Come and join me for a cup of tea while I tell you what I made over the last couple of weeks.
Some of you will know exactly what I mean when I say that my mind can go off on a tangent for miles and miles...
So, when I had a box of Yummy Organic Pukka tea for one of my dearest friends, I thought... maybe I could put this in some lovely packaging...
follow me...
... maybe a hand painted box
... something like a wooden book
... make little compartments with little doors
... or windows looking onto a variety of scenic pictures
... and I could add some other bits and pieces (which I have been meaning to send for ages)
... and like me she loves antiqued things
... where's my burnt Siena?
... should I paint or stain the box
... I need matchboxes
... etc. etc.
and so it went on and on. This mind buzzing is more formally known as "the creative process".
I already had a lovely wooden box with partitions lying about (side effect from a recycling creature) and the rest came naturally. So this is what I made:
First I prepped the box with stain, printed papers and ink to give it an aged look. My friend is a fabulous mixed media artist and nothing goes to waste... so I wanted to include a few of the items I had been gathering for her. (the 2 wooden trees of life in the lid are part of this and are the only "visible" pieces - the others are hidden between the tea bags and the drawers)
The tea is hidden in the compartments with the "Open" tabs. That was the easy bit!
The real fun was making the mini cabinets, the fronts, the insides, the handles and hide the little bits of rusty paraphernalia in the mini drawers.
There were gaping spaces next to the mini cabinets demanding to be filled by more mini fun things and I thought a wee book next to each of them would be nice. I never made the cabinets or the books before, let alone at this size. I usually work with much larger pieces. This was a steep learning curve on so many fronts but I am quite bitten by this and I will make more.
The little books: (6cm x 7cm)
- ABC - Hidden Treasures (including a couple of mini postcards)
- Things to do
- Wisdom Whispers
- The Book of Tea
Each with their own quirky personlised content.
I really enjoyed making this first ever treasure box and I hope it'll bring a big wide smile to my friend's face :) I hope you liked it too.
Till next time,
Chris