Decopauge Wooden Box

Decopauge is a way to transform plain -- or even damaged -- wooden items into very personal keepsakes. At the same time, you can display travel memorabelia, tidbits of letters or other memoribelia. I like ot use old wallpaper books for inspiration, because I like the texture added by the thickness of the pages, though this does require using a number of layers of adhesive.

Don't have time to make this project. You can buy this one!

Wooden box
Sand paper (optional)
"Buff" style gold leafing
Old rag
Cotton Swab
Photo-filled book, wallpaper samples or other source of images
Scissers
Exacto knife
Madge-Podge

Sand down any rough edges on your wooden box. Then gold leaf it inside and out, making sure to rub it into the corners and along the inside seams in the wood. You may want to use a cotton swab to get into the smallest areas. While this is drying, look through your source of images, and try to find one central image that is large enough to cover at least two thirds of the height of the top of the box. Carefully cut it out, making sure to get in close to the edges. Use the Exacto knife to cut out any areas of the image where you want the box to show through.

Close and latch the box. Gather other images, and lay them out in a circle around the central image, as though you were looking down at the top of the box. These images will also wrap around the sides of the box. One side at a time, arrange the cutout images onto the box and paste them down with the Madge-Podge. Don't worry if pieces of your design overlap the opening of the box. Then, carefully brush a layer of Madge-Podge over the cutouts, taking care not to move them. Let this dry as you work on the other sides, then apply as many layers of Madge-Podge as necessary to fully adhere all elements of your design.

When this last layer is completely dry, use the Exacto knife to carefully cut apart any design elements that overlap the opening. Touch up with Madge-Podge or gold leafing as necessary.

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