Ladies Diary mini cabinet

I found this treasure in a charity shop a few weeks ago, plain brown and very dusty, but at £4.50 an absolute bargain.  After wiping off the dust I took the door off and painted everything with gesso.  I wanted to have a background colour for the crackle that matched the papers so I mixed Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Snowflake and Claret to get a nice shade of light burgundy.  I used this for the next layer.  I then applied Paper Artsy Crackle Glaze and dried it with my heat gun carefully. Snowflake was the top layer and it is so great watching the cracks appear.  In a few places I wasn't happy with the result so I painted over all 3 layers to get a better look.  Fortunately, I had mixed plenty of the first colour to be able to do this.  You can speed it up by using the heat tool as long as you are careful and don't get too close.  When it was dry I used Distress Inks Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany on the edges.

 This is just with the crackle paint.

This is the top shelf inside.  Just has some flowers and  leaves along with the cut out.  I cut out all the pieces I thought I would use and edged them with the same Distress Inks as before.

This is the middle shelf and has a crochet doily and an old thread spool covered with a strip of the paper. Also the 2 cut outs.

The bottom shelf has another old thread spool with a strip of paper, a cut out and 2 crochet doilies with a metal heart charm.

Left side with 3 shelves as below.

Cut out at back, punched out lady on button, rose on 'spool top' (thanks to Cindy).

Another cut out, spellbinders fancy label, flowers and punched butterfly.

Two cut outs plus paper and crochet doilies, heart from old necklace, clock charm on punched background paper.

Right side as below.

Top shelf punched lady in frame charm, crochet doily, cut out behind, and butterfly.

Middle shelf has a little book I made out of the papers.  Pictures below.

I used Tim Holtz Tissue Tape to bind.

Bottom shelf has another cut out rose and butterfly.

Close up of top piece showing fussy cut clock and flowers, bird charm and more flowers.

Close up of top view showing flowers and lace cut from old tablecloth.

Close up of door showing fussy cut lady and banner.

I really enjoyed making this - especially as I am going to keep it!  Everything else I have made recently has been for swaps and although I really like doing swaps, it's nice to have something I have made.  Thanks for coming by and looking and any comments always very appreciated.

Anne :)

This is the video of the project.