Recycled Box Top Lids

  Since discovering mists and gesso, I have been watching household items, looking for the chance to re-use them. It occurred to me that box top lids are a wonderful shape to incorporate onto a page. I could have misted with them. Instead, I chose to lay them out onto the page, then use gesso.

I spread the gesso over the box tops. The picture above shows two 12x12 sheets of paper with the box tops on them. While the gesso was still wet, I peeled the box tops away.

I then allowed the pages to dry. At this point, I was a bit unsure of how I would use these pages.The box top lids made wonderful "windows" in the gesso. I contemplated putting patterned paper in the open spaces. perhaps I would even cut the cardstock out and layer paper underneath. I finally decided to put the pages aside until I knew what I wanted to do. Fast forward a few weeks. I was listening to the Doodling webinar at Scraphappy.org. Inspiration struck and I began doodling inside the blank spaces left by the box tops.
   It took me a little while to finish the doodling. I drew on the pages off and on while homeschooling my son. Once done, I had 2 blank pages with black and white designs on them. My next stroke of inspiration were a set of photos I had taken of my son at the arcade. I drew my colour palette from the photos. Using markers, chalks and water colour crayons to accent the doodles. From there, the pages took shape. I ended up with a fun piece which was very me and told my story just as I had hoped.