Card Box

I had a lot of fun a couple weeks ago creating a card box for my upcoming wedding. The best part was that everything I used was just stuff I already had lying around in my boxes of art supplies - the acrylic paint was leftover from art classes I took at least two years ago, the little bit of watercolor paper I used was leftover from making reception table placemats, the ribbon was extra ribbon from the spool I intend to use to decorate my wedding cake, and the container was just the cardboard box from a package one of our wedding guests sent us from our registry! I essentially spent $0 to make the card box, and it turned out really well!

Materials used:

- Appropriately-sized cardboard box

- Newspaper (to protect the table surface from paint)

- Acrylic paint (several colors, including Liquitex (basics/student and professional brand - whatever I had lying around) in solid colors and Daniel Smith Luminescent/Iridescent to make the shinier swirls)

- Paintbrushes, palette knife (for mixing), paper bowls

- Glue, Scotch tape (to hold box while glue was drying), Duct tape

- Computer printout of sign

- Pencil

- Watercolor paper, watercolor paints (Daniel Smith brand), staple gun and staples, gator board (to stretch the watercolor paper)

- Ruler, exacto-knife, cutting mat

- Ribbon

First, I cut out the slot on top of the cardboard box where I wanted it, then I unfolded the cardboard box and put down newspaper. I mixed a big paper bowl full of green - as close to our wedding color (David's Bridal calls it "jade") as I could (white, blue, light green, green, yellow, black, iridescent blue, and iridescent gold, in various amounts). 

When mixing, I tried my best to keep in mind that acrylic paint always dries darker than it looks when initially painted/wet, so I aimed for a bit lighter than I actually wanted it to end up with. (Incidentally, watercolor works the opposite way, and looks lighter when dry than it does when wet, and since I'm more familiar with watercolor, I really had to remind myself to do things *opposite* of what I usually did). I painted one side of the box and let it dry for several hours. 

Next, I mixed a batch of coral paint (white, red, yellow, iridescent gold, iridescent russet, red-violet in various amounts) to match our other wedding color (David's Bridal calls it "guava"). Again, I let it dry for several hours.

(Note the fabric swatches from David's Bridal that I compared the color to)

I didn't really *have* to paint both sides - I mean, when it's folded back up, you can hardly see the inside of the box anyway. But I wanted the inside of the box to have a hint of coral color, so that if any guest *did* peak inside the box, she/he would be pleasantly surprised to find our other wedding color inside.

Once both sides were dry, I folded the box back up, gluing the flaps down and the sides together, and holding it closed with Scotch tape until the glue had dried.

Assembling the box back together again

In retrospect, I wouldn't have put that piece of packing tape on the bottom of the box. It was so much shinier than anything else on the box, and I ended up painting another coral strip over it later (after the box was already assembled, which was no easy feat!) just so it wouldn't be so blindingly shiny if anyone peaked inside the box.

A bit of coral paint had managed to find it's way onto the green side of the box, and a bit of newspaper had stuck to the wet paint, so there were some spots that needed touching up once I assembled the box back to its original shape. After fixing those spots, I stepped back and looked at my box. I had always intended to paint a watercolor side to glue to the side labeled "cards," but my box was looking so plain that I didn't think just a sign would be enough. The solid color was too "blah" and in a fit of desperation, I grabbed some silver duct tape (after a cursory internet check that duct tape, as many colors as it comes in, was not available in my specific wedding green or coral anywhere) and taped off the edges to give the box some definition.

I often approach arts projects like this, just going by trial and error until I find something that looks better. As usual, my first idea didn't work. The duct tape just looked tacky (although the silver contrast to the green *did* look nice from a distance), and the large stretches of green *still* looked too plain. But the duct tape did give me a couple of ideas - using ribbon at the end to highlight the edges, and incorporating some kind of contrast. 

So I painted over the duct tape with my green paint again, and this time I tried adding light green and silvery-gold swirls around the entire box. The silvery-gold swirls are really shiny, since I used a lot of the Daniel Smith iridescent paints I had, and they really gave it that extra level of "fancy" I was looking for. Before it just looked like a cardboard box painted green - not nearly sophisticated enough for my wedding. But the swirls gave it dimension, contrast, and sparkle. I was very pleased.

Adding detail to the outside of the card box

Next came the process of painting the sign for the outside of the card box. I wanted to incorporate our official wedding pattern, just as I did on the watercolor placemats I created for each reception table, and all of our stationery items. It's an old process for me - I do it with almost every watercolor I make - but to anyone not used to the steps, it's pretty complicated.

First, I printed the sign off of my computer. I suppose I could have just glued the computer printout to my card box, but that's just not me. I hand painted 27 watercolor placemats for our reception tables, for crying out loud. I just like the way things look by hand so much more than mass produced on a printer. I transferred the design from the printout to my watercolor paper by smudging the side of pencil lead along the back of the sheet and tracing it. The pressure from my pencil tracing the printout pushed the graphite on the back of the prinout onto my watercolor paper.

Then, I soaked the small piece of watercolor paper in the bathtub for ten minutes. I probably didn't need to soak it, but I wanted to add some dimension to the background of the sign by painting some coral swirls - just as I had on the watercolor reception placemats. And anytime you plan to soak your watercolor paper, you should stretch it just to make sure it stays nice and flat.

After ten minutes, I stapled it to my gator board (any wooden board would have also worked, but staples come out of gator board a lot easier) to hold it nicely taut and flat while I painted. While it was still soaked, I added the coral swirls in the background. When it was totally dry, I used a *tiny* watercolor brush (size 3/0) to paint in between the lines I'd traced earlier. Once the bands of pattern and the text ("cards") was dry, I pulled the staples out and cut the sign down to its appropriate size with my exacto knife, a metal ruler with a protective lip, and my cutting mat.

Making the sign for the side of the card box

The final steps were the easiest. I cut some ribbon to the appropriate lengths and glued them in place, and finally glued the "cards" sign I made to one side of the box.

Final product

I loved that it had so much depth and detail (the coral inside, the intricate pattern on the sign, the green and silver swirls on the box). It both looked handmade (which it was!) *and* professional and fancy (the iridescent paint and the ribbon really helped in that area), and that's exactly what I wanted. I was glad I was able to reach a happy medium. It only took a couple of mishaps to get to an end product I was satisfied with - but that's just the way things go. :)

Shameless plug time: I made this card box to match the design of my save-the-dates, invitations, RSVP cards, thank you notes, reception menus, ceremony programs, table markers, and escort cards. I also incorporated the pattern onto my wedding favors, cake, and reception placemats. I'm Invites by Andrea, and I'd love to do something similar for you and your wedding! I'd even be happy to create a card box for your wedding (in return for a materials and time-spent fee).