Dont look Gina!

Our son retires from the police force at the end of this month and I want to give him a little gift to mark the occassion.    Inspired by the beautiful mini matchbox books that Gina Ferrari makes I chose a Swan Vestas box to give me a bit more working space.   I found out just how much skill is needed to do a really good job.   As it used to say on my school reports:  Must try harder!

This is the top of the box.   I covered it with fine black leather having first painted all the parts that might show, red.   I found this little beaded strip in a charity shop and thought it was a very fitting decoration for something which contains an Apache blessing.

This is the base of the box with a tiny moon and star charm at it's centre.

I lined the tray of the matchbox with a muted abstract patterned paper and was very relieved to find that the finished book fitted after a great deal of measuring and checking.  I made it as a concertina book with again the black leather on front and back covers and this time a little sun charm for decoration.  A simple red cord wraps around to close the book.

I came across this blessing the other day - the words are so lovely:  May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries,  may the breeze blow new strength into your being,  may you walk gently through the world and know it's beauty all the days of your life. All I need now is a nice card to go with it.