Wedding Day Mementos Box

If you have a close friend or family member who's soon to become a bride, making a one-off wedding mementos box is a wonderful gift idea.

Finding the right box is the hardest part, your local craft store may have something suitable but if not, use your imagination, you may already have something in your own home that you could use for the project.

I made one recently for my cousin from a wooden 'sewing box'  that I found in my local store which was just the right size to keep all those special wedding day items and it had a hinged lid - even better!.  With a few coats of paint and some decorative additions, my little box looked great and was just what I wanted for a personal touch for my cousin.

Below are some photos of the finished box, to be honest they don't do it any justice, its much nicer than it looks in the pics.  Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the photos of the box prior to decoration.

Bye for now

Jewellery Box - Painted & Découpaged

Those of you who follow Funky-Junk on Facebook or Instagram will already have seen the transformation of this little jewellery box but of course I want to make sure that all my blog followers get to see it, so here you go.

As you can see from the pics below (scroll down), it was just plain wood to start and needed a little life added.  I started by painting the exterior all over in beige, two coats of chalk paint did the job and it was ready for découpage. Inside the box I first used a pink paint as a base and then went ahead and découpaged over it with a lovely pink floral napkin by Carolyn Donnelly.

I knew I didn't want the exterior of the box the same as the interior but wasn't sure what look I wanted.  I dug down deep into my stash of napkins (I have hundreds!) and found a lovely one that I had been given as a gift.  As you can see it has a vintage oriental look which really suits the box (I had already used one of these on a plaquette in an earlier post - see it here).  Once I had decided that this was the one, I mixed some green paint to match the colour of the bamboo in the design and used it to paint the sides and the borders.  I didn't think the borders looked good in green so changed them to gold and I'm so happy that I did as I think it really sets off the look.  The flowers on the sides were cut from the napkin and then découpaged on.  I finished it off by sealing it with wax and giving it a good buffing.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions I can be emailed using the form on the right hand side of this page or you can comment below by clicking on the Comment link.

Bedside Locker Upstyle

I was asked to give a new lease of life to a non-wood, 3-drawer bedside locker - I almost refused when I saw the item, thinking there was nothing I could do to make this thing look good but there's nothing like a good challenge so I just had to give it a go.  It's amazing what some paint can do to uplift furniture like this.  It took three coats of Ivory chalk paint that I mixed up myself and a couple of layers of clear wax to give it some lustre and of course seal it.  I painted the knobs in gold as an afterthought - I was going to leave them natural because they were the only real-wood part of it but I thought some shiny gold might enhance the look.  Needless to say this little locker is loved again...

Le Bain Vintage Style Plaquette

A Shabby distressed look for the bathroom, this Plaquette was made using découpage techniques and some hand-painting and stencilling.  Some colour washing and a little dark wax gave it the 'old' look that it has.  I'll be sorry to see this one go...

Festive Swing Tags

I love swing tags - don't ask me why but I just have a liking for them.  You may remember my post last month on the Découpaged Swing Tags that I decorated.  Today though I am going to show you my idea for some smaller sized Christmas themed swing tags which are very easy to do and are a novel way to present your Christmas gifts.

You will need some small swing tags, glue, a small short bristle paint brush, a pencil, and some glitter in a few different colours.

Draw a picture or design on your swing tag, nothing too complicated, the more simple the better.  As you can see from the photo, I drew Christmas trees, baubles and a star on mine - all simple designs. Paint the shape carefully with the glue using the paint brush, making sure to get right to the edges and keeping the outline even.  Sprinkle with the glitter of your choice gently tapping off any excess and leave to dry.  For more precise shapes use a template such as a coin for the bauble outline or you may prefer the more natural look of freehand.  I think they're cute and will look great on this year's Christmas presents!

Découpaged & Painted Trinket Box

I found these little wooden trinket boxes in a local craft store and thought they'd be great for a couple of quick découpage projects.  I used some owl paper napkins that I had been given recently as a gift and I mixed up some acrylics to make the pink colour that I used to paint it with.  On the inside I used acrylics 'linen' with 'gold' around the edges.  The gold was new at the time and I was itching to give it a go, its a great colour for all kinds of projects as it's really 'goldy' - it actually looks like real melted down gold.

I painted the box pink first (two coats) - the great thing about acrylics is they dry really quickly so while the paint was drying I cut out the owls and got my glue ready.  As you can see in the photos I glued the owls over the opening and when dry I used a craft knife to cut along the edge to separate the top and the bottom of the box.  After the inside was painted I couldn't resist painting some gold edging around each owl!!!  A few coats of sealant afterwards and it was finished.

What do you think I should use for my next trinket box?  Let me know by clicking on 'Comment' at the end of this post.