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Make an Inspirational Shadow Box Collage

The little girl who lives next to us had a birthday party not too long ago that we were invited to. I consider myself the Present Queen because I like to give gifts that people actually want. I know that the little girl next store likes doing craft kits, so I looked on Amazon to find some.

I picked out a couple things for her.



And during my search, I came across a kit called “Inspire Poster.” I didn't get it for my neighbor, but it did inspire me to try making one myself without getting the kit.


I realized that the little boxes in the product looked about the same size as match boxes. And that's where I started. By ordering a bunch of match boxes on Amazon, ha ha.





Make a quote art shadow box

So here is what you need to make your own inspirational shadow box wall art:


Step 1

Grab a couple packs of matchboxes and separate the box and cover. You'll want around 20 boxes all together.


I put all the matches and the cover with the strike strip in a ziplock in case I might need some matches some other time.


Packs of matchboxes

Empty matchboxes


Gather empty matchboxes



Step 2

Arrange the matchboxes into a collage shape. Leave about half right side up and half upside down. This is to give you an idea of how many vertical and/or horizontal quotes you'll need.


At this point, I took a picture, so I could remember how to do it later.


Arrange the matchboxes into a collage



Step 3

Go online and pick out some quote art on Google images or Pinterest. Put the quotes in a program where you can resize them. I used the app Goodnotes, but you could also use word.


I decided to make my shadow box about creativity and art. You could pick a different theme or whatever floats your boat.


resize the quote images



Step 4

Print the quotes out.


I had a lot of fun picking out the quotes, and therefore picked and printed way more than I needed. But I also had more choices of what to choose for the actual project.


Printed quote images


Print out the quotes and choose which quotes to use.


Arrange the quotes



Step 5

Decide what color to paint the box you'll glue them to.


For example, in the picture below, I chose to paint the box for that quote black, so it would match the quote.


However, it would be good to pick a color scheme of 5 or 6 colors only to use if you can, to make the whole piece consistent. As you can see, I chose basic rainbow colors.


Paint the boxes

You will also need to paint the insides and sides of the boxes that will go inward.




Step 6

Once the paint is dry, use a glue stick to attach the quote to the colored box.


Gluing quotes to shadow boxes

Glue all the quotes onto their already chosen colored box. Keep in mind how many vertical or horizontal quotes you need when you put the shadow box art back together.


Put your boxes with quotes to the side for now as you embellish the rest.




Step 7: embellishing the boxes

Since this step will depend on the supplies you have on hand, I'm just going to show you what I did. You'll probably have to get creative with the embellishments you have.


Since the theme of my shadow box collage was art and creativity, I found some scrapbook stickers that had that same theme:


Creativity scrapbook stickers


Most of the scrapbook stickers came with foam adhesive stickers on the back:


Foam adhesive



Those ended up looking great inside the boxes:


Shadow boxes with scrapbook stickers



I also used letter stamps:


Stamp words


Good idea shadow box


Word stamps


I had this scrapbooking embellishment that was supposed to look like you stitched paper.


I tried to find them online, but had no luck.


Shadow box with faux stitches



I glued some little plastic embellishments in one:


Shadow box with plastic embellishments



And I also found in my stash these little colored pencil charms.

So I made little slits on the top of the box...


Cut slits in the top of box



And then tied the charms to embroidery thread and hung them from the slits:


Shadow box with charms


Embellish all boxes that go inwards, keeping in mind the angle.




Step 8

Using the picture you took earlier, piece your collage together, at first without gluing it.


This way you get an idea of how it's supposed to go. You can make any changes if you need to.


Arrange your shadow box boxes together



Step 9

Pick up an edge box and one next to it. Use a double-sided tape roller to attach them together where they're supposed to.


Add tape to one side of shadow box


Glueing the shadow box together


Pinch down on the boxes, so it gets a good hold:


Adhere your shadow boxes together



Step 10

Once you've pieced and attached them together with the adhesive tape, gently flip the whole thing over.


Flip your shadow box collage over



Step 11

The adhesive tape definitely wouldn't be strong enough to hold the shadow box art together. So you are going to glop glue onto a popsicle stick and arrange as many as you need, to attach all the boxes.


Cover a popsicle stick with glue


Glue popsicle sticks to the back of the shadow box

Try to make sure you don't get any popsicle stick to show on the other side.



Step 12

Now, to make it be able to hang on your wall, thread some embroidery string through a large needle. Tie the end with a big knot.


Thread a needle



Step 13

Going through a box from the back side, poke your needle through till hits the big knot.


Making a hanger for your shadow box collage


Now go to the other side of the collage and poke it through a box on that end and tie it off.


Hanging your shadow box



Now flip your shadow box collage over and hang it on the wall!!


Inspirational shadow box collage


Didn't that turn out neat? I love it. I hung it in my craft room to inspire me 😄.



Here are some of the products I used that you can purchase on Amazon. If you want to get the pre-made kit, click on the image of it at the top of the post.







Make shadow box wall art from matchboxes


DIY Inspirational shadow box collage

댓글 2개


maryneumann153
2021년 8월 03일

What a great idea. Little photos would be a great Grammy present

좋아요
Heather McClelland
Heather McClelland
2021년 8월 03일
답글 상대:

Ha, ha. Good idea, mom

좋아요

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