How to Decorate a Box Like an Apple

An up-cycled shoebox makes a perfect storage solution for your kitchen, especially when you dress it up and give it an apple theme using paint, stencils and dried fruit slices. Boxes with removable lids work best for this type of storage project since you can fill them with those odds and ends that take up precious kitchen drawer space: matches, batteries and wayward board game pieces, for example. Just slip the top on neatly and display them right on your countertop as art. It's an attractive and economical way to add storage space to your country kitchen.

Newspaper
Shoebox with removable lid
Latex spray paint, high-gloss, cream color
2 empty coffee cans
Latex spray paint, matte-finish, apple red
Apple
Paper towels
Fork
Stencil paint, cream-colored
Small paintbrush
Green craft paint
Low-temperature hot-glue gun
Low-temperature hot-glue sticks
3 dried apple slices
Clear spray varnish or polyurethane
Worm-themed scrap-book paper, 1 sheet
Scissors
Glue stick

Instructions

- 1
  Cover a solid, outdoor work station with newspaper. Separate the top and bottom of the box and lay both down pieces face-up. Spray the insides with one to two coats of high-gloss, cream-colored latex paint, allowing them to dry completely in between coats.
- 2
  Turn over both pieces of the box and elevate each on an empty coffee can to prevent them from sticking to the newspaper. Carefully spray each piece with one to two coats of matte-finish, apple-red paint, allowing them to dry thoroughly between coats.
- 3
  Cut a real apple in half vertically, and blot both pieces face-down on a paper towel to dry. Stick a fork gently into the back of one apple half to use as a handle; dip it into cream-colored stencil paint and then onto a paper towel to blot off the excess. Use it to carefully stamp a border around the bottom of the box, allowing it to dry. Stamp one apple stencil in the bottom right corner of the lid. Use a small paintbrush dipped in green craft paint to free-hand a tiny stem and leaf poking out the top of each stenciled apple.
- 4
  Use hot glue to attach a cluster of three dried apple slices to the top left corner of the lid. Allow your box and lid to dry overnight. Separate the pieces again and spray the outside of each with two to three coats of clear varnish or polyurethane. Allowing each coat to dry thoroughly.
- 5
  Cut a piece of worm-themed scrap-booking paper to fit the inside bottom of the box and use a glue stick to adhere it in place.

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