Birthday Present

I really enjoyed making the brown paper embroidery boxes recently so, when I needed a birthday present for my sister, I decided to do the same thing, but this time using a craft wood box as the base and with a leaf shape:

I also added a hand-painted scarf and some chocolates to the box. Unfortunately, this isn't a great photo but, as the scarf is now in Brisbane, I couldn't try to get a better photo:

Brown Paper, String & Sealing Wax

These interesting looking boxes are decorated with stitching on brown paper, based on an article by Jane Wild in Stitch wit the Embroiderers' Guild (No. 33). First, I crumpled the paper and then ironed it onto fusible interfacing. After doing some simple embroidery with perle thread, I glued the embroidery to the top of the painted papier mache box. I then used patinating wax, guilding cream and highlight waxes to complete them.

Start with a piece of calico

I decided to participate in this year's holiday challenge for ACT Textile Arts. The only requirements were to make a journal cover, starting with a piece of calico (the calico didn't have to be visible at the end). I used calico, brown paper, copper metallic paint, machine embroidery thread - and beeswax.


And here's my completed journal cover. I'm quite pleased with it, although I've learned a lot about the construction process.


I painted the paper, scrunched it up (lots of fun and very good for relieving stress) and fused it to the calico. I then embroidered words onto it, using a font built into my sewing machine, and finally rubbed beeswax all over it. There is a magnetic catch to hold it closed.