How-To's Day: Make Upcycled Tissue Roll Pillow Boxes

We sell a lot of small items and one thing that is always a concern for me is how should items be packaged and protected from damage starting from our studio until they get home with you ;) I have seen some of these Upcycled TP Roll Pillow Boxes and I wanted to make something different... I came up with this version to use as our pillow box packaging.

First you need to save up some empty tissue paper tubes. Every brand varies slightly in length and strength- so some of the process "feels" a little bit different to work with the different types. This is a super easy project so I am confident you will make them with no hassles no matter what brand you use. 

Materials Needed for this version:

*Tissue Paper Tubes (one yields one finished box)
*Maps
*Glue stick
*Paper Tape
*Stickers or other decorations like ribbon

First things first, the cool part about using maps is that the width and length of each folded section is perfect for the tube.

The width is a bit smaller than the tube, but since I used paper tape on the ends of the rolls this isn't an issue. The height would need to be trimmed because this is a bit longer than the roll-

You can cut up a whole section of the map into one long strip, then cut individual sections from that.

OR you can cut each panel/page of the map out and when you trim the leftovers needed to cover the tube you can use this piece for other projects.

Use the glue stick to attach the map sections to each tube.  Make sure to smooth the paper flat and get it to stick thoroughly. After you get the map smoothed down and in place. Set it aside to dry fully overnight or at least a couple of hours before moving on to the next step.

Once you have the tubes covered and fully dried the next step is to wrap the edges in paper tape for added decoration, stability, and great color:

Pick which edge you want to start with first and on that  end of the tissue tube, push the top edge down and fold it into a curved crease. Do the same to the bottom edge. Flip the tube to the opposite side and repeat with the other end of the tissue tube.

I gently rubbed the whole tube with a bone folder to make sure the paper was extra smooth with no bubbles and I ran it over the creases too to make sure they aren't lumpy.

For the details I used this hand made sticker from PrettyTape on Etsy. I used some labels with our info across the seam where the map paper overlaps.

TaDa! Perfect packaging:

Hope this inspires you to Make & Enjoy!

XOXO, KC