Keepsake Boxes to Save Happy Memories!!

I started thinking about memory boxes as I noticed how many customers came into the antique store and told me about how things they had seen took them right back to childhood.  They seemed to be in their grandmother's kitchen just because they saw a cookbook she owned, or a cookie cutter

she favored.  I realized that collectibles are often the 'portkeys' to use a term from Harry Potter that take us to happy times.   

That is the point of this project, to collect those items that bring happy memories for us to peruse when we are feeling nostalgic or need a boost.
 
The first step is to find some old box, and clean it up and give it a coat of paint.  A bit of sanding will give it a sort of aged patina, that will compliment the treasured items within.

 Next you will want to choose a theme that feels personal to you.  This one has a fairy theme and is entitled 'Magical Memories' 

The interior also maintains the theme.
This charming fairy picture is mounted on an antique velvet ribbon.  Again, it is important to keep the theme sort of vintagish, as many of the items inside will have age.

 The quote inside the lid says:

“Sweet memories are refuges we seek in times of sorrow,

Reminding us that joy again, will come to us some morrow.”

                                                                                                                                               

This Box has a royalty theme, and bears the banner 'Royal Remembrances'.  It is decorated with rhinestones and crowns. Here we see a close up of the banner enclosed in a utilitarian metal library label frame. Inside the box is a sample picture along with a list of things that are good at bringing back wonderful memories, like a baby shoe, a recipe card from your mother's file, a report card that made you feel proud, a photo copy of a yearbook signature that made you smile, love letters tied up in ribbons, a thank you card that made you feel like a million bucks.

This box has a cow girl theme, I loved the picture of the women taken in 1800's wearing cowboy hats and sporting rifles.  The box also sports an old cattle tag and a rusty star.  This one would be perfect with your rodeo crown, and newsclippings safely tucked inside.  Memory boxes are great instruments to take you back to the wonderful moments you want to relive.  They would also make a great gift for a sister or friend who is struggling with present circumstances.  Collecting the goodies to put inside would be an absolute labor of love.

A Special Thanks to graphicsfairy.blogspot.com for their great searchable stock that makes it easy to find just what you want to include in making your memory box.