Little Darlings Altered Art Box - Graphic 45

Many of you were excited about this little altered art box and mini album that I created for my Graphic 45 Design Team submission. I decided to do a little tutorial for you today! As an added bonus, StopAndScrap has agreed to stock the basic Graphic 45 products I used for the project! As soon as they have the goodies in the store, I will post and let you know! For a full supply list, see the end of the post.

This Graphic 45 kraftboard box is 5x5 inches and comes with a mini album inside. This was such a fun project to make. I really love the Little Darlings collection!

I tried to add a little interest to all of the sides of the box, so that if it was sitting on a desk or shelf you could see something interesting from all angles!

I use Copic markers to color the paper flowers to match the paper. It took some trial and error to get the right shade of peach/pink, but I used R81 Rose Pink on a cream flower. To attach my flowers I use a strong, wet glue, like Aleene's Tacky Glue. I find that if I use adhesive dots, the flowers tend to fall off after a few weeks! For some reason the mulberry paper does not like the adhesive dots!

To alter the metal butterflies, I painted the metal with white acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I sprayed the metal with Tsukineko Goosebumps Clear Texture Spray. For some reason, the combination of the white paint and the clear spray turns the metal a pale, baby blue! I sprayed these and then went to bed. When I returned to the project the next day, my butterflies were blue! Happy accident!

Here is the box, all opened up, with the mini album tucked inside.

To create a gift card pocket for the inside of the box, I used a page from a Graphic 45 Kraft Envelope Album. I cut the envelope to size and re-glued the bottom to make a pocket the perfect size for a standard gift card. Two of the Graphic 45 Metal Brad Staples, wrapped with twine, act as a closure for the pocket. I gave the metal brads the same "treatment" as the metal butterflies.

Here is the little mini, all wrapped in Light Coral Shimmer Satin ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon. I have to say matching up colors is a full-time job!

I made sure to line the "tray" part of the box with paper.It can be used to hold treasures instead of the little mini.



Now, let's see the mini album! I used one of the Little Darlings chipboard frames and some of the paper for the cover. You could put a photo of your baby into the frame instead of the image I used.

I sanded all of the edges of the album, and then put a bit of white ink over it, to give it a soft, distressed look.

Here is one side of the album. Keep reading for the close-up photos.

And the other side. I tucked the ribbon behind the left panel, which was the best location for tying the album closed.

I used more flowers for the front. So soft and pretty!

For this page, I cut down the packaging from one of the Graphic 45 Staples and covered it with paper. I love the shape of the tags and the metal-edged hole. I tied some lace through the hole. Pretty pretty!

This page has a photo mat and a few of the postage stamp images. Love those babies!

And another photo mat. I edged the paper with pale pink ink. (Say that three times!)

I created a pocket page with cardstock and paper, and one of the Little Darlings cardstock stickers. I used stickers and chipboard for the tags. I adhered all of my stickers to chipboard and trimmed them out.

Here is a second pocket page.

Another photo mat with stamp images.

And last, another tag with some of the chipboard items attached.

A final note about creating the latch for the box: I used the same technique to alter the color of the Metal Tag Staples as I did for the butterflies, then I bent the metal tag into a latch shape. I glued the chipboard tag to the latch to make a handle. I am strong, like Superman, and bent the metal tag over the edge of the table with my bare hands! If you are not strong enough, you can use some tools from the garage!

StopAndScrap gave me a discount code for you! Use code GRAPHIC10 to get 10% off your Graphic 45 pre-order for A Ladies' Diary and Happy Haunting collections! The code is valid for two days, ending Wednesday (5/9) midnight EST.

Graphic 45 Papers:
Little Darlings: Peek-A-Boo, Bundle of Joy, Heaven Sent, Rock-A-Bye, New Arrival, Little Treasures
Graphic 45 Stamps: Little Darlings Cling Stamps 1
Graphic 45 Cardstock Stickers: Little Darlings
Graphic 45 Chipboard Tags: Little Darlings Tags 1 and 2
Graphic 45 Staples: Metal Tags, Metal Butterflies, Metal Brads, 5x5 Kraftboard Altered Art Box, Kraft Envelope Album, tag packaging

Clearsnap: Colorbox Graphic 45 Decades Antiquing Ink Dark Cashmere
Clearsnap: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Rose Coral, Popcorn
Core'dinations: Sand it Gadget
Copic Markers: Various markers
American Crafts: Cardstock
Tsukineko: Goosebumps Clear Texture Spray
Deco Art: White Acrylic Paint
Wild Orchid Craft: Flowers
Really Reasonable Ribbon: ribbon, trim, twine
Adhesive: Scotch 3M tape runner, foam tape; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L foam squares; glue