Handmade Jewelry box

For this jewelry box, I started with a box that was packaging for something that came in the mail. I measured the depth of the box, and then used that measurement for a grid I drew on top of the box.

I cut out the center square, and then cut diagonally at the corners. I then folded the remaining cardboard into the box and glued it in place using tacky glue. I then cut out a piece of cardboard to fit in the bottom of the box.  I ripped pages out of an old phone book, and glued them to the box using Mod podge. I did this to reinforce the box and hold all the pieces in place. After the glue dried I painted the entire box with gesso.

I have a lot of paper towels and baby wipes that I have used for soaking up paint in projects that use watered down paint. I save them because they are pretty and strong enough for collage.

I covered the inside and outside of the box with the colored paper towels.

I cut out a piece of canvas board with an exacto knife to use as the lid. I cut it to be a little bit lager then the opening of the box. I covered most of the board with the colored paper towels.

I cut a smaller piece of canvas board to go on top of the lid. I covered the board gesso, and then painted it green.

I painted watered down red paint over the green, then dripped alcohol onto the paint. After the paint dried added some shading. For more information on this technique check out acrylics & alcohol painting. 

I glued the painting on top of the lid using tacky glue.

  I pushed green plastic thumbtacks into the corners of the bottom of the box, and then glued them into place.

I like how the box turned out, so colorful.