Beaded Heart Box

Send your love to your favorite Valentine with this Beaded Heart Box.  Perfect for filling with chocolates, jewelry, or even a meaningful love note, this beaded box is a clever and cute way to tell someone just how much you love them.  This is also an adorable and clever way to work your way through that epic bead collection!  Great for crafters of all ages, this Valentine's Day project is the perfect way to spend a snowy weekend indoors with your family.

Materials:

• Small wooden box with a hexagonal shape
• Seed beads in two colors – red and clear
• Rour silver mirror hearts
• White acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Pencil
• Fine sanding paper
• Dry cloth to dust the box
• Clear-drying craft glue
• 2” heart-shaped cookie cutter
• Quick-drying spray varnish

Instructions:

Bottom of the Box

1. Sandpaper the whole box thoroughly. Dust well with a dry cloth before continuing with the next step.
    
2. Paint the outside of the box with the white acrylic paint and allow to dry.
    
3. Turn the box around and paint the inside of the box in the same way.
    
4. Decorate 3 of the 6 sides with the red seed beads. Do not decorate adjoining sides and do not use too much glue. A crochet needle may help to move the seed beads into their appropriate places.
   
   
    
5. Leave the bottom of the box to dry overnight.
    
6. On the remaining three sides, glue a silver mirror heart onto the middle of each side, and then cover the rest of the side with clear seed beads, carefully gluing the beads all around the mirror heart. Remember also to check that at the edges the beads fit in nicely.
   
   
    
7. Again, leave to dry, preferably overnight.
    
8. To protect the box from wear and tear, apply one coat of the quick-drying spray varnish and allow to dry thoroughly.

Box Lid

1. Sandpaper the whole lid thoroughly. Dust well with a dry cloth before continuing with the next step.
    
2. Paint the top of the lid with the white acrylic paint and allow to dry.
    
3. Turn the lid around and paint the bottom of the lid in the same way.
    
4. Use the heart-shaped cookie cutter to trace a heart onto the top of the lid.
    
5. Glue a silver mirror heart onto the middle of the traced heart, and then cover the rest of traced heart with clear seed beads, carefully gluing the beads all around the mirror heart.
    
6. Cover the rest of the top of the lid with the red seed beads.
    
7. Leave to dry, preferably overnight.
   
   
    
8. To protect the lid from wear and tear, apply one coat of the quick-drying spray varnish and allow to dry thoroughly.