DIY Gift and Organizing Idea: The Memory Box

Sometimes memories are so meaningful they imprint upon one's soul. 

And for everything else (that's tangible), there's the memory box: a box to store all your keepsakes, cards and photos.  You can use one to keep birthday cards, Christmas cards, and post cards.  

Making a memory box for someone else is a special gift. You can use the couple's wedding colors to personalize their memory box (like I did below). Here's a DIY memory box I made as a wedding gift for a young couple. 

Use a memory box to store keepsakes and cards from that special day. Store it away and open it on each anniversary.

Anyone can make one. You can make one as simple as you want or as adorned as you want. This one took me three days. 

Look at wedding and home decor magazines for a little inspiration. I love cutting out words from magazine ads and using them in my craft projects. Pull out your scrapbook paper and see what types of patterns and color combinations inspire you. Put a little music on and get busy!

Use wedding colors to personalize a memory box.  Here I used purple and blue.

For this gift project I already had scrapbook paper, glue, and paper punches at home. The paper punches I had bought from Daiso, a store that sells cute Japanese products. I used the punches to make flowers and to create a lace border edge.

Admittedly, I did buy other supplies (mainly to stock up my own craft box). I searched for sales and I stumbled upon some great buys! You never know what you will find just when you need it! Here's what I bought.

I bought the following at Michael's:

• Modge podge and sponge applicator 
• 1 white recollections box (which was on sale for $1.00 at that time)
• Wedding-themed word sticker embellishments
• Purple satin ribbon ( I found one in one of those discount bins...I believe it was discounted for less than $1)

I bought these at the 99 Cent Only Store:

• White sheer ribbon (check out their ribbon selections--they change with the seasons)
• Craft scissors (the blade has waved edges and it was available around September when unique school supplies were being stocked)

Because I already had some other supplies at home, I probably spent around $15.00 or less at the above stores for this project.  I definitely had leftover ribbon and of course modge podge to use for the future. 

DIY Wedding Memory Box.  I made wedding cards to match!

I enjoyed layering the box with paper and sticker embellishments.  I wanted the memory box to look like a gift box and the purple satin ribbon (one of the wedding colors) was perfect for completing the look.  I put on two layers of  modge podge to seal everything in place (next time I will add a third layer and add more drying time to it).  After a full day of drying, the memory box was almost complete.

My final touches to the gift were the additions of two DIY wedding cards I made for the couple.

DIY wedding cards: this picture was a quick snapshot hours before the wedding.  I had to put the gift together!

At some point, I will probably do a tutorial on the tuxedo card because it was one of the easier cards to make. For the bride's card, I just used what I had on me (scrapbook paper, a white sheer wire ribbon for the dress, sticker embellishments, toothpicks for the bouquet, etc.).   

Also added to the box were a couple of cute little gifts from Target (massage oil, anyone?)

As for the DIY part, overall, I was pleased with the end product.  It definitely gave me the confidence to do one again--perhaps for Christmas cards or all the birthday cards my son gets every year. This project also taught me that with a little creativity, I can be inspired by whatever materials I have on hand right now (paper? stickers? magazine cut-outs? old fabric?); so if you have a vision of what you want, take a look around you and start there!

If you're looking for a special DIY gift to make, why not make a personalized memory box?

Or if you need a place to organize your holiday or birthday cards, why not turn a plain photo box into a memory box?