"look a squirrel" box

I have loved looking at other peoples art journals for years, so I thought that I would use that style on this box.
I started with an old shoebox. The box was pretty ragged, but that was OK I was just using it to try out some new techniques.

I had a old magazine that was all type, so I used it to cover the top and bottom.

One of the techniques I wanted to try was done with watercolor crayons. First I sharpened a few crayons in a clean pencil sharpener, then I put the shavings in the box.

then I sprayed the shavings with water.

In the tutorial I read, the next step was to put two pieces of paper together then iron them. I could not do that, so I placed a peace of watercolor paper on top and heated it up with a blow dryer. I kept the watercolor paper the way it was, I will use it for a different project.

I did the same thing to the other half of the box with green and blue. When I was finished I had several pieces of pretty card stock and watercolor paper with lumpy bits of watercolor crayons to use in different projects.

I smoothed out the crayons in the boxes with a wet brush to coat the entire inside of the box.

After making sure the paint was not too waxy to draw on with ink, I did the same to the outside of the box.

 On the inside of the shoe box I painted black intersecting lines, and filled it in with watercolor crayons.

Years ago, my sister and I were at a park with her three girls. The youngest came up to us limping and started to tell us how her sisters had given her the limp. Before she could finish her story a squirrel ran past, she stopped in mid-sentence and said "look a squirrel". She then, forgetting to limp, ran after the squirrel. So now when I feel like I'm being mistreated, I just think "look a squirrel", and I go on with my life. So that's the meaning behind the art on the top of the box.

I drew the squirrel with an ink pen and the butterfly's are ink on top of acrylic. I mane the balloons by putting down a round piece of paper I cut out and rubbing a red ink pad on top, then red and white pencil on the inside of the circles. I put red ink on a purple piece of card stock and wrote look a squirrel, thin ripped the words out and glued them to the box.
I had a lot of fun with this one, and I like my squirrel.