A jewelry box.

Here's my latest project: redoing a childhood jewelry box. I say childhood not because I remember this particular box while growing up (neither can my Mother, for that matter), but because of what I found inside of it. These are the treasures of my childhood self...

A ribbon fish.This was made by a woman who owned Waverly gardens with her husband years and years ago. Local peeps will know that this is YEARS ago because the greenhouses are still standing, but the shop has been closed forever. My Dad was way into gardening when I was a kid and we spent many a weekend in the local nurseries. I'd wander around, picking up fallen flowers that I found all around. At Waverly gardens, the woman would use ribbons to make decorations like fish and flowers and they'd be stuck randomly into the plants. I loved that about Waverly gardens. One day I remember watching her for a while as she put this fish together. I don't think we spoke (possibly a language barrier because I don't ever remember speaking with her) but when she was finished the fish, she just gave it to me. I remember feeling very lucky to have one of those fish and especially lucky having seen this one go together. It's always been safely stowed away somewhere in my life.

A bag of my orthodontic rubber bands.

Sigh. Why were these things all named for kids doing karate? Who knows. All I remember is that I couldn't relate to karate and I hated those rubber bands...but the collecter in me DID like it when I moved onto the next stage and could get a different bag...

Various and sundry game pieces. Childhood gambling problem?

Little plastic figurines. I liked tiny things and I still do.

One of my charm bracelets. Just one. I have two necklaces full of charms somewhere. These are such an incredibly important part of my life in the 1980s. Why can't they bring these back? So much better than silly bandz.

A bunch of random jewelry, most of which doesn't bring back any memories. These three are very memorable. The green k always reminded me of an m&m and I liked anything with my initials on it. Also, it's a substantial weight and I remember wearing it and running it back and forth along the chain. The monkey was loved for his moveable appendages and the dancer was well loved because I was big into ballet...

...and...bras...(what the?)...I do remember cutting the fuzzy fabric to fit into that little heart-shaped trinket box.

A miniature music stand. I love this because it's handmade and unfinished. Someday I'll finish it when I start putting together Bean's dollhouse.

So the jewelry box looked pretty plain. The yellow drawer lining was in excellent shape so I decided to keep that. I chose this as my inspiration because I knew I had a bunch of no-voc paint in similar colors in the basement.

It's been sanded, primed, painted and scuffed a little to make it look slightly weathered. I'm not ready to show the finished product yet because I still need to find a replacement for a missing door handle (see first pic) and spray paint the ones I have...but I'll reveal soon.