oh to be four

I've been in my house for a little over eight months now.  Time has certainly flown by.  It finally felt like I actually owned the place when my air conditioner went out and I was the one who had to fix it.  It's the only time I've missed having a landlord.  But I guess we all grow up sometime, right?

The week I moved in, my elderly neighbors were moving out to live in an assisted living home.  They had lived in the house for at least 40 years and while I was sad I didn't get to know them, I am thankful for the sweet family who moved next door.  They are always willing to help, whether it be donating things for a home group garage sale, or telling me how to hang up a clothes line when they noticed I was struggling desperately.  I even hid out in their house for awhile when we thought our neighbor's friend had a gun in the front yard.  Funny story, I'll have to tell you some time.

They have the sweetest little girl who's turning 4 this month.  She and Thursday are made for each other.  I think she's the only one who loves Thursday as much as I do.  And I'm pretty sure Thursday loves her more than me.  Thurs always runs out of the car directly to their front door expecting to be let in.  What am I, chopped liver?  Actually Thurs would probably love her some chopped liver.

Anyway, she's turning 4, so I thought it would be nice to give her a small present.  I can't remember how old I was, but I would guess I was around her age when my cousin Steffy sent me a dress up box filled with so many treasures.  I remember very fancy jewelry, and dresses fit for a princess.  (In reality it was costume jewelry and old prom dresses, but I loved it) I have so many memories of my neighbor Ruthann and I dressing up and pretending to be in ridiculous situations that would be fit for a soap opera.

I found some jewelry at garages sales and thought that my neighbor might enjoy a box just like it.  Here's some of the jewelry I collected.

I also found these neat pins in one bag of jewelry too.  I have no idea how old they are, but how long ago did they stop giving sharp objects to children in school?  I don't know if that means 1929 or 29 years? Any ideas?  I kept these.  I don't think a four year old would find them any kind of interesting.

I needed a box to put all the spoils in, so I went to Michaels and got a simple wooden photo box, stole some fabric from my mom and raided my own scrap pile.  Here's the beginning of the vision.

I just cut in a straight as I could line and started modge podging each strip to the lid.  Soon I had this.

At this point I wanted to scrap the whole project and keep the box myself.  I try to be humble, but this is just too cute.  

I painted the bottom of the box.  

Here's where it started getting weird.  I was excited about the pink, but it was a little to early 90s looking.  I mean seriously, I have dream phone and mall madness in a closet and it looks just like that.  

So here's round 2.

Much better.  

And here's the final product.  I still want to keep it.

Guys, I love it so much.  And it's super easy and fun to make! So don't be surprised if you get one soon.

I'm going over later today to hand it over so let's hope she likes it as much as I do.  I signed the card from Thursday as well so I feel like that might be enough as it is.  Seriously.  It's bff status.