Love box - decoupage

I wonder how long do other people work on a single cardboard decoupage box? Certainly not as long as I have been working on this one. This is not a case of leaving your work, forgetting about it and then later finishing it. I mean, really working continuously on a single box?
Well, for this one it took me 3 weeks. Why? I always have gazillion things to do. I it just me? How do other people manage? Beats me!

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This is my first cardboard box made from scratch I did in napkin decoupage. Before this I only did wooden objects. This is also my first "creation" where I've used crackle technique. To be honest, I did crackle once as a test, but it is hardly worth writing about. This is how one semi-decent part looked like.

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For this box I have used: one not assembled craft cardboard box, acrylic paint (carmine red, matte white and metallic copper), universal glue (for assembling the box), crackling agent (Krakelierlak medium by Rayher), glue for napkin decoupage (Art Potch lacquer and glue in one), a napkin, white glue for wood (Drvofix in this case), thin brown ribbon, and 3D metallic gel pen (reddish).

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Since I really like this box despite all its flaws, it has had a special photo shoot on a special location:

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Imperfections are there, believe me! I see them all over. But I choose to look at them as a learning experience. Things that I have learned form this box would be:

1. Be very careful when gluing and constructing the box - one side of the lid on my box is slightly off and goes "into" so it is very difficult to put the lid on the box AND, which bothers me the most, the lid tends to scratch the surface of the bottom part resulting in a scratch on the bottom and red colour stain on the inside of the lid. I have repaired this once by coloring and lacquering these parts again and by thinning the lid's side form the inside with a craft knife and repairing the damage thus caused. But that was obviously not enough and I have a scratch again that I need to repair. Oh, how to fix this for good?
2. Don't use too much glue for the ribbon (white glue in this case - Drvofix) because it doesn't look nice when you have a thick layer of semi transparent glue beneath a transparent ribbon.
3. Metallic acrylic colour is not the perfect top coat for crackle effect because it does not crack very well.
4. Practice crackle more before doing a serious project - it is not very easy (at least not for me) to paint a surface in nice even brush strokes and that is very important to get a good looking crackle, unlike the white on the lid of my box.
5. When laying napkin on a darker colour, be careful to colour the entire shape where napkin will come in white or else the napkin you lay on it might not be visible entirely and you won't get the look you intended - just like the hearts on the side of the box.
   

I hope that this all makes sense. I might be wrong, I'm semi-beginner here. :) I wonder what those more experienced have to say about this...