Hidden Bakery

Happy Saturday, everyone! Connie here with a miniature patisserie tucked inside a GSL Hidden Drawer Book Box. I love bakeries of all sizes and am frequently dreaming up ways to reimagine miniature ones. Let me take you through how this one came together.

The interior is basically a shallow box. I chose a pretty blue ombre paper for the tiny shop's wallpaper from Authentique's Latest & Greatest collection.

Once assembled using tacky glue, the front edge of the shop was painted with white acrylic paint.

The walls were covered in the same ombre paper. I chose a scrap of white woodgrain paper for the floor and started building the wainscot front of the bakery's counter.

It was very simply made of sections of coffee stir sticks glued onto a wide craft stick.

This assembly was trimmed to fit, painted white, and another craft stick was glued on top to fashion a countertop.

More craft sticks were used for the upper shelves. I glued sections of dowels for the shelf supports.

Here are the components of the book's exterior. I covered it with a lovely black and white botanical paper from s.e.i.

I used a black and white striped paper for the edges of the book. 

I used a French pastry sign image from The Graphics Fairy for the book's title and painted a few bees from a GSL Honeycomb & Bees set.

The pastries are molded paper clay that were painted with acrylics and dusted with chalk pastels.

The little pies are also molded paper clay with a few poly clay fruit slices added.

On the very top shelf I made a few tea tins from wooden blocks, metal spacer beads and pin heads. There is a miniature resin honey jar alongside. The artwork on the wall consists of a few miniature cookie cutters and a 'painting' cut from the same botanical paper used for the book cover glued inside a plastic frame. 

Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

Hidden Drawer Book Box

Honeycomb & Bees Medium

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

My Mind's Eye Meadowlark

Authentique Latest & Greatest

s.e.i. botanical print paper

Paper clay

Chalk pastels

Craft sticks

Coffee stir sticks

Polymer clay fruit slices

Wooden blocks

Pin heads

Metal spacer beads

Plastic frame

Miniature cookie cutters and honey jar

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

The Traveler

Hello and happy Friday!! It's Jennalee here today. I had a lot of fun decorating this Hidden Drawer Book Box from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. When I am creating I usually have an inner dialogue going of what I want the project to be. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do a time travel themed project. I pictured the outside of the Book Box looking vintage and inconspicuous. But when you opened it up you found a little surprise.

I began by covering the outside of my Hidden Drawer Book Box. I had a vintage timekeeping ledger in my stash. I loved the original color and was hoping to just color copy it. I printed out the entire cover onto Ranger sticky back canvas. My printer had other plans though and it printed out very dark. Not wanting to abandon my idea or waste my canvas I made it work for me. Using a blending tool and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide I blended the entire piece and then sprayed with a bit of instant coffee. After heat setting I sealed the cover with Distress Micro Glaze. 

I made copies of a few of the pages from the same book and covered the outside of the Hidden Drawer Book Box. 

As I was trimming pieces to size my eye fell upon A. Anderson, my husband's name. I loved the personal touch it added but also how it leant to the idea of time travel. 

To finish off my cover I added a Classic Label sticker that I distressed and stamped with T 2 again a nod to Time Travel. I then stamped and distressed the Registered sticker. Because I wanted the side of my book box to be hinged rather than an actual drawer I used the sticky back canvas to make a hinge. I wanted the spine to open up so that I could add a secret message inside and also so that the inner box could be taken out and displayed. 

The hinged spine did not want to stay shut on its own so a simple closure made from a bit of trim did the trick. 

When you open the spine there is a Classic Label with a message. 

The message reads "If interested in time travel meet last Tuesday 3pm". The drawer needed a way to slide out easily so I made a little pull out of some Ruler Ribbon. 

The drawer inside features The Professor aka The Traveler. 

The background is a Journal Card distressed and stamped with the gears from Inventor 7. Layered behind the Professor is a ticket and a few gears. A vintage bulb is glued into the upper left corner. I think my favorite detail is the pocket square and gear. 

The sides of the box are lined with a rusted background embossed with 3D Foundry Texture Fade. 

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did. And be sure to keep an eye out for books that could contain a secret bit of magic.

Happy Creating ~ Jennalee 

Do Something Splendid - Book Box

Hello and happy Monday, this is Yolie kicking off the week. Today I am sharing the Hidden Drawer Book Box altered with one of my favorite paper collection.

GSLC has two sizes of the Hidden Drawer Book Box, I used the small size that measures 4 1/4" x 6 1/4". Before altering, I detached all the pieces and with a damp paper towel cleaned off the soot left behind from the laser cuts. 

Next, I gathered up papers, stickers and chipboard from the Little Women collection by Graphic 45. Hands down one of my favorite collections. I used Beacon's Power-Tac to assemble the box and Mod Podge Matte spray to adhere the paper.

Before assembling the box, I measured the inside and outside panels of the drawer and trimmed the paper to size. I inked all the edges with a dauber and black ink. I then assembled the box and used Beacon's Power-Tac to glue down the pieces. I held the front panel of the drawer with 2 binder clips and allowed to dry for 5 hours.

I used Mod Podge Matte Spray to cover the box and once dried, I attached the handle to the drawer and decorated the front panel of the box.
I used a resin flower layered on gold string and surrounded by black rhinestones and gold dome embellishments.

Inside the drawer, I included a couple of pockets and tags.

I need a Hidden Drawer Book Box for each of my favorite books. The challenge is finding the paper. 

I hope you enjoyed today's project and I leave you with Jo's full quote:

I’d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled with books, and I’d write out of a magic inkstand, so that my works should be as famous as Laurie’s music. I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle—something heroic, or wonderful—that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all, some day. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous; that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.

Supply List:
Hidden Drawer Book Box Small Item D165C
Graphic 45 Little Women Collection
Beacon Power-Tac Glue
Mod Podge Matte Spray
Westcott Non-stick scissors
Black Ink
Dauber
Binder clips
Pop-Dots
Embellishments
Mini drawer handle

"The Mad Hatter's Secrets" Hidden Drawer Book

This is one of those projects that just kind of sprouted. All the supplies just kind of jumped up and shouted "ME! ME!". I'm glad they did because I'm smitten with this project.

I've used the 6" Hidden Drawer Book Box as my base and then ran with the Mad Hatter theme from the Hallowe'en in Wonderland Deluxe Collectors Edition from Graphic 45.

I've repeated the cobweb theme of the scrapbook paper with a wed stamp and gold embossing powder.

I used that same stamp, repeatedly, on a Layered Frame Aria then added a spade charm to the tippy top for some added interest.

I used the same stamping and embossing technique for the top and bottom elements on the spine. I used a Deco Frame, then trimmed the elements I wanted to use.

Also on the spine and cover, I've used more elements from Hallowe'en in Wonderland Deluxe Collectors Edition and added a Metal Door Plate and Knob.

Inside, the Hatter's Tea Party! I really just sort went to town and filled the interior with suitable miniatures already in my stash including: a pocketwatch pendant, miniature wine bottle, a dormouse, playing cards, cakes and cookies and more. 

If you'd like to see the process of making this piece, take a gander over HERE for the video walkthrough.

And here is the list of supplies I used:

6" Hidden Drawer Book Box
Layered Frame Aria
Deco Frame

Web Stamp

Hallowe'en in Wonderland Deluxe Collectors Edition

Metal Door Plate and Knob

Embossing powder

Acrylic paint

Hot glue and white glue

Foam squares

Bits and pieces for the interior