After 4 years, Mally is leaving Becci (his amazing childminder) to start school! We thought we would make her a present to show her how much we appreciate everything she has done for us, and to give her something to remember us by... Mally came up with some suggestions of presents, and then we decided to take it a step further and give her a homemade box to keep them all in...
*** Please note - this is not the most polished of projects as I wanted to let Mally have as much input as possible - if doing it as a "grown-up" project, it can be made a LOT fancier!!!! ***
We found this great blank cardboard box from Hobbycraft and knew it was exactly what we wanted.
We started off painting the box (to ensure we had a nice background colour for the decoupage). Luckily I am doing up my bedroom and had a variety of tester pots to choose from! This one is called
Chino and is a nice sandy beige... Obviously any type of paint would do!
We chose these decoupage papers with a vintage book page look (french dictionary to be exact!) also from Hobbycraft...
So far so good!
Mally was VERY insistent that we put dragonflies on the box as they are Becci's favourite things (?!?!). I downloaded some from
The Graphics Fairy and resized them for variety. We coated them in a thin covering of the same paint, and then glued these onto the inside.
Finally, we coated the entire box in a layer of PVA glue to seal it all in and harden it up.
For the gifts, we wrote Becci a letter from myself and Dunc, and Mally also did one (well he traced my outlines!!). We added chocolates, earrings (not shown), and as you can see - some BAILEYS!! I actually wanted to get a miniature bottle so that it would fit inside nicely, but that seemed too stingy!!!!
We gave it too Becci yesterday and she loved it. She says she will keep it in her office area and she will be able to keep photos and letters from all of the children she looks after inside it. We're thrilled she likes it, she has been the best childminder ever! What do you think?
Good idea! It turned out good!
ReplyDeleteThank you! xx
DeleteWhat a lovely gift to give someone, and its great that your son could help in the making too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy, we had a lot of fun together! xx
DeleteI think it's a wonderful gift and I'm it will be really treasured knowing your son made it.
ReplyDeleteAli x
Thanks Ali, I hope so too! xx
DeleteWhat a perfect gift and very useful too. I hope your son enjoys school :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Fiddly! He thinks its going to be great - lets hope he keeps that attitude! ;) xx
DeleteFab job you two!!! Was in Hobbycraft those deco papers are great, lots to choose from too.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, they have upped the range!! xx
DeleteThis is a lovely idea and it's nice that both of you worked on it. Becci will remember you every time she looks at it. I hope Mally is enjoying school ☆
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise! Becci loves it, and Mally is enjoying school. His girlfriend from nursery is there with him!! xx
DeleteI love the dragonflies inside, very pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks Julia! xx
DeleteBeautifully done!
ReplyDeleteThis is just too sweet! I love so much that your son is having a hand in making this gift to say thank you. I think too often we prepare things for kids to give as gifts and they don't truly understand effort that goes into thoughtful gifts.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks for linking up!