Friday 21 March 2014

Down memory lane...

It's appropriate that this post is about the memory box, on Monday it will be the anniversary of mum's death.  Let's concentrate on the box.  It is an art therapy project,  it sort of came 'flat packed', in pieces and we had to assemble, paint and then decide what to do put inside them. Everyone has come up with very different ideas,  it has been very exciting watching them all develop.   My intention was to make a memory box about mum, what reminds me of her.  I picked up some TH tissue paper, I just wanted a printed paper but didn't realise that the one I had chosen was about 'memories', so it was a happy accident.  I gave the box a coat of paint, then applied the paper with the decopatch glue, which I ran out of so I thinned some PVA.  That done I toned down the white by applying 'weathered twigs', using a water brush.  So box was made, next was choosing what to do in it.


My mum loved music, especially the proms,  and I can always remember her sewing.  She made me and my sister all of our dresses, blouses and goodness knows what else.  Every summer she'd make me two new summer dresses for school, one in pink and the other green, with a white cotton collar.  She was also a great knitter,  and taught me.  So into the box went some mini pictures of patterns, sewing and knitting, oh and a crochet pattern - she had begun to make doillys working with very fine cotton.  I wanted a shelf system, so used two pieces of  stiff board,  covered them in paper, then used a crochet hook at the 'stand',  and some supports underneath.  I embossed two strips of cream card to give it a wallpaper look, and the diamond washable on the bottom and top.   I'd discovered a mini sewing kit in her handbag, it had a paper tape measure, so that got stuck to the two top and bottom strips.

I scanned in some old photos of mum as a baby, and as a young girl.   I found some small frames on offer in The Range,  I gave one the grunge treatment and put one of the photos in it.  In amongst the stash I found the treble clef, and some other music notes.  You can just see the cotton reel I found yesterday, I'd been looking for a wooden cotton reel (sorry wasn't going to pay an extortionate amount of money for a couple in a craft shop), the mini scissors were in the sewing set.   I trimmed the shelves with some lace.


The bottom contains a sewing machine. I looked around to see if I could find one similar to the one mum used, which was an old singer machine, this was the closest I could find - it is so dinky!   Champagne cork is either from a birthday or anniversary, on the wall is an origami dress - saw it on a friend's card and thought it would be perfect for the box.  Good job I used to do origami!   There is still a lot more to do, and to put into it.  I plan to put pictures on the outside as well, and some journalling somewhere.



And it all adds up to this!  Nothing is fixed into place,  pics are stuck down with photo glue,  used that so I can remove them without causing any damage.  I'm pleased with it so far.

It's not been a good week, today I felt really down, wasn't in the mood to do anything.  If I'd not needed any milk I would have stayed in the flat,  as it was I just about got round Tesco.  I hate seeing all the Mother's day stuff, it is really upsetting me for all the obvious reasons.  Last year mum was able to enjoy Mother's Day, I say enjoy because well, aside from a visit from my brother - who came and went, that was it from the family.  I deliberately avoided it today.  I picked up a bit in the afternoon, did a few bits to the box and did some painting which was very relaxing. 

Just been watching some Youtube videos on mixed media pictures, so I may give that a go tomorrow.  I was using my Kindle,  I've now downloaded a few books onto it, it is much better for night time reading!  I always struggled trying to get the right amount of light to read, but the Kindle is back lit.  It has a good battery life as well, and is HD so picture quality is superb.  Just one gripe, you can't download Flash onto it, apparently Adobe stopped supporting the Kindle operating system, which is bloody stupid.  I've got apps for Iplayer, Youtube etc,  but can't play anything with flash content.  It is my only gripe, and it does stop me wasting time playing games on it, which isn't a bad thing.

All for now, have a good weekend, and thanks for stopping by. 

1 comment:

BJ said...

WOW WOW WOW

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