by Meghan
 | As a geek, I've collected an almost unmanageable pile of tiny toys, collectibles and tchotchkes that I have no idea what to do with, but are too cool to throw out. If this is your problem as well, why not display them on the wall? Curio boxes and shadow boxes can get pretty pricey, so I've assembled my own displays from extra craft paint and some thrift store finds. |
One of my awesome geeky friends found these old craft kit boxes while thrifting for a steal.
Perfect for a curio box, right? But they did need some fixing up: while the butterflies were kind of cute, they didn't match with what I wanted to put in the box. I liked the look of the wood box, but its previous life left it with some hot pink ink stains - not the best.
Perfect for a curio box, right? But they did need some fixing up: while the butterflies were kind of cute, they didn't match with what I wanted to put in the box. I liked the look of the wood box, but its previous life left it with some hot pink ink stains - not the best.
Let’s grab some craft paint, then! I just used some cheap white acrylic paint for the larger box, and some of the Martha Stewart high-gloss acrylic paint for the smaller box, so I can get better coverage over those butterflies.
I did about three coats of paint on each box, plus some high-gloss finish. Totally unnecessary, but I’m addicted to glossy finishes. Plus, it can’t hurt to add an extra layer of protection between the paint and my precious knick-knacks.
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 | For the white box, I decided to go with a comic book theme and added pages from an old Justice League comic from the 25 cent comic bin. Just measure out neat-looking pages, fit them to the size of the boxes, paint a liberal amount of Modge Podge onto the surface, press the comic pages in, and ta-da! I also added a layer of Modge Podge over the comic book pages for extra protection. |
The last step is to hammer in some picture frame hangers. Since these boxes weren't designed to be placed on a wall, it was a little fiddly trying to make sure I didn't hammer through the back of the box.
Now for the fun part - putting them on the wall! Much better than letting all this cool stuff
languish in a drawer or cluttering up my desk.
languish in a drawer or cluttering up my desk.
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