Polka dot border tip

When I'm painting boxes I find they don't look finished until I've decorated the edge of the lid with dots. Here is my favourite technique: Tear a strip of newspaper (about 3x the thickness of the lid edge) and, using a simple office hole-punch, punch holes along it in as uniform a fashion as possible.

Place the strip along the edge and secure with masking tape. Because it is newspaper it is really flexible and you can crinkle it up inside the lid so it is extra secure.

I use a colour slightly lighter than the main colour of the box to dab over the stencil. It's good to use a really dry brush or sponge and a really small amount of paint. You can take the stencil off and re-use it but it goes soggy after a couple of uses so for a large box I make a couple of strips.