Heartfelt Love Trinket Box

Benetta
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 408 Posts

finished box This Valentine's Day, turn an ordinary pine box into a beautiful keepsake trinket box. Fill the box with a special gift, such as a few Hershey Kisses, or hide the engagement ring inside this box and pop the big question on Valentine's Day. Either way, this box is sure to make your loved one feel spoiled.

Total Time: one hour

Yield: one trinket box

Supplies:

pine trinket box sized 9 x 5.5 x 4.5cm
silver mirror word
one 1" high cerise pink wooden heart
pearl seed beads
cerise pink felt
acrylic paint in the following two colors: mother of pearl rose pink and white
Heritage Gloss craft varnish
paintbrush
standard scissors
small screwdriver
clear-drying wood glue (such as Qualigrip)
clear-drying craft glue (such as Bostik Clear)

Steps:

Use the screwdriver to remove the hinges and the lock unit.

Add a layer of wood glue to the top of the lid.
Place the mirror word and wooden heart in position.
Cover the rest of the lid with seed beads, carefully gluing the beads all around the mirror word and heart. Remember to check that at the edges the beads fit in nicely.

top of box with mirror word, heart, and beads

Give the bottom part of the box an uneven wash with the mother of pearl rose pink paint and allow to dry thoroughly. Do not paint the inside of the bottom part, as this will be covered with felt. Also give the remaining areas of the lid an uneven wash with the mother of pearl rose pink paint.
Now add an uneven wash with the white paint to all the areas painted in the previous step and allow to dry thoroughly.

inside of lid and bottom of box after painting

Cover the inside of the box with felt. Make sure that the felt is glued thoroughly into all the edges and corners.

To protect the paint from wear and tear, add a layer of water-based varnish to the box. Do not varnish the top of the lid.
Replace the hinges and lock unit.