Hi, I’m Rumana, a passionate sewing and craft blogger. I discovered the amazing craft world as a university student and now use craft & sewing to de-stress after a long day at work as a GP. I love sharing my passion for crafting through my Instagram and blog, The Little Pomegranate, as well as being a campaigner for increased diversity within the sewing and craft communities.
Today I’m sharing a quick and easy project to add a bit of fun and personality to a wooden suitcase but can be used to upcycle any box. My daughter loves to carry her little soft toys and peg dolls in it.
To make your own, all you need is:
- Any Cricut machine (I’m using the Cricut Joy)
- Permanent vinyl in the colours of your choice (I used colours from the Smart Vinyl in Beachside sampler and Permanent Vinyl in white and brown)
- Box or suitcase
Step 1
Pick a design for your house! There are lots of lovely images on Design Space. Search for ‘Box House Embellishments’ or ‘Sweet Tooth Boxes’. I used the door, window and flowers from #MAEFE875C and the garden bush from #MAEFBFF6C. The cat silhouette I used was #M78F348C. Hide the images that you don’t want to use from the sets.
Play around with the design you want to create. I made a quick template of the suitcase so I could get a better idea of what the finished project would look like.
Tip: For the white door frame I duplicated the door and hid the contours of the glass and the doorknob. I then made it larger so it created the border around the main door.
Step 2
When you’re happy with the design you’ve created click ‘Make it’ and the select the load type (select ‘without mat’ if you’re using Smart Vinyl or ‘on mat’ if you’re using normal vinyl).
Select your material and load it into the machine in the order as instructed by Design Space. Hit ‘go’ and repeat until you’ve cut all the different parts.
Step 3
Gently peel away the vinyl from the mat and prepare for weeding! I like to cut out the pieces to reduce waste when weeding. Keep the offcuts in an envelope for use in other projects.
Step 4
Weed all your pieces by removing the parts of the design that you don’t want.
Step 5
Cut some transfer tape and apply to the top of the vinyl. This will help when it comes to applying the vinyl to the box. You can even reuse the same piece of transfer tape a couple of times.
Step 6
Make sure the surface is clean and measure out where you want to put the door and windows. Once you’re ready, remove the vinyl backing and use the transfer tape to help you position the pieces.
Apply the vinyl, smoothing out any bubbles.
Step 7
Carefully remove the transfer tape and repeat for the other parts of the design until you’re finished!
Admire your little house! I bet you will be tempted to dress up the inside too now!
