Meaningful Numbered Box

I found the cute lidded box above at Goodwill about a week ago. Only paid $2, what a find! I've really been trying to incorporate more lidded storage in the house. I've heard time and time again that hiding the clutter (and boy do I have a lot of clutter!) is key. So, I've been on the hunt for boxes and was so excited when I found it. When I got it home though, I thought it looked a little boring. Wanted to do something to it to make it pop a bit more, but didn't know what to do.

I've seen all sorts of numbered things lately in catalogs and blogs. Dressers, magnets, picture frames, mirrors. You name it, I bet they have made it with a number on it! So, I decided to follow the trend and use numbers on my box as well. But I wanted the numbers to be meaningful, not just random. The box had four sides, so I picked the date of each of my three kids birthday's and the day that Hubby and I were married. It'll also be helpful as I am horrible with remembering dates, if I don't remember then I can just look at the box.

I printed out each number on the computer on ivory colored paper. I hand stamped the "no" next to each number and mounted them on cardstock. Then affixed them to the box with good 'ol Mod Podge. One coat of matte went on as a sealant, and since I didn't spray the paper beforehand the ink from the stamping smudged a bit. I was going for the aged and worn look, so that was perfect. I then used brown paste shoe polish and went over each circle completely, "aging" it. Then I used two different shades of brown stamping ink and just randomly blotted over each circle. A quick wipe down with a tissue helped to blend it all and remove any excess ink.

I like the finished product quite a bit. I would do the numbers bigger if I could but other than that I'm really pleased. At first I was really irritated that the circles had bubbles in them, I didn't use Mod Podge to adhere the numbers to the cardstock but a glue stick instead so it didn't seal as well. But all finished, I think it adds to the "vintage" look overall. Not bad for $2, don't you think?

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