The Reawakening of . . . The Little Bitty Box.

Hello!  Happy Tuesday!

I’ve done something crafty which is a bit different from my ‘normal’ and I hope you find this post an enjoyable read.

Where I live there are a small handful of local shops:  Somewhere to buy newspapers and a few groceries; a pet store; a charity shop;  and a ‘Store 21’.  (That’s what it’s called).   Now I love all of these shops.  They’re just down the road from my home and although I don’t visit them all that often, when I do visit, I always come home with something that I’m excited about.

Last time I visited Store 21 (about a month or so ago) I picked up something in their sale.  It was a little pale brown box with a hinged lid, and a clear, viewing glass window within the lid.  It was really cheap – something like 99p (about $1.45 for USA folks) – and the size was perfect for the tools I use at my craft desk, over and over and over again,  alllll the time.

Four different types of tweezers:  2 different needle nose tweezers;  a pair of flat end tweezers; and a pair of slanted (eyebrow plucking) tweezers.  A Tim Holtz pick.  A paper edge ruffer upper (I have no idea what they’re really called but I like my description. lol).  Eraser, pens, small scissors – and one or two other bits and pieces.

If I move onto another desk, I have to take all this junk  important equipment, with me,  so when I saw the little box I thought it was a great way of having everything stored in one place and easily ‘moveable’.  So I bought it.

It’s worked brilliantly.  I’ve loved it.  But it wasn’t originally designed for this purpose.  It was meant to be for spare change.  It actually had the word:  ‘COINS‘  in wood, attached to the front.

On Saturday I sat at my desk wondering what to make …  and my eye wandered over my desk.  “I wonder if I could get that ‘COINS’ off that box without damaging the box?”  I thought to myself.  No sooner was the thought,  a deed.  I took my little flat nose tweezers and gently eased the end of one side behind the ‘S’ ….  “oooo, it’s coming away!” …  . . . . . . {c.r.a.c.k.}  …  “aaah nuts.  It’s broken.  Ah well, I’ve started now so I’ve got to get the rest off”.…  and in I went with the tweezers again … pushing, easing, moving, wiggling . . .  until eventually the whole of the word had parted company with the box.

I sat back and looked at the result.  (and sighed) . . .  Well now it just looked sad.  It was a box without a purpose.  I suddenly felt really guilty about robbing it of its identity. 

“Well I’m going to have to do something about you now, aren’t I!” – I told the box.

I should say that at this point I was at a loss at what to do with the little (sad-looking) box.

• Napkin it?  No.
• Cover it with decorative tissue paper?  No.
• Turn it into something amazing with some Graphic 45 papers and some paper flowers & adornments?  No.

I knew there was only one option .. paint it.

I decided on folksy/country-style – (which has always been my favourite to be honest)  –  so, that decided – I thought I’d keep it simple because the box was too small for anything fancy.

I totally forgot to take a photograph of the box before I began this ‘change’, but I did remember just after I applied a coat of Gesso, so here I am,  offering you a sequence of photos,  with captions,  on:-

. . .  The Doing Up of the Little Bitty Box. 

The broken ‘COINS’.
I’m showing you the inside of the box so that you can see what the colour originally was before I began throwing paint around.

All that junk … {cough} I mean the important equipment you see up in that corner there … that’s all the stuff which lives in the Little Bitty Box.

The Gesso attacked the poor defenceless Little Bitty Box and made it ‘white’ (ish)

So … what are you going to paint on this box then?

Want to see a bit more of the madness on my desk? (And this is just one of four desks I have in my craft room. I love this one … It’s deep and loooong)

Oooooo errr! Cream paint on top of the Gesso.
Red paint around the tops and bottom of the box.
Green paint up the corners.
What’s next I wonder?

Well who would have guessed that this dope would have put checker board pattern on this little box?
Does she not know that she has stupid fingers and can’t draw a straight line, let alone paint one!

Ok .. done the front and one side and it doesn’t look tooooo bad …. but she’s got two other sides to go.
This is a car crash waiting to happen. Any second now she’s going to drop that paint brush and paint will go everywhere!. {snigger}

Time to do the back …

Well knock me down with a feather. She’s done it! checker board on all four sides!

But wait a minute …. what’s she up to?
What on earth is that blob all about?

What on earth is that? Is it a cloud?
A marshmallow?
Cotton wool ball?

Ohhh … it’s a folksy country-style Sheep! I wonder why she decided on a sheep?

She’s stuck bits of sticky backed felt to the bottom of the box so that it doesn’t scratch her glass mats.

Finally …. in its rightful place, with all those tools tucked snug inside it. That little bitty box has lived in that space since the day it came home. Works perfectly!

The sheep? … I painted that because there are these teeny-weeny sheep all around my craft room.  Hidden in little spots.  (There’s even one which glows in the dark).  They’re not ‘my‘ sheep.  They belonged to my daughter who collected little sheep, anywhere she found them, when she was younger,  and now, (that she’s ‘grown up’)  they’ve all gathered in my craft room and are keeping me company.  They make me smile.  Apart from the glow in the dark one.  He totally freaks me out when I turn the light off at night-time, and glance around the room to see if there are any ‘standby’ lights still on, in case I’ve forgotten to turn something off.  (normally the printer).  There he stands … glowing like a tiny green fluffy cloud with a black face and green glowing smiley eyes.  FREAKY is an understatement!

Aw .. but anyhooo ….  Thank you so much for coming and spending a bit of fun time with me and my little bitty box.  (Yes I really do call it that).  I have to admit that it’s left me feeling that I want to paint something else now!  I know that ‘painting’ is a bit of a ‘different from the normal’ type of thing for me to be posting on my blog, … but I hope you’ve had a smile at the pictures and their captions.  ‘Make room for some fun in your life’  is my motto … and there’s ALWAYS room for fun!

I love to hear from you so please feel free to tap a comment out on your keyboard.  I love to get to know everyone who’s visiting.  I don’t always comment back, because I like to think that your comment will show up over to the right here (in the last ten comments section) and give you some free advertising for your own blog.  If I comment, then it puts my comments over there →  –  and you don’t need to see my comments … you need other visitors to see yours so that they come and have a look around your blog.  But … I read every single comment without fail, and I do respond if there is a question you want to ask.  So ask away and I promise to reply to questions.

But anyway,  for now  … I wish you an excellent day!

with love ~