Thyme to show you a Shaker Button Box

Today I wanted to show you a project that I just completed 

called

Shaker Button Box

Design 

by

Cynthia Erekson

Lets step inside my STUDIO!

My Palette

Deco Art Americana Acrylics

Camel, Milk Chocolate, Lamp Black, Desert Sand, Russet, Deep Burgundy, Light Buttermilk, Dark Chocolate, Avocado

I began by first sanding and sealing the surface

 with 

Multi Purpose Sealer.

I base coated the outside of the box and the lid with 2 coats of Camel.

I traced the design and transferred just the horizon line to the surface.

I painted the ground area with thinned Milk Chocolate.

I left the ground area some what streaky.

Next I transferred the scallop border.

I painted the top and bottom scalloped borders with Lamp Black.

Top and bottom areas of scallop border are painted.

I painted 2 coats of Lamp Black on the scallop borders.

I transferred the remainder of the design to the box excluding the small details.

I base coated and shaded each of the houses and barns.

I transferred the small details to the box and painted the doors, windows and other details.

I used a combination of 

 DecoArt Reusable Stick on Stencils

to create the "button label" on the box 

The DecoArt reusable Stencils are so easy to use . 

They adapt to both flat and rounded surfaces.

I added the Lamp Black dots to the scallop border using the handle of my brush.

Back side of box.

I let my box dry completely.

Next I mixed clear

 Traditions Glazing Medium 

with

  Milk Chocolate paint ( 2:1 )

for the

  wood grained rim and bottom of box.

I mixed this mixture together well with my palette knife.

I cut a strip of sponge 1/2" wide and as long as the rim on the cover of the box.

I heavily applied the glaze mixture to the rim using a sponge brush.

I then quickly pressed into the glaze all around the rim using the sharp corner edge of the sponge .

( not the flat side)

I also applied the glaze mixture to the bottom of my box in the same manner.

Bottom of box and rim of cover after pressing sponge repeatedly in to wet glaze mixture.

I let the box and lid dry completely over night.

I used a star stencil and small stencil brush for the next step.

I stenciled a Lamp Black star in the center of the box bottom.

I stenciled Lamp Black stars all around the rim of the cover.

I mixed another glaze mixture using Camel for the inside cover of the box.

I used the edge of a sponge to faux finish the inside of the cover 

in the same manner 

that I did the outside of the box.

I let this dry completely before stenciling a large Lamp Black star.

I applied several coats of Dura Clear Ultra Matte Varnish to the cover and box.

Next I traced a circle from a piece of heavy cardboard using the cover of the box as my template.

I cut the circle out and made sure that it fit inside the cover. 

I trimmed it as necessary.

I assembled the following items:

Pearl Cotton Thread

Quilt Batting

Large Needle

Homespun Fabric

Button

* The homespun fabric that I used was actually an old pair of faded curtains that I kept for crafting!

I used the cardboard template to cut a circle from the homespun. 

I left  2"of extra fabric around edges of circle.

I used the 

large needle

and 

about 36" of

 Pearl Cotton thread 

to stitch around the outer edge of the homespun circle.

I left the tails of the thread hanging to gather later.

Next I cut about 5 layers of very thick batting using the cardboard circle as a template.

The thickness of your pin cushion will be determined by how much batting you use.

I poked a hole in the center of my cardboard circle.

I then spread a layer of tacky glue on the cardboard.

I then "stacked" my tower of "batting circles" on the cardboard.

I then placed the fabric circle on table wrong side up 

and 

turned my "batting tower" onto the fabric

so that the cardboard is now facing up.

I then pulled the tail threads that I had left hanging 

to gather the edges of the homespun fabric around the edge of the cardboard.

I carefully adjusted the gathers around the edge.

I cut a long piece  Pearl Cotton thread.

 I started from the underside

and 

I pulled the threaded needle thru the center hole of the cardboard

 out to the edges and back up thru the center hole. 

I repeated this several times.

I then stitched the button to the center.

I then glued the pin cushion to the inside of the lid.

I varnished the inside of my box

I varnished the inside lid of the box.

I attached some rusty pins, buttons and a threaded needle to the pin cushion.

Back of box

Front of box.

Rosemary Reynolds and DecoArt provided the paints for me to complete this project as part of their Helping Artist and Blogger Out Reach Programs.

Thank you DecoArt!

I hope that you have enjoyed watching me paint this 

Shaker Button Box!

Happy Painting!

Lynn