I don’t know about you but I’m a huge tea drinker. HUGE. I have a few friends who are too. I also like giving gifts to my friends from time to time. Just to show that I appreciate them.
Today, I combined my love of tea with my love of giving little gifts and I created this little house shaped gift box.
It doesn’t take much time at all to make and even though the box is paper mache ( You can purchase the PAPER MACHE HOUSE here) and is usually prone to bubbling and warping when painted with water colors I’ll show you a little trick that makes it do-able.
And then after the project I’ll tell you about a little giveaway I have going on.
The trick, and first step, is to coat the box with gesso.
Let the gesso dry completely (which doesn’t take long at all) and then you can use watercolors on the box.
The next thing to do is to stamp on the box with Saddle Brown StazOn Ink. The stamp I used is from Stampers Anonymous.
Now, the house is kind of flexible so it can be hard to get a good, clear image so I took the top off and put my free hand inside to push against the stamp from the inside in order to help the image come out a little clearer.
For the color on the house I used The Art Grip Aquarelle #163. I just kind of colored in around all of the edges and then used a wet paintbrush to wash color over the house.
Even though I used the gesso, I only watercolored one side of the house at a time and used a heat gun to dry it so that water didn’t sit on it overly long.
Once the watercolor was dry I used the gold Gelato around the edges of the house and just rubbed it in with my finger.
While the base colors are drying the rest of the way I created the two embellishments for the front.
For the tea cup I used a stamp from mystampbox.com and stamped it on a piece of watercolor paper. I then colored around the edges of the design with Aquarelles in pink and tan and then used a damp brush to spread the color around. Let dry.
The bottle cap embellishment takes a few steps but is still easy to make. First, cut a strip of fabric approximately 2 inches by 5 inches and using a bit of thread run a stitch along the bottom. Gather, tie a knot and set aside.
For the TEA in the center I stamped with one of the mixed media stamps on a bit of watercolor paper using the PITT artist pen big brush in May Green.
Color the center of the design with the same aquarelle used on the box. Just a touch of color.
The word TEA is stamped with Black StazOn and then the design is punched out using a 1″ paper punch. An acrylic dome is placed over the stamped paper and then glued into the center of the bottle cap.
Glue the gathered fabric, in a flat circle, to the back of the bottle cap and then to the box.
Use a decorative pin to accent.
Glue the dried tea cup to the box and embellish with washi tape.
Embellish the box with washi tape in just a couple of places.
And there you have it, a great mixed media gift box. Perfect for giving, full of tea of course, to your tea loving friends.
And now for the giveaway portion of our program…
Faber-Castell is kind enough to offer one of YOU this goodie package of products.
1 Mix & Match Mixed Media Aquarelles & Ink in RED
1 Mix & Match Mixed Media Aquarelles & Ink in GREEN
1 Mix & Match Metallic PITT Artst Pens
1 Mix & Match Essential Tool Kit
All hand picked by me for YOU. (House shaped gift box not included) I chose those particular elements with Christmas and Winter Holidays in mind.
How to enter:
Leave a comment on this post.
That’s it.
I will choose a winner via Random.org on 9/26 sometime in the afternoon and I will email the lucky winner for his/her address. If I don’t get a reply with address by Friday 9/28 I’ll choose again.
Good Luck!
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This box is absolutely darling! Thanks for the great tutorial. Oh, and I love your color choices….that is one of my favorite color combos!! Great job!!
Hi Renee,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad you like it. :)
V
What a cool little project! Great giveaway too!
Would love to win and try this technique! The box looks like fun to do!
Great giveaway Vicki! :) Love the box!
Great job! You made it look like even I can do this. Thank you!
What a great project, and a great giveaway to match! Thanks for sharing!
I’d love to win!! <3
What a cute house! I actually just REALLY used gesso and gelatos this weekend- can’t wait to do more and this is a great idea- have to keep that in mind!
Love it….think a cute little flower attached to the tea bag to match would be cute, too…
That’s a great idea, Gaynelle!
I love this project! I will definitely give it a try! :) Didn’t event think of using different materials and markers for it. I love Faber Castell products!!!! Thank you for the giveaway! :)
What a cute idea! You never did say where you got the box from though, or did I miss that? We are doing a charity tea party in the spring and this would make a cute prize. Thanks for the idea!
Hi Jennifer, There is a link in the post. I’ll go make it easier to find though.
V
Like the box and then using gold Gelato…
I just love your project. I never thought to stamp onto paper mache. Very Cool !
Wow!! I love mixed media. Love your lil tea box house. What a wonderful Idea. Thanks for the chance to win. I have been really wanting to try these out.
I love this idea! Where do you get the boxes to decorate? I would love to give this a try and use them as gift boxes for my ornaments. Thanks!
Hi Renee,
There is a link in the post to purchase the boxes. Unless the internet gremlins ate it…which is entirely possible! :)
V
following you on reader now.
Yippee!! :)
Wow, what a fantastic gift box. Tea is always a SAFE gift to give, even if they aren’t a tea drinker, they may eventually have company and serve it then.
Thanks for the directions on your project. I never would have thought to put Gesso on first. Great tip and time saver. Thanks.
I love the finished product. I have a collection of pretty stamps and always wondered how to color them in successfully. Thanks for sharing.
what a great idea! I really love the gift box, and will be making one for my daughter! She will love it!
Love this idea especially as I am currently looking for reasonably priced things to make for a fund raiser. Thank you
Oh cool! Good luck on your fundraiser.
Very cute box! Thank you for a chance to win a great prize.
Vicki:
this is a beautifull proyect, thank you for giving us the chance to win this wonderful giveaway :D
Finally something to PIN other than the default stuff that Pinter offered me! I love this idea because I am a tea drinker myself but my older brother is a tea fanatic and his birthday is coming up in November. One other thing, thanks for turning my on to the Stampers Anonymous site, when I seen the wide variety of stamps they have, I was quite frankly amazed–sorry, that kind of sounds like a commercial but I can promise that I am not affiliated with them in any way other than a new customer.
Haha, Danielle, I often sound like a commercial when I’m excited about a product. Glad I could help you find something to get excited about!
Good luck with the giveaway!
V
What a cute idea!
Thank you, Steff and good luck! :)
V
What a wonderful project! Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway!
Beautiful little box.
I love Faber Castell products. Thanks for the opportunity to win. (Sorry if this is a second comment. I had trouble posting.)
Hi Kia,
Thanks for the comments. I’m not giving away the box… just the Faber-Castell products. Good luck!! :)
V
What a beautiful little house. I don’t drink tea (sorry, I’m weird) but I’d love to receive this lovely box.
You can also watercolour on absorbent ground, very much like gesso.
I do love Faber Castell products. Thanks for the opportunity to win some.
Very cute! Good idea!
Thank you, Kristen! :)
This is sooooo pretty Vicki! Who wouldn’t want to receive a beautiful gift like this?
Thank you, Kim. How kind of you to say so. :)
oh goodness, see, I get all discombobulated when a stamp isn’t the “right” size and here you’ve made it look fabulous! . . . and I love that you can watercolor over gesso – never would have thought of it, probably would have used acrylic but this looks so awesome! Thanks for the inspiration and the opportunity to win these fabulous Faber Castell goodies!
Hi Teresa,
Thank you. I have a hard time finding stamps just the right size for just about anything I work on it seems. I think I’ve just learned how to MAKE them work.
Because it was a project FOR Faber-Castell I had to use their products so I had to find a way to make the watercolor work. Otherwise, I might have used acrylic too. But then I wouldn’t have found this great trick to share! :)
Good luck with the giveaway!!
V
What a cute little box. I’m a big gelato fan and planning to purchase the big brush stampers pens tomorrow at my lss….LOVE them and can’T wait to own them.
Hi Marilyn,
Thanks for the compliment and comment!
Man, I love those big brush pens!
Good luck on the giveaway! :)
V
Love the little box – gesso is wonderful stuff isn’t it? Thanks for the chance for the fabulous Faber-Castell products!
Hi Gina,
Thanks for stopping by. Yeah, gesso makes so many surfaces paintable that would not otherwise be paintable. :)
Good luck on the giveaway!!
V
I have this little box in my stash and never knew quite what to do with it.
I’ll be getting it out now that you’ve inspired me! Thanks!
Oh yeah! Sherry, I love comments like that. So glad to have given you an idea and I hope you’ll share a photo with me of your finished project.
V