Altered Cigar Box

This project was my favorite of all my holiday classes. It uses many of my favorite products that arrived in the store - Webster's Pages "Winter Song" papers, Maya Road ruched pink velvet ribbon, Melissa Frances vintage crepe paper, Mica flakes and white bottle tree, white silk ribbon and the holiday mini-bingo cards from Jenni Bowlin. I combined them all in this Victorian/shabby chic altered cigar box assemblage and added lots of Diamond Dust, silver glitter and Snow Writer. I used what I call "poor man's crackle" on the outside of the box: first it was painted with a pretty sage acrylic paint; after that dried, a thin to medium coat of white glue (regular old Elmer's School Glue) was painted on with a bristle brush; when the glue was tacky (but not dry), cream acrylic paint was brushed over. As everything dries, the top coat of paint starts cracking and makes a beautiful crackled finish with the bottom layer's color peeking through.

Here's a close-up of the inside. "Magical" was already printed on the paper - I added Stickles to highlight it.

The back of the box shows the crackle finish.