French Roses Decoupaged and Stenciled Box

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Today I wanted to share with you my latest favorite project that I just created, this Frenchy vintage wooden box!

I sure wish I had taken the time to snap a before photo.  I found the box earlier this summer when we were vacationing in northern Michigan.  It was brown, and had an old print decoupaged to the lid.  While at one time it may have been pretty, it was in dire need of a makeover!

While I wasn't immediately sure how I would transform her, I knew that I wanted to do some stenciling and decoupaging as well.

 I began by hand painting the box creamy white, inside and out.

As I was working on it, inspiration struck!

I had a really neat stencil from DecoArt of vintage looking French script, that I was just dying to use. And you know how much I love all things French!

So I used a light tan chalk paint, also by DecoArt, to stencil the script to the lid.

Then to the front, back and sides of the box, I stenciled  gorgeous fleur de lis and swirl motifs, also in the same tan 

I knew that I wanted to decoupage roses to the lid, so off to the Graphics Fairy I went.

 I knew as soon as I spotted this gorgeous vintage pink rose print, that it was just what I was looking for!

So I cut out the roses by hand (a bit tedious!), then decoupaged them to the lid.

 Aren't they stunning?

 I knew that I wanted to decoupage something to the inside of the box, so again I popped over to the Graphics Fairy and looked around til I found this beautiful ornate vintage label.

 I thought the pink, cream and gold tones were perfect!

I then added a Parisian street address to the label for fun

Our very favorite hotel we stay at in Paris is on Rue Ecoles.

 Here is the back side of the box.  I painted right over the metal hinges, then distressed them for a time worn look.

 I must say I love the way the box turned out!

While I would dearly love to keep her, I created her to add to my Etsy shop.

So that just means that I'll be on the hunt again for more boxes to transform, and next time I will be sure to create one for myself!

 Hope that I've inspired you a bit!

Au revoir!