DIY Trinket Boxes

If you've seen my post on making picture frames, you know that I love working with paper and wood. In addition to making the frames, I also like to make little trinket boxes to display around my apartment. They take a bit more time than the frames do, but they are really fun to make and also make great gifts! I wanted to show you two boxes that I made for myself and let you know what steps I took to create them.

What you need...

• wood boxes of any size (you can find these at any craft store or at Sunshine Crafts online)
• pretty scrapbook paper
• paper art (I use these Artsy Collage image books but the possibilities are endless) 
• Mod Podge
• decorative bits like rhinestones, sequins & little adhesive flowers
• hot glue gun
• glue dots
  

What to do... 

1. Carefully cut out pieces of solid scrapbook paper to fit the sides and top of your box. Make sure to cut a little space to make room where the clasp and hinges will be. It takes practice to get the edges to lay completely flat and line up perfectly with the box. Glue paper to box using Mod Podge. Allow the paper to dry for about 10 minutes before continuing.
2. Using paper art images or text, decorate your box how you see fit. You can tear them out or cut them out neatly depending on your preference. Adhere using Mod Podge if you want them to lay perfectly flat. Then paint over the entire box using Mod Podge to seal the images in (I did this in my Alice box below.)
3. If you want the images to pop out a bit like they do in my blue box below, adhere them using glue dots. Do not paint over the box in Mod Podge. 
4. If you'd like to add rhinestones or sequins, glue them on using a hot glue gun.
5. Let dry for a few hours and then enjoy! :)

One of my favorite boxes that I've made to date is this Alice in Wonderland box. Alice has always been one of my favorite books and movies since I was a kid! In addition to using paper and images from the Artsy Collage books, I also used images and text from a paperback copy of Alice in Wonderland and I was really pleased with the final result.

(click all to enlarge)

Another box I made was this pretty little blue box that I decorated with images of my favorite things - peacock feathers, stars, a perfume bottle, a hot air balloon, flowers and a fairy. I basically just picked pictures of things I liked and stuck them on! :) I used glue dots to make the images pop out a bit from the blue background. Because I wanted it to be 3-D and didn't paint over it using Mod Podge, the edges look a bit rougher than the Alice box. It's not quite as perfect, but I love it all the same!

(click all to enlarge)