Candy box crafts 4 drawer mdf box

 Back in November I bought an mdf kit to make a 4 drawer unit to store my brushos in at the Oysterstamps retreat.  Taken me a while to get everything this far and there's a lot more I want to do.

I started by painting all the pieces with a teal acrylic paint from docrafts. When dry I assembled the box & drawers using plain pva glue.  Putting the back piece on last was fun.. not and required the use of a soft tap with a hammer.  Next one I do I'll add one of the sides last and paint once assembled.  To help hide the joins I used some inca gold in the same shade as the paint, it's reacting with the camera flash but irl it just adds a nice shine & depth.

The panels were all made away from the box & stuck on last.  I started by blending tumbled glass and evergreen distress ink on to white card.  I then stamped various patterns from a sea themed set of stamps from Designs by Ryn in the same colours, some were first gen ink some 2nd in the same 2 colours.  Next was the bubbles using black archival and highlighted with white calligraphy ink.  The mermaid is from Chocolate Baroque and like the images coming on the next 2 pics was stamped with archival on to hot pressed watercolour paper, coloured with distress & stampinup markers and blended with a damp brush before being cutout with a scalple. The pics don't show it but I've also used a wink of stella brush to add subtle sparkle to the mermaids tail and very tiny touches of the inkagold mixed with water..  I'd already attached the piece to the box when I decided I wanted some fronds hanging down.. dumb idea because I dropped the stamp and have a patch that needs covering..  a small fish stamp will do,just need to find one that's pretty enough now.    Mistake number 2 was thinking hotglueing real seashells to the bottom corner was a good idea.. I don't like them now they're done so when I get round to it I'll carefully pick them off and hot glue some fronds of sand to cover any damage.

 The 2 fish are from the same set of Design by Ryn stamps as the curly pattern.  I've used a seaweed stamp in the corners and some shells from chocolate baroque in a pale brown distress ink at the bottom.














The top had to stay quite flat because I often stack things in the playroom.. comes of having next to no space against the wall left and having so many things I "need" to have at arms reach at all times.

More stamps from Ryn, combined with some treasure urns from the mermaid Chocolate Baroque set.

And one finished for the moment chest.  I've hot glued real shells as handles but other than that I've not decorated the panels yet.  I havent decided what I need the drawers to hold most yet, my brushos are sitting in their a5 boxes lovely and I like how the pots can't fall over in them.    I was half tempted to store my essential inkpads in them, each drawer fits 6 old style archival inkpads with ease but the new style are a bit fatter which makes 3 high a bit too snug.  Maybe I'll put my most used embossing powders in them, maybe not lol.  Once I have decided I'll decorate the fronts of the drawers more appropriately and post again.