Happy You Day Floral Treasure Box – Mixed Media Box Using Eileen Hull Treasure Box Die

It’s such a busy month and I have another birthday gift made and ready to go.  I am actually ahead of myself with this one, and have plenty of time to get it wrapped up and posted – yay!  It was actually very easy, as this was my original idea to go with this card, so it was super easy to decorate the box to match this card.  I love this die, it’s so versatile.  It’s a 3D box die from Sizzix called Treasure Box and it was designed by Eileen Hull.

The Finished Box

 

This is the same box as in this post, and as you will see it has a very different look, so you can make it look any way you want.

 

The Start of the Box

First, I used some mat board to die cut all the pieces, then cut the same pieces out of Prima Apricot Honey paper.  It is also possible to glue the paper onto the mat board first, then diecut the pieces that way but I wanted to save paper and also choose specific parts of the design for the lid etc.

Construction

Assembly is very easy, some people use adhesive tape but I find it better to use wet glue, in this case Nuvo Deluxe adhesive.  Once the box was assembled, I glued the paper pieces on to it and left it to dry also.

Decoration

I painted this paper with the same liquid acrylics as the matching card, and then stamped the butterflies and small sentiments on it with black soot archival ink.  Then added some random black and white splatters on it.  Once everything was dry, I went around all the edges of the box and lid, with Finnabair’s icing paste in gold, applying it with a palette knife and rubbing it in with my fingers.  Once all of that was dry again, it was time to add some finishing touches.

Finishing Touches

I painted the inside of the box with Finnabair Enchanted Metallique paint, which is a great pink colour and matches the paper really well.  At this point the box was technically finished and could be left as is, but my plan was to make it match the card, so I used more of the flowers and leaves I made to the top and side of the box, and the box was done! I couldn’t decide between two small flowers on the top or one big one, so I always find taking a quick photo really helps me to decide.

I ended up with one larger flower on the top and two smaller flowers on the side of the box.  There is no photo atm, I think it’s on the other camera, but  I also made some little hinges for this box so the lid opens and closes.  I used the hinge pieces from another die, though this one also comes with hinges and a handle, but I didn’t use them on this project.  I pierced holes through the mat board and used paper fasteners to attach to the box.  That way, if she decides she doesn’t want hinges, they can easily be removed.

Final Thoughts

I LOVE how this box turned out.  Apricot and pink are so not my usual colours but I am feeling very inspired by them at the moment.  I am just mad about this Apricot Honey paper collection from Prima, and love how it looks with pink colours and gold too.

PROJECT RECIPE:
Clear Gesso
Liquid Acrylics – magenta
Distress Archival Ink – Black Soot
Finnabair Stamps
Black and White paint splatters
Metallique Sparks – Unicorn Hair, Enchanted
Mat Board
Prima Apricot Honey Collection
Finnabair Icing Paste
Eileen Hull Treasure Box die
Prima Moulds
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
Handmade flowers using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Bigz die by Sizzix
Gina K cardstock
Distress Inks