My daughter has a boyfriend who’s mother is so sweet to her. A couple of weeks ago I asked her if she was going to do anything nice for her for Mother’s Day. She said she wanted to, but didn’t have any clue what to do. I suggested we take one of the old, vintage jewelry boxes and re-imagine it for her. Tori (my daughter) did all the work, I just taught her the steps and the technique. This is what she came up with.
She wanted to do a blended piece with transfers and embellishments, a tall order for being her first piece! I was up for the challenge in guiding her. First things first, she had to learn to blend. So we grabbed some scrap pieces of trim and got to blending. Her choices for colors were Dixie Belle Amethyst and Dixie Belle Peony. I told her this next bit and I’ll tell you too: blending goes through an ugly stage – more water, more paint, more blending!
Once she did a great job on the sample board, it was time to tackle the jewelry box. This is the before:
She started pulling off all of the hardware, and soaking it in a 50/50 mix of hot water and vinegar, with a few drops of Dawn dish soap. Then while that was soaking, she cleaned the entire piece with Krud Kutter, rinsed with clear water, and then lightly scuff sanded the entire piece with 220 grit sandpaper. After sanding, she used a damp rag to get all the sanding dust off of it.
Next, we had to tackle the insides of the drawers. They were stained and not very pretty, so she painted them with the Dixie Belle Amethyst. Once those were dry, she painted outsides of the drawers with Dixie Belle Fluff, top coated with Dixie Belle Satin and then cut Re-Design by Prima’s Neverending Story transfers to fit, and applied them. Once they were all on, she topcoated again.
She then put the drawers back in and got to blending. Typically, I paint furniture or jewelry boxes with the drawers out, but when you’re doing a blended piece, it’s important to paint with the drawers in (so everything lines up), and then once done go and clean the edges up. That’s exactly what she did.
After the piece was painted, it was time to apply Re-Design by Prima’s Gold Foil Transfers! She cut out the pieces she wanted and used Yellow Frog Tape to position them where she’d want them. Doing this can help you decide where you want to put pieces before rubbing the transfer on. Once there were where she wanted them to be, they were applied. The foil ones are a little tricky! If you’re familiar with these transfers, you know that it can take a lot of elbow grease to get them on, but with the foil ones, don’t rub too hard! After applying the foil transfers, she sealed the entire thing with Dixie Belle Top Coat in Satin.
During drying times throughout the process, the hardware was scrubbed with a soft brush, rinsed and left to dry. After the hardware was dry, SHIVA stick was applied in gold. SHIVA is a great tool to embellish raised details and edges. After about 24 hours, it dries super hard and durable.
Once everything was dry, the hardware was put back on, and the transformation was complete! For those of you wondering, her boyfriend’s mom LOVED it!
Each of the products used are linked so you can find them easily! Just click on the name, your support is appreciated. This is a great project for an afternoon! Here’s the finished piece:
