Jewelry Box

I admit it. I have a slight obsession with small containers. I love collecting them, decorating them, and giving them as gifts. They’re great for tucking small pieces of candy in as a little pick-me-up for a friend or as an inexpensive teacher gift, and they have the added appeal of being creatively handcrafted. I also have an affinity for creating flowers out of paper, and this little project combines both into one darling little jewelry box.

Supplies:

Matchbox Template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff
Girlfriends digital kit by Sugarplum Paperie and Mari Koegelenberg
blank cardstock (I used white, you can use any color that strikes your fancy and coordinates with your papers)
adhesives (I used Helmar adhesives for this project because they sent me a big box of adhesives to play with! 450 quick dry adhesive, Helmar Scrap Dots, and quick fix adhesive runner)
Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies, Labels 4 in the largest and 2nd-largest sizes
The Paper Studio adhesive mosaic tiles and pearls
Recollections rhinestone swirl
scoring tool, I use Martha Stewart scoring score board & envelope tool
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
scissors

Now it’s time to make our box!

Print two box templates onto blank cardstock. You can use the lines only .pdf file that comes in the matchbox template pack, since you aren’t clipping papers to it. I wanted a small box so I used the smaller of the two templates.

Print the papers you’ll need to cover your box. You need a paper for the bottom, two for the top, one to wrap around the sides (this measures 8.125″ x 2.375″), and four to cover the drawer fronts.

Cut and score the boxes and assemble them.

Place Helmar Quick Fix adhesive on the bottom of one box and attach it to the top of the other box. Remove the drawer so you can apply firm pressure to both sides to make sure they stick together.

Cut and score your box wrap. I scored my paper at 3″ and 5″. Apply adhesive on both sides, but do NOT apply adhesive on the back. Otherwise, your drawers will get stuck and you won’t be able to open them.

Cut out and adhere your box fronts using Helmar 450 Quick Dry adhesive. This is a wet adhesive and I tend to shy away from all things wet when it comes to paper, and especially inkjet-printed paper, but I really liked using this adhesive. Because it’s wet, you have a few moments to slide your paper around to the exact spot. But it dries clear and quickly so you’re not stuck holding the papers together for very long.

Place your mosaic tiles on the front of the drawers to act as drawer pulls. I doubled up on the tiles so they’d stick out a little further and be easier to grasp. You may want to reinforce the adhesive by adding a little of the 450 quick dry adhesive to the backs of them. It’s easiest to attach the fronts and the tiles if you remove the drawers from the cases.

Use the largest Nestabilities Labels 4 die to cut a top and a bottom for the box. Use the second-largest die to cut the second layer for the top. Apply the 450 Quick Dry adhesive to the bottom of the box and set it on top of the bottom piece that you cut out using your die. Apply pressure to the bottom by removing the drawer and pressing down.

Now do the same for the top, but make sure you put the bottom, unprinted part of your paper on the top of the box where the adhesive is, so that the pretty printed part shows on top! Yep, guess what I did at first! Thankfully I needed adhesive on the top to place the second, smaller label shape on top of the larger piece, so it wasn’t a major catastrophe.

Now cut out your flowers. I had three different sizes of flowers and two of each size. I cut them all out, and then pierced the center of each one using a paper piercer and piece of thick corkboard.

Then I used a small brad to attach the flowers to each other.

Remember what I said about shying away from using liquid on paper and inkjet-printed paper? The next step always makes me a little nervous, but I promise it turns out ok. I spritzed the top and bottom of the flower with one little spray of water from a water bottle. Then I folded up each layer of petals and crumpled it up.

I could have left it like that, but I wanted a more relaxed flower so I pulled each layer back down.Then I applied the pearls in the center of the flower. It probably would have been easier to place the pearls before I crumpled the flower, but I wasn’t thinking ahead right then.

Now it’s time to embellish the top of the box. Apply your rhinestone swirl to the front-of-center, using your unadhered flower as a guide. Once that’s in place, attach your flower using Helmar liquid scrap dots. This is another wet adhesive, so it’s nice to be able to slide the flower around a little bit to get the perfect position. Now adhere a pearl to either end of the box.

Fill the drawers with candies or other goodies and you have a great little gift!

Jewelry Box

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