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Appliqué Treasure Chest

A Gift Box For Small Treasures

By Shaaron Chambers

How to make an appliquéd treasure chest for someone you love.

I made these as gifts for my granddaughters.

The message in the box is sort of a family tradition - something we always say to them. This is a great gift-inside-a-gift.

When finished, you can put money, a gift card or small gift inside - which is just what I am going to do. :-D

Treasure Chest Materials

• Small paper mache treasure chest - example is 5"x 4 ¼"x 4"
• Appliqué of your choice
• 1 1/8" wood peg
• 4 ½" wood pegs
• Old pieces of costume jewelry and chain
• Delta Ceramcoat gold metallic and black acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Soft cloth
• Paper plate
• Toothpick
• Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue

Making the Treasure Chest

Paint the chest with two coats of gold paint. Let dry completely.

Place a quarter size amount of black paint on the paper plate.

Using the soft cloth, dab a small amount onto the cloth and lightly wipe the black paint over the gold and then smooth the paint out with another part of the cloth.

Add more black to the edges of the box than the rest of it to give it a more worn and old look.

When the box is dry, apply the appliqué with Tacky Glue to the top of the box.

I have outlined the appliqué with some old chain using a toothpick to lay down a thin stream of glue.

Glue a 2" piece of chain on the lid at both ends to resemble rope handles.

Add a piece of decorative jewelry just above this. I used a pair of old earrings, using wire cutters to remove the loop on the top of each earring. Use a course nail file to smooth out any rough edges.

Paint all the pegs black.

Glue the four feet on the bottom and the larger peg on the front top for opening.

The inside can be decorated as well.

I painted the inside black and added some flat rhinestones in the lid for interest and used some sticker letters to put a message in the bottom.

Alternatively you could line the inside with a cute antique looking fabric. Just measure each section, cut out the pieces and glue them in place.

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