Treasures of the Sea Matchbox

This month's theme is Treasures of the Sea.

This box took A LOT of time to make!  I didn't know what I was getting myself into. 

To make the outside of the box, I first covered the entire box with sea aqua paper and then painted 3 sides of the lid with Scribbles 3D paint and gave it a couple of days to dry.  I left a big opening in the center of the box lid, which was to be the ocean.  A couple of days later, when I was sure the Scribbles was dry, I cut some paint chips into little fishies and put them in the large opening, attaching with glue.  When that dried, I filled the opening with a layer of Glossy Accents.  I wound up with a few bubbles; but that was fine for the ocean!  I glued small shells to one side of the box, and when that dried, glued on some sea green Austrian crystals.

On the other side of the box, I constructed a little fence using matchsticks and arranged nylon net on it.  I then glued on some raffia to look like foilage.  So, the top was done.

 I knew from the start that I wanted to use an undersea scene for the inside of the box, and I knew I wanted to use this Mermaid image for the scene.  I glued the Mermaid into the bottom of the box, then added some raffia to look like seaweed.  At the bottom of the scene I glued actual blue topaz crystals.  I painted the interior of the box with Scribbles 3D paint.  I gave the inside of the box a long time to dry, meanwhile painting waves on the outside of the drawer and attaching a ceramic bead as the drawer pull.  When everything was dry, I added the little shells and covered everything with a thick (and I mean THICK) layer of Glossy Accents.  I just about filled the drawer with the stuff!  Then I waited 2 days while it dried.  But after 2 days was up, I couldn't se the Mermaid - the Glossy Accents looked cloudy!  I figured I'd overdone it and used way too much.  I was depressed, because it was the day I was leaving on vacation and I didn't have time to start remaking the drawer.  So I figured I'd have to start all over again when I got back to make the drawer with a thinner layer of Glossy Accents.

I was gone on vacation for 6 days.  When I got back from vacation, I was AMAZED to find that the Glossy Accents had dried even more and now I could see my Mermaid!  HOORAY!  So, this box, about a month in the making, was finally done!

Since I'm not filling the box with goodies, I wanted to send along a little something extra so I used the Mermaid image to cover a Formica sample, added some German scrap and ModPodged it to make a key chain.