Angela's Birthday Box

This is the miniature box I made for my sister Angela's Birthday. She loves gardening and has a beautiful yard. I wanted to make her something special because she is always thinking of and doing for others. I love you Angela.

I made everything including the box. I found the tutorial for the wheel barrow at this blog and the blue pieces at this blog (watering can, wash tubs and pitcher.) I really had fun making this box and I think it turned out well. 

The wheel barrow is made from mat board (yes the stuff you use in frames). It was a simple build following the tutorial listed above. I painted mine to look like old wood, but you could do almost any finish on it you wanted.

  

The gardening tools I made from scratch. They are made from paper, wooden dowels and toothpicks (the rake is from toothpicks). 

The blue pieces are made from the blogs listed above. They are made of paper then sanded, painted and glazed to make them look like metal. It is a lot easier than it looks, lol. 

The flowers and plants are paper. They take a little patients and time but worth it in the end. 

The 'clay' pots are actually wood. I just painted them with terracotta paint and filled them with dirt. For the 'clay' pots I used actual dirt from my front yard mixed with glue. I made these before I learned about faux dirt (used coffee and tea grounds dried in the oven).

The background is grass scrapbook paper. It is out of scale on purpose. I wanted the garden scene to look like a little fairy garden hidden in the tall grass. The ground is faux dirt. (Yes is smells like coffee which is a bonus, lol.)  

I made the bags of 'Potting Mix' on my computer and printed them out. I glued and filled them with cotton. Then I hand stitched the bottoms and tops, leaving one partly open with soil coming out.

The box itself is made from mat board with a plastic cover over the top and front. Then I used dollhouse wood trim around the edges to finish it off. The trim and the outside of the box is painted tan. I also added felt dots to the bottom to protect whatever surface Angela places it on.

Hope you enjoy this blog post. If you have any questions please let me know.