William Frey, artist

My brother, William and I enjoy lots of things together.

One of the things we like to do is art - drawing, painting, creating....

Just before Christmas I remembered that I wanted to paint this

box into an art case for William to put his papers and supplies.

Sadly, I was not able to get to this project until after Christmas.

First, I painted it with a white base coat.

Then, I painted a Royal Blue over it using a watered-down method.

This technique is done by first dipping your paint brush into water 

and then in the paint.

After the paint dried, I sanded the entire case.

With a little help from Buddy :)

William and I love to travel together.

So, I painted the art case to look like a world traveler's suitcase.

Then, I went online and found some travel stamp images

 from places we have been.

I printed them out, cut them out, and glued them to the art case.

To be sure they would last, I covered them with glue.

The brown painted straps needed more to make them look real.

I used my Encore 3-D Glaze pens to add stitches to the straps.

(Later, I used the same pens to draw buckles on the top of the art case.)

The final coat of paint was a dark brown.

I applied the paint to the entire case by dipping a rag in the paint and then rubbing it onto the case, giving it an aged look.

For finishing touches, I painted a tag on the top

(which I later wrote "William Frey, artist").

With a "hobby tool" that dad got me a few Christmases ago,

I buffed all of the paint off of the hardware.

 The handle was beyond repair, so I covered it with ribbon.

What to paint on the inside?

The African missionary in me said, "you can't go wrong with animals!"

So I painted the inside of the lid and lined the bottom of the tool tray

with scrapbook paper that matched.

William and my parents hope to visit me one day in South Africa,

so, the inside will represent the future of my artist/world traveling brother.

When I finally finished the case and gave it to him last week,

he was delighted.

What surprised me most, was that he seemed to realize all of the hard work, love, and care I put into the project.

He has already sketched a number of pictures.

Thank you again Lord, for a brother who loves the simple things in life!