My friend Sue picked up this wooden recipe box for me a while back.

The design on the front was definitely outdated, but other than that it was in pretty good shape.

I think these little boxes make fun, quick and easy projects.  I’ve done a few of them over the years, like this one …

and this one …

and this one …

These recipe boxes are fairly easy to come by at garage sales or thrift stores.

For today’s recipe box, I started out by sanding down the design on the front.  It didn’t feel like it was raised at all, but I often think that only to find that the outline does show up after I add paint.  Next up I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to prevent any bleed thru.  I’ve also learned that these old recipe boxes frequently have a finish on them that will bleed (read about that here).

I then gave the box a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Ecru, and before allowing the final coat on the top to dry I added one of I.O.D.’s Twelfth Night paint inlays.

Once dry, I gave the paint inlay a quick spray with some Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer to seal it in.  I know you sometimes see people skipping this step, but I find that it’s really easy to smear those inlays if you skip it.  Better safe than sorry, right?

I then used some of the cute little houses from their Partridge Lane transfer on the front …

and around the sides.

I just love the detail on these little buildings.

After adding a little “No. 154” to the front corner of the box, I lined the inside with some red and green plaid scrapbook paper.

Finally I finished off the outside of the box with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Wouldn’t this make a fun little gift box for Christmas?  Or maybe go old school and actually keep your favorite holiday recipes in it.  Either way, it was a quick and easy project to work on, perfect for a winter afternoon spent indoors crafting.

I took this little box into Reclaiming Beautiful back in early November and it did sell fairly quickly.

I have a few more recipe boxes in my stash to work on over the coming months.  How about you? Have you ever painted up any of these small boxes?  Leave a comment and let me know.