Love Letters

This project was really exciting for me. A close family friend is getting married, and wanted to do something unique for the wedding cards they would be receiving. She found this mailbox at a yard sale for $10! What a great score. She asked me if I would be able to make it look old. With it's shiny aluminum sides, it just wasn't quite what she wanted.

So first, I spray painted her a chocolate brown. I wanted the chocolate to show through when I distressed it, not the shiny aluminum. Although once I did start distressing past the chocolate, the aluminum looked really authentic peeking through the brown. 

Next I gave her a thin coat of chalk paint, in an old white. Then I used a couple of different grits of sandpaper and started distressing. To finish it off, I wet down a fine grit sanding sponge to burnish off the remainder of the paint in some spots, just to ensure the aged and worn look. 

I found a font that looked like handwritten script, and used carbon paper to trace it onto the sides of the box. She had chosen the words,  "P.S. I love you".

 I filled it in by hand using a small paint brush. Tedious, but the finally result is really authentic. Typically I would distress the writing, but I wanted the words to be bold and stand out. I then wrote the word "cards"  onto the little red flag. I finished off by buffing a clear wax over top to seal in all the paint. Because we were going for an old beaten up look, I did the final coat with a dark soft wax. I applied the dark wax in the areas that I wanted to highlight the most. I wanted it to look like it's been sitting in someones back yard, covered in years of dirt. 

Then finally she was done!  I am super excited for my bride-to-be! This was a really fun project to tackle. I hope my bride loves it as much as I do.