Summer is officially over - so now 5 or 6 months of wet, dreary days. There is only one good thing to be said of it - oh no, sorry - two! One is that you don't need to shovel the rain and two is that those long dreary days allow time for scrapping!
So, this week I got right at it.
A while ago I bought a couple of the new matchboxes from Graphic 45. I got the 8X8 size and they sat in my room until inspiration hit. Originally I was going to make a mini album and box. But then the more I looked at them the more I thought that I just wanted to let the box shine on it's own.
So, I made one into a keepsake/memory box. A place to keep all your photos and treasures. And seeing how this special box would appeal mostly to women what better paper to use than G45 'A Ladies Diary'.
A vintage keepsake box with vintage looking paper - perfect!
Now that inspiration hit it was time to get started!
I started by painting the box inside and out with a soft seafoam green acrylic paint. Next I covered all sides, the top, bottom, inside and out in paper. I always wanted a brayer (you know one of those rubber ink roller thingys) so last week I bought one for no particular reason. But I must say did it ever come in handy - I brushed the back of the paper with glue then rolled it on to make it nice and smooth! It reminded me of my old wallpaper days - lol.
Next I added a 6X6 sheet of hard acrylic over the window opening of the box - afterall you don't want all your treasures to fall out! I added green trim and black ribbon to cover the edges. Then I used my go-to ink - my trusty Tim Holtz 'Antique Linen' Distress ink to give it that old, vintage look.
Now it was time to decorate - or so I thought!!
It seemed that with the paint and paper the box didn't want to slide out very easily like a matchbox should.
So, I decided to cut the left side of the cover and attach G45 metal hinges so it could easily open and close. I glued the other sides of the top to the bottom making it one piece and double in strength then added cotton tape to the edges and painted over it.
I wish I took photos along the way to share with you but I was too busy concentrating on what to do - lol!
(I can only concentrate on one thing at a time - comes with age - you'll see!)
NOW it was time to decorate!
First I used a laser cut dressform die from Petaloo and made a vintage style party dress with both green and black tulle. Black satin ribbon was tied around the waist with a pretty Prima flower added. A few black pearl sequins were scattered about to give the skirt some bling. Stickles were used to add some sparkle to the necklace.
On the right hand corner a cluster of Prima flowers winds its way up the side with bits of leaves, butterflies, chipboard and a stickpin all tucked in.
On the top right the flowers continue to climb with a vintage stamp, leaves, ribbon and butterflies.
On the top left is a pretty handmade butterfly with more chipboard from A Ladies Diary.
As I mentioned it opens from the top so some of the embellies could be seen on the back of the acrylic window. So I added more chipboard and flowers to the inside in order to cover some of it up.
Oops - sorry about the lightbox showing - I added the fotofuzed photo below from my Etsy listing - now it's a better image but too small!
Oh well, you get the idea!
Next are photos of the metal hinges and the metal label holder that I added to the right side.
The bottom looks like this.
And we're done!
This is a great keepsake box that any special lady from young to old would love.
It makes a great gift for birthdays or Christmas (hint, hint) and is available in my Etsy Shop.
(another hint) ;)
(another hint) ;)
So now I need to clean my scraproom then tomorrow it's off to join a friend for lunch then hopefully a visit with my adorable grandson.
Have a Great Week!
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