A treasure for treasures

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile now. Another item Jadyn had on her Christmas wish list was this wooden design and decorate jewelry box she saw in the Toys to Grow on catalog. She had actually wanted it since last Christmas but this year it moved up her list to #2.

I kept trying to sway her away from it because it seemed kind of pricey to me. At one point, I even showed her some other decorate your own jewelry boxes but she was not fooled. She informed me that these other jewelry boxes were made of cardboard and the one she wanted was real wood. This of course made Daddy proud. Sometimes you can get a good deal on something. And sometimes you get what you pay for.

Needless to say, she did in fact end up getting the jewelry box from Grandma Anita and Ken but due to shipping constraints, she did not actually get the jewelry box until the week after Christmas when I was in the hospital. Jadyn was willing to wait for me to get home so I could help her decorate it.

What none of us could have ever known was that the timing of the gift was perfect. I couldn't do much those first days after surgery but I could help Jadyn with her jewelry box. What we also never would have been able to guess is that this jewelry box would quickly become a family project. Daddy decided that it would probably look best if we painted it before decorating it so he pulled out the pink paint left over from Jadyn's room and carefully painted it. Once it was dry, Jadyn and I started to design it. The minute Jake heard the word pattern, he got in on the action helping us map out what was going to go where - gems, fabric flowers, ribbon and glitter glue placement was all thoroughly planned out and executed. I think the entire process took us 3 or 4 days.

I recall talking to my mom on the phone and telling her about the jewelry box. She asked if it had turned out gaudy. Or actually she might have used the word ostentatious or maybe even "over the top". At any rate, I knew what she was asking. However, the answer is not so simple. While yes, almost every inch of the jewelry box is covered by gems, fabric flowers, ribbon and glitter glue - it was not done in a haphazard manner and somehow, I know that the group effort produced a result that Jadyn will treasure for years to come. And to me, it really was worth more than the cost of the item itself.