How I Make a Shadowbox

Over Christmas, I experimented with making shadowboxes and found that they were a lot of fun. I have had some people ask me how I make them so I thought I would put together a quick tutorial.

I usually use unfinished wood shadowboxes from Michael's, but they were having a sale on the nicer ones in the framing section, so I will be using that in this example.

First, I added scrapbook paper to the sides and the inside back part of the box using gel medium. You will just have to measure to cover whatever size box you get. In this case, I cut the paper on the sides a little small, so you could see some of the black from the box. You could also sand, gesso and paint the box instead of using paper.

I also added some left over fake fur I had and lined the bottom with a heavy white glue.

Next, I took the elements I made for the box (a girl and tree I painted on heavy watercolor paper) and attached a heavy strip of paper (I used the same heavy watercolor paper) to the back of them with strong white glue. Before you glue, You will want to bend both ends of the paper to the length you want your element to stick out of the box. I just kind of keep folding the paper and place my element on the back until I like how far it sticks out. In this case, I wanted the girl to stand out more than the tree, so I cut the paper for the tree shorter.

After I attached the back piece to the inside of the box, I embellished the outside.

I added some flowers and a heart pick to the top with hot glue.


This is a sticker I have had in my stash for years (It feels so nice to use old embellishments).

I added some cute wooden hearts to either side of the box.

I also wrapped ribbon around the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you decide to make one, Let me know; I would love to see it.

Holiday Craft Bazaar!!

The Holiday Craft Bazaar went great! It was totally worth it staying up until 2am every morning getting ready for it. I sold quite a few things and have several commissioned requests. So I am going to be very busy the next few weeks.

Here is what my table set-up looked like. I sold ornaments (the biggest hit), bookmarks, recipe boards, Holiday boxes and some post-it note/pen gift sets I made.



These are some of the new items I made and sold.

Here are a few new items I made and did NOT sell (I will either try and sell them on Etsy or my new Lollishop that I still have to set up)

I hope you all had a great weekend!!

Busy Busy!!!

This has been a very busy week. Thanksgiving, Potty Training and I have been working on several pieces for a craft bazaar I am attending this coming Friday.

My Thanksgiving was very nice, my mom and her husband came over and we had a lot of fun. I think I am still in a Turkey coma!!

I want to thank everyone who left me tips on potty training. Jordan has made such great progress since the beginning of the week. Of course there have been accidents, but due to the reward system I have put into place, he is really getting it down. I have a sticker chart and when it is full, I am taking him to Legoland and every time he goes potty the "Potty Fairy" brings him a jelly bean which magically appears on the kitchen table when he is done washing his hands. I also bought him some Trasformer and Spiderman underwear and he does NOT want to pee on them (it is so cute, he has been playing with the underwear and keeping them in a little box with him at all times). We are still working on the poo poo part (that is much harder).

I have been making more ornaments, shadowboxes and door hangers. I also made a really cute magnetic recipe board for Jordan's teacher. About a year ago, I was really tired of looking down on the counter at my recipe cards and how dirty they got when I was preparing meals. So I created this magnetic board and now the cards stay clean and I don't have to strain my neck looking down at them on the counter. I think they are really neat and a great gift idea. In fact, it is going to be very hard to give away the new one I made because I like it so much better than the one I made a year ago for myself. I am going to make a few more for the craft bazaar (I will post them when I make them).

My mom really wanted me to draw a girlie with a pony tail, so here she is. I really like how she turned out.


This is a commissioned ornament for a friend of mine. Her daughter has a little Christmas tree in her room and all of the ornaments are purples and pinks. This was really fun to make.

Here is another Shadowbox (which I am addicted to making by the way!!)

This ornament is called "Warm Wishes" and I used these really cool clear bubbles (I think they are called raindrops) on the piece which I just love...

When I bought this ornament, it was unfinished wood, so I painted it and crackled it to make it look like an old vintage piece.

Here is the front of the magnetic recipe board (I bought a stand for it as well). I also made the glass magnets.

Here is the back of the magnetic board. I made a pocket for the recipe cards to be placed when not in use.

Here is what it would look like when in use.

Shadow Box "Christmas Morning"

Here is what I have been working on the past few days. I am adding it to my shop tonight.