Personalised Keepsake Boxes

Hi Everyone

Let's talk Keepsakes!  What lovelier way to store all your memorabilia and personal keepsakes than in a personalised box, which in itself is decorated to reflect personal favourite characters, flowers, hobbies and special colours.

A few years back, I was approached by a friend, with a plain wooden box and asked if I could do something with it, so that it could be given as a gift to a special family member.

I hadn't thought about doing something like this before so, as with most things in my life, I said yes and then set about learning how to do it justice.  Here is that first ever Keepsake box, one of many now!!

"Beatrix Potter"

Of course that opened up the floodgates and since that very first box I have produced a variety of different boxes all unique to each recipient.

"The Construction Box"

I was amazed at the list of things people stored in them but I think the most important thing in all of this is that each one is totally unique and I have found them to be especially popular for people keeping memories of past and present loved ones for the younger generation.  Photo's, medals, remnants of teddies and special baby clothes, premium bond certificates and collectors stamps and coins.  Letters are a good one, full of sentiment and truths, personal love letters, timeline letters being left to a surviving child or friend.  

"Alice with an Environmental Twist"

I remember last Christmas racing against a deadline to produce 4 boxes all for the same family so with a general theme but each slightly different.  I personally loved the Steampunk, Clocks and Watches theme and had a lot of fun putting them together.

Painting and Decorating

It's always worth remembering that if you are using a light coloured paint, there is the risk of bleed-through from the wood so I always use a Shellac Based Primer which will prevent any tannins from the wood bleeding through.  I would suggest something like Zinsser Primer which is not particularly nice to apply and will need a light sand between coats but it is good and I use this on my furniture as well, because of it's reliability.  I purchase a lot of my painting supplies from My Paintbrush Decorating Supplies, they are always so prompt and very helpful if ever you need advice.  

I tend to use a variety of paints depending on what shade or colour I am trying to achieve but my go-to's are Vintage With Grace and Dixie Belle All In One, both these brands give a fantastic coverage and the depth of colour with just a couple of coats is great.  If you are going for a blended look then the Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint is great for achieving this effect.  If you are local to East Sussex you could try the lovely Angie the owner of Fantissimo, who has a great range of paints and products available in her incredible shop.   I have included the links where you will be able to find local stockists near you.  To be honest a tester size pot is more than adequate to complete a box so if you want to attempt your own box then don't waste money on buying full size tins of paint.

For decorating I use a mixture of Decor Transfers, WoodUbend Mouldings and huge amounts of Re-Design with Prima Moulds that I make up myself using resin, my favourite Resin is Amazing Casting Resin which turns white and cures in 10 minutes (N.B. or less, you need to work quickly! always be totally prepared before mixing).  

Moulds, Transfers and WoodUbend

More recently, I have been learning how to produce my own Decor Waterslide Transfers which are incredibly simple to make, even if they are a bit fiddly.  I particularly like this idea as you are able to reproduce images and wording from any source and print them yourself using just a simple Ink Jet Printer.  

(I will cover making Redesign Moulds, using WoodUbend and Transfers in other blog posts at a later date, contact me if you would like me to cover anything else to do with the boxes.)

At present I am working on an Alice In Wonderland Box.  I particularly love this design and I love the gorgeous colour "Bewitched" by Vintage With Grace which goes amazingly well with the colours in the Dixie Belle Transfer I am using.

A work in progress!

I honestly had no idea how this would grow and at one stage I said I'd never do another, they really are a mission of mercy.  But here I am still painting yet another!

If you would like to purchase a Personalised Keepsake Box then click this link Drewsan Home and we can discuss what colour and design you would like.

If you have any questions or want to comment please pop it in the comments sections and I'll happily get back to you.

All the best

Nicky 😊