Alice in Wonderland Box Tutorial: Laurian McDonald

 Tutorial for Alice in Wonderland Box 

This box was created using mainly the contents of a mixed media box from Indigo Blu but a similar project could be made using another box blank. I themed my box around the Mad Hatters Tea Party as that was always my favourite part of the Alice in Wonderland story! 

Please use this tutorial as inspiration and let your imagination run wild! 

Items used: 

Woodology box blank (Indigoblu) 

Curiosities from Wonderland A4 Paper Book Broken Teacup Matte Paint
Sage Caterpillar Matte Paint
White Gesso

Metallic Acrylic Paint
Small stick on round gem
Grab and Go Glue
PVA Glue
Slap it On Matte (similar to Modge Podge) Super Slap it On Gloss (Similar to Modge Podge) Metal Charms
Washi Tape 

Sanding block Scissors
Craft blade 

How I made it: 

The box blank comes as a flat item, which is great as it makes decorating the inside of the box so much easier!

First thing I painted all the pieces with white gesso on both sides. 

Once the gesso is dry, sand gently to give a smooth surface – sanding makes such a difference to the finished project! I have sanding blocks which are basically sponges with sandpaper sides, but you can use a small block (Acrylic stamping blocks work well) with a fine grade sandpaper wrapped around, don’t use a rough sandpaper! 

Once sanded, I painted the inside of the box with Broken Teacup Matte acrylic paint.

When dry, gently sand.

The outside of the box was painted in Sage Caterpillar Matte acrylic paint.

When dry, gently sand.

Next, we will decorate the inside of the box, I went through all the beautiful items in the Curiosities from Wonderland book and selected the items I wanted to use, then carefully cut them out and stuck them on using a good PVA glue that dries clear.

Now it’s time to assemble the box. Use a small craft knife or similar to clear any paint from the dovetails on the edges as this will stop your box from joining flush. 

I used Grab and Go glue as it is a slightly stronger PVA but you can use any suitable glue. 

Once assembled and the glue is dry it is time to decorate the outside of the box. Again, I selected items relative to the Tea Party and decorated the four sides and the lid. I them used washi tape down the corners of the box (to hide the dovetails) and carefully painted the top edge of the box and the bottom edge of the lid with a metallic bronze paint. 

Where my tags overlap on the lid, I added a small round adhesive pearl them carefully painted it with the same bronze paint as the edges of the lid. 

Over the years I have collected a large amount of metal charms and found some spoons, a pocket watch, a key and a small envelope that were perfect for the top of the lid and I had some flat filigree corners that I folded in half and used for the corners of the lid. 

Once I had attached the charms to the top and my corners, I waited for it to be completely dry then added the edge decoration to the lid.

When everything was dry I finished by coating the whole box with Super Thick Slap It On to make it waterproof and give it a nice gloss finish!