Repurposing: Upcycled Cigar Box Tea Storage II

 

I mentioned in another post that there was a part II and here it is. While I was busy ordering a special tea for Mr. Chocolate, little did I know that a sweet friend who'd taken a trip to London with her family last year, would be sending us a wonderful assortment of teas from there! Natch, they needed storage befitting their origin.

Supplies:

• Cigar Box
• Acrylic Paints
• Vinyl
• Digital Images
• Crown Embellishment

As I mentioned in my other post, I get my cigar boxes from Total Wine. They're usually on a wall behind the registers. Just take them to the register. 

We might live in the Copper State but it's also a Turquoise State with several turquoise mines so this is an homage to that, plus I love the color! I sanded over the parts of the label I couldn't remove and then painted with Waverly No Prep Paint in Lagoon. I painted the inside edges in case my paper calculations were off. 

The upside to being a paper hoarder, I mean having an extensive scrapbook paper collection, is you have papers for every color project! I chose this marbled paper (Recollections) with gold foiling for my interior, measured, cut, and then applied using Mod Podge Matte. 

Once the inside was done, I dry brushed some white and gold paints on the exterior and then gathered my embellishments. I found a tea sentiment and teapot in Cricut Design Space, cut those from black and gold vinyl as shown, and chose a metal crown from a pack I bought at a stamping show.

I positioned and applied my vinyl, then using Loctite Gel Superglue, applied the crown.

The box had an oval shape engraved in it and debated about covering it with paper but I decided it made a good frame for the crown. 

So that's the story of Tea Box I and Tea Box II and we will each enjoy many tea times to come!

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A Stroll Through Life

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Sundays on Silverado

Repurposing: Upcycled Cigar Box to Tea Storage I

 

As much as I may ever joke about my Iced Mocha addiction, we drink a LOT of tea in this house. On a trip last year, the place we stayed had this tea Mr. Chocolate fell in love with. It turned out to be something that had to be specially ordered so I got him a big box for Christmas and it literally came in a cardboard box. Well, that wouldn't do! I have a stash of cigar boxes and knew they were perfect for this project. And stay tuned because there will be a part two I'll share this week.

Supplies:

• Wood Cigar Box (Total Wine sells these for cheap!)
• Acrylic Paint
• Scrapbook Paper
• Mod Podge (I used Matte)
• Vinyl
• Embellishments

Although I haven't gotten any recently, I think Total Wine still sells their empty cigar boxes. I've gotten them for as little as $.99. You can also sometimes get wood crates and other boxes too. These have run me $4-5. 

I grabbed one I had in my stash, sanded any rough edges and then painted using Waverly No Prep Acrylic Paint in Truffle. 

Love this paint so much! I kept the outside pretty simple because Mr. Chocolate is the opposite of me when it comes to blinging things up!

I measured the scrapbook paper I chose (and yes, when I applied it I had a little gap but it'll be covered by tea so...) and used Mod Podge Matte to glue it inside the box. Then I taped off the bottom and went around the edges with silver. 

I chose silver vinyl (Cricut) and an image from Cricut Design Space, sized and cut.

I placed it on top of the box to make sure it was well positioned and then applied using my scraper. To finish, I found some self-adhesive metal studs. 

I let the vinyl design be my guide to where I placed them and applied them until I was satisfied. 

Of course these bougie tea bags are slightly larger than normal so I had to rearrange to close but the most important thing is, Mr. Chocolate loves his box! 

I mentioned there's a part two coming. It was a very Tea Christmas! Stay tuned.

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Sundays on Silverado

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve, Valentine's Day Eve, and Galentine's Day! Sending warm thoughts to the Chicagoland area and surrounds because our son let us know "It's FREEZING" as we remind him "You chose this!". It cooled down a bit here in the desert too but nothing like that no thank you!

This week I shared:

Bead Show Visits

Layered Rose Heart Valentine's Day Cards

Gothic Valentine's Day 

And you've all been busy prepping for Valentine's celebrations so let's take a look at some wonderful ideas! Wishing you all lots of love. Self, family, partner, kids...LOVE. Now, more than ever. 

Artsy Va Va shared this pretty Watercolor Heart Canvas that would work for Valentine's or anytime. The background makes it pop! 

Simple Everyday Mom shared these adorable Love Monsters that again are fun for V-Day but could work for anytime with these or different colors! 

Galentine's Day...the day before Valentine's Day to celebrate our girlfriends who play such important roles in our life...continues to gain traction. Rose Bakes shared this great Galentine's Charcuterie Board to celebrate! 

Finally, who wouldn't want to have a plate of CHOCOLATE WAFFLES like these from Recipes Simple? That who would be me! 

Thank you to all who linked up. Wishing you a weekend filled with love!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Home Decor: Gothic Valentine's Day

 

This was actually my first Valentine's Day project this year and I've forgotten to post it! When I showed it to Mr. Chocolate his response was "Isn't it a little early for Halloween?" and I had to remind him that he's married to someone who loves the macabre and that there is a sub-genre of Valentine's decor that's Gothic! Besides, my decor style is best described as "Do what you like".

Supplies:

• Ornate Frames (Dollar Tree)
• Multi-Surface Paints (Craft Smart and Waverly)
• Vinyl (Cricut)
• Embellishments 

These frames from Dollar Tree were my inspiration. Have you seen them? Have you picked any up? I got the oval and rectangle shapes. But Carol, why do you have gold paint if they're already gold. I'll tell you later.

This is what it looks like when you take the frames apart. There's a two-part backing. 

I painted the frames with the Waverly No Prep Paint which worked so nicely on these because they're plastic! The color is Silver Lining. Here's where the gold comes in. I dry brushed it over the silver to give it a good gothic aged look. 

I found images I liked in Cricut Design Space, sized and cut them from white vinyl. Then I applied them directly to the backing from the frames. 

Put the frames back together and:

Yes, I kind of goofed on the Til Death Do Us Part vinyl placement but hey, "handmade" isn't always perfect, right?

I'm still not sure Mr. Chocolate gets the concept, but my Other Child (my girlfriend's eldest) totally gets and appreciates them! 

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Cardmaking: Layered Rose Heart Valentine's Day Cards

My first creative love is cardmaking. I've written before how it makes my heart soar when someone receives a card and lets me know how much they like it and I'm honored whenever people display them as part of their annual seasonal decor. The post-office doesn't always love me, I'm sure, but I support them by buying stamps on stamps!

I love (pun intended) making cards this time of year because showing love to friends and family is also part of Valentine's Day. This year I chose a Layered Rose Heart SVG via my Creative Fabrica subscription. 

Supplies:

• 110 lb Cardstock (Recollections, Michaels)
• Valentine's Themed Papers (Sweethearts Day Stack, Michaels, last year)
• Coordinating Glitter and Foil Cardstocks
• Foam Dots
• Adhesive Tape Runner
• Embellishments

 

I usually pick up a new themed stack every year but I am also trying to be good and I still had plenty of sheets from this stack I bought last year. It includes printed transparencies,  as well as papers.

I cut the base layer of each heart from white cardstock and the other two layers from glitter and foil cardstock. 

My layer construction was solid white, then glitter, then foil, attaching the glitter layer with foam dots then the foil layer with glue using a fine tip on the bottle. 

I really like how the glitter layer peeks through!

I layered a paper panel, then a transparency panel, then my layered heart. 

Time to embellish! Since the cut of the heart was intricate, I wanted to keep it simple and had picked up these pink and red self-adhesive rhinestones from DAISO (Japanese Dollar Store!) and placed these as shown. Done! 

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