Remember when...

Hello Crafters..

Welcome to my page today! Thank you all for your lovely comments on my “faux altered spool” and a warm welcome to all my newest followers.

Today’s project is special and very close to my heart…I have a long vision with it! Yes, it is an up cycled altered project with a purpose , hopefully to last a long long time, lol!

Without much pulling on, here it is…

A “Memory” box that I made for my daughter to house all her “little first things” from infant stage to…

My daughter is 5yrs and 6mns now and currently smitten by “Thumbelina” and “Barbie” and I guess this is the age when we start to build up memories and would probably re call it in our old age!

I too remember a school act in grade 1 on “thumbelina” and I remember this song till date…

"Thumbelina sing, Thumbelina dance..

Thumbelina What’s the difference if you’re very small

When your heart is full of LOVE

You’re  9 feet tall !! "

I could re call this song after 35 yrs lol! Though I vaguely remember dancing and singing for this, then! All these memories came flooding back when I started reading this story book to my daughter last week…

Thank your stars you can’t hear me sing!

And so my theme for the memory box was frozen! A legacy that will pass on…Thank you “Thumbelina”.

I had this sturdy cardboard box that once was a packaging to some branded bed sheet and pillow cover set! My friend with a lot of hopes passed it on to me and thought I would be the best person to  bring life to it. The moment I saw it, I knew it was going to stay with me for a very long time. It is BIG and sturdy and has a lot of space to hold memories and more ....

It had a glossy paper over it and so I din’t want to gesso it at first. I took out lots of tissue paper from packaging and used gel medium to cover the entire box with it and then gave 2 coats of gesso and my box was ready to take all my “ creative abuse” lol!

I got a picture of this lovely flower girl who reminded me of “thumbelina” and decided to make her my focal point..

With the basic decoupage technique in place, I started creating textures all around her with Prima daisy stencil and crackle texture paste from paper Artsy. The entire lid had flowers all over….

I started working around the flower girl by sponging  green and lilac acrylic colors with a hint of brown. I covered the entire box with these colors so the girl blends with the textured flowers! Does she???

I wanted the box to age on its own and dint want to give it too much of a vintage look now it self…I know you are giving a surprised look…yes, with great difficulty I kept myself from the “vintage” look but not really!

You will see spots of brown…I rubbed in brushed Pewter on all the cracks and the flower just started shining! Lavender and silver is such a lovely combo and I feel will be cherished by my daughter even when she grows up.

I kept working on the colors of the lid, till I got the desired look and decided .. NO 3D embellishments…another surprise for you???

I wanted to keep minimum on the top…because I plan to keep this and give it to her probably when she turns 16 !! Long vision…lol!

Here comes the “vintage” from me…I took some Kraft CS and then die  the alphabets with Spellbinders die. I cut 2 more from an old invite and layered them to give a chipboard thickness to the alphabets. Some text stamping on all the die cuts with Bo bunny stamps and Archival green ink and then I aged them with Walnut stain on the edges

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This not being enough, I applied distress rock candy crackle paint and then brushed pewter on the cracks. Now they are ready to hit the box ! The ideology ornate label with a little more aging with vintage photo and brushed pewter distress stain is the perfect embellishment here with 2 little rose buds. That’s it for the lid!

The green burlap ribbon bow accentuates the closure with a lovely wooden button from American Crafts. I layerd it with another white button for added interest.

For the sides,  colored some lace fabric flowers with brushed Corduroy DI and layered 2 for each flower with a white flat back pebble as the center and had them stuck all around the box. Some rhine stones in lilac and the sides are ready!

This is ”oh so girlie”  look but it was all for Thumbelina…you see!

And now the box opens….

I have kept all the little things that I have collected from her infancy till now and hope to add on till it accommodates, lol!

 You can see her first booties and mittens, her first shoe, her first denim skirt, ,her first book in school, her first story book, the ticket for the first movie we watched together, first biithday frock with the hair band and the list goes on..

The box inside has been covered with some lovely papers from Re collections.

The inside flap has a hand made photo frame made from Corrugated cardboard and I have given a white washed look and some color splats to it. It has a lovely picture of me and her on her “First” birthday! To its left I have a pocket with lots of empty tags which I plan to fill up as years  go by with messages and quotes . Some hand made flowers here too and a jute twine bow completes the look.

And so the box is sealed and will keep filling up with the years to come and if I am still blogging around after 10 years, will keep you posted on the event of giving this fully loaded box to my daughter!

That brings us to the end of this memory tour and I am glad you stayed with me till here!

If you like this project and have taken time to leave a comment, I want you to also re call your first childhood memory and share it with me…would love to take you to your past and re live those moments!

I had a great time making this for my daughter and happy to know we share some “common likes” and it has started with Thumbelina and let’s see how it grows with each stage of her life!

I would love to have this memory box enter the following challenges…

Fussy ‘n’ fancyChallenge Blog – Buttons and Bows

We Love VintageChallenge Blog – K3 ..3 types of Kraft ( have used cardboard box, corrugated cardboard and Kraft CS)

PolkadoodleChallenge _ Use a die

Scrapping 4 Fun – AG with 3 embellishments ( flowers, bow and rhine stones)

Crafts 4 Eternity – baby baby

Country ViewChallenges- Use Kraft card

Stamps and Stencils– AG

Mod Squad ChallengeBlog-  Tic Tack Toe (sponging, die cut, rhine stone)

Sisters of Craft – AG

BGC – Spring Green

Die Cutting Divas – AG
CSCC - AG

Until my next creative journey,

Happy Crafting and Re cycling

Hugs