A Very Important Tea Party!

Hello again,

It's Elle here and today I have a secret project for you that is inspired by Alice in Wonderland!

I used the Hidden Drawer Book Box for this project although I've kind of given the game away now by telling you that!  I started by painting all of it white a coat of white gesso and used the same technique I used on the previous "book" to make it look like it had pages. This is done using texture paste and you can see more about that in the link above.

I also used these Alice in Wonderland scrapbook papers from Stamperia.  These are the eight inch size.

I chose the papers I wanted to use for the back and front "covers" of my book and what I wanted to go inside.

Then I started painting the inside of the box using some bright Aquamarine Fresco Chalk Paint.

While all the paint was drying, I started enhancing the colours on my papers using Polychromos pencils.  This is something I like to do to give the papers a personal touch and change some of the colours or highlight others.  This step is optional.

No photo for this step, no idea what happened, I think the camera ate it!  Glue the papers to the front, back and "spine" of your book and give them a few coats of Ultra Matte Varnish for protection.

Now that the outside is taken care of, it was time to finish off the inside.  I added scraps from the papers to the inside of the box to cover the top and bottom and then added more paint this time (appropriately) in Lawn just to make sure everything was covered.

Measure (twice) and cut (once) the papers for the inside.  I am using the Tea Party paper of course and cut it to fit.  You can do this step in several ways, you can fit it to the sides and bottom exactly and crease it into the corners and edges, or you can cut it to fit on a curve like I did here.  

You can see it better in this closeup view.  The paper is glued to the centre back and then to the side edges, allowing it to curve in the inside.

Once everything is dry inside and out, I slide my hidden Tea Party back inside my Book. Here's how it looks when it is open.

And when it is closed.  Alice and the Cheshire Cat on one side and the White Rabbit on the other.

You could use this little secret box to fill it with sweets or your favourite tea bags to gift to a friend!

Hope you enjoyed this secret Tea Party reveal.   Thanks for reading!            

Elle             

 

PROJECT RECIPE:

Hidden Drawer Book Box - D165C
White gesso
Texture Paste
Stamperia AIW papers
PVA glue
Polychromos
Paperartsy Fresco paints
Decoart Ultra Matte Varnish