Memory Boxes and Tea Time with Ally

A couple of years ago I made a memory box for my granddaughter Alexandria. I realized that she was growing up so quickly. For almost 8 years we had had all kinds of tea rituals, whether I was visiting her or she was at our house--we ALWAYS had to have tea. When she was at our house, quite often she had a good friend Bailey over to play, and they would always want to have a tea party.

We have many great memories and lots of photographs of our tea-times together. When I saw a memory box and the directions to make them, I saw a project that I could really enjoy, so I made a memory box for Ally about our tea parties.

The outside measurements of the box are 4" x 4" x 4". The lid is 4" x 4" x 2". The entire box and lid are made with fairly heavy scrapbooking papers. When you pop off the lid, which I decorated with a small old spoon wrapped with wire and beads and bent in the shape of a handle, the box "explodes" with three more layers of photo pages. The pages are all glued together on the bottom square.

As you can see below, I glued a little cup and saucer that Ally had used all the time at our house, to the center atop a paper doily. Then I proceeded to fill the pages with all kinds of photos and other memorabilia. You can see a photo of her wearing a little sun hat--at that particular time, she was on the hunt for Peter Cottontail. We almost wore out the storybook of Peter Cottontail, and she was convinced that a rabbit that ran through our yard all the time was Peter. She also was sure that Mr. MacGregor's garden was just down the street from where she lived. Her first tea set had a Beatrix Potter theme. I glued a little photo of the set over the corner of her picture.

I had written a poem years ago about my grandmother having me (and the rest of her grandchildren) over to her house for tea, or more often, coffee, and cookies. Her coffee was so weak our parents never worried about us drinking too much caffeine. Maybe that was the way they made coffee in Sweden when she was a child. At any rate, I wrote the poem, embellished a few things here or there for the sake of a better rhyme scheme or plot line. Originally I used the poem on a framed collage which included an old spoon. But for this box, I simply typed the poem and printed it in a text size that would fit on the page. (Each page of the exploding box gets a little smaller as they come toward the middle, so you have to figure out what you're going to put on each page, accordingly.) There are 28 "pages" to put things on.

"Grandma's Spoon"

When I was young I used to go

To Grandma's house for tea.

And she would have the table laid

As pretty as can be.

She showed me how to pour the tea

And where to place my spoon;

I think she had a feeling that

I'd grow up all too soon.

We'd sit and talk of many things

And while away the hours.

We'd even take a little stroll

Among her lovely flowers.

Those days are gone, and Grandma, too;

She left us all too soon.

But I still treasure those memories

Reflected in a spoon.

Judy 2002

Towards the upper left in the photo below, I wrote a little piece about Ally's and my parties together. In the foreground you can see a page that folds out, and there is a photo of me on the left, Ally in the middle, and my friend Sharon on the right. Ally and I entertained that morning, and we all wore fancy hats--although I don't know where ours are at the time the photo was taken. We planned our menu, made cookies, and set out our fancy dishes. She was so cute as she poured the tea and served the cookies with such good manners.

Many times we made sugar cookies to go with the tea. Ally and her brother AJ love to roll out the dough and use the cookie cutters. We still make cookies for many occasions. I included the good-old-standby recipe that we always use. It came from a cookbook compiled by a group of teachers probably 25 years ago. The recipe card pulls up from a pocket that has a bunch of sugar cookie shapes on a plate sitting on a lace tablecloth. Grandma's Sugar Cookies

3 c. flour 1. Mix dry ingredients and sift together.

1 tsp. baking power 2. Add margarine and mix until like coarse

1/2 tsp. salt cornmeal.

1 tsp. soda 3. Blend beaten eggs with vanilla and milk.

1 c. sugar Make a hole in the center of the dry in-

1 c. margarine (not softened) gredients, pour in liquid, and mix from

2 beaten eggs center of bowl. Dough will be stiff. Chill.

2 tsp. vanilla 4. Roll out on floured surface and cut or use

4 tbsp. milk cookie press. Place on ungreased sheet.

5. Bake at 375 degrees 6-8 min.

On the left top of the page below you can just barely see Bailey sitting at a little table as they had tea one day. I made the table how up as a pop-up that opened out, and Ally is sitting on the other side that you cannot see. Those two girls STILL love to dress up in fancy clothes and have fun together. They live 60 miles apart from each other and whenever Ally comes to visit, she always asks if she can see Bailey. How great to have a friend and not be stuck with just the "old folks," Grandma and Grandpa!

On the page on the bottom right in the oval frame, is little brother AJ. He is strictly ALL BOY, and his dad was a little worried that I'd have him doing tea parties also. Well, I didn't invite him--he just couldn't stand the idea of Sister and Bailey having a party without him, so quite often he invited himself along! He has his tea cup and saucer and salad plate sitting in front of him.

On a sidenote--once when AJ was staying alone with us, our neighbor was having a garage sale. He had a great little ice cream parlor table and chairs for sale. AJ and I borrowed it, set it up in the back yard, and propped one of Sister's dolls up and a tea set. I snapped several pics of my little guy pouring tea for the doll. In about three minutes he was done and ran off to play with his cars. I took the best photo and had it enlarged and framed and gave it to his dad, my s0n-in-law, for Christmas.

I left a few of the little pages blank, because I knew there were more photos and probably more memories Ally would want to include. All in all, I was very happy with the way it turned out. So many people liked the box and the idea that we gave a class on making them at the library. About 12 people really enjoyed it, and one young lady won a purple ribbon at the State Fair for her 4-H project. I have made and sold probably 25 or 30 different ones. My friend and I have made boxes for graduations, birthdays, babies, sports, and lots of other things.

I will have another post on directions about how to make them--they really are pretty easy!
The lids are the same as for the previous post about the gift box to Albuquerque. I really do need to get the lid directions posted! Think about ways that you can preserve a fond memory or memories with your friends and loved ones....it really is as fun to make as it is to receive!