My mother is absolutely obsessed with match boxes and the things you can put in them, so I kind of had a lightbulb moment when trying to figure out a present for her birthday last week (normally I handle the cake but this year my dad insisted that he had it under control). If you have a mother with a similar fetish, maybe this will work out for you for a nice Mother’s Day present.
For my mother’s wee giftie, it was just a silly little thing: I decided to give her MAGIC BEANS. But instead of magic beans it was actual bean seeds that she could plant shortly in the garden. And then we could eat the beans. I also gave her some rosemary seeds because I killed her rosemary tree while she was in Florida.
I love these little tiny glass jars you can get at the dollar store.
Don’t worry, I DID label all the little jars.
I decided to make a matchbox from scratch so I could ensure it was the right size to fit my beans. In order to do that I downloaded a template from the internet. I cut it out and used scrapbook paper (it’s a decently stiff cardstock) for my boxes.
I used a craft knife to get things exact, but it’s a pretty easy template to cut out.
Then a little bit of strategic adhesion with craft glue.
And the beans, they fit! They’re a little loose though.
So I padded the bottoms of the boxes with a bit of felt.
Then tied up both boxes with pretty ribbon to give to my favourite mother!
Match boxes (even custom-made ones) are a great creative way to package up smaller gifts of jewelry or what-have-you. Keep that in mind the next time you’re doing some complex wrapping and you don’t have a perfect box to hand.
Ali Does It Herself 