When I was a little girl it was a major event when my California aunt would come back to the farm for a visit. She was so amazing, and everything she did was interesting. Especially interesting to a little art-minded collector of bugs-n-stuff were her nature boxes.

Little three drawer boxes covered with pine cones and seeds and fur and shells . . . I loved them so much. Little me, in an imitation is the best sort of flattery, spent hours gluing matchboxes together and covering them in fake fur. Then I ran out of boxes and started making my drawers from cereal boxes . . . Fast forward a decade or so, and I was still making my boxes and covering them, and one time when Aunt Fran came for a visit, I was asking her about how she made her boxes, what sort of board, what sort of glue . . . and I learned that actually she bought pre-formed chests and suddenly the tables were turned and she was asking me for advice and chest building instruction.

So. A lifetime of inspiration on building boxes instigated by a miss-assumption but not a misplaced admiration.

This box was built in honor of my grandmothers. Both of my whom were sewists. (That’s our new word for sewers, which, admittedly has an unfortunate alternate pronunciation.) I have sewing boxes that used to belong to each of them, full of little treasures. I used some from each in what I call my “Grandma Box”.

The base of the box is actually a cigar box which I fitted with dividers and built drawers for. I covered the drawers and the frame with paper, and then started adding “pretties”. Huge snaps from Grandma K, posies from Grandma B, photocopies from pages of a Vogue pattern book that belonged to Aunt Fran. Along the top are medallions from a sash that came from the Masonic Lodge in Brock, Nebraska, given to me by Uncle John. (I’m not sure if the sash was from Eastern Star or the Masons . . . I’ll have to ask Dad when I see him.) I decoupaged the picture of Grandma B and Aunt Fran onto a wooden coin.

It’s hard to see, but along this side is a tape measure from Grandma K.

In the drawer, there’s more treasures:

The plane pin is a souvenir from Fred’s trip to Russia in 1990? Little Canadian flag pins from a recent trip . . . a little baggie of seashell bits from Puerto Rico . . . A Funks G Hybrid patch, like the one on the jacket Grandpa B wore . . . buttons from the grandmothers . . .

The closest I got to that classic “serene mother” pic . . . my lovely wiggly babies . . . . circa 2002. Rachel’s key ring to the car I bought from her when she left for Japan for her JET program. A puffed heart pendant from a favorite necklace.

Mother of pearl buckles from my mother, her mother, and my father’s mother. Something all the ladies kept. Interesting button and china dolls from my mother . . .

I have been blest. I miss them all so much.

(More pictures of Aunt Fran’s Nature Box)