Labour of love - Memory Box

I spent the weekend making something really different.

Last week at the car boot I bought two of these lovely boxes, I knew they'd be perfect for putting stuff in but wasn't sure I was brave enough to alter them. Anyway thanks to Bowlingbelle who suggested I turn them into Memory boxes that is what I spent my weekend doing and loved it.



I sanded the box down and gave it an undercoat of Gesso, then added layers of pink and purple acrylic paint with baby wipes inside and out, apprently this helps give a distressed look. Next I took some of my favourite Kay & Co papers and tore them sticking them down with Claudine Hellmuth's multi medium (I only had the gloss one and I say had because I've now used it all!), then gave it a coat over the top to seal it. The letters were cut with Cuttlebug alphabet and again sealed with the multi medium.



I didn't like the grooved edges once they were painted as they looked too rough and weren't very easy to sand down so I made some panels and again used the multi medium and Kay & Co papers to cover the side. Added some corners on the lid as a bit of a feature.



Finally, I added the dregs of my Tim Holtz Rock Candy Crackle Paint and inked with Old Paper distress ink and added some embellishments. I just love the TH lock and keys and this was the perfect project to put them on as it means I get to keep them!



I hope you like my box as much as I enjoyed making it. I'm going to keep some of my childrens little treasures in this one and make another to keep all my bits or altered art in.

Thanks for looking and thank you to Viv for the inspiration and advice on making it.