When is a soup carton not a carton?

Why when it is turned into a vase of course!   We all look for ways to up cycle and recycle items and this is a great one for giving new life to what would normally be discarded.  I believe in some cases Tetra pacs can now be recycled, but this way they get more use before that.

At my lovely german demo friend Sylvia's last year she has removed the outer printed layer of paper from a similar carton and stamped on the outside.  I was keen to try and looked online to learn more.  I found that it is a popular pastime to stamp on them.

I changed it to a different route because we currently have the absolutely beautiful Peaceful Poppies designer series paper from Stampin' Up! 's spring mini.  In particular the sheet that has two 12" x 6" border designs which if you cut down the centre gives you two pieces perfect for this project. Of course you can use any sheet of designer paper and you could cut it slightly differently depending upon the size of your carton but mine wrapper around just perfectly and allowed me to cut of the rough top edges from the opening to get to my soup.

So to create your vase firstly remove the outer layer of paper. This isn't difficult but on some stubborn bits you'll need patience.    Once you have cleared all the paper you can measure up your carton and cut your designer paper accordingly.  

I then used Modge Podge matt and painted it onto the outside of the carton to adhere the paper onto the carton.  Make sure the adhesive goes all the way to the edges and you can carefully use paper clips to make sure the edges stick down flat.   The whole thing may feel a little floppy but it returns to a reasonably sturdy box once dry.  Give this plenty of time to dry, I left mine overnight.

I then added a thin coat of Modge Podge onto the designer paper.  Again give this plenty of time to dry.

I added a piece of cardstock to the bottom of the box to hide, although no one will see the base, any bits of the original coating which seemed difficult to remove from the base.

The great thing is that the inside of such cartons are coated in plastic to keep the soup inside and so nothing needs to be done to the inside.

Once all completely dry you can buy flowers to go in your vase and add some simple ribbon bows for a finishing touch and let the paper and the flowers do the talking.

My tulips have needed a regular top up of water and I pop a finger inside the carton to judge how far to fill it.

The biggest difficulty is finding the right flowers to coordinate with your new vase.

It's a simple process so why not give it a go.

Happy crafting

Zoe x