Making Memory Boxes: Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep [Paperback]

Barbara Mauriello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

Fond memories are unique and personal. Why trust them to anything but a memory box that has been carefully and lovingly crafted by hand?

If you've ever filled a cigar box with marbles or a shoe box with family photos, you will want to pick up Making Memory Boxes. This quirky and beautiful book teaches collectors and crafters how to build their own personal boxes to store favored keepsakes free of intimidation and ready to be transported from the workshop table to the kitchen table. Make thirteen precious boxes for holding cherished postcards, letters, jewelry, photos, and more. Making Memory Boxes features tips and tricks to ensure accurate measuring, cutting, and gluing.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It is a fact of life that most of us practice the art of pack ratting, hoarding and saving ticket stubs, love letters, postcards, and other memorabilia. Now, artist-curator Mauriello^B guides us in collecting treasures in one place by crafting aesthetically pleasing containers, or memory boxes. Each of the 13 boxes is targeted to contain one type of collectible--buttons, fabric scraps, or a child's treasures, for instance. Tips abound, as does information about getting started, from critical-to-own materials and tools to the appropriate ways to paste paper or cloth to a board. (The trick, by the way, is to apply adhesive to the paper, not to the surface. Cloth, on the other hand, doesn't matter.) The project boxes, colorful and well designed, feature detailed illustrated instructions and occasional suggestions for a different look. A practical craft that just might lead to a new kind of collecting habit. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

A practical craft that just might lead to a new kind of collecting habit. -- Barbara Jacobs, Booklist, October 2000

Another great addition to your library. -- Rubber Stamper, January/February 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Publishers (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564967115
• ISBN-13: 978-1564967114
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #656,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Memory Boxes by Hand, October 3, 2000

By 

C. Miller (Warsaw, MO 65355) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Memory Boxes: Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep (Paperback)

...

I connected with this book when I read the veryfirst sentence: "Anyone who has ever filled a shoe box with familyphotos or crammed small treasures into a cigar box has already made amemory box." I'm one of those anyones and I bet you are, too.Since practical, exacting, and thorough in text and visual instructiondescribe the teaching elements of the book, describing the actualboxes is a little more fun: quirky, playful, exotic, beautiful,unusual, practical, and sturdy are words that come to mind. The boxesare intended to please the eye AND to use AND to last. There is giftgiving potential here. Who wouldn't want at least one of thefollowing? The: postcard box, patchwork box, picture frame box,Victorian scrapboard, paper box, faux book box, artist's portfolio,jewelry box, button box, candy box, letter box, ornament box, and thebuttonhole stitched box. You will find many supplies needed aroundthe house, and a list of sources is given to help you find others. Youwill also find this a classy book!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get out the glue!, January 8, 2001

By 

Jane Isenberg (Amherst, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Memory Boxes: Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep (Paperback)

By the time I had finished the introduction to this book and flipped through the pages of pictures, I knew that I, a ten thumbed, visually illiterate artist wanna-be, could make a memory box. Mauriello's instructions are so clear ("Whatever you do to one side of a board, do to the other")and the photos so vivid and carefully organized to show all stages of a project that I felt confident that I could buy the correct tools and supplies and construct a box of my own design. And what's more, I think I would enjoy the experience. The book is inspiring as well as beautiful. I have given copies to three friends who make their own holiday gifts, and they too are eager to make boxes.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful & unique boxes, they make great presents, June 12, 2001

By 

Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Making Memory Boxes: Box Projects to Make, Give, and Keep (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book filled with beautiful, unique boxes. Though they can be a bit time consuming, none of the projects are difficult and they can easily be made by a beginning crafter with a little patience.

The book starts out with the essentials of tools, materials and adhesives. I found the adhesives chart, which compares 4 different adhesive types, very helpful. There are also recipes for paste and methyl cellulose. Binder's board (Davy board) is the basic structural element for most of the projects. Principles covered include grain direction, parts of the box, measuring, cutting, gluing, covering with paper and fabric and making neat corners.

There are 13 different box projects, including a buttonhole stitched box, jewelry box, postcard box, picture frame box, faux book box, ornament box, artist's portfolio and Victorian scrapbook. The directions are excellent and include a materials list and step-by-step instructions accompanied by clear demonstrating photos. A large picture of the finished projects is also included. Conveniently, there is a list of suppliers in the back.

This book is perfect for bookbinders, rubber stampers and scrapbookers, and makes a great addition to any paper artist's library. The boxes themselves make great gifts for your loved ones and will be treasured for years to come.