French Gothic Coffin Boxes

Hi all, Carol here from The Answer Is Chocolate sharing a Halloween decor idea.

A couple of years ago I had so much fun altering these little coffin shaped boxes I found at Michaels. Darn if they don’t keep stocking them and darn if I don’t keep finding ways to play with them.

It helps ( or doesn’t help depending on whether you’re my husband) that I love digging through clearance aisles and 50-60% off bins which is where I found the embellishments that inspired this project.

The metal Fleur de Lis and Crown pieces were in the $1.50-$3 bins and were 60% off when I found them. On a previous hunting expedition, I’d found the Jolee’s Boutique embellishments on sale. 

We went to France several years ago and while there we toured the Catacombs which are not for the faint of heart but an amazing piece of history. The ornate metal embellishments brought back memories of that trip and the coffin boxes brought back memories of the Catacombs so voila. Gothic Coffin Boxes. Welcome to my brain.

I left a couple of the boxes unpainted and painted the others black. Using the boxes as a template, traced around them and cut out coordinating papers and Mod Podge’d them onto the boxes.

I love it when  a plan goes awry. I intended to use the polka dot paper on the BACKS of each coffin and oops…one made it on the front. Oh well. Lemons / lemonade.

You can’t really see it but I crumpled the skull and bones paper before applying so it would be a little wrinkly. And for once, I was patient and let the boxes dry overnight so the paper would be good and stiff when I sanded the edges.

TIP: Package of emery boards from the Dollar store work great for this

I glued the metal embellishments to the front and added the Jolee’s embellishments as shown. Edged the boxes with torn pieces of  coordinating washi tape.