Homemade Treasure Box

Everyone holds on to special items like old family photos, notes from your grandparents, birthday cards from your mom, or the scrap of paper your future wife or husband gave you with their number when you first met them. Create something special in which store these memories with the Homemade Treasure Box. Have this DIY treasure box  reflect your style and personality. Create a special space to store all of your precious mementos with this great home decor idea.
 

Materials:

• 7" x 7" x 3" hinged basswood box
• Decorative papers (I used an old Farmer's Almanac with horoscopes of family birth months.)
• Dresden die cut foil papers (I used three trims in antique gold and silver stars.)
• Victorian scrapbook image (or you could use a family photo!)
• vintage buttons (I used buttons saved from worn out shirts.)
• Aleene's Original Tacky Glue
• Mod Podge Matte
• Acrylic UV varnish
• Sponge brush
• Scissors
• Small philips screwdriver
• Sandpaper
• Water jar
• Parchment paper (for work surface)

Instructions:

1. Remove all hardware. Use your screwdriver to remove all hinges and fasteners. Set them to the side.  Lightly sand the surface of the box, Brush away any loose sawdust.
    
2. Collage papers onto box. Cover your work surface with parchment paper. If your project sticks to the paper, it will easily peel away. Cut and collage decorative papers onto all sides of the box using Mod Podge and your sponge brush. I didn't measure and center all the papers. You can see that they overlap each other as they bend around corners and edges. Allow to dry.
    
3. Add trims and scrapbook image. Measure the trims against the box and cut to size. Glue into place. I used two trims on the exterior and one on the interior. I set the scrapbook image off center. Allow to dry.
    
4. Apply two coats of UV acrylic varnish. Protect your treasure box from fading by painting two layers of UV acrylic varnish over the surface. I used a high gloss varnish, but a matte version is fine too. Allow each coat to dry thoroughly.
    
5. Add embellishments. Glue the buttons into place using Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. Allow to dry.
    
6. Replace hardware. Screw the hinges and fastener back into place.

Get the project on Lindsay's blog here.