Altered Cigar Box Purse - Pt 1

There are all sorts of cigar boxes out there - large ones, small ones, rectangles, squares, wood, pressed cardboard.... I think every time they come up with a new and different brand they make a different box.  BUT, that's a good thing because you can use any of them to make an altered cigar purse!!

I am going to be using this nice wood cigar box which already has this nifty little closure on it.  Now if your cigar box of choice doesn't have a closure you can always find lots of web-sites that have a wide variety of closures, handles, corners, feet, etc.  I did find this awesome place...UMX - they carry an entire line of products for making cigar box purses...heck they even have the boxes!  I have to warn you though their web-site is a big clunky to find prices and order. 

The next thing I do is mark and drill holes for my handles.  I like to do this before I begin adding paint or papers.  Just in case I slip or measure wrong, I won't mess up my finished design and I can cover any mistakes ;)  LOL!!

You can cover your cigar box with just about anything you can think of...papers, collage images, paint, ink, fabrics, rubber stamping, spray dye inks, etc.  Whatever your heart desires!  I am going to be using a combination of paint and pattern paper. 

I first painted the top and bottom of my cigar box with black acrylic paint.  Next I pulled out a few papers I wanted to use....these sheets from the Printery collection from Prima.

I cut them up into smaller pieces and inked the edges brown.

Next I began gluing them down to the cigar box using my favorite collage medium - Collage Pauge by Aleene's. 

Some of your papers may hang over the edges...  simply tear away the excess, sand and ink the new edge.

Here is what my first side looks like.  You will notice I worked around the original cigar label.  I thought it would be fun to leave it even though it will be upside down.  Don't worry about trying to cover the lid & box separately.  We'll take care of that in a jiffy. 

Once you've got all 4 sides covered you can now go back with your exacto knife and cut the paper that is covering the lid.    Simply slit down the paper....

then sand and ink the new edges.

After you've got all the edges inked it's time for the first coat of sealer.   I usually put one or two coats using the same collage medium I use to glue the paper down.   I work on two sides at a time, let them dry completely, then coat the other two sides.    After they have all cured for a couple hours I repeat the process.

 

Now, this is where I'm going to leave it but I won't be able to post part 2 until next Tuesday.

Tomorrow is Altered Pages Fall/Halloween Blog Hop and Monday is Altered Pages Pink Hop for Breast Cancer.  You'll want to stop by both days as there are LOADS of prizes being given away!

 

See you soon!