Summer treasures

Knocking on wood, I think I can see summer peeking from around the corner after all those weeks of rain and cold. I can't believe we've been heating our fireplace to the maximum just 4 days ago!

However, when summer won't come as it should, it's more than legit to bring a piece of sea-feeling by creating a maritime treasure box.

How fitting that "Travel" is this month's theme over at Kreativtanten, who have invited me to be their GD for June. Despite the fact that I've fallen madly in love with the Czech Republic over the past years, I opted for creating a travel-inspired project with what is probably the most cliche idea of a summer holiday: a maritime-themed decoration.

The project itself began ages ago when my sister decided to get rid of this wooden box. I've no clue about what she had used it for or where she got it in the first place, but being a hamster, I immediately volunteered to have it, even though I had no idea about how to use it. 
At some point, however, I decided to give it a new look using acrylic paint and napkin decoupage. 

Going through my stash of napkins, I picked a motif of a ship on stormy sea that had a tiny strip of a ship-pattern on the side. I decided to use the arrangement on the box as well, meaning I'd cover the lid of the box with plain white paint, add the blue strip on one side of the box, and place the ship onto the center of the remaining space. 
(Looking back now I probably should have added another layer of paint as this yellow-ish colour is shining through, even though I'm not sure where it comes from - the wood wasn't especially dark at all and there were no remains of glue that could have caused this beauty mistake.)

For the lower part, I thought I'd stick to the blue and white colour scheme, but I spiced things up a little bit by using crackle varnish, making sure the result resembles the waves or the sky.

I'm not sure how I'll use the box in the end. Due to its size (cca 19x11x9 cm) my collection of larger shells fits in perfectly, but so do my stitching yarns, meaning it will most likely be used for some kind of storage in my crafting corner. On the other hand, it might be handy for a giveaway as well - even to a guy, considering the masculine motif.

A little contribution to the June collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.

challenges: 

- krafty chicks: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- as you like it: his or hers (as I mostly create for the sake of creating rather than for a specific recipient, I'm quite unbiased when it comes to my projects - I'll create both male and female ones and often change my oiginal idea based on whatever I dig out of my stash. On a closer look, I certainly create more of the girly things, meaning I'll pick "his" as my favourite this time since a guy-ish project always bring some challenge-feeling which I usually don't get while creating feminine stuff)
- crafty calendar: masculine
- crafty sentiments: summer
- creative moments: ATG
- fabnfunky: recycling
- friendship challenge: ATG
- little red wagon: upcycle/recycle
- love to craft: ATG 
- moving along with the times: monochrome
- scrapping4fun: masculine
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG