Sunday, January 2, 2011

Odds and Ends

Disclaimer - No punch art today

But if you come just 'cause you like me and my blather, I do have something else to show you.

I mentioned that I "saved" my hubby a bunch of money at a 40% OFF sale.  This box is one of the things I got


It started out as a plain white shiny box and in just one afternoon I got it all "fancy" and cute for my desk to fill with odds and ends.

VERY little of this is SU product - but I wanted to use up some "other stuff" and I wanted to use something that I wasn't tired of seeing all the time - so I dug down in the stash a few inches (or feet or yards - I'm not telling how deep the stash really is)

One of the things I like best about SU is the coordination of colors - if you have paper - you have ink that will coordinate.  So this little box was a little more work than I'm used to - and a little frustrating at times but that just made me use my thinking cap.

Three of the papers I used were part of a line of paper so they coordinate but the frogs, the red flower and the brown dots were just odd bits that I added in.  Pretty brave of me and I'm very happy with the result.

I used up some retired chipboard pieces to frame some of the handles and I used a BIG piece on the back
Don't ask me what happened to the color  - my daughters are not jaundiced at this point in time - and I didn't change the lighting from the first pictures (haunted camera, I guess).  That chipboard heart is hiding the seam in the paper where I had to piece things - there is another piece point but it wasn't as obvious so I left it.

I left the "top" open on the back so I can swap out photos if I want to.

Here are some tips if you ever decide to tackle covering a similar box:

It was GLARING white so I tried to ink the "edges" to distress them.  Ink didn't "stick" to the gloss - so I got out my sanding block and roughed up the shine and sponged on some ink BEFORE I covered it in paper.

Go for a distressed look because it hides your boo boos

To attach the paper - I cut then applied mod podge (matte finish) to the back of the paper with a foam brush (1 inch wide throw away kind).  Start in the middle and brush out to the edges.  Stick onto the box and you have a few seconds to "move" the paper to the correct spot.  Then take your bone folder on its side and burnish your paper down.

Now I need to go fill up the drawers with all my little embellishments that I forget about and start using them!

8 comments:

Gaby said...

What a lovely box. You did a great job.

Queenie Jeannie said...

Really neat project!!

Laura said...

Cute project. Gives me inspiration. I 'saved' some money on boxes at after Christmas sales with the intent of altering too. Hope mine turn out as nice as yours. Happy New Year!

Joanie said...

Great inspiration for someone who is decorating a craft room and doesn't want to "junk" it up!
I'm on it!

slbt17 said...

very nice! I am always challenged by coordinating non su paper as well ...
Sandra ltb

Jessica said...

Great projects! I can never think of doing this sort of thing however I have a friend that is really good with it :-) By the way, when my camera starts taking orange photos, it usually means the batteries need to be changed. Works every time!!

Anonymous said...

Really gorgeous, Ellen -- love it!! ~Debbie

Lori B said...

Love the non-stamping items! Great job, thanks for sharing!