I started thinking about my keepsake boxes after writing my previous post on keepsakes. We all tend to collect little keepsakes along the way in life. Sometimes we don’t keep them but sometimes there are special things we just can’t throw away. I believe that little keepsakes are lovely ‘memoir’ tokens which are a gorgeous hand-me-down gift to a loved one. There are the usual keepsakes for baby, Christenings, weddings etc, but it’s the non-occasion ones that can also be extra special. At the moment I’m thinking of hand made items…. and usually when I think of ‘hand made’ I think of something that grandmother made, an aunt, great aunt or special ‘someone’.

A while back I created some keepsake boxes to sell during my Christmas Exhibition & Sales. These decorative little boxes were purely decorative, and for storing little keepsakes…. possibly small, delicate or precious things.

These type of boxes are not difficult to make. Any crafty person could easily get together their materials and be creaive with it. These boxes could also become a keepsake themselves – a special keepsake secretly storing lots of treasures.

The boxes seen here are simply paper mache boxes (fairly sturdy ones); each given a painted finish & sealed; lined inside on the base with felt; with a lid decorated using padding, crushed panne material, braid or tassel fringing, feathers and fabric glitter paint. most of these materials used were found in remnant bins at various fabric stores or during stock take sales or from opp shops.

 An easy weekend project – you could also have more than one on the go. They’re a fabulous gift idea and a gorgeous keepsake in themselves.