It was Lily's Nanny's birthday this week so of course, all self-respecting Nannies require a Treasure Box to hold on to all those special little keepsakes to remember their first granddaughter's early days. As usual I did a bit of shopping around and found that nothing really fitted the bill properly, so decided to fall back on my crafting skills and make something special instead.
First job - arm oneself with materials.... a lidded cardboard box from Hobbycraft and some pearlised poster paint.
Combine the two together to create....
The box and lid both ended up with two coats of paint inside and out to get a good even finish. Next job, customise the lid:
I used some cardboard cut out letters I picked up in a card shop a while ago. One of those purchases I knew would come in handy at some point! Now I need to decide what to do with the other three sets! I attached them with some super sticky double sided tape (as shown on the letter Y). This stuff is great for projects that might get a bit of extra wear, or for attaching slightly heavier items like buttons for example. I used the same tape to attach the ribbon:
At this point I thought there was something missing so I decided to add a flower and tag. Flowers seem to feature on most of my craft projects in some way. I made this one by layering up some paper flowers with a brad (a little doodah like a mini paper fastener) then sticking the glittery centre over the top (with more super sticky tape).
The tag was made by coating a metal-rimmed vellum tag with glitter glue, and writing a message on a handmade paper tag using a gelly roll pen. Then I used a scrap of ribbon the tie them together and attach them, along with the flower, to the box.
Inside the box I placed one of Lily's first sleepsuits, a hat and some bootees. I also made a little box ready for a lock of hair from her first haircut. This might have to wait a while as her hair is so fantastic that I really don't want to cut it!
The box is made from an origami design using two squares of paper, one slightly smaller than the other, to create a box and lid. It was decorated in the same was as the main box using ribbon, paper flowers and a tag.
In my excitement at finishing this gift, I forgot to take a picture of the completed article! But I will add one soon to show off the finished result! Lily's Nanny was very pleased :)
