You’ll never guess what materials I used for these marble and wood patterned containers. Can you work it out? Hint: they’re made from what lots of people would consider to be their unwanted leftovers.

Here’s what’s hiding under the pretty packaging… old gift tins!

Whether they were picked out with care or hastily grabbed off a shelf in order to fill someone’s stocking, these gift tins no longer serve a purpose once the holiday treats inside are gone. People hang onto the tins, rightly feeling that they’d be “useful for something”, but they often just gather dust. The branded tins are particularly difficult to reuse.

I decided to class up these tins using woodgrain-patterned contact paper, marble contact paper and gold spray paint. Easy enough to do in an afternoon, and the results are instantaneous!

This project is simple and sweet. Grab some contact paper from the dollar store in the pattern of your choosing, a straight-edge ruler and a utility knife (or scissors). The contact paper even comes with a grid on the back and instructions:

“Measure surface to be covered. Cut to dimensions required allowing overlap of a few centimetres. If surface to cover is large, remove the protective paper from a few centimetres and stick down. Apply carefully, removing gradually the remainder of the protective paper.

Smooth down with the palm of the hand working from the centre to the edges in order to expel any air bubbles. Should any remain, pierce them with a pin and smooth down.”

My local hardware store had a variety of contact paper, but it’s worth having a look on Amazon and eBay too. White marble-patterned paper was surprisingly difficult to find in person, in my experience.

Boom, pretty patterned containers for storing craft supplies. It’s a cheap way to stock up on matching storage bins.

Mix and match colors, try colorblock effects with textures, even stencil lines and shapes. So many options!

I stuck to a dark woodgrain and white marble, with a splash of gold paint for lids and trims. I’m feeling a little bit of a classy midcentury vibe from that palette, as if these containers should be holding cigars and not craft supplies.

You might not be able to afford marble everything in your house, but you’d be surprised at what can be dressed up with a little bit of contact paper.