Cuties Tangerine Peel Boxes

When we went on our honeymoon to Uruguay and Argentina I looked for cute, unique and practical souvenirs to take home. During the end of our trip we went a outdoor market in Buenos Aires and I stumbled upon these orange peel boxes and I loved it! The man also was kind enough to personalize my box with "Buenos Aires, Argentina", using his etching tool. It is super cute, durable, smells good and will be a long lasting souvenir. I wish I had bought more! I was examining it more and it seemed simple enough to make, so I thought I'd give it a try. My first attempt came out okay, but I will need to play around with it more and perfect it. Since the process is a bit more complicated to explain in words, I will be showing you through a picture tutorial. So if the post seems long, hang in there! 

A regular tasty cutie to...

A cute useful box!

Materials
-cutie tangerine
-knife
-4 oz plastic bottle, we bought ours at the REI store, but this one is similar  
-Frappuccino Jar caps, like this one

Directions

1. Cut around the orange horizontally

2. Carefully put your thumb under the skin separating it
from the tangerine and slowly peel it off

3. Remove the top portion of the peel and
do the same for the bottom one

4. Now you have two pieces of peel to mold and shape

5. Take the bottom peel and wrap it around the bottle,
putting the rubber band around the top to keep it from losing its shape.
If you want the box to be straight on top, cut off the rough edges now
because once it hardens it can't be removed without cracking it.

6. Wrap the top peel around the frappuccino cap,
removing any of the edge that hangs over.
Be sure to put something heavy on top of the
top part to ensure it is stays flat.
It will also take 3-4 days to dry and remain hard.

7. Finished product! The cap fits perfectly on top of the bottom

        

*My inspiration! :) I am not sure why the original is so white on the outside and so perfectly shaped and molded, but I think I can achieve that over time and some practicing. I LOVE the cuteness and practicality of this box!