Room Design: "Turn a Ugly Box Into a Pretty Keepsake Box"

This is a box a cake came in last Christmas, I was going to paint a couple of coats of red on it to store my smaller craft items, but never got back to it last year. I had a couple of rusted flower pins that belonged to my mom and a pretty wallpaper border. I gathered things with similar colors to go with them to make a mixed media collage box with special meaning for me to store my craft items.

I started by applying texture to the box with a palette knife, leaving the lid on so the sides wouldn't become too thick for the lid to fit on the box. After getting it all covered, I used food handler gloves to dab it all over. Saran wrap or something similar would also work.

turn a ugly box into a pretty keepsake box, crafts, decoupage, repurposing upcycling

After it dried, I painted on a Valspar sample paint called Garnet Dust. I have several of these Valspar samples, they are inexpensive and come in fun colors. Love the names too. :) When it was dry, I tore pieces of tissue paper and randomly decoupaged them on.

I painted a few paper dollies with a Valspar sample paint called Morning Glow. After they dried, I cut them up and decoupaged them on also. I cut out a piece of the wallpaper border for the lid and some wallpaper hearts and decoupaged them on. I cut a ribbon to make x's and cut out circles from the wallpaper and decoupaged them on for the hugs & kisses symbol.

I wanted my box to have a little more dimension, so I cut off a piece of a mesh bottle sleeve to use as a stencil and applied texture in a few areas. When it was dry, I painted them with a Valspar sample called March breeze. Then I lightly painted over it with the Garnet dust, and then used a silver paint pen to fill the cracks and outline the hearts.

I glued on the jewelry and a few old loose pearls to define the hugs and kisses symbol. I used an ink pad and letter stamps to add words of inspiration for me.

My mom collected antiques, refinished furniture, crafted all the time, and was a devoted diy'er. Hmm, no wonder I don't feel complete unless I'm creating! I can't help it, it's good for my soul! :) I love mixed media art, there are no rules, it's just fun! I hope I've inspired you to make your own mixed media art collage box that has special meaning for you! A couple of close up pic's.