Decorating A Jewelry Box

I was given a small wooden jewelry box to decorate for a little girl's room. This meant a preparation of the surface, paint, decoupage and all sorts of fun things to add before the project was done. You may have your own ideas for colour choices, or paper motifs, when decorating your own boxes, but following these steps will get the job done in next to no time.

This is the jewelry box I was given to decorate.

I started by removing the handles from the drawers, carefully unscrewing each to be replaced when I was done.

I also unscrewed and removed the hinges at the back of the box.

With the decorative elements removed, the box was now ready to be painted.

To ensure that the small screws did not get lost, I placed them in a small container with a lid. This is good practice, I find.

I prepared the raw wood surface to accept paint by giving it a single coat of acrylic gesso.

Every nook and cranny of the box was painted with the gesso and left to dry.

I painted the main box Turquoise, using Dala Craft Paint.

The false drawer in the front was painted Custard Yellow.

The lid was also painted Turquoise.

One of the drawers was painted Lime green.

The last drawer was painted Red.

I then left the project to dry thoroughly before continuing.

The time has come to decoupage the box. I have selected a range of coordinating craft papers for this purpose, each measuring 12" x 12". I will not be using the whole range, but gather enough to give myself some scope to work in.

I decide on this pattern for the lime drawer.

It is essential to take very accurate measurements. I make sure that the height on the inside of the drawer is the same on all four sides.

I then take the width of the inside of the drawer.

I also take the length of the inside of the drawer.

I draw these measurements on the back of the craft paper.

I use a craft knife and metal ruler to cut accurately.

Then I fold the sides of the paper up to fit inside the drawer.

I slip the paper inside the drawer to make sure it fits. I will only start decoupaging once all the pieces have been measured and cut.

I now take the measurements for the front panel of the drawer.

I cut a strip of paper to decoupage the front panel with, using the same pattern as I've used inside the drawer.

The pattern selected for the red drawer, is settled on and measured and cut as before.

I fit it inside the drawer to make sure it fits properly.

I then select a pattern for the false drawer at the top.

It is measured and cut as before.

At this stage I feel the need to make sure that the vision in my head will make sense in reality. Liking how it is taking shape, I feel assured to continue.

I select a pattern for the lid.

This is also tested in conjunction with the previous patterns.

I now take the width of the side panels of the box.

I also measure the width of the box. My selected paper can be seen in the photo.

I cut the side panels according to the measurements, completely ignoring the fancy shapes at the bottom of the box. I will get back to that much later.

The other side of the box.

Lastly, I select a pattern for the back of the box. You may consider this optional, but I rather like the idea of finishing all four sides of the box.

Once again, I ignore the fancy pattern at the bottom and simply cut a rectangle to cover the back.

Paint Dala Acrylic Gel Medium on the back of the paper.

Lay the paper in place on the jewelry box and rub out any air bubbles that may be trapped underneath the paper.

Now paint another coating of Dala Acrylic Gel Medium over the paper to seal it.

Alternatively, you may wish to paint Dala Acrylic Gel Medium directly onto the box.

Lay the paper on the surface and rub out any trapped air bubbles.

Paint a sealing coat of Dala Acrylic Gel Medium onto the paper.

Decoupage all of the necessary surfaces in this way.

Once the gel medium is dry, use a sharp craft knife to cut away the extra paper at the bottom of the jewelry box.

Screw the hinges onto the lid.

Use the hinges to help find the holes that have been covered with paper. An awl will easily find the holes where the eyes may fail.

Screw the hinges on.

Use the awl to help find the holes for the screws that hold the handles in place as well. Screw the handles back on.

I found some pearl trim to embellish the jewelry box with. I cut three strings to the desired length.

I laid down a line of Towmbow craft glue.

The pearls were laid on top of the glue and a metal ruler was used to ensure the string lay straight on the drawer.

I cut more pearl strings to fit on the lid of the jewelry box.

These pearls were also glued to the box as the previous ones had been.

Once the glue was dry, the box was finally finished.

A view from the top with the drawers slightly open.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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