Valentine Love Letter Keepsake Box

I know it might be "Old School" now...but back in my day, we wrote letters on paper to people we loved and cared about and what better way to store those precious memories than in an upcycled embellished old wine box!

My Sister recently sent me a ton of personal love letters that my Dad had sent to my Mom when they were dating and newly married and he was in the service.

These are precious to me and I wanted a way to store them where I could find them easily, as one day I want to read them all and gain more insight into my parent's relationship. Unfortunately they experienced rocky times in later years and ultimately divorced which was a sad and confusing time for me, but I know these letters will remind me of the love they once shared!

When Angie and Carolina announced the upcoming "Craft Lightning" for Valentine's Day...I knew this project I had in mind would be perfect for these special letters!

For those of you who are new here...Craft Lightning is a great series for craft & DIY bloggers that is hosted by Angie from the Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 minute Crafts, where bloggers/crafters are challenged to create a quick craft that takes 15 minutes or less...minus drying time!

For this project, I kept it simple to meet those requirements...but you could of course get more fancy with this wine box and add more customized graphics or photos, or even stain it and give it an "antique" look!

So many fun and creative ways you can decorate these boxes and upcycle them into something useful and beautiful!

Not only can this box be used for special love letters, but it would make a cute collection box for a child's valentines from school or special photos near and dear to them or to you!

Here is a short video showing the steps taken to make this love letter keepsake box:

Here are the tools and supplies I used for this project:

Supplies/Tool List:

(*Disclosure: Some text may include affiliate links)

Wooden Wine Box
Rust-Oleum Primer and Sealer
ACE Enamel Spray Paint, Antique White/Cooler Beige
Paper Napkins, Heart Themed, (From WalMart)
Scissors
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Mod Podge
Foam Paint Brush
Rubber Stamp, Love, By Craft Smart
Q-Tips (if necessary for touch-up)
Ink Pad, Red, Studio G, Dye Ink*
Krylon Workable Fixatif
Mod Podge Gloss Sealer

* One note about the materials I used...I was a bit inexperienced in using ink on wood and probably did not use the best type of ink or medium to stamp this box. The ink I used was a "dye" type ink and it did not adhere well to the spray enamel paint on the wood and it never really fully dried to where I could coat it with Mod Podge.
What I did to remedy this situation was spray over the stamped areas with a light mist of the workable fixatif. I let that dry and then lightly sprayed it a second time.
Even then, I was not able to cover it with Mod Podge because it began to "bleed" red when I did.
(That is why I needed the Q-tips...to try and fix my messy looking, smeared boo-boo!)
So, I ended up just using the mod podge on the napkin cutouts and after the ModPodge and Fixatif dried...I covered the entire top of the box with ModPodge Gloss Sealer and it worked great to seal the whole thing so it looked shiny and the stamps didn't rub off!
(I think in hindsight I should have used either pigment stamp or acrylic paint to stamp with...oh well...live and learn!)

Hope you are inspired to create by visiting my blog today and be sure to click on the graphic below to see lots of other great Valentine Inspired projects from Crafty Bloggers!

(*Stuff-n-Such, Lisa Hall, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com)

This project/post is linked to the following sites/link-up parties:

http://www.craftsalamode.com/2017/02/what-to-do-weekends-party-211.html

Scrap Fabric Frame

I just recently finished my first "Rag Quilt" and had lot's of leftover fabric scraps from that project and since I hate to throw any thing away...I decided to come up with a way to use them and here is the result!

I made the quilt for my sweet Momma for Mother's Day and figured what could be better than a matching framed picture to go with her quilt!

I decided to use a photo I found in a box of old photos that my Sister recently sent to me.

We had to move my precious Mother into an assisted living facility recently and a lot of her "things" couldn't go with her and my Sweet Sister knew that I would love having some of Mom's old photos and I'm thankful she sent them to me...it has brought back such great memories and this is one of my favorites!

It is a throwback photo from 1975 of my Grandma Walker (Maternal), Me and my Mom!

I cherish this photo so much and of course didn't want to give up my recently acquired only copy, so I scanned it and had a copy made at my local Walgreens.

NOTE: Just a tip here for those who don't do a lot of scanning...most commercial scanners that are built-in with your printers will default scan to a low to medium resolution (75 - 300 dpi), so if you are wanting to get a good quality print to have printed out, it's wise to choose "custom" scan from your scanner/printer software and scan the photo at a little higher resolution, because it will turn out better.

I originally scanned this at 300 dpi and tried printing it out on my Lexmark Inkjet printer and it turned out decent but because the photo was from the 70's and not the greatest quality to begin with, that print-out showed lines and some decreased clarity. 

When I went back in and scanned it at 600 dpi and printed it out, it was a lot better, so that is the one I used when ordering the final print from Walgreens and it came out really nice and I was also able to order another larger 5x7 print without sacrificing the clarity and quality of the photo.

I added a bit of family memorabilia to the photo above, and it is fitting for this group photo of me, Grandma & Mom.

My Grandma Walker had this family sign hangin' in her kitchen/dining room for as long as I could remember and it was something us kids LOVED to play with!

It was a family "Dog House" wooden sign that had 7 wooden doggies hanging on it with the names of my Grandparents and all their children on it.

Whenever someone was in "trouble" they were put into the dog house, by removing the doggie from it's hook and placing it in the dog house portion.

We had so much fun when visiting Grandma, by putting our own parent's into the "Dog House" and laughing about it!

That is such a treasured memory for me and when my Grandmother passed away, my Mother got this treasure and it hung in her kitchen until a few years ago when I asked her if she minded if I had it.

She knew how much it meant to me and lovingly handed it over to me!

I am happy to be showcasing my scrap frame in another "Craft Lightning" series hosted by Angie at the Country Chic Cottage and Carolina from 30 minute crafts.

I just love this ongoing quick crafts series and for this one there was no particular theme, so it fit right in with my scrap fabric frame idea as it is real quick to make and can be finished in no time at all with a little patience for drying time for the Mod Podge finish!

One tip though...to make the craft quicker (if you are in a hurry)...use larger fabric scraps than I did.

I didn't think it through and used pretty small scraps which made it a little more time consuming than I originally planned, but it still turned out nice and will match my Mom's quilt, so I am happy with it!

Here is a collage showing the steps used to complete this project:

Here are the tools and supplies used:

Supplies/Tools Used for this Project:

Plaid Rectangle Wooden Frame - 4-1/8" x 6-1/8" 

Fabric Scraps, Assorted

Favorite Photo

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Mod Podge

Foam Paint Brush

Scissors

X-acto Knife (not shown in photo above)

Black Gel Ink Pen

Marking Chalk 

Felt (for frame backing)

Cardboard (for backing insert)

Lexmark 4975 Printer, Scanner, Copier

Thanks for stopping by today and if you get a chance, stop by Angie and Carolina's blogs to see some more awesome 15 minute crafts!