Thirteen finished keepsakes, ready for Mother's Day.

Felines and Flowers Vintage Cigar Box Keepsakes

 Thirteen finished keepsakes, ready for Mother's Day.

I posted on Monday about my big weekend project with vintage cardboard cigar boxes as I had gotten the bulk of the work on them finished, anticipating the Mother’s Day Vendor and Craft Show this Saturday. I finished up all 13 and because readers expressed an interested I also managed to get them listed on Portraits of Animals before this event. You can find them all in my Handmade Gift Gallery along with a whole lot of other things your mom, or your favorite nurturing person, or even yourself, would love to have on this day to celebrate mothers.

Since I’ve been building Portraits of Animals I’ve found that many people who like cats also like other animals and nature and flowers and pretty things. Now when I make these items I make a little bit of both, and offer them together. This actually saves me a huge amount of time the whole process, in making things, listing them and posting about them, even storing them and presenting them at shows. Keeping handmade things separate nearly doubled the work for me. Carrying the project along as a group is much more streamlined, and, honestly, it’s always the way I think about what I decide to create.

Keeping things together works to your benefit with these keepsake boxes too. Because they are nearly all the same size, they are the same price, each $15.00. But as I was working out the designs I also noticed that I’d unintentionally paired up a few of the designs on similar sized boxes with similar colors. If you look in the photo above, you’ll see a few that distinctly coordinate. I decided to set up a special offer for this set of keepsake boxes because they are all similar and all the same price:

$25 For Two Keepsakes!

Two keepsakes would be $30.00, but you can pair up two keepsakes for $5.00 off the total, or $25.00.

Use the coupon code: 25FORTWOKEEPSAKES

Like A Warm Bath and Peaches and Peonies, same size, same colors, pretty cats in the sun:

Or The Perfect Place and My Mother’s Columbines, same size, same colors, featuring gardens and flowers:

Or a fine feline and fine flowers with Summer Living and Red Climbers, same color scheme, slightly different sizes but similar enough to go together:

Or just pick any two!

Just remember that these boxes are unique, and when each box is sold it’s gone—I am taking them with me to the event this weekend, so if you are interested in one, get it now. I can’t guarantee anything, and I always go into these events hoping to sell everything!

About the boxes

These cigar boxes are the old-style cardboard type, the ones we probably all grew up with around the house, holding photos and hardware and handkerchiefs. Unlike the wooden boxes I worked with last autumn these boxes are in varying states of wear and tear, written on, watermarked, with holes from thumbtacks and dinged up corners and warped lids, but all of the 13 were usable for brand new works of creative whatever. A few needed the paper hinges on the lids repaired and a few corners reconstructed. The insides of the boxes, though, were a little too dingy to leave as is so I painted the inside of the bottom and up the side walls of each box with a matte white that I tinted to match the aged color of the white areas of the box, still leaving some of the text and art for vintage’s sake. I also preserved some of the original exterior decoration and trim on a few boxes.

The artwork is printed on acid-free label stock and adhered to the top surface. Because the lids are a little warped and flip open if the box is tipped, I’ve added a small ribbon and Velcro closure on the front.

Cheshire Kitty Batik Keepsake.

Cheshire Kitty Batik Keepsake.

Here is a gallery of all of them with the name of each design. You can find them all in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

My lighting and set director makes a few modifications.

My lighting and set director makes a few modifications.

My lighting and set director makes a few modifications.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

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