Friday, November 27, 2015

Twas The Night Before Christmas Book Box

I was asked to create something with this new book box from AlphaStamps and I was totally smitten with the idea and waited patiently for the mail man to bring me my supplies. And I waited. And I waited. And I discovered that my package was held hostage in a sorting station 1 1/2 hours away for three days! In crafting terms 3 days is an eternity. ANYWAY it arrived at the 11th hour giving me very little crafting time.

Christmas Book Box - Nichola Battilana

But it arrived! And it all came together quickly and painlessly (yay!).

The base is a Hidden Drawer Book Box and I've used the Night Before Xmas Book Box Collage Sheets to bookify the exterior. It looks like an old book on the outside but slide out the secret drawer and ....


Christmas Book Box - Nichola Battilana

Inside is a darling little Christmas scene jam packed with tiny boxes from THIS collage sheet. If you want to make your own tiny presents, I highly recommend gently scoring all of the edges you're going to fold. Trust me, it will save you a lot of frustration AND your boxes will look 100x's neater.

Now, because I was crafting on a time schedule I simply painted the entire box black before embellishing. This hides any wonky edges and you can totally get away with not papering every single edge and still have a neat looking finished project.

Christmas Book Box - Nichola Battilana

You could make the inside as busy and cluttered with Christmas finery as you like. I love the big jumble of gifts in this box, but a little table with a plate of cookies for Santa or a fireplace with stockings would be just as sweet. It has great potential for you to put your own style inside.

With the mad dash to finish this piece, I can attest to the fact that you can put it together with relative ease. Imagine what a lovely little heirloom gift this would be to make someones Christmas extra special... even if you don't have oodles of time to spare.

Want to make your own? Here's a list of the supplies I used:

Hidden Drawer Book Box
Night Before Xmas Book Box Collage Sheets
Flat-Back Gold Star Studs - 12mm*
Tinsel Red
Small Christmas Bulb Garland*
Holly Berry Garland
Retro Bottle Brush Tree Set - Dyeable (painted green)

Gold Metallic Single Loop Braid
Small Pinecones

Or here's everything you need all in one place