Memory Jar

The January Challenge at the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog is ... Anything But a Card.  For my project, I decided to make a memory jar.  I have been saving inspiration for this idea for some time, but the most recent inspiration came from the Memory Jar at Stellaire.

One idea is to write down the good things that happen or memories you don't want to forget and place them in the jar throughout the year ... then you can open them on New Year's Eve to remember what a great year you've had.  

I thought another great idea was to use this as a birthday gift.  You would e-mail or mail out a form to lots of friends and members of hte birthday recipient and have them recount their favorite memories involving the birthday boy or girl.  Then have them return the memories, so you can fill the jar and give it as a gift.  I made this is netrual tones, so it would work for a many or a women.

I started by recycling a large pickle jar ... but any glass vessel will do.  I stamped the border image from Decorative Swirls several times end-to-end on texty designer paper.  I cut the strip of paper slightly wider than the image on both sides, and used super-strong double-sided tape to attach the band around the jar (overlapping underneath the focal image to hide the joint).

Next I stamped the sentiment from Friendship Sentiments on coordinating designer paper.  I positioned the die cut using washi tape to secure it, so I could cut out the focal piece.  I used the next size larger with black cardstock for the border.

I wanted some texture for my jar, so I added several wraps of textured yarn around the top ... yarn shops are one of my favorite places to hunt for great fibers for my projects.  I found this at Yarn Shop & More on one of my Sisters' Weekends (my sister is a knitter, so she never minds a trip to the yarn store).

Finally I assembled the jar adding three layered flowers with a decorative brad center using 3-D Glue Dots.

I added a few bits of tissue tape as the final embellishment.

Check out the requirements for joining the Challenge fun here.  I'm also joining The Crafty Bloggers Network where they're celebrating flowers this month ... and Paper Playtime where they're challenging you to Use Some Brown (I think brown flowers were well for masculine designs as well).

Comments

[Lindsay]

Really beautiful, I love the sentiment
Lindsay xx

[Angela D]

Very pretty project, love the sentiment, just perfect for your jar, thanks for joining us over at the CBN Challenge this month
Hugs
Ang
Crafty Bloggers Network DT
My Blog: A Crafty Blether

[Gabby]

LOVE the concept and design of your memory jar! Like the stamping on the newsprint band and the framed sentiment. The cording is a nice finishing touch. Hope you will have lots of memories to stash inside. :)