Hand Painted Wedding Card Box from Frozen Treasure Chest - Tutorial

This is a Frozen cardboard treasure chest that I painted into a custom card box for my wedding.

I have a Fall-themed wedding so these colours will fit right in.  Also, this image matches my wedding card image perfectly.

If the back of the box faces the guests on the sign-in table (so that the receptionists can put the cards in), then you would see this lovely heart-shaped leaf branch with falling leaves.

I needed a cardbox for my wedding that could close securely, was big enough for cards (but not TOO big), was easy to lug around, and that looked great.  Ideally, I wanted it to match my wedding decor.  I looked at lots of different boxes for sale online, but nothing really matched.  

However, one day, I found this nifty cardboard treasure chest for sale at Michaels.  It's a Frozen-themed Anna box and it's the perfect size.  I think it was about $15 after a discount coupon.  However, I didn't want Anna being the star of the wedding.  The solution was to cover the box Modge-Podge style or to re-paint it.  I chose to repaint mine over only some of the box images.

If you want to know how to do something similar for your wedding.  Here's how I repainted my box.

Materials needed

- acrylic paint

- watercolour paint

- clear, glossy outdoor sealant

- paint brushes

- water and container

- painting palette

- black sharpie markers

Before you begin, protect the cord straps.  Open the box, and pull them into the box.

Use small strips of paper to wrap around the cords.  Tape the paper closed.  Pull/stuff the paper into the holes so that the exposed cord is completely covered. 

Grab a reference image and have it handy beside you.  I printed out an enlarged image of my wedding card image and had an extra copy of my wedding cards beside me.  

Use a black sharpie marker to start drawing your image onto the box.  You may find that your sharpie marker doesn't like the coating of the box and may die out quickly.  So have a few extra markers handy.

Make sure to cover up all the images on the box that you don't want - sorry, Anna! 

Make sure to extend your image all over the box so that your guests will have something to look at from all angles.  Or you may want to do this for your own enjoyment since you can use the box for something else later on.  Maybe to keep your wedding trinkets! 

When you are finished drawing, you are ready to start painting! 

I did not have a lot of acrylic paint available, but I did happen to have all of my old watercolour paints from elementary school!  Because of this, I was able to mix acrylic paint with watercolour paint (and water) in order to get all the colours that I wanted.  The most important acrylic colours for me were white, red, and gold.  I mixed red paint with red watercolour paints to get different shades of red, and I mixed white with orange and yellow to get the different shades of yellow and orange.  It is important to mix acrylic paint with the watercolour because watercolour by itself is too transparent to cover the images on the box well.  Also, acrylic paint sticks onto surfaces better. 

I filled in all the darkest red areas first. 

Then I painted in my orange and yellow areas. 

As the first areas dried, I added on additional layers of paint to make it more opaque. 

I started to create a gradient on some of leaves so the bottom tips were yellow and blended up into orange and red at the tops. 

More blending 

Smoothing out the blending.  At this point, I let the whole thing dry through dinner.  Before I went to bed, I painted over the images with glossy sealant.  Be very careful when you paint the sealant.  The paint may rip off if you paint over areas repetitively or with too hard pressure.  Use a soft flat brush and paint a generous coat of sealant in smooth, gentle single strokes.  Get rid of bubbles by blowing on them so they pop.

The next day, I painted over the entire image again.  You can see that the colours are now much brighter because it is layered over the original paint layer.  The sealant you painted on the night before will hold the original layer in place so that it doesn't rip off when you paint onto it. 

I added highlight spots onto each leaf, and used a sharpie marker to darken up all the lines that were either too light before, or accidentally got painted over. 

I let it dry again over dinner and painted a glossy sealant over the paint before I went to bed. 

Next morning, I'm ready to paint the tree details. 

I used pure gold acrylic paint for the heart with M+V and mixed acrylic gold paint with brown watercolour paint to create more subtle gold highlights on the bark.  As you can see, the end result is quite pleasing. Finally, I mixed red acrylic paint with purple to get a very similar colour to the box and painted over any bits of Anna still remaining on the box around the tree and elsewhere on the box.  I chose to leave "Radiant Heart" on my box.  It seemed to fit in okay with a wedding theme.

Touch up any other paint areas on your image, darken the sharpie lines as needed, and then coat the box with sealant again.  Dry and then re-coat as needed to get a nice, glossy surface all over the box.

My box is done now, and I like it very much.  I hope you will be happy with your card box too if you are making one!

Good luck, and Happy Wedding Planning!

Update: Some of the paint started to flake off when the temperature changed when we took it outside to the wedding venue.  In hindsight, I should have primed the surface of the box using fine sandpaper to make the surface rough so that paint would adhere more securely to it.  Most of the paint stayed on so it I was able to cover any bad areas with a glued on paper leaf just before the wedding - phewf!

Good Boutonniere Tutorials

Here's a collection of good tutorials on how to make a boutonniere that I found.

Tutorial: How To Make A Corsage Like A Pro

http://lovelycraftyhome.com/2012/03/27/tutorial-how-to-make-a-corsage-like-a-pro/

DIY SUCCULENT BOUTONNIERES + HOW-TO WIRE SUCCULENTS FOR ARRANGEMENTS

http://creaturecomfortsblog.com/home/2014/06/04/diy-succulent-boutonnieres-and-how-to-wire-succulents-for-arrangements.html

How to make a Boutonniere

http://www.satinandsnow.com/blog/howtomakeaboutonniere

21 Cool Boutonnieres for Dapper Dudes

http://www.brit.co/cool-boutonnieres/

How To: Make a Boutonniere

http://trishasfreshflowers.com/how-to-make-a-boutonniere/

how to make a boutonniere

http://petalfloraldesign.com/featured/make-boutonniere-meg-simone-wedding-films/

How To Make Your Own Succulent Corsage

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeeddiy/how-to-make-your-own-succulent-corsage#.ot5rmM769

DIY FARMER’S MARKET BOUTONNIERE

http://www.womangettingmarried.com/diy-boutonniere/

DIY Boutonniere - Purple Delphinum

http://gardenpartyflowers.ca/diy-boutonniere-purple-delphinium/

Let me know if these work for you!

Take care and Happy Wedding Planning!

DIY Water Distressed Paper Flowers Tutorial

I have been exploring ideas on how to save money on flowers for my wedding.  One way is to make your own decorative flowers using inexpensive readily-accessible supplies.  

This can end up in very creative, unique and beautiful decor such as these water distressed paper flowers.

To make these pretty flowers you will need the following supplies:

Cardstock paper

Watercolour paints

Tissue or Facial sponges or Cotton Balls

Scissors

White Glue (dries clear)

Water in small container

Optional: Paintbrush for fine details, paper cutting machine, flower paper punches, edging scissors 

Cut flower shapes out of cardstock paper using scissors, paper punches, or a paper cutting machine.  I chose to do a combination of these. 

Tip: If you are cutting by hand, use edging scissors to cut your circle before cutting out the petal separations with regular scissors so that the edges of the petal have designs.

You can start with plain white cardstock, or start with coloured paper.  Coloured paper will give you more vivid/darker colours and choosing white paper will give you more pastel and watercolour-like blooms. 

Place your flower shape onto two sheets of plain paper or another painting surface. 

Wet your facial sponge and pick up some watercolour paint.  If you want pale colours, pick up less paint.  If you want brighter colours, pick up more paint.  In this photo, I used a pale wash of red and yellow to create pale peach.   Cover both side of the flowers entirely.

If desired, make the center of the flower a slightly different shade or darken the edges of the flower petals. 

While the paper is still wet, fold up all of the petals into the center to form creases that will span out from the center of the flower.

Continue to scrunch up the paper until the flower is completely closed up. 

Gently twist the bloom so that it forms additional creases, especially at the edges of the petals. 

Open up your flower.  It should look something like this. 

Tip: If you want flowers with smoother petals, open the flowers while wet.  If you want flowers with wrinkly petals, open the flowers once almost dry.  The wrinkly ones look like dried flowers (shown in photo).

Gently round the petal edges so that the petals bend backwards in a curve like an open flower.  You can do this by smoothing the petals one by one around a finger. 

Gently twist the bottom of the flower so that the flower closes up more. 

Bend the petals so that they curl outwards like a real flower.  

Imagine how a real petal might be curled on a real flower. 

Once the petals are in shape that you like, set them aside to dry.  

I have a small oil heater in my room, so I put a foil baking tray on top and let the flowers dry on the warm surface.  Of course, you should not leave this unattended to avoid fire risk.  You can also put them under your desk lamp to dry. 

When the blooms are dry, they will become hardened.  Choose the bottom petals.  Gently pry the blooms open wider as desired and add a generous amount of glue to the center.  Make sure that there is enough glue for the next set of petals to dip into to secure into place.  Note: In this picture there is not that much glue.  I used more glue on later flowers to prevent the flowers from falling apart easily.

Select your next set of petals and add it on top.  Ensure that the two layers are securely glued together.  Keeping adding layers of petals until you are happy with your flower. 

To create the center of the flower, you can layer smaller painted layers of petals together. 

You create the centers the same as with the petal layers. 

But because they are so small, you don't have to curl the petals as much.  Just open them up until they look like the centers of flowers.

Glue layers of them together to create fluffy flower centers. 

Glue them into the centers of your flower petals.

Experiment with different flower petal shapes, curling the petals differently, different colours, etc. Use photos of real flowers as inspiration. 

For instance, you can create anemone flowers with stunning black/purple/blue centers that really stand out.  The petals will require more effort to curl carefully at the edges for these and your centers will be more dense.  A paper cutting machine is very useful for detailed centers.

If desired, you can use a small paint brush to darken the center of your flower or to add small details.

You can also create nice looking crunchy leaves using this water distressed method.

Just fold along the middle vein and start to scrunch the leaf towards the middle of the vein (once painted and wet).  When you open the leaf, recreate some more scrunches to simulate the indentations from veins that go out from the middle vein.  

Keep the middle crease deep and bend the leaf in realistic ways.  Once dried, the leaf will hold this shape.

I hope you will enjoy making these.  Let me know if you try them out.

Happy Wedding Planning!