing that if this box could fit under it, most other boxes would as well.  I traced it, planning to make my box about 1 cm bigger all round.

I used old poster paper that had faded in my sunroom and wouldn't be used for anything else.  There was enough paper for me to cut out patterns for 3 boxes.  When they were cut and folded, they looked like this:

Then I taped the ends to the main piece.

Next, I cut out the middle hole through which the tissues would be pulled.  I made this about 4 - 5 inches long and about an inch wide.  I used a knife to cut the hole:

Then I folded up the ends and taped all the sides together so it looked like this:

And the underside looked like this.  Very attractive so far, isn't it?

Now the fun part:  choosing coloured paper to cover the box with!  I wanted a box to match my living room carpet so I put paper next to it to see what colours looked best...

I decided to cover it in black (construction paper) then make coloured circles out of scrapbook paper.

First I cut out a piece to cover the top then cut out the center hole (cut the two short sides and one slice down the middle, then fold the two sides back).

Inside the box looks like this.  Folding the paper through the hole makes a nice clean edge.

And this is what the top looked like.  On subsequent boxes, I realized it was best to have a little overhang to glue down the sides of the boxes, so I cut little corners out like this:

Then I folded the paper along the edges of the cutout corners.

This was modpodged to the top and sides of the tissue box.  Then strips of paper were cut to appropriate widths and modpodged around the sides of the box.  Any decorations were added, then I modpodged over the whole thing.

Yay!  I now have a tissue box that matches my living room carpet!

Three boxes to match three different rooms:

Living Room

Girls' Room

Baby Boy's Room

I still want to do some for my bathrooms, and my older girls want to make some for their rooms.  I think it would be a great project for Spring Break.

Harder cardboard for the first layer might be better - like a flattened cereal box or something - just to make sure it holds its shape well.  Any cutouts or pictures or stickers can be used - even 3D decorations like silk flowers or ribbons could be glue-gunned on after the last layer of modpodge.

Now I can choose tissues based on price or softness...not on what the box looks like!