What you'll need:

• Shoe box with lid
• Liquitex Basics Gesso
• Red and yellow acrylic paint
• Large paintbrush
• Construction paper (we used red, yellow, green, brown and orange)
• White craft glue
• Water
• Foam alphabet paint stamps
• Acrylic sealer spray, matte

How to make it:

1. Remove any labels that may be on the shoe box.

2. Paint outside of box and lid with Liquitex Basics Gesso. Allow to dry completely.

3. Once dry, paint box and lid with red acrylic paint. Let dry completely.

4. In a small bowl, mix together equal parts of water and white glue to create a paintable, yet milky, homemade decoupage mixture.

5. Tear construction paper into 1-2” pieces.

6. Working about 3-5” at a time, paint the decoupage mixture onto the top surface of the box.

7. Place construction paper pieces on top of the decoupage, then put a layer of decoupage mixture over the top of the construction paper pieces. Construction paper pieces should overlap each other a little and will create a mosaic affect. Use alternating colors so that you don’t have too much brown or too much green in one spot, etc.

8. Continue with this process all over the outside of the box, leaving only the rim of the lid red.

9. Using the alphabet stamps and yellow acrylic paint, stamp the words “My Treasure” onto the front of the box lid rim.

10. When the entire project is dry, spray with a coat or two of acrylic matte sealer.

Tips:

• To make your treasure box even fancier, line the inside of the box with yellow felt by gluing it to the inside bottom and up the inner sides.

• Decoupage medium can be purchased at any craft or discount department store, but you can easily make it yourself from white craft glue and water to achieve the same affect.

• This project can be a bit time consuming, so plan a snack break about halfway through so that your kids can get recharged.