3. Matchbox Keepsakes

Time: Under 1 hour

Cost: Under $10

Have you ever popped a pretty shell in your pocket while walking along a beach?

If you're like me, you have a bowl of "keepsakes" that you can't get rid of, even if you haven't looked in there in months. Included in mine is a piece of plastic from a car headlight, salvaged after my husband, then 16, crashed his first car; a piece of black shiny obsidian rock from Auckland's One Tree Hill, collected while picnicking on a bright spring day; some Beado's that my daughter has made me as a gift; and a little grey shell that my mother in law gave my daughter on our summer holiday in Port Macquarie.

These little memories deserve better than a dusty bowl on a shelf. This project will show you how to display your treasures and record your memories, and it's so easy to do!

Materials:

Bulk pack of matchboxes - small or large or a collection of both. Around $5 from the supermarket.

Glue

Collection of nick knacks

Photos, magazine pictures, maps, and pretty papers to cover your boxes

Tissue paper (optional)

Here we go....

Arrange your nick knacks in front of you and match up any photos, pictures, maps, or postcards to each little treasure. Try to have something that makes you think of the memory that will be hidden inside the box.

Empty out the matches into an airtight jar and reserve at least one box so that you can use it to strike the matches leftover from this project.

Place your matchbox on top of the material you will be covering it with and trace around it with a pencil. Cut out the rectangle and glue it onto the front of the matchbox.

Choose a pretty piece of paper to glue on to the back in the same way. Once it's dry, write down any notes you can think of about the memory onto the back of the box. It doesn't just have to be places and dates, be creative! Funny things your children said, what the weather was like, or a quote or poem that reminds you of the event are all wonderful things to record for future years.

Lastly, put some tissue paper and your nick knack into its box.

Make as many or as few of these matchboxes as you wish and display them on a shelf, or in a pretty box. I love to display mine in a glass bowl where they invite family and friends to discover what treasured memories are hiding within.