Baby Gift Ideas
We were the last of our friends to have children. All of our friends bar one had two boys; the other was a girl and a boy. I loved putting together the baby gift ideas for them, and I always go the extra mile to make the whole gift giving experience very special. It is always easy to go out and buy clothes and nappies and other essential items, but I believe it is the presentation of these gifts that makes it memorable.
I am a creative person. I might not always follow the traditional rules for decoupage or scrapbooking, but my product at the end of the day looks just as stunning as those boxes that had a million layers of varnish painstakingly applied. Here is my easy method for creating stunning baby gift boxes to house those beautiful baby gifts you have either bought or made.
For some great baby gift ideas check out these unique baby gifts from the store:
Requirements:
1 wooden blank box (for this you can use any wooden blank box, whether it is round, square, or rectangular)
1 sheet decoupage quality wrapping paper with your chosen design / Wallies stick on pre-cut pictures
Glue (any brand as long as it works well with paper and won’t make it bubble)
Decoupage paints in your chosen colour (suitable for working on wooden blanks) plus paintbrushes, sponges etc.
Modge Podge
Decoupage varnish – clear and a sponge brush
Glass Sandpaper
Sheet of cork
Sheets of felt (optional)
Method
First start by using the glass sandpaper (the finest grain sandpaper you can get which should be lightly wet first) to smooth off any bumps on the wooden box. Ideally you want to give it a nice light sanding to ensure smooth surface and to make it easier to for the paint to cover the whole of the box. To remove any dust particles simply give it a wipe with a slightly damp cloth and allow it to dry while you gather everything you need.
Choose your paints carefully – they should complement the pictures you will be using on your box. For the box I made for my friends first son, I followed the theme of the nursery – “Happy smiling frogs”. It was not easy to find happy smiling frog wrapping paper, but I managed to locate exactly what I was looking for at the second store I visited. I choose green paint as my base on which to work because I wanted to give the effect of a green pond with smiling frogs on Lilly pads.
To start I gave the box an all over base of plain dark green paint which covered the wood and sealed it. Then I gave the box a further two coats of paint, this time using two additional shades of green – each a bit lighter than the other using a sponge to apply them lightly, swirling them around to create interesting patterns so the box did not appear so flat.
After letting the paint dry it is time to apply your chosen pictures to the box. Carefully cut out your chosen pictures from the wrapping paper or select which Wallie you which to use. Then place the pictures before you stick them down so you can build up your overall look and imagine what it will look like when it’s finished. Once you are happy with your design you can stick them down with the glue. (Some more season decoupage stars will use the Modge Podge to stick the pictures down; however this can be a bit tricky for beginners as it sometimes causes the paper to bubble.
Once your pictures are stuck down, you can begin to apply the Modge Podge. Remember – don’t panic when you see the Podge on the box, it goes on white and dries clear. Don’t be tempted to do very thick layers of Podge as this takes a long time to dry and can lead to caking of the Podge which ends up being a bit of a gooey mess of little rubbery balls all over the box. You should ideally put on 4 layers of Modge and each one should go on in a different direction – so you can go left to right for the first one and then top to bottom for the second and then repeat the process. This gives the box a good sealed foundation. In traditional decoupage – this process can run from 16 – 24 layers of Podge and can take some time to really embed the picture. For the purposes of this gift box, four layers will be just fine. Remember that each layer needs to dry thoroughly first. (If you’re short on time – like I am sometimes – you can try and cheat the drying process using your hairdryer – just don’t hold it too close or it will actually make it melt a bit!)
Once the Modge is all dry, it’s time to apply the varnish. Again in traditional decoupage method would be to apply roughly the same amount of varnish to the box as you did layers of Modge Podge. I am not so fussy (and neither are my friends who adore these gift boxes!) Again apply the varnish with the soft sponge brush and again – do each layer in a different direction. Four layers of varnish should be fine.
Once the varnish has dried, the final steps are to attach the cork to the bottom of the box to stop it scratching surfaces and to give it a finished look, and if you choose to do so, attaching the felt to the inside of the box. All you need to do is cut the cork to the size of the bottom of the box, and attach it using wood glue. I like to make sure I don’t have the lid of the box on yet as it might not be 100% dry and then I place a heavy book or object inside the box so that it creates the pressure on the base that will help it stick to the cork. Use a sharp craft knife to cut off any straggling pieces around the edges to give it a clean line all the way around the box.
To place the felt in the box, simply cut the pieces to size, and use the wood glue again to attach it to the inside base and sides of the box. This is a nice to have and not a have to have. Sometimes I throw these boxes together quickly overnight when I have a sudden event come up and I don’t have felt. Using tissue paper to layer through the base of the box and placing the gift on top of that is also just as pretty.
Ideally you want to give yourself enough time to have the box with all its layers dry carefully throughout the day – probably even overnight. This is in an ideal world. If your life is anything like mine and you spend most of your day chasing children and husbands and trying to sort dinner, you probably don’t have two days to spend on a project like this. That’s why I use the quick fix option, it’s simple and fun – and if your children are old enough – they can make their own keepsake boxes with you as a fun activity.
I have given away many of these boxes over the years, and I’m always happy to visit my friends and see that their children now a few years older are using them to keep cars, monsters or crayons in (the boys) or jewellery or other keepsakes (the girls). They are fun for any age to make and receive. I find it’s a great way to de-stress from a busy day, the painting is very therapeutic!