ANYWAY!

Let’s back to the fun stuff, shall we? You saw the beautiful box that Lisa sent me. Here is what I sent (slightly late) to Lisa:

I made the crown with pipe cleaners and cardboard! On top of the crown is a flat glass marble set into a bottle cap topped with a cross from a necklace. Adding the glitter was the best part! This is real silver glitter and it will tarnish with time which I think sets the mood so well. The box itself is a black velvet candy box that I’ve been saving forever. I added the little legs to it.

What I was trying to do with this box is to show the two sides of Marie Antoinette. This outside represents her public side. Rather a caged dove, wasn’t she? Not highly independent or intelligent, she was quite tame, but she did become everyone’s favorite scapegoat. The paper ruffle around the edges of the lid is to represent all the words written about Marie both during her life and posthumously. The tag under the crown says “Marie Antoinette, Reine de la France”.

And this is the inside of the box. Inside the lid (on the left) I used this beautiful LeBrun portrait of Marie’s two oldest children. So sweet! In the box itself I glued in little vignettes that I felt spoke to Marie’s private side. I wasn’t able to do everything that I wanted to do- in part because I ran out of time and money! I hope you can see the little labels I made that describe what I imagine she was like.

Then I put it in a box with some of the goodies for my other swaps I’m enrolled in. Nice little transition, eh? First there is the Princess and the Pea Hat (Lisa is my partner for that too!): I really love how this turned out! I used irridescent glass glitter on the flower petals and then I made a twining pea vine from silver wire that wraps around the hat. Strung in various locations on the pea vine are Austrian crystal beads that give off an opalescent shimmer. I like to imagine that the Prince commissioned this lovely hat for his oh-so-sensitive Princess as a wedding gift!Here’s a close up of one of the flowers. The gorgeous paper that I used for this hat and that I used to line the Marie box all came from Dollar Tree! I think each pack has six beautiful 12″ x 12″ pieces of coordinating paper in it. I get so much use out these papers and I never feel guilty cutting into them! Oh, and the green beads on the edge of the hat? An eyeglass lanyard from Dollar Tree! I think of Dollar Tree as my “secret weapon”!