June Crafty Individuals Challenge - Vintage with Hearts - Memories Box

Today is the launch of the June Crafty Individuals challenge, with a theme of Vintage and Hearts. I hope you will play along! Here is my contribution:-

The idea behind it was that a woman whose husband is away fighting in the war, keeps her letters from him and other mementos in this box. I started off by painting a lovely wooden casket which was a present from Alison, using Eco Green acrylic paint in Ocean:-

It's difficult to see in the photo that the surround on the lid of the box is actually a fabric frame, and I applied a little of the paint using a baby wipe, then stamped it with CI258 word stamp and adhered it to the top, with a piece of Travels in Italy paper behind it. The frame encases a picture of her husband, from the People and Places book of images, and the frame itself was a Poundland one which I took a mould of and re-made in friendly plastic and added some rub ons. Because of the curve of the casket it was difficult to adhere it so I softened it very gently with the heat gun to mould it into place. I made the flowers from a mould taken from some Primark jewellery, made up in friendly plastic. I edged the box with Distress Stain in Vintage Photo and some copper Viva Gold.

Here's a photo of all the contents of the box together

And another one!

This next photo shows some of the items in more detail. The locket was from a Primark charm bracelet and I added images from People and Places of the woman's wedding day and their children, carefully cut into heart shapes. The perfume bottle is made from a mould I took of a perfume bottle, the heart shaped padlock to lock the treasures away is another Primark charm, and the frame is a different shaped Poundland one made up in friendly plastic again, with a great grandfather image inside, again from People and Places.

These are the love letters he sent to her, tied with ribbon. I used CI214, together with the postcard, CI302:-

Here I used the Day Out ticket, CI022, and a mixture of tickets from CI239 as Mementos of his visits home. They are coloured with Distress Inks, and held together with a Primark hair clip. The cameo was made from a mould taken from a Primark ring, and dusted with mica powders:-

I added pieces of replica memorabilia, a pen nib, and a piece of her wedding dress veil to add to the story.

I had such fun making this, and I hope you will join in!