Create decorative storage crafts from a plain wooden box or crate. Look for different types of wood boxes, embellishments and a variety of glues suitable for any wood craft at your local craft store. Find vintage jewelry from antique stores and online auction sites. Consider what you could store in a box made from wood and decorate it accordingly.
Treasure Chest
Decorate a small wood box as a treasure chest, with flat-backed cabochons, rhinestones, beads and pearls. It's a good idea to stain or paint the wood box before you craft it into a treasure chest, you can also spray a topcoat of polyurethane to protect the finish before you glue on the jewels. Jeweler's glue or strong craft glue will work to hold the embellishments onto the wood; make sure that any glue you select dries clear. You can line the inside of the wood box with velvet. Just cut a swatch to fit and attach it with spray adhesive.
Wood Crate
Transform a plain wooden crate into decorative storage for your college student's dorm room or your first apartment. Paint the crate with spray paint and let it dry before you decoupage paper images from magazines, vinyl stickers from the craft store or your own artistic creations.
Spread a generous amount of decoupage medium onto the painted wood, then press the image into the glue. Some of the glue will be displaced when you press the picture, smooth this glue over the face of the image. Decoupage glue goes on white, but dries clear with either a glossy or semi-glossy sheen. You can cover any wood box with decoupage medium and thin paper or vinyl to create personalized craft projects.
Keepsake Box
Wooden keepsake boxes with an old- time feel are simple to recreate with a bit of lace, a photo and embellishments such as buttons and vintage jewelry. Stain the box in a deep walnut or cherry wood shade and spray a coat of low gloss polyurethane as a finishing touch. Soak new lace in tea to stain it, or use old lace to accent the top of the wood box.
Glue a swatch of lace about 1/2 inch larger than the perimeter of an old photo. Glue the lace at an angle on top of the box, then arrange an old photo on top of the lace. Clear craft glue like E-6000 works well for this project. Arrange another bit of lace on another part of the top and place buttons or vintage jewelry on top. A strand of faux pearls or an old rhinestone necklace artfully arranged around the photo and the buttons will add to the vintage charm of your keepsake box.
