Each year, Jess and I make crafts as Christmas gifts for family members. This year, our first idea was too hard (as is typical) but we had another project we had wanted to do as well that worked out great!.
Firstly, we got some wooden Tissue Box covers.
The next step was to get a gel stain. We reused the same stain we used for our ukulele project which goes a long way.
We then used our KNK Zing vinyl cutter to cut a vinyl sticker Jess designed as a template to help up print a design on the boxes. We placed our clear transfer paper on the box and drew the outside dimensions to help us align the design.
When placing this on the actual box, it helps to hold it up to the light so you can see the edge of the box well.
When we ran out of large pieces, we cut the designs on scrap vinyl and pieced it together on the transfer paper. Here’s an example:
Once we had all the templates set up. We removed the clear transfer vinyl and used a dark gel stain and a foam brush to blot the stencil.
This was left for about an hour to dry until tacky and then we removed the stencils.
We then left the stain to dry completely overnight.
We finished the boxes with a light coat of white gel stain. The trick is to paint it on with the foam brush, then wipe off excess with a nice paper towel (This brand of paper towels are best for these kinds of crafts as they don’t leave any fuzzy mess behind). Do this technique to all sides of the box, even if they don’t have a stain design. This gives a rustic whitewashed look that still shows the figure in the wood a bit and evens out the design overall, making it look completely finished and cohesive.
Wipe on:
and wipe off:
