Ahchoooooooo! Tissue Holder Tutorial

There is nothing as mundane as Kleenex...HOWEVER, when you need one, there is nothing quite as dutiful and tidy. I don't know the inventor of the "tissue" but I bet his family is one happy group!! Below is my finished tissue cover ...below that is the picture of the "frumpy before cover."

I don't have a large vanity in my bathroom, but too much clutter can accumulate quickly and I am always on the lookout for ways to make it tidier. I use a square tissue holder and it was a bit frumpy. It matched my McCarty and Peters Pottery, but it was just so so.


Above you will see the original box. I painted it to match the pottery. A metal box would scratch my counter top, therefore, a lighter box was needed. So began the tissue holder search quest. Finally after weeks of looking, I decided to order a paper mache box and make my own. When it arrived I bought scrapbook paper and no matter what I bought, nothing looked promising...until one day I was in Wal Mart buying tissue and I spied this box full of kleenex!

I loved the clean cheerful lines and the only thing wrong was that it was a box and not a cover FOR the box. So as soon as I used all the tissues, I carefully cut it apart and my plan was set in motion.


First I gathered my supplies: scissors, Gesso, box cover, paint and you know....MOD PODGE!! I kept the box for color reference and photocopied several copies of the sides of the box.

Paint selection was more difficult. The exact color I was aiming for matched my pottery and it's a weird combination of brown, blue and green. I bought 5 new bottles of acrylic paint to do the Matching Part of the process.

Before mixing paint, I used Gesso to cover the brown box and give the paint some tooth on which to hold. It took two coats of Gesso.

Above are some of the colors I used to come up with the secret color! I had to use Blending Gel to give the acrylic paint longer drying time. The mixing and matching took quite awhile, but I finally managed to hit it close enough.

I started with two colors and mixed in the others until I was satisfied. The entire process from start to finish took about 3 hours. Below is the finished product. I cut out and used some of the photocopied images, painted shadows and finished the whole thing with MOD PODGE. It looks really cute in the bathroom and I am very happy with it...if I get tired of it...I'll just paint over it and do something different!


Inspiration is everywhere...even on the tissue aisle at Wal Mart!! AND McDonald's...several years ago I was about to throw away a paper cup that McDonald's used at Christmas for their drinks. Just as I was tossing, I caught myself and pulled the cup back to see the most precious silhouette of a little boy and girl.

I brought the cup right in, scrubbed it, dried it, cut it down the seam and filed it away. Someday I'd use it. I needed a small picture to display at Christmas one year, and so out came the cup and below is the result.

(Sorry about the reflection on the glass). I had the picture enlarged on a copier, traced it onto cream paper and pen and inked the silhouette. Reminds me of my grandchildren!

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Blessings and Joy to you,