10 Craft Ideas Using Shoeboxes

 Let's unbox your creativity! 10 Craft Ideas Using Shoe Boxes That Will Blow Your Mind! I orignally published this on 8/18/17.

Howdy crafters! I have compiled some of the best craft ideas using shoe boxes – once you wrap your eyes around this you’ll never toss another shoe box out again, not even in the recycling bin!

There are so many things to make out of shoe boxes and in addition, all you need are a few extra tools (Don’t worry, I’m talking about everyday items such as scissors, an X-acto knife for trimming and cutting, paints, tape, etc. )

So get ready to think outside the box (you knew that was coming!)

Diorama or Shadow Box

Think you’re too old for making dioramas? Think again, you don’t have to be back in grade school to enjoy this one! This below is a great example you can make yours as elaborate as you want of whatever scale replica. Be sure and paint the outside of the box since it’s probably got writing on it, as I did.

This project above was so much fun! I used dollhouse furniture, a polymer clay sculpture I made a long time ago, and a bunch of fashion doll shoes. It probably took me a week with all the little intricacies, but dioramas are one of the best shoe box craft ideas I know of; kinda makes you reminisce about your first science fair project.

Shoebox Light up Display

If you are good with tools I highly suggest this; I did this once using midget Christmas lights, I cut out the design ( I had to be careful using a X acto knife) and cellophane over this part so the light when plugged in will really glow. Check out my tutorial here to learn how I put this puppy together!

Maybe you could do likewise with a marquee style, which might take more meticulousness with the knife but the end result would really shine!

Tip: If you’ve ever bought athletic shoes lately, the bigger boxes they come in are the best size to work with!

Make a Dollhouse From Multiple Shoe Boxes!

I found this little gem inside a book I had growing up that was a kids’ craft collection. It proposed a dollhouse made out of multiple shoeboxes. If you have a little girl clamoring for a dollhouse of her own, well this is one awesome idea that will be fun for you both and pennies for you instead of an already put together one.

With a sizable enough collection you can stack them together and create a dollhouse that Barbie will feel right at home in! Or you can make it into a condo or high rise, your call. Each shoe box represents a room, a garage, patio, etc. when secured together with glue or tape the sky will be the limit.

With the addition of some dollhouse furniture you’ll be sitting pretty. Don’t forget to paint your dollhouse too before you start “moving in” little furniture!

Make a Gift Box

Once I participated in a church sponsored Christmas gift event in which needy children would be the lucky recipients of a shoe box filled with goodies. If there’s a reason to keep a shoe box for a special use, this would be it!

If such an event is not in your vicinity this is still a great idea for a present to give to a child, relative or friend. Make sure you wrap the outside of the box with pretty Christmas paper for the presentation part of it.

( I think the event I mentioned is called “Operation Christmas Child” , Google it sometime and you’ll get all the details.)

An Old Shoebox Can Be Re-Purposed Into a Soap Mold!

Yep, who would have thought? Are you a handmade soap hobbyist, but not yet ready to spring for a more “professional” mold now, or are you looking for a great re-purposing solution when you may be making larger batches? Well a few ordinary shoeboxes could very well be the answer you’re looking for!

Be sure to line the inside of your boxes with freezer or parchment paper before you pour in your mixture so it doesn’t stick, as well as the obvious reason that shoeboxes can be porous, and you certainly want to leak-proof the corner seams.

Image credit: Image above courtesy of Soap Queen

Make a Storage Box to Organize Things

This one is pretty much idiot proof, one of the easiest crafts to make with shoe boxes is a nice little organization system for all your trinkets or mementos. Grab a roll or duct tape in pretty patterns or colors and just go to town! Or you could use some fabric too to line the outside.

This is a box I made with foil tape to keep my photo collection together. If you want to make more than one it might be a good idea to make labels for them so you know which one holds what.

Another thing you could do is create a divider to go into the box to separate all your things; if you have some spare cardboard from something else it will do fine.

There are other fun crafts to make with shoe boxes that I can’t totally take the credit for – they were discovered through additional research. I want to include them here for your enlightenment. Enjoy!

Make a Simple Shoebox Smartphone Projector!

For this you’ll also need a magnifying glass and a piece of heavy cardboard or foam; it’s a fun way to view videos and such and doesn’t look too labor intensive but you will need some extra tools for cutting accurately.  More details on the how and why this works can be found in this article. The author will show you all the how-to’s to do this.

Makeshift Shelves and Frames

This would be a fun way to display your special treasures in a safe place, also consider putting two of them together! You can paint them both the sane color or different ones too.

Make a shoe box into a picture frame using only the lid. You can use this method for photos or artwork and paint the border around the picture your favorite color, or use tape, your call.

I really liked this idea and you can get the full scoop on how I implemented it here. I enjoyed this much better than hunting around for a cheap plastic frame from the dollar store when I could do this! If you turn it inside out you may need to create a hanger for it but if you go inside in it could probably hang easily on wherever you plan to hang it.

While we’re kind of on the subject, why not hang up your finished diorama?

Make a Ribbon or Tape Organizer

If you’ve got an oversupply of ribbons or tape, this is an awesome way to get it under control! Just a box and a handful of dowels or pencils is needed, of course don’t forget to decorate the box outside too.

If you have a more narrow box you may only be able to get one row with one dowel rod to line up all the spools on, like this one below. Another option, especially for a bigger box is to line up each roll horizontally with might take about 4-5 rows. Looks sharp!

TOO Cute…A Foosball game in a Box…

And looks like I saved the best for last….What do you think of this? I can’t remember if I’ve ever played foosball or not, but this shoebox version is pure genius…she used wooden dowel and clothespins to represent the kickers, the design is pretty similar to the organizer above.

And it really works too; this would be a great project for kids’ parties too!

Unbox Your Creativity!

I know this is not an exhaustive list, these are some of the best craft ideas using shoe boxes that you can follow along. .Fairly easy to make and will look so cool in your environment. Next go around with a shoebox…fill it up, dress it up, paint or tape it up, just don’t toss it out, it has so many purposeful uses!