Trishalicious & Co.

Velveeta Cheese box Paper Cowgirl challenge and auction!

Over at The Paper Cowgirl swap blog they are hosting a Velveeta cheese box challenge and I am happy to be participating in it.
The money raised at the auction goes to the Tina Wright memorial art scholarship fund. For those of you who didn't know Tina she was a very talented altered artist and solderer who was an inspiration to me. Tina was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in September 2009. Tina lost her battle to cancer on January 3, 2010 at the age of 44.


The challenge is to make something out of a Velveeta Cheese box. It can be anything decorative or utilitarian. The main rule is that the bottom of the box (brown corrugated part) must retain it's form so that it will still be recognizable as a Velveeta box. You can cut holes in it, or take it apart and reassemble as long as it keeps its shape and appropriate size. The lid can be used or not, but can be cut up to use in any way. The lid should be incorporated into the design, not as a separate item.

I have decided to break this up into four different parts because I plan on going (OVER THE TOP) with my design! I am not going to detail my vision for the Velveeta box right now, but I will tell you that I dreamt the idea. Now this isn't the first time I have had a dream about a project, believe it or not it happens a lot. That is why I keep a note pad on my night stand so I can jot things down when one gets my attention. Sometimes the ideas are a hit and sometimes they are just plain CRAZY!



Part one: The box

First thing I did was cover the cheese box with balsa wood. I did this for two reasons; One being I have TONS of balsa wood left over from building Architectural models for various jobs. I have so much that I could give Hobby Lobby a run for their money in the wood department. Two being the box was too soft as it was to withstand the moisture and the weight of the next step.



After letting the balsa veneer dry I started to mosaic the box with vintage broken china. Some of the pieces I used on this project were very special to me because they were pieces from a broken plate of my grandmother Edith's china. A few other pieces were from a bowl that belonged to my husband Andy's grandmother Nadine. I used a popsicle stick to spread the mastic "then adhered my tiles".



I let the mastic dry overnight before moving on to grouting it. As I was digging around the craft dump (other wise known as the massive walk in closet that not only holds my world but isn't organized ) I found three different shades of neutral grout. So I decided to mix them and create my own one of a kind grout color. Using once again my handy dandy popsicle stick to spread the grout a section at a time.


I took the box outside and let it set for about 10 to 15 minutes to give the grout a chance to dry and set. Then I took a paper towel and "buffet the excess grout off" leaving a nice smooth finish.


Part two should be up if a few days so check back to see the "CRAZY" part of this project. After seeing it you will be asking yourself "what the h*ll" is she doing? lol