Nesting Swap Box

After admiring all the participants' craftiness for a while, I decided to join an inspiration box swap hosted by the Speckled Egg.   Heather set the theme as "nesting". 

 

I got the notion of creating a specimen box.  The rules of the swap stated that you must with a large match box, embellish it

I decopaged the inside of mine with vintage encyclopedia pages pertaining to all things aviary.  To aid opening the box I sewed a vintage brass button on the side as a pull.  I painted the sliding outer cover (which will appear in other photos) and the exterior of the inner box black.

and then fill it with "inspirational items".

vintage French embroidery floss, vintage beaded flower and tiny vial of vintage "pearl" beads

The outside of a completed box.

 

 I cut out the center ofthe outer sleeve to imitate a true specimen box.

It is just as fun to decorate the mailing box.

back of mailing box

I received very pretty boxes from three talented ladies that I will feature in a later post.