The holidays are over; the decorations and outside lights have been taken down, put away and we look forward to a new year. I am reminded of an old platitude: They say the two best days in the life of a boat owner are the day you buy the boat and the day you sell the boat. I think the holiday season is the same. We look forward to this busy, festive time every year but when it is over, we breathe a sigh of relief. It is good to have normalcy again.
This last week before everything returned to their respective boxes (like putting a puzzle back together) and placed back into storage, I decided to make a Christmas memory tray. I had visited my favorite antique store during the last month and, on a whim, bought a jar of junk for ten dollars. If you aren’t familiar, this is a jar (usually a mason jar) filled with small, broken stuff (mostly old jewelry) that nobody wants anymore. Things such as one earring, broken chains, old charms, etc. But you can’t see much of what you are getting because it is all crammed in there and the jar is taped shut. It is similar to Lets Make a Deal– what you are buying is a mystery.
You are probably thinking, “Why would she want this?”
Let me tell you: it was the best ten bucks I ever spent!
The best part was opening the jar and discovering the treasure inside. My little, pleasant surprises became the inspiration for my memory tray. Luckily, I had purchased several letterblock printers trays from a craft store last summer. They were on sale for 50% off plus using my son’s student i.d. (he was forced to be present- LOL!), I got another 15% off. I just couldn’t resist.
Besides using some of the baubles from the jar o’junk, I decided that I would re-purpose some of the cute Christmas cards, used package ribbon, no longer usable ornaments and other bits and pieces of fun collected over the years.
I started by inspecting my piles of goodies.
Then I sorted through some crafting paper that I had and selected some as well as scrap material to line the individual boxes in the tray. I cut them to size and glued them in.
Then I went to town and had fun building little montages of what makes me think of the holidays. Starting from the upper left:
In the middle: Santa made with balsa wood piece, googly eyes, old velveteen buttons and trim for beard and mustache. Can you see them?
Upper right corner:
Sweet little ornaments, eh? Some I made from beads- a couple were in the jar of junk.
Next row:
Do you see the gold beads from Santa’s beard trim?
I made this reindeer pin years ago but he was getting decrepit and falling apart. He needed to be retired to a stable (pun intended) home in the tray.
Bottom left corner:
It is hard to see (and the photos don’t do it justice) but I spelled out Merry Christmas with letters salvaged from an old Christmas card.
Memory tray against the wall:
Here it is with my Nutcracker collection:
It is now carefully packed away but I am looking forward to it joining my future holiday decor.
I hope this inspired you to make your own memories!
