Treasure Box for Collecting Nature

Hey everyone, it’s Jennie from The Lovely Little Nest with a project that me and my two-year-old are really excited about! It’s a Treasure Box for collecting nature.

I’m so happy that the weather has been beautiful and we’ve been able to resume our daily routine of taking a walk outside. I’ve quickly realized that walking with a two-year-old can result in collecting rocks, leaves, flowers, and sticks, and bringing those little treasures home.

I remember when I was young, and how precious (and messy) my collections were to me, so I decided to create a treasure box for my little one to house her collection of nature items. This box is where she keeps all her little treasures, and when it’s full, she has to sort through what she wants to keep and get rid of what doesn’t fit. It’s become a fun activity and a great way to stay organized!

Supplies:

Wooden Box

Pencil

Scrapbooking Paper

Wood Burning Kit

Stain

Rag

Rubber Gloves

I found a pretty good selection of wooden boxes at the dollar store, and the wood burning kit was from a craft store with a 50% off coupon, which came to about $15. It’s definitely addictive, and I’ve used it on quite a few projects already!

Instructions:

1. Using your pencil, draw your design onto your raw box. For mine, I sketched my little one’s name, and then let her have the pencil and scribble on the sides until I thought there was enough space covered. This step was really fun for her, she loved being a part of it and seeing her design come to life.

2. Plug in your pen to heat up, and then go over your child’s pencil designs, burning them into the wood

3. Once you’ve burned everything in to the box, take your stain and wipe it on with a rag, wiping off any excess right away for a lighter finish. My absolute favourite stain colour is Minwax Colonial Americain 230.

4. Once the stain has dried, pick some cute scrapbooking paper, cut it down to size, and glue it into the box. I love how much more feminine and lovely it made the box when you open it, and Georgia loved picking out the paper herself.