If you find someone else's trash, turn it into TREASURE!

Yesterday I stumbled upon an incredible find. It looked like a briefcase, only bigger. I understand it is a case to hold mini CD's in. Well, it had outlasted it's usefulness to the previous owner, BUT I simply could not let it go into the trash. Even though I had NO clue what I was going to do with it, I snatched it up, and saved it from a dark and horrifying fate. Have a peek at this beauty, would you have saved it too?





Before I even got it home, I was struck with an idea. I have a ton of trims and ribbons that live in different homes. I believe that they reside in FOUR different places in my crafty stash storage. I knew this briefcase would be the perfect home for all of my ribbons and trims. I was unsure how I would work it out, as many were on spools, but I knew I could work it out if I just gave it some thought.

Think on it, I surely did, and realized I could just wrap my own trims up and call it a day. Knowing this, I launched myself first into cleaning the briefcase. I scrubbed it well, and then I pulled out the half inch foam backing on the inside of the case top. This was out of necessity, I needed more room to house my trims, so the foam simply HAD to go. I didn't like the look of the case underneath that foam, so I covered it with packaging material and some Graphic 45 paper. I want to tell you, that the best adhesive for a project like this, is Fabri Tac from Beacon Adhesives. It works on almost ANYTHING, and has a QUICK "grab", so you don't have to sit there and hold it together forever! Fabri Tac was absolutely my hero on this project!

After the inside was finished, I altered the front with yummy Graphic 45 paper and some Prima flowers. American Crafts Thickers are one of my go-to embellies, so I reached for them too. I used some trim that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about to finish off the look. I was filled with giddiness, knowing that I would NEVER again forget a trim because I couldn't find it. This project was going to make my life SO much easier!

For the trim on the inside, well, I decided it would be fine to cut strips of chipboard, wrap the trim around it, and adhere it with a pin. I got to work, and I had a lot of work to do!




After the trim wrapping work was completed, it was time to load up the briefcase. Everything went in perfectly, and it looked awesome too! The cool thing about this, is that I can EASILY take this along with me to crops and never worry about leaving some trim behind. I just can't believe how wonderful this turned out. Have a peek, and tell me what you think!