Personalized Hobby Boxes

Total Time Needed:: 1 Hour

Make something special for that someone special, be it a parent, sibling or friend. A personalized hobby box, decorated or filled with little treasures, is sure to fit the bill.

Materials

Wooden boxes (sold at craft stores)
Fine-grain sandpaper
Latex wood primer
Acrylic paints and paintbrushes

Acrylic varnish
Felt
Hot glue gun
Assorted items, such as costume jewelry, foreign coins, or golf tees

Instructions

To prepare the box for painting, lightly sand the wood and then brush a coat of primer on all its surfaces. Once the sealer dries, lightly sand the box once more.
Paint the box. This will have to be done in stages (the inside first, the bottom next, and the top and sides last), allowing the paint to dry each time.
To paint multicolored stripes, as shown on the pencil box, apply strips of Easy Mask KleenEdge tape (sold in most craft or paint stores) in a parallel pattern and paint between them. When the paint dries, remove the tape (it won't peel off the paint), tape over the freshly painted areas and paint new stripes between them. Once the paint dries, apply a coat of acrylic varnish to protect and enhance the colors and let it dry completely.
Next, glue a felt liner to the inside of the box. Then glue decorative items that reflect the recipient's interests onto the top. With items that are hard to stick, try gluing bits of felt to the bottoms and then gluing the felt to the box.

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