So..... At the moment I am working on the "gift treasure box" for my best friends wedding.  For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, now days the bride and groom normally ask for gifts in the form of money or gift vouchers.  Lots of people use either a cardboard box or a wishing well to collect their gifts.  I am making a pirates treasure chest instead as it ties in with the wedding message and theme.

I am going to show you step by step how I made the box.  I will also try and load up a video of me making my second master piece (we will see how it goes!!!) Step 1 Obviously select the box you want to use.  I also decided to add in a 7 Gypsies book door knob so I had my handy husband drill out a bit of my box so that it sat in flush (check out the pic you will see what I mean).

Step 2 Line the box.  I chose coffee coloured brown velvet to line my boxes with.  I felt the black was to stark, and I was aiming for a gold effect (like the glittering gold of treasure). Tips with lining the box.

• line the sides of the box first. Cut the material so that its one big piece that goes all the way around (that way you only have one seam, and if your clever you can make the seam be at a corner)!.  Make sure the piece over laps on the top of the box and the bottom of the box as well.  It makes it much easier sticking the excess velvet to the bottom of the box and then covering it with a piece that fits snug in there, than trying to cut off the excess (trust me I tried to do it the other way first, not easy or successful).

• Line the bottom of the box with a piece that fits in perfectly.  Remember the motto, measure twice cut once to save fabric waste.
• Line the lid of the box.  Do the small side pieces first (same thing, you can stick the overlap to the inside).
• Line the middle of the lid with a piece that fits in perfectly.

Step 3 Paint the box.  With my first attempt at the box I did an undercoat of paint in white, and then two coats of the cream paint.  With the second attempt at the box I am skipping the undercoat as I found when I added the crackle medium I didn't get as much of the "raw" timber look that I wanted.  Bit hard to show in the photo's though. So first coat of paint in the desired colour.  Let it completely dry.  Add the second coat of paint, let it get touch dry and then add the crackle medium if you so choose.  I went with the Jojo's crackle medium.  I found the Tim Holtz crackle paint to difficult to work with on such a large scale, and I couldn't get the colour I really wanted. With the crackle paint the thicker you put it on, the bigger and deeper the cracks will appear.  Do some test patches first so you get the hang of it. Step 4 Decorate / embellish the box!  Now here is the really fun part of the whole box.  Go ahead and embellish it. On my first box I used the colours black and red to tie in with the wedding theme.  I painted the chipboard with Red Making Memories paint, then added Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist (gave it that lovely gold shimmer to it). I painstakingly cut out all of the individual flowers and butterflies on the Christina Re paper that the bride used for the invitations and attached it to the sides of the box. I used black flower ribbon to line the edge of the lid of the box, and all different types of ribbon on the handles to try and reduce the "pirate look" to the box.  And that's it she's all done.  Oh don't forget the handle if you wanted one. With my second box I am decorating it with photo's of the bride and groom.  Hopefully it gives it a bit of a different and more personal touch. All up the box cost about $50 to make the first time.  That included the purchase of the box ($24.95) the paints and glimmer mist, the handle, the velvet and all of the ribbon. Stay tuned, next week I will show you the hen's night album I am working on and the hen's night decorations I put together!