Matchbox Darlings

I've had a huge boxful of matchboxes lying around for quite some time, now, and I've decided to use them up to make things for the cartons.

Each of the matchbox treasuries is made up of three to five matchboxes. First I decorated the boxes. Then I painted leftover strips of book board in colors that match the boxes and, once the paint was dry, I stamped and embossed on the visible sides of the strips. (Not shown here.)

After cutting the strips to size, I glued on the matchboxes. Some of the strips are longer, so they can be hung up, if desired. I then used scraps of book board to make nameplates for the sets. After that, all I had to do was embellish. I'm actually quite pleased with myself, because I managed to use some of my hard to get "perfect" embellishments that I'd been saving for some project or other, for example, the rusted hardware. It's such a relief to be actually using the stuff instead of hoarding it.

Oh, and the boxes also have an inner life...

See the Art Angelix blog for pictures of other boxes.