Maxine Jones Design: All your dreams come true with IndigoBlu

Thank you for visiting my blog today!! This is an inspirational design for the "All your dreams come true" blog challenge with IndigoBlu. I hope you like it!

This month, I have taken a little wooden box (I do love to alter a box) and turned it into a little trunk.

This was a little plywood chest from Efco (via a craft shop) and I've had it for rather a long time.

I love working with the IndigoBlu paints, and I have a lovely chest that I keep all my essential oils in, so I thought that I would mimic that with this chest.

First, I painted it all over with the delicious Hot Cocoa acrylic paint. I took the Goldfinger metallic acrylic paint and watered it down (on my craft mat). I then took a piece of Phat Foam and sponged the paint onto over the chest (once it was dry).

I then took a piece of Kraft Card - this one was 8x8. I painted it over completely with the black Gee-Sso Good (I cannot live without this stuff!!) and once dried, used the Goldfinger once again, only this time I did not water it down, I 'dry-brushed' it over the card, almost stippled it, to create a lovely mottled look.

I cut this down into thin strips and distressed the edges - I used this neat little Distress Tool from IndigoBlu, it's much safer and easy to use, but you could also use scissor edges. (also, I'd do this outside as it creates a lot of paper-fluff!!! Thankfully we've had sunny weather this week!)

I used these to create the strips of 'metal' that are on a treasure chest! They could be either metal or leather straps, but really they are just card! As this is my first attempt at sticking them down, I think I could have done a better job, but I'm still pleased with the results.

I will finish the chest with little embellishments made with UTEE using my Melt Pot and a Plaid mould set (Ornaments) - I used 28 all in all, of the the same little one! I very lightly brushed over with a little bit of the Goldfinger paint, and I mean with a very dry brush, to get much the same effect as gilding wax.

Now to decorate the inside!!! I want to use it, but I also want to create a dream-like quality to the inside of it. So many fabulous stamps to choose from at IndigoBlu!!! I went with Sarah's Choice and Boadicea They have lots of texture and also lovely words.

I painted the inside with my black Gee-Ssoo Good. I will be covering up areas with paper, but the glue will adhere better to the painted surface than directly to the wood. I decorated my paper using a selection of the stamps from the two sets, with Vintage Sepia versafine and also Goldfinger paint, for the base and inside lid, but left the edges black.

These little glass bottles are super cute and I dry brushed/dabbed the Goldfinger paint over them, so they are still transparent - and added contents using glamour dust, flower soft, bead soup, mica flakes and mega flake, and labelled them. (Think of the Pensieve in Harry Potter!!. I used some Velour Dots to stick the bottles into the lid - so that I can still use the contents if needed! (plus I've run out of glue sticks for the hot glue gun!!)

I absolutely love what I've done, and really pleased with it, and I can tell it's something that I may well add to in future too, although I am not sure I will use the box other than for decoration. It can be my dream box, where I keep my dream journal. Don't forget that the true treasure is what is inside us, our hopes and dreams.