Sequin Stitches: Cornwall Shadow Box

Hello again! Last year I posted about one of our trips to Cornwall (see the pictures here). We collected some sand from our favourite beach with the intention of using it for a keepsake box.

This week I have finally managed to do something with it!

Collecting sand from Perranporth.

I found this sweet vintage label and modified it a bit to use for the bottle.

And this wonderful old map.

Treasure from Cornwall.

Label for the sand bottle.

I taped the label onto the back of the bottle using wizard invisible tape.

I cropped the map down in Photoshop so I had a nice close up of the county then added the photos that we wanted to display in a collage. We decided on Perranporth Beach, Mevagissey and The Eden Project.

I printed two copies of the picture, one on plain paper for the background and one on photo paper so the pictures would pop a bit more. You can't see it very clearly on these pictures but I also picked out some places on the map where friends and family live by using a flower shaped punch on the photo paper then overlaying these on the town names and put some flat back pearls over the bullet markers. We also put some gold stars to mark our favourite beaches.

Layer up by mounting pictures on card and raising with sticky foam blocks,

Embellished with buttons, sequins and paper punched flowers.

Then add other shells and memorabilia to your box frame. The sand bottle didn't quite want to fit but the frame has a lip around the edge so it sits nicely on the top anyway. I will probably send the girls off to collect to bigger shells and bits next time so we have a few extra bits along the top.