No. 3 Good Junk

'It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.' - Paulo Coelho

I recently came across a couple wooden boxes I purchased from my friend Connie, at the spring Remnants of the Past show...that would be spring, 2010!.  Would you believe they had been gathering dust in the hall closet for over a year?  Typical behavior for me... a "gatherer of things". 
In our group of girlfriends we call it, "buying on speculation" (I bet you thought one could only do that in the stock market).  You know, it's when you think you might make something from it but you're not really sure what the "something" is.
I admit did get them out a few times but nothing really struck me until last week when I started thinking about how to use the buttons in this cup.  Weird, I know but it just works that way sometimes.

The wooden boxes have a glass lid that lifts up.  I am not sure what they were used for.  I was thinking a coin collection but that's just a guess.  Maybe someone out there knows?  They were not cheap...probably $30 each and they are all the exact same size 5 x 11 1/2".  The circles are each 1 3/4" across.

First, I cut a circle of cardstock the same size as the circle in the wooden box to use as a pattern.  I retrieved my big bin of textiles and dug around till I found a piece of old linen.  I cut a few circles and then a few from old paper.  

Then I just started laying them in the empty spaces till I got it to my liking. 

Please click on photo to enlarge

I started adding the embellishment in this order, lace, buttons, pearls, metal, glass, flower, words.  Sometimes words are the catalyst, but this time it was the buttons and lace.

box with lid open

 The pearls came from old necklaces I got a Farm Chicks...the vials from Ebay.  The photo is from my friend and owner of Darkroom Door, Rachel Greig.  Love these Photobooth strips, it is one of my "go to" items.  Printed on super heavy weight cardstock they never have to be mounted on something and cut out, just use as is. 

 The dried flower is from my backyard and the pearlized leaf is from Paper Valise (I believe they are sold out now).  I cannot remember where I got the enamel pocket watch face but it fits just perfectly in the circle.  The rhinestone circle is a small buckle that I stitched to the layers of dyed cheese cloth.  I stitched the button right over the top of the center bar. 
The tatted edging in the bottom left corner is stitched together by hand.  I am assuming there were two pieces made and the owner stitched them together to make a longer one.  I could have avoided the break in the lace but I decided it was much more interesting to use it.  I also chose vintage mother of pearl buttons that still had the original thread left in the button and just tacked them with a few stitches of matching thread.

I added a number rubbing on the glass.

Well, hope that gives you a little inspiration to create something this week.  You know how we love our Good Junk...
cheers!
paula