I love the idea of giving a little gift to my sweetheart every day of Valentine’s week. It usually isn’t anything astronomically expensive, just sweet notes here and there to let him know I love him. Recently, I kept on seeing pins on my Pinterest feed for transforming empty toilet paper rolls to pillow boxes.
At first, I just smiled at the idea but there must have been a toilet-paper-rolls-as-gift-packaging algorithm going wild because I was being reminded of them every time I opened Pinterest. Which is only once a week, ahem.
Anyway, all that to say, one day I thought that those pillow boxes would be fun to dress up and use for Valentine’s Day so I began saving toilet paper rolls. This is where I insert my husband’s amusement at me making him a gift out of tp rolls. I think he said something like, “Have we come to this?” and laughed. Poor guy—the things I make him! 🙂
How to Make Your Own Pillow Boxes
You will need:
Toilet paper rolls
Acrylic or fabric paint
Paintbrush
Paper to print hearts (or you can draw them)
Ribbon
Notes and treats to tuck inside the pillow box
(Optional: Mod Podge—see additional ideas below)
To make these boxes, I painted each of the toilet paper rolls. I had some fabric paint which worked but you could also use acrylics.
After they dried, I tied a ribbon around each one and carefully pressed in the ends of the rolls to make a pillow box. Then, I printed off several hearts (I used the shapes in Microsoft Word for these) and wrote tiny notes on them.
I’ll be filling the packages with a note for each day and a little treat for him.
These mini packages could be used for any holiday, really. Just decorate them as you’d like and fill them up with tiny trinkets. I think decorating and making these would be a fun activity to do with kids as well. You can use Mod Podge to collage pieces of paper onto the rolls, add stickers, or just color them with pens.
I love crafts that use up the supplies I already have lying around, don’t you? If you’re looking for some more ideas for Valentine’s Day (or any gift day, really!), you can check out my free Encouragement Card printables, a post I wrote about giving generously (it has lots of creative ways to give gifts!), and this fun little list of ways to say, “I Love You” to your sweetheart.
Have a lovely {and creative} day!
P.S. There are numerous crafters who have made these darling toilet paper roll packages, so I didn’t feel right about giving just one person credit. I do recommend typing “toilet paper rolls gift packaging” in the Pinterest search box—you’ll see what I mean! Who knew?!
18 responses to “DIY Pillow Boxes”
Thanks Jennie, I’ve saved up toilet paper rolls all this fall season b/c I’ve enjoyed the tactile fun crafts kids can do with them at my school. You just gave me the project idea I’ll do for the “grands” (grand nieces & nephew) for Valentine’s Day!
Yay! 🙂 If you don’t want to use paint, you can have them decorate with stickers, pens, etc. 🙂 Have fun!!
Love that idea. Great way to use something we all have in abundance! I love the fact that you used what paint you had (even though it was for fabric) – I do that kind of thing all the time :).
I’ll admit that I used to buy new supplies for every project but in the last few years I’ve (for the most part) just looked in my craft bins and there’s usually something in there that will work! It’s kind of crazy to see all of the bits and pieces of supplies that have accumulated over the years. !! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
This is a cute idea! I can not wait to surprise my brother with one! He loves heart candies!
Yay! That will be a fun surprise for him. 🙂 Have fun creating!
Such a wonderful and simple idea!
Thank you! They turned out really cute…I think I’ll make these for Easter & Christmas too. 🙂
So creative and cute! I love the idea of making these for other holidays too. Great idea! I love little gifts like this! I’d love if you would stop by and share this at my blog party, Celebrate It! It is all about sharing how you celebrate the big and little moments of life!
http://thefreshmancook.blogspot.com/2015/02/celebrate-it-blog-party.html
Thanks for the invite–I’ll be right over! 🙂
Super cute! I’m always amazed at what you can make with toilet paper tubes. Just this week we’ve made several sets of “binoculars”. 🙂 These would be cute for all holidays but Valentine’s Day is always the most fun for me to decorate with because I love the colors! Thanks for linking up at Women With Intention Wednesdays!
Oh, we love making toilet paper tube binoculars! It’s funny how those can keep kids busy for so long, but hey, whatever works! Thanks for stopping by, Jenny. 🙂
Wow!! I wish I would have seen this the day my granddaughter cam over and needed to make 25 valentines!! I have tons of toilet paper rolls looking for another project! Thanks for sharing! Hey I would love it if you stopped by and shared your stuff on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday – Link Party…it’s going on now!! I would love to have you!! http://www.cookinandcraftin.com/my-2-favorite-things-on-thursday-link-party-6/
Well, maybe you can make them for another holiday? 🙂 Thanks for the invite to your link party–just stopped by!
Hello beautiful! This looks so amazing. Love it. Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party and we hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm. We can’t wait to party with you! Happy Valentines’ Day! Lou Lou Girls
I’ll be there! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
this is such a great idea and a fun way for the kids to involved in making their valentines for their friends! Thanks for sharing over at Totally Terrific Tuesday! I am so glad to have you with us! Hope you have a chance to stop by this week and link up more goodies for us! Everything you linked up is shared and pinned 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Jess
Thanks, Jess!