How I Make a Matchbox

#1. Take a regular matchbox

#2. Cut the top part of the shell off

#3. glue the top you cut to the bottom of the matchbox (this makes it more stable)

#4. cut a long piece of paper 1/4 of an inch and glue it around the box (I like to use my Xyron sticker maker)

#5. Paint the matchbox bottom a few coats, once dry, add one or two coats of mod podge

#6. Then cut a strip of paper the length/width (which ever way you look at it) of the matchbox (usually around a little over two inches), I like to use double sided paper, and put tape on the side that will not face out...wrap it around the matchbox and crease it where needed and glue closed tight around the painted insert...

#7. then this is a weird thing but in order for the mod podged to slide well through the matchbox sleeve I add a really small amount of chapstick to the sides and bottom of the painted matchbox bottom... 

I came up with this after I was NOT happy with how the matchbox bottoms were coming out, I think I just could not figure out how to make it stable so this was my fix.

It seems like a lot of steps but I feel the results are worth it!

is that clear as mud?

practice makes perfect!