Upcycled Jewelry Box using Graphic 45's Gilded Lily Collection

I was at a local thrift store and found a wooden jewelry box - it had a beautiful shape and black velvet lining, but the wood was terribly scratched - so I decided it was a perfect upcycling project! I took the box apart and primed all the wood sections with gesso and then added white crackle paste. After the crackle paste had dried, I rubbed the box with Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, making sure to get as much in the cracks as I could. Then, I sealed it with Soft Matte Gel so the Distress Ink wouldn't rub off when the box was used. Next came the really fun part - fussy cutting the Gorgeous Gilded Lily papers by Graphic 45 to embellish the jewelry box. For the lid, I have used two gorgeous ladies cut from the Ephemera Cards and the Gilded Lily title from the 8x8 paper. I also used the "Keep Calm and Adjust Your Tiara" tag from the Tags and Pockets. All the papers are edged with the Tattered Rose Distress Ink. I embellished the lid with a floral spray I created using gorgeous paper lilies (of course) and other flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished the embellishing with some flat-back pink pearls and pearl sprays.

Inside the lid was a perfect little recess to allow some more decorating - so I have fussy cut some figures from the 12x12 paper and surrounded them with an abundance of flowers and pearls. I've added in the side pieces from the 8x8 title page above and below the recess and included the "Let Them Eat Cake" quote and a tag from The Tags and Pockets inside it. 

Finally, I used a sheet of 12x12 paper and cut it to fit the bottom of the box and then put the feet back on, adding just a little more beauty to this upcycled jewelry box.

Oh, and in case you're curious - here are some "before" pictures of the jewelry box!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today - hope you enjoyed my upcycle of this jewelry box. It is so much fun to take something old and give it new life!  Happy Crafting!

Upcycled Christmas to Spooky Halloween Village

I have a super fun project to share with you today! I bought a small ceramic Christmas Village for $6 at a local second-hand store and have upcycled it to a Spooky Halloween Village. I LOVE Halloween - its so fun and stress-free and this Halloween Village will be an awesome decoration for years to come! My son LOVES it SO much that when we saw another second-hand Christmas Village the other day, he asked me to get it to make more houses for the Halloween Village (I'm still working on these new pieces)! Here's a Before/After Shot of the Village pieces (sorry the before is a little blurry).

I used lots of Finnabair mediums on this, including Heavy Black Gesso, Heavy White Gesso, Soft Matte Gel Medium and Ebony Glitter. I've also used some acrylic paints in metallic purple and metallic green, as well as some orange sparkle paint. I finished off the houses with some "graveyard moss", foam pumpkins and some painted plastic spiders and mini-skulls. More details and close-ups below!

I started off by painting each of the pieces with a coat of black gesso. Once that had dried, I dry-brushed the pieces with white gesso. I highlighted details on each piece using orange, purple, green, white, and red acrylic paints and added ebony glitter to the roofs using Soft Matte Gel. The Soft Matte Gel was also the best way to apply the graveyard moss. Finally, I added the pumpkins, spiders and skulls using Beacon 3-in-1 glue. Here is a close-up of each piece!

Morgue  (Formerly a Firehouse!)

Haunted House

Deconsecrated Church

Fence and Body Snatchers

Bridge and Headless Horseman

Vampire Carriage

Spooky Halloween Village - with Lights

I hope you had fun seeing my Spooky Halloween Village - I can't wait to add more pieces to it!

Happy Halloween!