Beachy Altered Box

Hi everyone! Melissa here with an altered box. The paper I used is so beautiful, it was hard for me to put anything on it. The beach is one of my favorite places to be. 

Supplies Used:

• Footprints 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Atlantis Cloudy Skies 12" Colorways Scrapbook Paper
• Believe 12" Double Sided Scrapbook Paper
• Atlantis Map 12"Colorways Scrapbook Paper

To make this covered wood box I first took the hardware off.  I adhered paper to the inside and outside with gloss gel. I painted the hardware with gesso after putting it back on.  On top of the gesso I applied gold rub n buff with my finger, gold mica powder, and very lightly brushed on  aqua metallic paint. 

To make a surface to apply paint to, I applied mat modge podge with a cosmetic wedge sponge. I also thought the sealed paper would be easier to dust, for when it's on a bookcase in my scraproom.

I painted on brown glimmery mist around the hardware,and drew on thick lines with a brown watercolor pencil. I softened the pencil with a wet brush.

I left three sides of the box relatively plain, to allow the shoreline on the paper to be the main focus.

I rubbed on gold mica powder with my finger on the edges of the box.

I used glossy accents to glue on shells, metal,micro beads, and pearls. I painted with brown,then turquoise shimmery mist on the front of the top.

  I sprayed on the same colors of mist on gauze. After it was dry, I  put small pieces on the box,  sprayed with water, and using a straight pin drew the threads out to where I wanted them. I lightly applied glossy accents along the threads.

  I put on a photo of a Black Crowned Night Heron that I took a while back. He's a water bird so he fits right in.

As a final step I patted on gold mica powder with my finger to random spots. This was to kind of tie together all the items.

I kept the color scheme pretty simple.

I'm sure I will enjoy looking at this on my bookcase for a long time.  Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!