Hi All! Wendy here to share up a FUN FUN & festive holiday gift idea!
Are you lovin' all the fabulous gift & holiday decor ideas that we've shared all week!? LOTS of great inspiration! Handmade gifts are so sweet & special to receive. I know I love to receive them (not that I'm dropping any hints or anything to any gift givers out there - wink wink - but I have been SUPER nice this year).
So, without further ado, let's get started "behind-the-scenes" into the making of my "Magical Memories" Altered Shadow Box.
First of all, I have a craving for all things vintage, old world, antiques, you get the picture....I could literally thrift & vintage shop all day long. So, in saying this, the "25 Days of Christmas" collection so speaks to me in the images, patterns, the beautiful twist & blending of colors is just pure magic, and the matching elements (i.e. stickers, borders, etc.) are the perfect finale to making your project very eclectic & vintage-y (just don't check Webster's on that word, please).
I gathered up a selection of papers from the 6x6 paper pad from "25 Days of Christmas" collection.
Yep, I know you are already drooling over this collection, go get some if you don't already have it but then again you have a chance to win it up (laterz I will tell you about all that....promise).
Next, I gathered some fun embellishments...mini glittered ornaments, mini light bulbs, mini thread spools, mini bows...[hmmm...maybe I should insert here that I love mini things on projects]. Also, some fun bingo numbers, clear acrylic fragments, and the unfinished wood box I found at the local craft store.
Now, the marriage of acrylic paint to the wood box. Gotta' love paint! Paint makes me happy & it turns the ordinary into something kind of extraordinary (all in your opinion, I guess). By the way, I'm not name dropping but I love Liquitex & Golden paints simply because they are better quality (although slightly pricier) but the coverage is beautiful & less water content (so less of that see through effect with cheaper paints). But I'm not knocking cheaper paints, so if you go that route, you will have to paint a few more layers instead of one layer, know what I mean? So, I didn't want to bring out any retaliation on that opinion - wink wink. So, go ahead & paint in all the nooks & crannies (as I call them), even the metal hinges, and just swipe paint all over using a foam brush. You will see later in this post that I didn't paint both sides of the outside cover (not just to save paint, yep, back to the price point...but you will see the rationale later)...
Now your box will look like this when all painted. I left mine to dry overnight. Yes, I get rather messy when painting, scraps of clear paper packs work great for this (like a cheap version of wax paper).
Now the fun begins....or maybe you might see this next step as a puzzle. Now you see above why I didn't paint all the way on one outside cover. The reason I say a "puzzle" because you will need to play around with the variety of sizes of the fragments to fit the size of your box. So, I literally felt like I was putting together a puzzle, but I love puzzles, so it was fun. I chose all my clear fragments first and left them arranged as I wanted them on the cover (and cross fingers you don't shake the table and collapse it all, back at point A, just sayin').
Then, I decided which papers I wanted to highlight behind the acrylic fragments. You can use Glossy Accents (works like a charm & dries super quick, even for me in the South) to adhere the papers to the fragments. Use your scissors to trim excess paper away after dry. Then, adhere with Glossy Accents to the cover.
In a creative perspective, look at all the ways to highlight all the great images in the papers (i.e. clip and think "out-of-the-box")this will add a lot of spice to your project.
Then, I dropped in the mini ornaments, mini bows, those mini bulbs with some red & white baker's twine as the string, mini thread spools (used a cut paper strip from the collection wrapped around one spool). All these bulkier embellishments were adhered with my addiction to Glossy Accents. (Note: Don't be eager to wiggle the mini ornaments & mini light bulbs around to see if they are sticking/dry but allow them to dry completely (recommended overnight to dry). Yes, I confess, I tried it (I had to test...trial & error...it happens.))
On a side note, most of these embellishments I found on clearance aisles at craft stores, non-scrapbook aisles, in my own stash (yep, it's HUGE), vintage stores, yard sales, etc. Re-use & re-purpose.
Here I added in a recent picture taken a few days ago while on vacation to NYC. I loved this display on a building!
Now your altered project is all ready for gift giving (if you can pull it from your clutches).
Or to display on a shelf or above the fireplace at home.
Thanks Simple Stories fan & hope you enjoyed my project!
Simple Stories -
Other -
- Wood Box, Mini Bows, Mini Ornaments - Local Craft Store; Clear Fragments, Bingo Number, Mini Light Bulbs - Advantus - Tim Holtz; Acrylic Paint - Liquitex - Titanium White; Baker's Twine (purchased in Germany); Mini Thread Spools - Maya Road; Glossy Accents - Ranger; Pop Dots - American Crafts.
Don't forget to leave a comment on our blog posts this week for your chance to win a 25 Days of Christmas collection kit. Comments will close TONITEEEEE at midnight and the winner will be announced on Tuesday.
