This is what I “made” for Baby Iris for Christmas ……… it’s her dressing up box.
There’s a lot of history to this very simple box. It was originally Andy’s fishing tackle box which he made for himself for when he went fishing, the children were little and we didn’t have a lot of money.
And when we had a little more money Andy was able to buy a “proper” tackle box …… and then, his old box was painted different colours as it became a toy box, and later a dressing up box, until finally it was put up in the attic, abandoned as the children had grown up.
Then Lu said a couple of months ago, that we should get it down and “do it up” for Iris for her dressing up box………. as dressing up was always very much part of Tom and Lucy’s childhood with many many happy memories associated with it …… when they used to go to the village jumble sale on a Wednesday night with a bag of pennies, using their imaginations to buy “dressing up clothes”.
So, one Sunday night, just before Christmas, I finally got my act together and cut out all the squares and flowers from my My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose, 12” x 12” designer paper pad (that book now owes me nothing, as I have used it on so many projects) and got gluing ….. followed by coat after coat of clear, quick drying varnish while perched upside down on the table, in the kitchen utility!
But, I left the inside red, left untouched
just as Andy had painted it.
Iris may never know her Granddad Andy, but I know he will always, always be with her. I am hoping that this box will follow her through her life, in different guises as she grows up ……. I would like to think that when the time comes for her to go to university it will be used as one of her trunks to transport all her gear ……. and if it ever needs a little tender loving attention, someone will always be on hand to repair it ….. and make it better, if not me.
There’s a lot of history to this very simple box. It was originally Andy’s fishing tackle box which he made for himself for when he went fishing, the children were little and we didn’t have a lot of money. 
And when we had a little more money Andy was able to buy a “proper” tackle box …… and then, his old box was painted different colours as it became a toy box, and later a dressing up box, until finally it was put up in the attic, abandoned as the children had grown up.
Then Lu said a couple of months ago, that we should get it down and “do it up” for Iris for her dressing up box………. as dressing up was always very much part of Tom and Lucy’s childhood with many many happy memories associated with it …… when they used to go to the village jumble sale on a Wednesday night with a bag of pennies, using their imaginations to buy “dressing up clothes”.
So, one Sunday night, just before Christmas, I finally got my act together and cut out all the squares and flowers from my My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose, 12” x 12” designer paper pad (that book now owes me nothing, as I have used it on so many projects) and got gluing ….. followed by coat after coat of clear, quick drying varnish while perched upside down on the table, in the kitchen utility!
But, I left the inside red, left untouched just as Andy had painted it.
Iris may never know her Granddad Andy, but I know he will always, always be with her. I am hoping that this box will follow her through her life, in different guises as she grows up ……. I would like to think that when the time comes for her to go to university it will be used as one of her trunks to transport all her gear ……. and if it ever needs a little tender loving attention, someone will always be on hand to repair it ….. and make it better, if not me.