Tutorial: Covering a Container with Odd Sized Paper

This is a very simple and quick project for you today. I find it very useful to keep containers to store all my bits and bobs in, but it is always nice to decorate them and make them a bit more fun. One of my birthday presents was wrapped in a gorgeous orange paper which I couldn't resist keeping. I also picked up a really nice size container from work (which originally held coffee). The problem was that the paper I had was too tall for the container and did not wrap all the way round. Even if I cut the paper the pattern would not match up along the join. Hmm...What was to be done?

Well, I have a solution for any one out there with the same problem.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Container
• Paper of your choosing
• Ruler
• Scissors or a guillotine
• Glue (PVA or a decoupage glue)
• Brush

METHOD:

1. The first thing to do is measure the height of your container.

2. You then need to cut your paper to this measurement so that you should have a strip that wraps part way round the container.

3. Using the left over bit of paper measure out and cut another strip of paper at the same height. You should end up with 2 bits (or possibly more) of paper that are the right height for the container but the pattern does not match up probably when wrapped around.

4. Take your guillotine or scissors and start cutting strips of the paper. You can keep them all the same width if you want a uniformed look but I went for different widths and mixed it up a bit.

5. You should end up with a pile of strips of paper.

6. Next, start sticking your paper to your container. Using the brush paint on some glue and pick strips of paper at random. Once you have covered the entire container leave the glue to dry.

7. To help seal everything in apply a coat of glue over the top of the paper. If you are using PVA it would probably be worth while watering it down a little bit to help give you a nice even coat.

And your container is covered and ready to be used, even though your original paper was not the right size. Mine is all ready to keep my scraps of ribbon in. A very useful little tip I think.
xx