I found a photo of some mini office supply matchboxes on kootoyoo, and I was enchanted by them. Maybe it’s the dollhouse miniatures series that Rhonda has been working on, or maybe it’s just because I love little things. I knew I wouldn’t be able to find these products at a store near me, so made my own mini office supply matchboxes. I made four different covers: for rubber bands, thumb tacks, paper clips, and gummed reinforcements. I was inspired by a vintage Dennison Gummed Reinforcements box for the last one. Since I made the covers myself, I’m sharing them with you as a printable (or download it here, alternately) so you can whip these up in a few minutes.
Making mini book covers is addictive! It would be fun to use images of vintage book covers and shrink them down to make a whole bunch of cute matchboxes. I bet this general idea would be a fun one for wedding favors or other types of party favors. Maybe skip the office supplies and stick something else inside the matchbox. (It probably isn’t a good idea to put anything edible in a matchbox that has previously contained matches. If you want to make edible favors, make your own matchboxes.)
Project Materials:
- Matchboxes, pack of 10 is $1
- Glue stick, on hand
- Scissors or craft knife and mat, on hand
- Printable (download here)
- Paper and color printer, on hand
- Office supplies to fill the matchboxes with, on hand
Total: less than $1 for two sets
Printable:>>> DOWNLOAD HERE from Google Docs<<<, or BELOW from Scribd
Matchbox Book Covers Printable
To Make:
1. Print out Matchbox Book Covers printable.
2. Cut book cover images out with a craft knife and cutting mat or scissors.
3. Fold to fit on matchbox. You might need to trim the “book page edge” sides to make them fit well onto the box.
Note: If you want to use these as matchboxes, cut off both book page edges so you leave one working strike strip on the matchbox.
4. Glue to matchbox, smoothing the back of the book cover on first. Then glue the top cover on with top book page edge overlapping over the other.
5. Allow to dry, and then fill matchboxes with corresponding office supplies.
54 Comments
Kirsty
Far out! You don’t do things by halves. I LOVE yours. Sensational job.
Helen
Wow, cute idea. I see this becoming quite addictive, I have so many differnt drawers and boxes with bits and bobs, it would be great to make a little book shelf of matching boxes!
Michelle L.
Heather, these are SO COOL! Cutest little faux books in the world, I love them! Thanks for the gorgeous printable, what a nice gift. Happy Valentine’s Day, you!
rhonda
Heather, these are incredible! LOVE!! :)
TRU @ TRU TALES FEATS
Very cool idea!
rowena___.
heather, these are awesome!!! thank you for sharing the idea and the printables, i am definitely doing this!
MsJoyceG
Thank you .. very useful .. and cute.
Kathy V.
Super cute!
Care
Eeeeek! Adorable!! I love me some TINY stuff! :o)
Mod Podge Amy
These are so awesome! You could use them on those mini-notebooks too, just for an added cute factor.
Emily Joyce
Adorable! I can’t wait to make these. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!
jeanie
SO cute and so kind of you to share….we have a bridal shower for my future daughter in law and my daughter got office for her room so gonna help her make these as the bride is a full time student and would love this. THANKS
=0) jeanie
Karen
I’m visiting from Living Locurto! So cute!! They are simple adorable! – Karen
Niki Turner
Squee!!! These are adorable! Thanks for sharing!
Amy
these are awesome! love, love, love.
Tabitha
These are too adorable! Thanks a whole bunch for sharing. :-)
Peggy
What a great idea! I love using matchboxes as I have an old card catalogue which is used for craft supplies. These will make a great addition.
Paula is QuiteCurious
That is so cute! I love the idea. I could use a mouse-sized library, too.
iHanna
Who doesn’t love mini-books of all kinds? These are so fun, thanks for sharing Heather!
Linda J
Now what a unique idea,, I showed my 16yr old daughter and she said “Phatt, mom too kewl” lol
So we are only hoping our dollar store carries the matchboxs’
Thanks so much for the tutorial as I have four daughters’ and a 15 yr old granddtr that come over on Thursday nights for our craft night, no babies (home with the daddy’s).
This will be our next project if I can find the matchboxes….pics to follow.
beatriz_souza
thanks for sharing, Heather! i’ve used matchboxes as cases for handmade books, specially accordion ones.
tks to yr project, hope i’ll b able to spot those supplies that love to play hide-and-seek in my slightly messy office-studio…;o)
Lee Tucker
Awesome idea! Thanks!
Ruby Murray
The cutest thing ever, who doesn’t love a mini book and totally functional too!
patricia
These are adorable Heather! There are endless possibilities with the titles.
Thanks for the link to my boxes! :)
Sam
thank you! these are darling!
jenny
I tried to download the template, but first I had to give all kinds of access to my facebook account, then they wanted me to pay 5 dollars for a 1 day pass before allowing me to download.
Does this money go to you? If so, then I don’t mind, but I’d rather it be clear that it is a financial transaction, and it is clear that you are selling your art — say through Etsy or eBay.
heather
@Jenny, no you shouldn’t have to pay to have access. It sounds like they were trying to sell premium access to you (there should have been a “no, just take me to the download button” option. But I agree, that’s annoying. I’ll try to see if there is a better way to host the download. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for taking time to leave feedback about the process.
Helen
Hi Heather
These are so cute and I would love to do this. I do have the same issue that Jenny has. Is there any way to do this? I would be happy to provide the money to you as it was you who put in all the effort. But from what the site was saying that does not seem to be the case. Could you email it and I paypal the money to you?
heather
You can upload a document to share with the world for free access to Scribd. So maybe just make a doc that says “hi world,” upload it, and then get your free download. :)
Tyna Ashley-Miller
I need some of these regular old staple matchboxes like you show with the dollar store kit. Do you sell them?
The regular Diamond slider box with one side for lighting/scratchiing if desired. I have not found these in your store.
Where can I go to find the boxes that hold 32 matches each, are small and resemble or are the same, old matchboxes of this brand of yore?
Tyna
heather
@Tyna, I just write this blog – I don’t have a store. But you can find these small matchboxes at Dollar Tree in the kitchen section. You should also be able to find them in a regular grocery store too!
Cindy
I love these boxes and I just printed them out. For Christmas this year I made an advent calendar with small decorated matchboxes. When my daughter was young I had ordered something similar from Current (many years ago). Each box contained a small ornament that you put on a miniature tree. She had adored it as a child and asked me to recreate one for her. I can send pictures but I am not sure how to attach to this, let me know and I will.
Tyna Ashley-Miller
please send information about matchbook book covers
de
I love this idea. One of my chidden is raising money in an online store to pay adoption fees for an Ethiopian orphan. Is it okay to use this idea to raise money to get my grandchild home? She of course would cite your blog on the listing!
Loving Liberty Jewelry
Ohhhhhh are so adorable! I love books too! What a neat idea for the top of your desk! I’m in love!
freebird7100
I love this idea & would love to download the matchbox pattern but I would have to pay for it. So I wont be getting them, still a cute idea!
Tiffany
So cute! I love the organizational aspect of it. I think I’m going to adapt it into memory books. I sometimes do memory ornaments, where I put something like sand, some seashells, and a beach picture in an ornament to hang. But that could easily be adapted to this book idea, for those book lovers (like me). Thank you so much for sharing this!
Peggy
Truly love these and wish I could do them. however I have never ever had any complaints before at this site but now I must do some fussing. I love this tutorial but the download site will not let me download the printables unless I subscribe and pay a fee. I am really upset with this idea. Is there any other way to download the printable??? Thanks for listening.
heather
@Peggy, Sorry we are looking for a better way to provide the printable, but for now, the way to get around paying the fee is to sign up, and then upload your own document to Scribd. They will then allow you to download for free. I suggest typing a short sentence into a document and then uploading it.
Peggy
Thanks so very much for your reply Ms Heather. I went and bought matchboxes anyway, and my covers are printing!!!! I bless the day I found this site – have already decided on about 10 projects to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas……. Have a wonderful day and thanks again…….. Peg (dmommaj)
Natalia
Hi,
I’ve been trying to download your matchboxes butt when I go to Scribd, they ask me to pay to download. Is there any other way I can download these? Or am I suppose to pay?
Sry to bother. Thanks a lot! :P
heather
@Natalia, you can download them for free on Scribd, but they make you upload a document first to have access to free downloads. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we don’t have a better way right now.
Rosie
These are so sweet! Just adorable :) Thank you so much for sharing, what a perfect way to store paperclips and other small desk items, hugs x