Old Box, New Box. How to Jewellery Box with Paper and Podge.

Boxes for Yule... funny story, before you see the pics. I had been working on them secretly for a while, hiding them before pixies arrive home from school. Yesterday, during the day, I left them on the table to dry - and played some online game while they were drying. While playing the game, I looked at the time, realized it was time to get pixies, got ready and LEFT.

While at the school, I remembered they were on the table... So, longish story short...The pixies think I'm making them for ETSY. (They're used to seeing me working on etsy stuff all the time.) So, yay to etsy for saving Yule. hehe.


Here are some pics of the old nasty jewellery boxes that I've revamped and made GORGEOUS. I have a new found appreciation for PODGE. (I didn't buy Mod Podge by name - just some generic stuff from Minds Alive, a local store that specializes in toys and crafts and books, etc, for kids.) These jewellery boxes were those nasty orange-brown, probably from the 80's, that I saved from the thrift store. Nothing wrong with them that I couldn't fix, inside or out!



I did them both at the same time - while paint dried on one, I worked on the other. Same with the paper and the podge. (Podge can be finiky. ) to do both of them, I'm guessing I worked about 20 hours total. (sanding, layers and layers of paint, etc.)


This box is actually a tan colour, but with no sun out this morning to help me take my pics, I'm stuck with the light in my kitchen that makes EVERYTHING look yellow.

What you need:

Old jewellery box!
Sandpaper
Paint
Podge (Glossy)
Scrap booking paper (not cardstock, but not cheap thin paper either.)
Patience!

A light sand of whatever finish the nasty jewellery box has on it, will help adhere paint and papers.

I had to do many layers of paint to cover the dark colour of the jewellery box. I also hand painted everything, to make sure I didnt' make a mess. I did not paint the surfaces that I knew I was going to paper. Let the paint dry between coats. (I just used acrylics.)

Podge the painted surfaces! Be sure to put your brush in water immediately. Podge dries quickly, and it'll take forever for you to clean a dried brush.

The paper application was tricky. You can cut out the shape of the paper beforehand, or trim off the excess after, with a craft knife. Either way, you've got to be fast with the podge. Apply the podge evenly, and somewhat thinly. Press your paper on, starting at one end, moving to the other, to cut down on bubbles. (If there's too much podge, it will bubble, too.) On the big flat surfaces, I used my heavy duty marble rolling pin to help press down. IF your paper bubbles or curves at the edges, get your brush in under there with a bit of podge, and use your clean fingers to press it down.

Give the layer underneath half an hour to dry completely. Lightly sand the edges of the papers. Then, put an even layer of podge on top of the paper, being sure to be gentle with edges but cover all of them.

voila!

Be sure to let every layer you do dry completely before moving on to the next step. To see Podge in action, take a look at this video. (I found it helpful.)

Podge Video

Let me know what you think!