I can’t exactly remember how I came by the tackle box that I’m sharing today.

But I’m fairly sure that one of my friends must have found it for me.

I say that because I really don’t think I would have purposely chosen to tackle this one (ha, tackle, tackle box, get it?).

I tend to avoid things with old contact paper stuck to them like that yellow floral stuff in the tray.  This box is also pretty dented and misshapen.  Plus there was some kind of gunk that had totally hardened inside the bottom of the box.  Ewww.

But it was in my stash somehow (I don’t know, maybe I did purchase it myself?), so last fall when I was cleaning up a few other metal boxes out in the yard using the garden hose I added this one to the pile.  First I removed the contact paper, and then I scrubbed it with soap and water.  I then tried to scrape that hardened gunk off the bottom, but it wasn’t going anywhere.  I also tried to sand it down, but it was nearly impossible to get my little palm sander inside the box.

Eventually I just gave up on getting that stuff removed.  I moved on to painting the box with some of Dixie Belle’s B.O.S.S. and then shoved it to the back of the project pile again.

I pulled it back out a couple of weeks ago when I was working on some other Christmas themed items and decided to just see what I could do with it.

I started by painting the inside in Dixie Belle’s English Ivy.

This is such a pretty shade of green, and perfect for Christmas.

Since I couldn’t get the bottom nice and smooth, I opted to line it with some gingham scrapbook paper after I painted it.

I painted the exterior in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once that was dry, I sanded it to distress the edges and then I brought out my transfer scraps to see what would work.

I ended up finding some cursive script that fit the top of the box.  I’m not sure what that was from, but it was most likely a re.design with prima transfer.

Once I had that script in place, I filled in some of the corners with bits and pieces from the Evergreen and Holly transfer from Dixie Belle.

This sweet little red breasted bird fit perfectly on the front of the box.

If you’re someone who pays attention, you might be wondering at this point how I seem to always have more of this transfer even though I’ve mentioned that it’s no longer available.  It was a limited release for Christmas 2022.

Well, as it turned out, one of my local readers purchased it online (you can still find it from various vendors online) and asked me to do a custom lockbox for her.  She had the lockbox, and the transfer, I just painted it up for her.

And as a bonus, she let me keep the remainder of the transfer after finishing her lockbox.

So I do have a bit more of the Evergreen and Holly and I’m rationing it out for a handful of projects.

Now, what would one do with a Christmas tackle box?

I suppose you could put your Christmas card supplies in it.  Is that a bit of a stretch?  Do very many people even do Christmas cards anymore?

What would you do with it?

If you are local and can think of a good purpose, this particular Christmas tackle box is for sale locally.  And I’m pricing it low due to that gunky bottom.  So be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.