How to make boxes from paint swatches

If you've got paint chips sitting around begging to be made into something, try folding them into boxes for paperclips, thumbtacks, party favor candies, or tiny gifts. I made these from Behr swatches, available at Home Depot.

You'll need paint swatches, double-stick tape, an X-acto knife, ruler, and cutting mat.

For the box bottom, cut a 1/2" strip off each of the two rounded ends of the swatch. You should be left with a 5" x 5" square. At a point slightly more than 1 1/2" from one edge—about 1 17/32" if you want to be picky, but I just eyeballed it—score a line with your knife. Repeat on the remaining three sides. These scoring lines are shown as dashed lines above. Then cut out the gray shaded sections. This is what the box bottom should look like:

The box lid is constructed the same way. Trim a swatch down to a 3" x 3" square. At a point slightly less than 1/2" from one edge, score a line with your knife. Repeat on the remaining three sides and cut out the gray shaded sections.

Fold each sheet on the scored lines, bending flaps inward and securing them with double-stick tape.

How to make easy paint chip wall art

If your apartment needs some decorating, you can't draw, and you're broke, consider chopping up paint chips. These are Glidden swatches from Home Depot made into a simple triangle pattern. I put it inside a mat and frame I already had, and it looks fairly respectable. Put anything inside a mat and frame and it will look respectable. Heck, you could frame a crumpled-up Kleenex and somebody will assume it's a very special piece of modern art.

To make this fancy paint chip art, cut swatches into triangles. I found it easiest to trim the swatches into strips first, then cut the angled sides using one triangle as a template.

I laid the shapes out in an arrangement I liked, then transferred them one by one to a sheet of paper cut to the size I needed. I ran the paper through my Xyron machine first to make it sticky, but you could also coat your paper with spray adhesive or attach your pieces with rubber cement or other adhesive.

Trim off any overhanging triangles, put it under glass, and you're done.

Paint chip bookmarks

Looks like I'm on a bookmark kick. We had extra paint swatches lying around because, lo and behold, we painted our guest room orange over the Christmas break. (I'll show you after we get some stuff on the walls.) These paint chips were begging to be spared from the trash. Trim them to a size you like, paste two colors back-to-back with some rubber cement, attach a string or ribbon, and you're golden. They're especially sturdy because the paper stock they're printed on is very tough. Now I have no excuse for using a Kleenex or an extra book as a bookmark.

DIY Pantone chip magnets

I try to keep loose Pantone chips in an envelope for future projects, but these nice colors escaped and attached themselves to my file cabinet.

If you happen to own a Pantone chip book or can beg a few chips from someone you know, here's how to whip up some little candy-like magnets.

Cut small pieces of bookboard or other thick cardboard with an X-acto knife. (Bookboard is likely available at your local art store or PaperSource.) Make the pieces exactly the size of the Pantone chips. Then paint the edges white; I used acrylic paint for this.

Attach the chip to the cardboard. I tried using wet glue, but it made the chip curl. So instead I covered the back of each chip with double-stick tape which worked great.

Then cover the face of the chip with paper glaze. It dries with a clear, raised glass-like surface. There are a few products on the market; I used Aleene's Paper Glaze. Let it dry overnight.

Finally, attach a magnet to the back. I used a roll of self-adhesive magnet material, but you could use something stronger, or cut up those promotional magnets you get sometimes from companies.