Wooden Decorated Anniversary Box

A few weeks ago a male co-worker approached me for help.  This isn't exactly common, but also not unheard of.  The uncommon part is that said co-worker was actually looking for crafty help.  His request centered around a journal he had written to give to his wife on their 20th wedding anniversary.  He was looking for a decorative container- a box of some sort- that his wife to store the journal.  His request- keep it simple, use my creative juices and come up with something.  Here's the finished result.

Looking (desperately) for inspiration, I asked my co-worker to see some wedding photos.  The bridesmaid dresses were almost the exact pattern of my bridesmaid dresses only in a satiny teal rather than my seafoam green.  This gave me confidence that if I made something I liked she might equally enjoy it.  Firm boost in confidence!  Her bouquet was made of calla lilies.  This was a bit of a set back.  I don't know the last time I had seen calla lilies in scrapbooking supplies, let alone paper or satin flowers.  What to do?  Search the internet of course!  I happened across a website with instructions for making paper calla lilies from grunge paper over at Ink Stains.  Roni graciously provided her pattern which I promptly printed in several different sizes.  These lilies were made using a pattern that was approximately 2 inches in height.  I modified mine a little to use a yellow pipe cleaner.  The grunge paper became slightly stiff with the painting (I used Adriondack paint dabber).  After panicking a bit (sometimes a required element for the perfectionist crafter within me), I just continued to work the painted grunge paper, softening the paper and shaping the final result to perfect finished result.  I ended up gluing the flowers closed with Glossy Accents holding the flower closed for a short time as the glue dried.  Finally, I wrapped the stems in brown floral tape.  I liked brown here instead of the traditional green because it added just the right accent and didn't clash with my teal accent.

The wood box was unfinished that I found at Ms.  I used stain and a varnish to finish the wood.  Each of the shaped elements were made using combinations of Distress Inks (the teal being accomplished using the Spring set Peacock Feathers, with a little Faded Jeans and Broken China combined) and finishing the results using the Rusted Enamel technique from my Creative Chemistry 101 class.  I decoupaged the elements onto the stained wood box, tied a white ribbon around my flowers and hot glued the flowers to the front.  I think this really turned out great and the report is that his lovely bride thought so too.  I hope it makes a smile on her face for years to come.

Andie