Wendy's Corner..."Out of the Box" with Shadow Boxes

Wendy's Corner

"Out of the Box" with Shadow Boxes

Simple Stories Style

love. love. love. Simple Stories

but

there are SO many "out-of-the-box" possibilities besides using the kit for layouts.

So, I had this unfinished wood box from a local craft store

and had every intention to jazz it up with the right touch

and found the perfect idea when I was thinking of a way to use Simple Stories

in the "non-traditional" way...

VOILA...

a family shadow box!!

I used the Life Documented Simple Stories collection on my project.

1.  My shadow box has a nice thick acrylic window so I used masking tape to tape around the edges on the window to keep from getting paint on the window. 

2.  Use a nice quality brand of acrylic paint (i.e. Golden, Liquitex) which can be found at your local craft store.  I use these brands (even though they are a little pricier but just a little goes a long way) because they have less water content and the colors are really vivid & you can usually do 1-2 coats (with a foam brush), no streaking, and you have a beautiful finish. 

3.  Allow to dry completely.

4.  Select papers of choice from Simple Stories collections (Life Documented or Ele.men.tary)  This project works great in any of the collections.  Also, I had a vintage dictionary I purchased from a local antique store and used pages on the edges. 

5.  Cut papers to size of of areas to be covered.  Measure carefully around the hinged areas.  Cut out all pieces and make sure they fit (including the pieces for the inside of your box) as you want before you glue them down with Ranger Multi Medium + foam brush.  Allow to dry completely.  Then, I added 1 coat of Ranger Glossy Accents applied with a foam brush for a slight gloss effect over the paint & papers.  Allow to dry completely. 

6. NOW the fun really starts...think of all the "out-of-the-box" possibilities to decorate the inside of your box. The Simple Stories collections are PACKED with lots of fun index tabs, stickers, letter stickers, border strips, transparencies...LOTS! Also, I strolled through the aisle of my local craft store in the DOLLHOUSE FURNITURE section! Yeahhhh!!! Don't limit yourself to the scrapbook section ;-) I wanted my shadow box to represent aspects of my family including the embellishments.

7.  I added the TV because my dad (who passed away in 2005) loved to watch "Sanford & Son", football, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy...I remember these times and the TV was the perfect touch to remember him. Also, the tool wrench because my dad was quite the handyman & so talented who loved to work in his shop.

8.  My mom is quite the baker!!!  She gets so many requests for her cakes & they are DELICIOUSSSSSS! 

9.  My sister & I in early youth and one of our favorite puppies, Cottonball or Snowball, we had 2 Eskimo Spitz and they were a big part of our family growing up.

10.  I cut the Simple Stories transparency to size and layered the photo on top along with Simple Stories letter stickers.

11.  For the back of the box, I added a sheet of paper from Simple Stories cut to size & a sticker from the collection. 



So, hope you enjoyed this fun project!!

Grab up a Simple Stories kit & start creating "out-of-the-box" :)