Eagle Ceremony Card Box

This is the box I made to put on the awards display table at my son's Eagle ceremony.  I thought it would be nice to make a box to hold greeting cards he receives.  I plan to re-purpose it for graduation by changing the decorations.  It is just a small crate made from raw boards I purchased at the store.  I "aged" the wood by using a technique I found on Pinterest.  Simply place 1/2 of a steel wool pad into a jar with vinegar and put the lid on.  I used a pickle jar.  Let that soak for 24 hours or more, then stir it up.  It should somewhat dissolve the steel wool pad and make your solution muddy looking.  If it's not very muddy, don't worry, it will still work.  Then brew some tea.  I used a small sauce pan with boiling water and just put 3 Lipton tea bags in to steep.  Once the tea is dark, let it cool a bit, then paint the tea on your wood.  You won't notice much change at this point--don't panic.  Let the wood dry completely, then stir your vinegar solution and paint that on over the tea.  It will almost instantly begin to darken the wood giving it an "aged" look.  If you want it darker, paint on more coats of the vinegar.  I was worried it wasn't going to be dark enough, so I kept piling on the vinegar.  Then it seemed a bit too dark.  Oops!  I just dipped a folded paper towel into a strong bleach/water solution and lightly wiped it on some of the darkest parts.  It bleached it out just enough.

When your box is thoroughly dry, decorate it any way you like!  Here I used Stampin' Up!'s Tasteful Trim Bigz Die for the scallops and a retired star punch.  I made the sign with my computer, including the dark blue border, then printed it out on Whisper White cardstock.  I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes and set the small eyelets through which I ran Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine.  I pressed a brad into the top of the box not quite all the way so I could hook the Baker's Twine on it.

For the sides, I downloaded an image of the Eagle Award from the internet, printed it on Whisper White cardstock, and cut it out with my Paper Snips.  I attached it with Dimensionals so it would pop a little.

The front and back are decorated the same and both sides match as well.  Simple, yet very fun!  What do you think?