Hat Box Makeovers with Guest Blogger Mitzi

I'm the guest blogger for Erin and Heather's Monday blog switch, and I couldn't be more pleased to be here with a new audience of readers, and hopefully some new friends. I'm just getting to know Erin and Heather, and have been impressed by their forward-thinking attitude toward their blog. Having a guest blogger each week is a great way to keep things interesting for loyal readers. What a great idea! Right now they are over at my blog, Mitzi's Collectibles, with their guest post.

Let me tell you about myself briefly before we begin today's project. I am a part-time antique dealer in central Michigan, selling my wares in two antique malls. Over the years I have acquired all sorts of fabulous vintage raw materials at auctions and estate sales that lend themselves to crafting. More specifically, old apothecary bottles, bark cloth, buttons of all shapes and sizes, ribbons and trims, colorful millinery flowers, sheet music, and jeweled bits and bobs that can be made-over into new jewelry creations.

If you visit flea markets, estate sales, antique stores, or even garage sales, you'll eventually come across some hat boxes. If you are lucky, they might be covered in wallpaper like one of my examples below. Other times, they might be striped or have the name of the hat maker on them. Since these boxes can be so useful for storage, why not gussy them up so they can be displayed on top of an armoire or shelf in your bedroom or craft room instead or hidden in a closet?

Besides hat boxes, you will need:

Foam brush

Mod Podge or other decoupage medium

Brayer to roll air bubbles out of applied images

Images you wish to ad to your box.

Embellishments such as lace, fringe, or ric-rac

Hot glue gun to attach embellishments

I keep a stockpile of laser copied paper ephemera for decoupage projects, including perfume and soap labels, Victorian trade cards, and old advertising. I've even color copied packages of eyes and hooks and cards of buttons because I like the pleasing patterns. Of course, you don't have to use copied vintage stuff. Other suggestions would be sheet music, wrapping paper, or scrapbook paper.

Apply your Mod Podge to the back of the images with a foam brush, position them on your box in a pleasing configuration, and roll out any extra glue and air bubbles with a brayer. You can use your fingers if you don't have a brayer, but it gets a bit messy! Then, apply a layer of Mod Podge on top of your image. Wait an hour or so, then coat the entire box with the Mod Podge. This is just to give the surface an even appearance.

When your box is dry, add some fun trims. I used blue pom-pom fringe, brown lace, and gold Dresden trim. Using a hot glue gun, apply your trim wherever you want. That's it!



You can see I used the Dresden trim to frame the ladies' fashion print, and the lace I glued around the rims of the box lids:

Here are a few tips:

If you elect to use Mod Podge, consider if it is gloss, matte, or satin. The different finishes will affect your finished project. Personally, I don't think gloss looks good on most paper projects. I used the matte version on my boxes.

I filled in some empty spaces with rose stickers from a simple sticker sheet purchased at Michael's.

If you have an ink-jet printer, buy some spray fixative and coat your images at least once, otherwise the colors will run when you apply your glue. Spray fixative is available in any art supply or craft store in an aerosol can.

Of course, you don't have to use vintage hat boxes. You can buy papier-mache stacking boxes at any craft store that are ready to paint or decoupage.

I hope you have a chance to pretty up some boxes of your own!

Mitzi