Friendship Matchbox Dresser

Hi Friends! I've been working on a project for the past 4-5 days, and the die I was waiting for arrived early yesterday, so I'm finally finished with it, and am ready to show it to you. You may have seen the tutorial on the Splitcoast Stampers site, but if you didn't, here is a link to it: Matchbox Dresser. And, here's my version...

This was so much fun to make! I used this month's Viva la Verve color inspiration photo to help me choose my color scheme, and at first I wasn't too sure about the eye-popping vividness, but once it was put together, I loved it.  

Here's a better view of the top of the dresser. I like making cards, but it sure is nice to be able to pile on the embellies without worrying about how high everything sticks up. I used the Week 1 Viva la Verve January 2013 sketch for this, but I added so many flowers, it covered up a lot of it. :) I made all the flowers except the green one and the orange flower with the glittery center, and all of them are MFT flower dies except the big blue flower which is a Spellbinders die.

I started making my own pins a few months ago. It's great to be able to match anything. The blue cs behind the pins is what I used to cover both the top and the base of the dresser. It started out a solid color, but I stamped it with a splatter stamp in green ink to give it a little more interest.

The medallions are cut with a new Spellbinders die and backed with a square of the same blue cs that I used for the top and base of the dresser. I left the cs behind the medallions plain. I tried it with the stamped cs, but it took away from the pretty details in the die cut.

Look at all those drawers...24 in all, and aren't they adorable! Remember I said I was waiting on a new die to be able to finish this project? Well, I couldn't have done this project without it. The Stampin Up Matchbox Die has been discontinued, but I found one on ebay and snatched it right up. It sure makes making matchboxes a lot easier, especially since every single box had to be identical. I did have a few complications I had to work out, like how to get a 12" x 12" piece of cs to work on a die that is 13" long, but once I got all the "figuring" out of the way, I was able to work pretty fast. (Patty Bennett's YouTube video here, is a must-see if you have this die).

My biggest problem with this project was the drawer pulls. In the tutorial for the dresser, Lydia used Tim Holtz Hitch Fasteners, which have been discontinued (due to high demand, he is bringing the fasteners back in 2013, but I needed them NOW.) I searched high and low to try to find hitch fasteners somewhere else, and found out that they are used in leather work and are called Sam Browne Studs. But...then, I saw that they are about $2.00 apiece, and I needed 24, so that option was totally out for me. I thought about just gluing something to the front of each drawer, but, nah, I like to make things hard for myself, so I ended up getting some pretty beads, figuring (there I go, figuring again) that they would be easy to attach since they have holes in them. Not so. Those suckers were almost a deal-breaker for this entire project! By the time I was finished making 24 drawer pulls--not attaching them, just making them--I thought my fingers were going to split open, even though I used several pair of pliers to do it. But, in the end, it was worth it, and after making 24 of them, I think it will be easier the next time I do it. Want to see how I attached them?

This is what is on the inside of the box, directly behind the bead. The black disc is just two layers of black chipboard glued together, and the wire is a head pin. I ran the wire through the bead, then using round nose pliers, I bent both ends of the wire so that they hugged the bead and came together in the back. Then, I gave the wires one twist to keep the wires together, and trimmed the wire so that, once it was inserted through the drawer front and black disc, only 1/4" showed. Then, I used the round nose pliers again and curved each wire down until the ends pressed into the chipboard, which help the bead snugly against the drawer front. It sounds pretty easy, but I had to make a few complete drawers before I got all the logistics straight. If you do this, you need to attach the dp strip to the front of the drawer and the disc to the inside of the drawer AND punch a hole through them before ever assembling anything. Then, assemble the entire box, except for the back end of the drawer. Then, attach the "handle." After that you can finally finish assembling the drawer--24 times!

One last thing about the construction of this project. In the future, I am going to add one layer of chipboard in between the base and drawers, and between the top and drawers, because when you open the top drawers or the bottom drawers they drag against the top and the base. 

I can't say that this project was easy, but without a doubt, I can say it was worth it. Good thing, because I promised my DD that I'd make her one, too! 

I made this dresser for a friend who has invited me to stay with her this weekend for a stamp club meeting at Tybee Island. These are the same girls I met in Greenville in September at a stamping convention, only this time, I get to meet the rest of the group, AND stamp with them! Inside each drawer is a little surprise: chocolate, buttons, ribbon, charms, more chocolate, a few of my pins...well, you get the idea. I hope she likes it!

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve VLVJan 2013 - Week 1: Sketch and color inspiration

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #202: Make something new 

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: New Something
Tuesday Throwdown #129: Shiny and New

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and have a fantastic week!

~Hugs, 

 

Stamps: Sweetness of Friendship (Flourishes); Splatter (Impression Obsession)
Paper: Breathe Paper Collection (Prima); Bright Pattern Pack (Colorbok) 
Ink: Memento; Distress; gold caligraphy pen
Dies: Loopy Bloom, Lg Royal Rose, Rolled Daisy, Rolled Mum (MFT); Fantastic Flourish Three, Medallion Five, Daisy Heads (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Felt; brads; beads; Perfect Pearls Mist; button; Perle Cotton; head pins; chipboard scraps; flowers; pearls & gemstones; Distress Stickles Dry Glitter
Size: 6" x 6" x 5" high

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