Christmas Box Frame - by Claudia

Servus and merry Christmas to you, dear Calico Craft Parts friends!

Christmas is fast approaching and I gladly managed to create another piece to decorate my home with to celebrate the advent season. It was a rather quick project, but due to  Calico Craft Parts' fab Birch Plywood Box Frame Kit I used it has become a real eye-catcher on my wall.

 I had this gorgeous red toy car that my mom brought one of my uncles from her stay as an au pair near Oxford when she was young and it had been sitting on one of my book shelves for ages - now it has found its perfect home, hasn't it?

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Birch Plywood Box Frame Kit - small

- Star Shape - Mini MDF Wood Plaques

- Merry Christmas - Wood Words in Ancestry Font

I started with loosely brushing on white DecoArt media Gesso onto the plain parts of the Box Frame Kit using a very worn wide bristle brush to create visible brush strokes and texture. 

Once the Gesso had dried I masked the frame section of the back panel with masking tape and added some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint through a snowflakes stencil with a palette knife. I put the panel on the radiator to let everything dry. 

The other gessoed pieces were given a white star pattern by stencilling on white DecoArt media Gesso through a star stencil. I used one of DecoArt's stipple brushes for this. 

I only applied the stars to the outsides of the box sides, but I did both sides of the frame piece - back and front. 

In the meantime the DecoArt media Crackle Paint had done its magic...

... so I added some DecoArt Turquoise Sparkle to highlight the cracks and also add a bit of bling. 

The Word Shape and star were painted with DecoArt Americana Cinnamon Drop acrylic paint. 

Time to mount the clasps that hold the acrylic glass pane in place:

I inserted the small dowels into the holes at the back of the frame using a pair of pliers to hold them in place while I gently hammered them in with a plastic mallet. 

Then I placed the V-shaped pieces onto the dowels and held them in place with my pliers - making sure the prongs were placed close to the hole so I could gently hammer them to slide my small pieces onto the dowels without braking them.  (see image below)

Once the painted quote and my car were glued in place inside the box , I removed the protective sheets from the front and back of the acrylic glass and inserted it into the frame.

Again I used pliers to gently rotate the little hammered on clasps so they slid into the slots of the box and kept everything in place.

The red star was glued to the front and the hanging hook was glued to the back of the box using matte DecoArt Decou-Page.

Et voilá! My Christmas Box was ready to be put up on a wall! Yay! 

But as the box frame is quite deep, you can also put it on a table or your mantelpiece if you want to. 

I hope you like my little 

"Christmas Tree Transport Scene in a Box"! 

;)

Wishing you

a very merry Christmas

and

happy holidays!!!!

Claudia

xxx