distress stain, paint & marker storage part 1

 We're going to start off firstly with how I made the little boxes to hold the distress stains & paint.  There is a  slightly different sized step by step on my inkpad rack tut if you get a bit stuck and need different pictures. 

Start off by cutting decent weight a4 card into a piece 14cms by 25cms.  This will give you a column of 5 boxes when finished.  If making the exact same box as I did you will need 7 columns, plus 4 columns of 3 boxes (cut the card at 15cms not 25)
Holding the card in the same orientation as I have score down at 3, 6, 9 & 12cms
Rotate 1/4 turn and score at 5, 10, 15 & 20 cms.  Use a bone folder to burnish all the scores remembering that the side you scored on is the outside of the "box".
I find it easier to add the 2 long strips of dst now.  Try and get as close to the score line and outer edge as possible.
Now you need to use a sharp blade and cut where I've drawn the black lines.  If you're having trouble seeing them the boxes with the dst n shape are the only sections which you do not cut under.  Place dst as close to the cut edge and both score lines as possible.  It doesnt need to be super accurate and cover perfectly as long as you have most of the edges covered.


Remove the backing of the top n shaped dst and carefully fold the piece so that it lines up with the box below.  The more accurately you line the edges the tidier your finished box will look.  Repeat with each of the n shaped dst sections until you have something which looks like this.

Use the bone folder to burnish each of the folds and make sure the 2 pieces are firmly stuck together.

nb, this looks a lot more fiddly and difficult than it really is.


Now you need to bring all the sides in and one by one attach them.  Be careful to align the cut edge to the fold of the box otherwise you'll get very wonky boxes and they wont stack tidily.

You should end up with a column of boxes like this,

NB In my altered box I stuck 4 columns together to form a 4 * 5 group using a mixture of glue and dst.  I then made an outer box by cutting a piece of card 25.4cm by 22.4cms and scoring 5cms on each side.  And stuck the glued columns in place with a few dabs of glue before pulling up and attaching the box sides.
The 3*5 section was made in the same way but the outer box only needs cutting at 19.4 * 25.4  I would suggest you dont glue any together until you have the outer box and know what configuration you want to make.

If you dont have many stains/paints or you havent access to the large bought box laundry tablet boxes make great storage. The Bold and Persil 20 wash box is the exact size needed to hold 18 bottles.

Simply make 3 columns of 5, and 1 of 3 no need to stick together.
Cut the tablet box to 5.3cms high (cut at 5 and the dividers will poke out as in the pic below)
Paint the inside bottom of the tablet box and the outside.  There is no need to paint the 4 inner walls of the tablet box as the dividers will cover them and the paint may very well make it impossible to add the dividers.  These tablet boxes are just about long enough to fit distress markers so it's possible to make a drawer unit however I think I would be more inclined to make a single large drawer rather than fiddle about trying to add inner shelves to allow several drawers.  I will have a playaround during the week and see how much fiddling it is lol.













If I'm being honest if the box I'd bought had been the right size I would have filled it with these tablet boxes and if I hadnt been so gung ho about buying the box I could have made it myself, however to get the same size I would have needed a cutter capable of cutting a2 mountboard.


Next part will be the chest of drawers using mountboard & brown gummed tape.  You will need 2 a3 sheets.