This past Christmas, I was packaging my sisters gifts when the idea came to me. I was giving them a cute little cabin that "smoked" out the chimney with scents of winter. Sure, no batteries were required, but matches would be! And wouldn't it be fun to personalize the matchboxes with DIY covers and bundle them with their gifts?
Last year I purchased a scanner for the studio. I use it for professional scanning of artwork and I realized I could scan so much more. I grabbed one of our families beloved dishes and scanned the chintz pattern. (I adore a pretty chintz! I think growing up with these dishes is why.)
I then opened the scanned image in PhotoShop and cropped out bits and pieces, then used that to create a repeat pattern design. I then printed this pattern on standard sheets of 8.5x11 paper, one page for each matchbox.
I purchased large matchboxes at the grocery store and I used a thin double stick tape I had on hand from a drafting store. I measured the width and length I would need to cover the box, leaving one striking strip visible on the matchbox, and cut to fit.
Note: You can find plain white matchboxes online like these from amazon (affiliate link). And you can find other "how to" or DIY instructions for matchbox covers, some even have templates. But I tend to figure it on my own as I did here.
I tied a holiday color ribbon around the box to add a finishing touch and, as they say, "Wah-lah!" I did also pick this dish pattern because it has traditional Christmas colors in it as well.
If you'd like to see the adorable smoking cabin you can find it here on the Camp Wandawega website. I love their gift shop! It is such a fun eclectic mix of nostalgia and vintage and their photos are beautiful! I'd love to visit there some day.
Hope this little tutorial was helpful! Let me know if you have any additional tips or have created your own in the comments below.
