Hello everyone, today on the blog I will be decorating an old balsa wood box I found at the op-shop a few years ago.
What I use:
Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive, decorative paper (I used C'est La Vie by Couture Creations), scissors, decorative trims and fabric of choice.
The first thing I decided to do was to line the inside of the box. Using some pink satin fabric I cut out a square. To get the right size I measured from the inside centre of the box to the side and up to the lip where the lid will meet, I then added an extra cm to this number. Once this was done I trimmed off the corners 2-3cm and then ironed the fabric.
I wanted a 'ruched' look in my box so I went ahead and added a couple of gathering stitches around the edge of the fabric using my sewing machine, you could also do this by hand sewing, pull up the threads to create the gathered ruched effect.
Place the fabric inside the box (right side up) and adjust the gathers to suit the size of the box.
Using Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive, apply a bead of glue just below the lip where the lid will sit. Press the gathering into place and then continue around until all the fabric has been glued into place. Trim any excess threads once dry.
Next, glue your chosen decorative trim over the top of the gathered edge of the fabric using Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive. I found it easier to apply the glue to the trim for this. Press it firmly into place and allow to dry.
Now that the inside of the box is done I can move onto the outside.
I cut my decorative papers to the correct size to fit my box and then glued it into place securely with Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive. For the top of the lid I chose a contrasting floral paper along with a lovely braided trim for the outside edge of the lid.
For the outside of the box I added a strip of the decorator paper and then some gorgeous glass beaded trim (a recent gift I received). Another lovely braided trim was added to cover the ribbon on the beading and a beautiful jewelled bow was placed to add the final touch. All of this easily adhered with Helmar 450 Quickdry Adhesive.
I thought a couple of extra tiny trims would finish the top edge of the box nicely and there you have it, a pretty decorated box to be used for a special gift. I chose to leave the top unadorned (from dimensional embellishments) as I know the person receiving this box will be placing something on top of it.
I do hope you enjoyed my tutorial today and that you may consider decorating a box yourself, remember, before you know it Christmas will be upon us and having a few boxes pre-decorated may come in very handy for this or for any upcoming Birthdays or special events :)
Take care everyone and thank you for stopping by the Helmar Blog :)
Jeanette xxx
