The Music Box

When I studied in Japan, we had a school trip to Hokkaido, the nothern most island.

And one of the high lights of the trip was a tour in a music box store.

Everywhere you turned there were music boxes. Each tinkling a very special melody. As much as I wanted to buy one, I couldn't afford it. And so, it became a dream of mine.

A couple of weeks ago, I chanced upon this really dark wood music box. It was in perfect working condition. There was a lock and a key. I thought, it would be a perfect gift for my niece Leanne, who was turning 8.

I feel as if the kids nowadays are missing out on a lot of things that used to hold magic in my generation.

I remember tinkering around with my mom's music box. Or my lola had one, and it had treasures in it.

I've already given her a diary. And now, a music box seemed perfect for storing her treasures.

I bought the music box for 300 pesos or roughly $6 and set about beautifying it.

First, I covered the whole thing with gesso. Applied white paint, cream paint. Leaves for the grape vines. Purple for the grapes and gold paint for highlights.

I lined the music box with My Little Shoe box papers, and used die cuts from DCWV.

And there you go, worthy of keeping an 8-year old's treasures.