Tinkerlab Cardboard Box Challenge: Paste Paper Cereal Box Scrapbooks

My bloggy friend Rachelle from Tinkerlab 

invited me to help celebrate her 1-year Blogiversary! 

By participating in the Tinkerlab Cardboard Challenge

with a bunch of my other favorite crafty bloggers!

The Challenge:

Make something with a cardboard box, 

and any other material/s of your choice.  

So that's just what we did.

We used cereal boxes from our ever-growing recycling pile!

First we opened them up by cutting open one side

and laid them flat on my art studio table. 

We tried a "paste paper" technique to make the boxes 

more "artsy"

First I drizzle a little bit of white gesso on each box

and spread the white gesso paint out on the shiny (printed) side 

of each cereal box with a foam craft brush. 

Then we drizzled 2-3 washable acrylic craft paint colors

on top of the wet gesso. 

For the box above you'll see we used 

Red, Pink, and Orange. 

On this one we used lime green and turquoise.

Mix the paint colors by loosely spreading the paint around 

with a foam craft brush. 

(work quickly and it's okay if it mixes with the gesso!) 

"C" really liked this part!

Then, for the fun part: time to make 

patterns and textures!

You can use a plastic gift card, comb, or pieces of cut cardboard

to "scratch" designs in the wet paint and gesso mixture. 

For this box, we just painted the lid blue and lavender, 

then we stamped the yellow/orange paint with the 

end of the paintbrush handle to make the cute little polka-dots!

Painted cereal boxes drying on my art studio floor. 

After everything dried, I trimmed off the flaps and 

got to work making "book covers" for 

homemade journals 

and sketch books!

I played with a hole punch and my nifty little 

(favorite book-making tool)  

circle hole punch tool

to cut holes in the cardboard and trimmed white office paper

to go inside of each little book. 

"C"helped me pick color combinations.

It was fun to mix and match patterns and colors. 

It was also fun to play around with some

un-painted boxes as journal covers too! 

(The girls really liked these)

The finished sketchbooks! 

Want to join the fun? 

Go check out the other fun projects at the other blogs

who participated in the challenge!

• Kate @ An Amazing Child http://www.anamazingchild.com/kates%20blog/katesblog.php
• Jean @ The Artful Parent http://artfulparent.typepad.com/
• Regina @ Chalk in my Pocket http://www.chalkinmypocket.com/
• Christie @ Childhood 101 http://childhood101.com/
• Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree http://thechocolatemuffintree.blogspot.com/
• Rashmie @ Mommy Labs http://mommylabs.gorgeouskarma.com/
• Amy @ Child Central Station http://childcentralstation.blogspot.com/
• Jamie @ Hands on: as we grow http://www.handsonaswegrow.com/
• Anna @ The Imagination Tree http://www.theimaginationtree.com/
• Amy @ Kids in the Studio http://abh21.wordpress.com/
• Jenny @ Let the Children Play http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/
• Rachele @ Messy Kids http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/
• Michelle @ Michelle's Charm World http://michellescharmworld.blogspot.com/
• Jill @ A mom with a lesson plan http://amomwithalessonplan.com/
• Jen @ Paint Cut Paste http://paintcutpaste.com/
• MaryLea @ Pink and Green Mama http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/
• Roopa @ Putti Prapancha http://puttiprapancha.blogspot.com/
• Rachel @ Quirky Momma http://quirkymomma.com/
• Amy @ Teach Mama http://teachmama.com/
• Deborah @ Teach Preschool http://www.teachpreschool.org/
• Rachelle @ TinkerLab http://tinkerlab.com/

Happy Re-Cycled Crafting!

Fondly,

pink and green mama,