Cereal Box to Basket

Years ago I found a shelf that I really loved at Target. Husband and I bought it and we have hung it up in every apartment/house we have lived in since then. And in every single house it has hung completely empty. It is kind of an odd shape. It is a rectangular box with smaller shelves built into it. Everything we tried to put inside was either too big or too small. It just never looked right. But for some reason we still always hung the shelf. Finally I decided it was time to either fill the shelf or get rid of it. I decided a basket might look cute in it, but as I started looking I realized it was going to be a pain trying to find something that would fit perfectly in those weird little cut outs, so I decided to make my own basket.

1. I started with a cereal box. (Maple and brown sugar Life is delicious by the way!) I measured out how big I wanted my shelf to be and cut the box down to size, then taped it into the right shape.

2. Next I cut a piece of muslin and hot glued it over the top. I didn't worry about how it doesn't matter hoe it looks on the inside and outside. The outside will be covered and the inside will be filled with stuff so nobody will ever see it.

3. Finally I just started wrapping and gluing. I used a roll of jute that I bought at Joann's for about $2. It took awhile to glue, so I made sure I had something to watch on TV. It was a great way to spend nap time. I wrapped all around the sides, but didn't bother with the bottom.

I loved the way it turned out. It was my first attempt so I learned a lot. First Push the jute really close together with each wrap or you will be able to see the cereal box peaking out. Second watch out for hot glue clumps. Third try to keep the wrapping straight or you will run into problems at the bottom.

 

The funny thing is that in the end this didn't fit the shelf where I wanted it. But when you spend maybe $.25 making something, it's not that sad if it doesn't work out. I did find a home for it in our guest bathroom and whipped up a new basket that fit better on my shelf. So simple! So cute! So cheap!