Mad Hatter's Tea Party on a Tea Box

Alice in Wonderland was the first book I ever read as a little girl.Having some spare time,I recently picked it up again and reread it.I felt like a little girl.

I got inspired to create,but I didn't know what.

The idea came to me while we were drinking tea with my roommate a few days later.We are both tea lovers so I decided that I would make a place to store all of our tea.

A magical place.

A mad place.

A magically mad place!

Initially I was going to get a plain box from my local craft store and decorate it,but where is the fun in that? I ended up making this tea box completely from scratch and it's not even as hard as you might think!

Grab your craft scissors and let's get started!

To make the box:

• Plywood
• Sanding paper
• A pencil
• Wood glue
• Clamps
• L square ruler
• A craft mat
• A piece of paper
• A drawing compass
• A ruler
  

To decorate the box:

• Scissors
• Craft glue
  
• Designer paper - for the sake of the theme I used Stamperia's Alice in Wonderland 8x8'' paper pad
• Double sided foam tape
  
• Bronze charms - again,it's Alice in Wonderland so I got some clocks,keys,gears and a tiny drawer pull
  
• Mount board elements - I used some gears and a frame
• Bronze beads
• Tim Holtz distress ink pad - mine was "Gathered twigs"
• An Ink blending tool
  
• Bone folder
• A dotting tool
• Acrylic paint
• Brushes

To make my box I used birch plywood.My local craftstore had only 4 mm thick plywood and the dimensions were 21x30 cm.I used 3 pieces in total.

Start out by tracing the dimensions of the box with a pencil.Refer to the first image for the exact measurements.

If you have absolutely zero experience with wood like me I would advise you to trace and cut each piece one by one rather than tracing everything at once and then cutting.This way you will avoid discrepancies regarding the measurements.

Cut out the following pieces:

• The front - 17x17 cm
• The back - 17x20 cm
• The sides + the dividing part - three pieces that are 17x8 cm each
  
• The base - 18.5x10 cm
• The lid - 17x9.5 cm
• The lid "stoppers" - two pieces that are 6x1 cm each
  

Like I said,I have no experience working with wood,especially not with cutting it.I cut my plywood using...a craft knife! You read that correctly.

Did it work? Obviously. Would I recommend you to cut plywood with a craft knife? Probably no,unless you absolutely have to.

The only reason why I had to cut my plywood with a craft knife is because I simply did not have any power tools.Needless to say it took forever to cut but I got there.

My advise to you - use whatever wood cutting tool you have or want but please make sure you are safe or better yet - get a professional to cut it for you.

Once you have cut everything,take the front and the back parts of the box.

To make the ''tea doors'' as I like to call them,place two teabags on top of the front piece.This is purely to see where you want to place the semicircles.

The easiest way to make the semicircles is to cut a circle using a drawing compass.Draw your circle on a sheet of paper and cut it out.Fold the circle in the middle and cut two identical semicircles.

Place each semicircle where you want your teabags to be and trace them with a pencil,then cut.

Optionally you can cut the top corners of the back part of the box off or leave them.I decided to cut mine to make the overall look a little more interesting.

Once you are done cutting give each piece a very good sanding.I used regular sandpaper,however you can feel free to use a machine,too.After sanding dust off any particles you might have.

Sanding the plywood gives you a clean working surface and the paint sticks to it better.

When choosing the color of your paint make sure it matches the designer paper you are going to use so everything ties together nicely and is cohesive.

I chose to go with this really pale ivory color.It almost matched the color of the plywood.I wanted everything to be neutral.

The acrylic paint I used is "Unbleached titanium" by Liquitex.

Paint every piece one by one and don't forget the rims.Let everything dry before you start gluing the pieces together.

It's time to glue everything and assemble the box.

Start out by placing the front part on top of the back part.Take one of the three identical pieces you have cut and place it perpendicularly in the middle.Mark where you want to place it when gluing everything together.This will be the ''barrier'' of the two tea compartments of the box.

Using a cotton bud apply some strong wood glue on the first of your 17x8 cm pieces (the side piece).Glue it to the back piece of the box.To make everything as neat as possible use an L square ruler.Repeat this step with the other two same sized pieces.

Next,apply some glue to the side pieces and the ''barrier'' and attach the front of the box to them.You are done with the main body of the box.

Let everything dry completely before you move on.

You are one step closer to finishing the box and getting to decorate it.The only thing left to do is attaching the bottom and making the lid.

The base and the lid of the box are slightly bigger than the other parts on purpose.

To attach the base apply some glue to the bottom of the main body you just created.This process would be a lot easier if you use two clamps to hold everything together still while the glue is drying.Put the lid on,since you will need two flat surfaces to use the clamps and tighten them.

Lastly,glue the two small pieces to each of the sides of the lid to finish the box.These pieces will prevent the lid from sliding off.

A tip: while gluing the last parts keep testing if the lid still fits and if it doesn't - move the pieces a little further inside.I glued mine about 8 mm inwards.

Lastly give the rims a fresh coat of acrylic paint and let everything dry.

It is finally time to decorate.Let your imagination do its job and turn this plain piece of wood into art!

I started out from the left side of the box.

Take the designer paper with the teapots and cut the one you like the most.While cutting leave a little frame.

To make the paper look a little more vintage I used some distress ink.Distressing the paper is esentially going to give the edges a little more depth of color and make the paper stand out against the lighter colored box.The color of my distress ink is ''Gathered twigs''.

To distress the paper take your ink blending tool and dip it gently in the pad.If you don't have a special tool you can use a regular sponge.Hold the paper on one hand and the tool on the other.Gently run the blending tool through the edges of the paper.Continue to do this until you have distressed all of the edges.

To give the paper a lifted effect use some foam tape to adhere it to the box.

The other designer paper I used is a sheet of the Vintage circus paper pad from ScrapBerry's.I thought the diamonds would complement the Alice theme perfectly.

Cut some triangular shapes from that sheet and distress them,too.Apply a small amount of PVA craft glue to the back and glue each piece down.To get rid of any excess glue and to smooth everything out use a bone folder and gently press the paper down.

To elevate the decor add some craft mount elements and bronze charms.

Use the same PVA glue and apply a small amount on the back of the gear.Attach the gear and press down gently.Of course there will be some excess glue but you can simply clean that with a nail art dotting tool or a sharp tool.Repeat this step for the metal gear.

To fill up the blank space on the bottom right corner cut out a diamond shape.Since the teapot paper is slightly lifted,put some foam tape to the side of the diamond that will be attached to the box so that it's not floating.Apply a tiny amount of glue on the half you will be gluing to the teapot paper.

To balance out the bronze,glue a small key charm on top of the diamond.

Finish off the design by cutting tiny diamonds,distressing them and gluing them wherever you like.

The left side of the box is done.

On the right side of the box I decided to put The White Rabbit.

It's a similar process.The only difference are the elements and charms.

Cut out the white rabbit design from the paper,leaving a frame and again,disress it.Similarly to the left side,use foam tape and glue the paper to the box.Cut some more diamonds,distress and glue them.

Since the rabbit is late I thought it would only be fitting to put a clock charm on this side.Glue the clock on top of the gear element and let it dry before you stick it to the box.

This time glue the clock gear on the top left side.To fill up the space next to it glue a bronze gear charm.Stick a key charm to the bottom left side.

Cut some more diamonds,distress and glue them wherever you choose and the right side of the box is completed,too!

As soon as I got this designer paper pad I knew what I would use on the front of the box - the illustration of Alice and the Mad hatter having tea,of course.

The front part of the box is 17x17 cm,so cut the bottom part of the designer paper with the teacups.Leave the cut part aside because you will be using it later.

Place the paper on the front and taking the same semicirlcles,trace where you need to cut with a pencil.Next,cut out the two semicirlcle parts.Apply glue evenly and attach the designer paper to the front of the box.Use a bone folder and gently run it through the paper to get rid of any excess air and glue.

Remember the part of the paper you cut? The one with the tiny teacups? Use that piece of paper and glue it to the top part of the back of the box.

To decorate the back cut a simpler design down to size.When I say a simpler design I mean a design that is not so busy looking,something like a pattern.

Cut the paper about 0.5 cm less on each side than the actual dimensions of the back.This way the distressed paper will stand out better.Distress the paper and glue it down.

Cut another teapot design and take a mount board frame.I already had this one in my stash.

Put the element on top of the teapot paper and trace where you need to cut it in order for it to fit inside the frame.Glue the paper to the center of the back first,followed by the frame.

After gently pressing with the bone folder,the back side is done.

To decorate the lid I went with a simpler design again.

Cut out the designer paper about 0.5 cm smaller than the dimensions of the lid on each side.Distress the paper and glue it down.

To attach the drawer pull use some strong glue or tiny screws.

Close the lid and the box is complete!

Optionally use some bronze beads as legs to lift up the box.

First fill up the holes with some hot glue.This way you will have a flat surface.Then,use the same strong glue and attach each bead to the bottom of the box.

Now the box is completely mad!

The only step left is to put all of your teabags inside this magically mad box and make a cup of tea to enjoy your creation!

I absolutely love the way this project turned out.I hope you like it as much as I do!

Thank you for your time and patience.

Happy crafting!