Here's one I made earlier...

[MDF blanks available here.]

What do you do when you have 2 MDF blank tissue boxes, some old postcards, a bag full of ribbon and trim, and some potpourri flowers?...

You decorate the boxes of course and make a garland! :-)

First of all I painted the tissue boxes in a Laura Ashley French Grey sample pot. I bought a cheap scanner and printer recently (HP PSC 1350) and had a brain wave that I could scan in all the lovely old postcards I have collected and use them to cover the boxes. One tissue box I have covered with all the old postcards of our village, and pictures of our house (printed out in sepia) and a photograph of Tim's grandfather. I also printed out some words in "Lucida handwriting" font and stained the paper with a tea bag to give it that aged look. I think I might add some old coins, notes and stamps to this at some stage, but I'm pleased with how it looks.



[Tim's box with his grandfather's picture on and a note saying "Tom ___ - beloved grandfather".]

[Girly tissue box, ironically in "mansize".]

The other box is a bit more girly, I used gathered broderie Anglaise around the rim, and all the Victorian flower postcards to decorate it. The faded blue velvet ribbon (I love it when it goes like that) is a ribbon my grandmother gave me - I remember having a dress with some of this ribbon on and my mum using it to tie my hair! :-)

I've decided I'm going to make a few more of these and also some trinket boxes, it's a great way of show casing collections of things without having them tucked away where no one can see. You could also cover these with old knitting/sewing patterns, maps, stamps, ration books, train tickets - the list goes on! It's great fun anyway so go on, have a go!

When I ordered the runner I also decided to order these scented flowers (below), which were in the sale. I've been looking at these for a while now because I thought I could have a go at making my own garland. At £7.83 I thought why not, especially as the garlands you see in the shops are usually between £15 and £20. So here's the first one I made around the mirror. I have also made another one with lace (glue drying so no photo yet). Not bad really for £4 each and they smell lovely!
[£7.83 in the Laura Ashley sale.]

[Tie them onto to cheap 5mm white ribbon and you have yourself a nice garland.]