Autumn Shadow box

Good Morning everyone

First week into November - how scary is that! So with the 1st Friday in this month we have a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is always anything goes as long as you mix your medias - at least 3 different types please.

Ive made an autumnal shadow box for this month which actually started out life as a pet food box - its amazing what can be done with different mediums to transform something...

Approx size 6x8" See below for how I made & decorated the box.  Once that was done I got creating my little woodland scene.  I die cut a tree die multiple times from brown cardstock and adhered together to make my own chipboard - this making it more study.  I dabbed acrylic paint to the leaves in yellow, orange and red and dry brushed brown onto the trunks to break up the solid brown of the card & sealed with mod podge.  I then adhered these to the back of the box, one flat and 2 with glue gel to give a bit of depth.

I took wooden leaves and painted with acrylic paints and adhered to the back and sides of the box.  I then arranged some toadstools which I had printed and cut out way back in the spring just waiting to be used, they were printed onto 300gsm card but to give them extra stability I added card strips to the back of the stalks which also gave me more area to add glue to, to adhere them into place.

I add the same acrylic paints used for the background to scraps of cardstock and once dry die cut into lots of leaves which I then arranged around the box to make it look like they are falling from the trees onto the forest floor.

I die cut the word Autumn from gold glitter card and brown card, adhering the brown letters as a drop shadow and then added to the top back of the box.  I also die cut the gold glitter into a few leaves and scattered around to help tie it altogether. 

Everything was coated in mod podge to seal and protect.....the best way of dusting these projects is with a very soft large make up brush which is delicate enough to brush off any dust but not damage the rest...I was once asked that😁....Ive found the best way to avoid dusting in general is having craft projects lying around everywhere otherwise the cats are well trained in dusting with their tails😂😂😂

This shows the true colours better.  For the background tree I cut 1 up so that I could make it seem taller and a slightly different shape so that not all 3 trees were uniform, same with the one on the left I trimmed some off the left hand side so it tucked up in the corner more - the offcuts i glued into place behind other branches to help give the effect of different trees.

Technically these toadstools are too big for real life but this is craft land and I wanted them to be seen, not hidden under leaves

The toadstools - to give them more stability and area for me to add glue to, I glued strips of card together and added to the back of the stalks, adding a couple of coats of mod podge also helped give them some extra strength.

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and onto the box

I first cut the cat food box to size - this is a 40 pouch box so I got 2 out of it by cutting down the middle - this then left a side without a wall so I used the lid of the box for that, cut to size and held in place with paper tape before I covered the whole box in brown paper which helps strengthen the box, hold the side panel in place and cover all joins.  I actually used brown paper often used in parcel packaging now - its ideal for this.  Tear it into small pieces and decoupage into place using watered down pva - so my whole shadow box is made from rubbish basically😁   

Once dry cover with gesso which covers the brown paper nicely and gives a good base to work on.  You can easily use tissue paper to cover it but as i save all the brown paper from packaging its ideal for this and good recycling. 

Here in the UK Sheba & Whiskers boxes are the best as they are much studier than Gourmet & Felix - yes my feline bunch are spoilt & old so fussy and all eat something different so I get to try all the boxes out😺 The other boxes I cut up into panels which make great bases for the childrens art creations - more study than normal card but alot cheaper than canvas board etc... 

I then added a layer of teal, brown & navy acrylic paint.  Then once dry stippled on a layer of yellow, orange, maroon and brown paints - the same colours I used for my leaves. I then knocked the colour back with a layer of vintage white dry brushed over.  This helped my images to stand out but also meant the colours in the background give the effect of the autumnal forest behind my scene.  It does seem weird to add colour to then cover over it but its only a light top layer and the original colours do all still show through in the finished result and is more effective than a solid colour.

On the outside of the box I added texture paste through a bamboo stencil and freestyle using my spatula.  Once dry I covered with the same paints used on the inside.  Teal and Navy first and then the browns, yellows catching the raised areas and once completely dry I dry brushed on gold paint to highlight.

You can make out the gold a bit more here, just on the raised areas.  All coated in glossy mod podge and metals corners added on all the corners to help protect and neaten up.  To think this was just a humble cardboard box.....I amaze myself sometimes😀 

I of course have the 2nd box to decorate too.

Items Used:

Toadstool digitals 'Mixed Media Toadstools' from Double Helix Digitals on Etsy

Papermania wooden leaves

Memory box tree die (very old)

Spellbinders leaf dies (very old)

Memory box alpha dies 'Parker'

Bamboo stencil

Texture paste - white

Plaid folkart matt acrylic paints

Pebeo acrylic paints

Decoart Gold acrylic 'splendid gold'

Brass effect metal corners

Crafters companion gold glitter card

Hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT & Guest DT have created and to join in.  The more you mix your mediums and get creative the better.

I hope you all have a good month. Hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

  

The four seasons

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https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2025/10/10825-anything-fall.html

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-outlawz-anything-goes-in-card-free_02053675983.html

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https://craftingacutabove.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-challenge-2025.html - dies used 3 different leaf die sets, tree die, alphabet dies