Every year for Christmas, I try and make my Grandmother something for Christmas as she HATES people buying her things.  This year, I made her a Jewelry Box with a CROSS on it.  I’m going to post photos of the process.

To begin, I found a wooden box with hinges and locks.  (much less work than trying to make this yourself.)  I found this particular one at Hobby Lobby for around $8.00.  I also decided on a cross to decorate the outside and got some mosaic tiles to weight down the bottom since the cross I chose was rather heavy.  I got a mirror for the inside, but ended up not using it.

To begin the actual process, I started on the outside.  I painted the box a pale yellow as a bass.  Then took a dark brown and rubbed it over the dried yellow paint with a painting sponge.  I put it on pretty thick, then took an old towel and rubbed all the excess until it looked good.  I tried to make it look like the edges were a little bit more weathered so I left those darker.  If parts were to dark where I didn’t want them to be, I used the yellow on a different sponge to lighten it up being sure to wipe off the excess with an old towel.  I repeated this process until the box looked like this.  I used regular acrylic paint to paint the box.

After this, I took the cross and hot glued it to the center of the box making sure to seal the edges where the cross met with the top of the box.  I did minor touch ups on the hinges, the latches, and the handle with dark brown paint.  I then used a brush on clear coat to seal the paint and the cross.  I used spray clear coat to make some minor touch ups.

Once the outside was sealed and the clear coat was dry. (I rushed this with a hair dryer) I began on the inside.  I used dark brown paint to coat the wood.  In the bottom of the box, I super-glued the mosaic tiles.  I didn’t make them look pretty or give them a pattern, I needed them simply for weight so that the box stayed down when it opened because the cross was so heavy it toppled the box over when it was opened.  Once the tiles were in place, I cut out a rectangle of card board to place over the tiles to give it a smooth surface.  I then cut out rectangular pieces of furry black fabric to line the inside of the box.  To attach the material, I super glued it on.