Grateful for You

Good Morning Friends

Donna-Marie posting today.

I have a rather long post today due to the many parts to my new project so grab your favorite morning beverage and take a tour...

I wanted to make  a gratitude box for a special friend and here it is...the outside anyway.

I painted the outside of the box with Black Gesso and sanded some of the edges away for a shabby look.

The inside gets a lot more interesting but first take a peek at how this box started out...

 

 ...As an old phone box.  I just recently bought a new cell phone and kept the box.

 

I loved all the compartments and that good size pocket (as seen above) was a nice spot for a mini book.  I like how all the pieces stack back up neatly inside.

The color was a bit odd but when I received my G45 French Country Paper Pad it all clicked!!

 

A gratitude box starts with this saying:

In Gratitude for who you are

I wanted to give you a gift of

Love

Joy

Wisdom

Laughter

A light in the dark

A lucky rock

Peace

The key to happiness

A star with a secret

A feather from an angel’s wing

A wish

A dream

And a kiss

So here they are...

 

I printed the saying and placed it in the section above and

 Each of the wishes are represented in the box

 

 Here they are all placed out

The 14 wishes are represented with these little trinkets.  Some of them are Tim Holtz items, some are common items you may already have.

 

Love = Wendi Vecchi Door with love and a metal heart

(this piece has been glued to a mini pocket which holds some paper items listed below)

Joy = Paper Heart that says joy tucked in behind the door

Laughter = a mini comic strip tucked in behind the door

A light in the dark = candle

A lucky rock = rock

Peace = is the peaceful scene with a Tim Holtz tab attached to the top that says "found"

The key to happiness = Tim Holtz Key

A star with a secret = Tim Holtz Star and a rolled up secret tied with a string

A feather from an angel's wing = white feather

A wish = Tim Holtz bottle with glitter

A dream = is the metal tag next to the door that says "dream as if you'll live forever"

A kiss = candy kiss

 

The only one I left out showing was wisdom. 

For this portion I created a small fold out book full of Donna Downey Empowered Words.

I made a small fold out card stock paper backing and glued my section onto it.

Each section was matted with G45 paper and a kraft corrugated piece.  On top of the corrugated pieces I adhered with Matt Medium more stamped images, Donna Downey Wayward Blooms, Poppies, and Wendy Vecchi Daisy Stamp.  These images were stamped on white tissue paper and adhered down...I love how the corrugated texture comes through.  I used Ranger Archival Black Ink for the stamped images and inked with Dylusions Post Box Red Spray.

 

This center portion got some black gesso added with black beads.  (not sure I like it but it's there)

 

 This mini book fits perfectly into the portion of the box that once held the instruction book.

Everything here folds up neatly and stacks into the box...for a box of gratitude!!



I topped of the box with a paper text rose that I made.  The rose also got inked with Dylusions Post Box Red Sray ink and Lemon Zest.  I added tags from G45 French Country and more G45 French Country Paper.  I inked my edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I hope you enjoyed today's project and I truly hope you get to make a gratitude box for someone special!! :-)