DIY Keepsake Boxes

This post brought to you by FrogTape. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am excited to be participating in the FrogTape's Shape Tape campaign! It's a painter's tape that comes in pre-cut patterns. Currently there are 3 designs: Chevron, Wave, and Scallop. It was hard to choose which one to review as I could think of a million ways to use all of them. I ended up choosing the Wave pattern which I love!

DIY Keepsake Boxes have been on my to-do list for a long time and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make them finally. I had photo boxes on hand that I purchased from Michael's awhile back when they were on sale and had been meaning to personalize them for my kids. Inside each of their boxes I plan to place baby keepsakes and memories: their hospital onesie and hat, their going home outfits, their 1st shoes, hospital mementos, a newborn baby diaper (I can't believe they used to be that small!), and a baby toy among other little things.

Since the wave pattern reminded me of the ocean, I let that inspire my son's box. For my daughter's box, I wanted a girly look. Of course I had to incorporate their handprints in the design!

How to make the ocean-inspired keepsake box

I started with the lid which was already in a dark blue color. If you wanted it to be perfectly spaced, measure and make dots where all the left  edges of the tape will be. Or just eye it. We fit 6 wavy strips total. It comes with instructions/tips on how to use the FrogTape®.

*Notice that each strip starts on the side of the lid, wraps around the top, then ends on the opposite side of the lid. 2 of the sides will have no tape on it.

Decide on a design layout for the box sides. I chose to just do the 2 longs sides with horizontal strips.

IMPORTANT: After all the tape has been placed on, go back over it using something to press over the tops of each piece. Since this is a small project with a smooth surface, I just used my gym card to press it down (at least it was used for something now... LOL!).

Now for the fun part - painting! I used a lighter blue on the lid and a slightly dark blue on the box. Once it was all painted, I went back over everything with a separate coat.

Peel the tape off and set aside to dry. I am happy to say that there was not a single part the leaked under the tape and it made nice, crisp lines.

Next, we added handprint fish using my 6 year olds hands. When that dried, we decorated the fish with stripes and pokadots. I also painted his name using black on the front part of the lid.

He loves how his finished memory box looks!

Tutorial for making the pink keepsake box

This one was a bit tricky to line up just right but I'm glad that I kept at it because the whole family thought it looked awesome when it was finished.

Lightly mark where the centers are on all 4 sides to use as guidelines.

Place the Shape Tape™ on a diagonal - 2 on each corner (1 short and 1 longer piece that should meet up by the pre-marked centers. It should look like a diamond shape in the center when all the tape is in place.

The tricky part is getting the sides of the lid to match since the strips will all want to overlap each other. You will just have to play around with it by cutting off the overhang and taping smaller pieces back on to match the waves.

*Don't forget to press back over it with a library card or something else!

The above photo is what it looks like when the tape is pulled off and the paint had dried.

Next, I made a handprint of my 3 year old in the center of the lid using gray paint.

It still looked a bit plain, so I ended up making tiny dots along the link edges. Underneath her handprint is her name and age (not shown in photo).

I'm happy that I finally have their memory keepsake boxes decorated! I would definitely recommend the FrogTape® Shape Tape™ to anyone looking to make a DIY project or to paint a neat-looking pattern on their walls as I found it easy to use and left perfect, mess-free edges.

A little about this product

FrogTape® is the only painter's tape treated with a patented PaintBlock® Technology which help prevent the paint from bleeding which makes the lines sharp. It's available at participating Lowe's and  Walmart stores plus all Menards across the US.

Stop by their Pinterest account to see more way to use their product in all 3 designs. Or connect with them on Twitter.

Which of the 3 designs (wave, chevron, and scalloped) do you like best? Share what you would make 1st in the comments!